Cleaning for Company

Cleaning for company?! Why bother?! We were expecting guests this past weekend for the baptism weekend at church so naturally I thought it would be best to clean before they came. Sigh. Once again I say, "Why bother?!"

Stephen found out that Levi and Jaden and their parents were coming six days before they were to arrive. This was good in that he kept informing his younger brothers that our friends were coming and they all needed to keep the house clean. The boys would run around and do a "toy toss" (put all their toys in their respective places) and not fifteen minutes later, another whole gamut of toys would be strewn across the house!

Friday I was trying to clean the living room and as I was involved with that, Christopher was involved in completely emptying out the storage cabinet (which is USUALLY locked) in the kitchen. He had pulled out every coloring book, dumped every crayon, pulled out the playdough and the playdough apparatus, scattered the entire box of craft supplies which included paint brushes, stamps, scissors, pompom balls of various sizes and colors, glitter bottles, popcicle sticks, etc, etc. I didn't know what to do about the overwhelming mess, so I cried, and then I sat down next to him and put it all back while he screamed in my ear. (Oh, did I mention that before he emptied the cabinet, he also emptied the Tupperware drawer and put everything on the table because he heard that company was coming and he wanted to help set the table for supper.)

After muttering around and finally getting everything back into the cabinet, it was time for me to tackle the kitchen. I swept up enough crumbs to make a meal, and Christopher decided to see if he could get a meal out of it. He tried to pick out all the Cheerios and pretzel chunks and anything else that looked interesting. He also decided to help me by taking his broom and promptly sweeping away my pile! When I finally got to washing the floor, he decided to follow me around and smear the damp floor with his hands, like the finger painting we had done a few days earlier.

I must say that by Friday night (Tim and Violet were arriving early Saturday morning), the house looked great! I was proud of the boys for helping me so much and for Fred who did a lot of the last minute things to get our house in order and of myself for managing this whole experience without going nuts-o.

But back to my original question...Cleaning for company? Why bother?! We were gone at the Farmer's Market most of the morning and by 2:30 when we got home, somehow this pristine home was immediately returned to it's original state of chaos. How did this happen?! Well, I guess having five little boys all under the age of five running around had something to do with it, don't you think?

The good news is that our guests' family is just like ours. We believe that it's important to have a presentable home, but it's even more important to make sure our guests are welcomed and comfortable and that our children are happy and safe. Tim and Violet, your family is always welcome here, and do feel free to swipe the toys off the chairs and brush the crumbs onto the floor before you sit down. Put your feet up (but please, don't wear white socks) and let's have a good time! If I remember, I'll even pull out the vacuum cleaner before you come, because after all, you are company! Thanks for the great weekend! We hope you come again soon!