The Messiness that is Life With Kids

Things get pretty messy around here sometimes and I keep telling myself that I'm not the only mother with a two year old who likes to make messes. Natalie has always been a quiet girl who is pretty content to be one her own and play quietly. It's only lately that she has taken that quiet time and turned it into something else entirely. It started with the toilet and the seemingly simple question "Where's Natalie?" She was in the bathroom (of course) scooping water out of the toilet and dumping it onto the floor. Besides being gross it was a lot of water to soak up and then a lot of towels to wash. And while I was cleaning up one mess she was making another in the other bathroom. This time is was water from the sink and lots of hand soap. She really took me seriously when I told her that water in the toilet was yucky and dirty! The next day I found myself again asking "Where's Natalie?" I found her in the kitchen washing dishes in the sink with more water all over and around her. What a great helper, right? This was all about two weeks ago and I thought that she was over her water phase until today when she was back at it, emptying the water from the toilet onto the floor. I feel like I need to say that I really am an attentive, involved mother, she's just incredibly sneaky and quiet :)

When we lived in Cheyenne our ward has a pancake breakfast every Fourth of July. The kids were disappointed that the ward here didn't do the same thing so we decided to have one of our own. We invited some families that live nearby and made plans for a great breakfast. On July 3rd Emily and I made eight batches of pancake batter so that we would be ready first thing on the Fourth. On Saturday morning we started flipping pancakes. They turned out really well and we had just enough for everyone, I think there were seven pancakes left at the end of our breakfast. For the rest of the day Jared was a work, providing security for the base's carnival and fireworks show. The girls and I were decidedly unpatriotic - we didn't even see fireworks on the Fourth of July we just stayed at home being lazy.

Oh, back to messes for a minute. I love that my house has two living rooms because if I feel like reading quietly, or doing homework, or taking a little nap I can sit on a comfortable couch and do just that. And if the kids want to watch a movie, or build a fort, or pile the couch cushions on the floor and belly flop onto them they can also do just that. The best thing is that I can do my thing at the same time as they are doing their thing and we don't bother each other. Really what I mean is, they don't bother me. That is until I come upstairs and see popcorn all over the floor, or blankets clothes pinned to every possible surface, or all the couch cushions on the floor - then I'll admit, I'm a bit bothered by the mess they've made. I tell Madison, Emily, and Abigail that the upstairs is their little apartment. They have their two bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, computer room, and even a balcony. I just need to buy them a mini fridge and microwave and they'd be all set. So I'm trying to appeal to their ownership of the space and get them to keep it clean but so far it has not been working. Madison will always keep her room clean, she's too OCD not to organize her personal space, but the rest of the upstairs is in an almost constant state of messiness!

Overall we are enjoying the summer here in Germany. We have no big plans to go anywhere and it's nice to just be together at our house; sleeping in, staying up late, and (except for Jared who has to work) being lazy and having fun every day.