My Girls Are The BEST !!!

I know some parents who think their kids are the best.  I also know some parents who should never have had kids to begin with .  But me?  I REALLY have the best kids any parent could ever ask for.

At seven years old Samantha is my angel.  Sweet and ever-so-helpful Samantha will always look for ways to help mommy.  I admit I get frustrated trying to explain things to her and I am having to constantly remind myself that she truly does not understand most of the time, but days like yesterday are worth every second.

At a mere five years of age Jessica is my fireball.  Full of spirit and a lust for life this little girl is destined for great things.  All I ever have to do is ask and she is all over it.

So yesterday when I informed the girls that today would be a play-date IF they helped me clean the entire house you can imagine the girls issuing out their normal grunts and groans of disappointment upon acknowledging that in order to receive an award they must earn it.  Well, those grunts and groans never came.  But boy oh boy did they earn today's play date !!!

We began around 10 am cleaning upstairs and working our way through the house.  By noon we managed to get all the bedrooms and master bath cleaned.  An hour long break for some lunch followed by an hour of play time and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get them back into the swing of cleaning.  By 2pm we had finished everything everything upstairs (except the playroom which I opted to do later) and half of the downstairs.

Understandably, by this time Samantha was starting to show signs of wear, as was I.  And if I was beginning to slow down I can only imagine how tired she must have been.  Jessica; however, was non-stop.  But we kept at it - granted I had to fuss at Samantha several times to get up; no sitting down on the job; we all want to stop but we're not done yet.  Another hour goes by and everything except the powder room and kitchen was done.  Well, that and washing the floor which wasn't happening last night anyway.

Of course we are now at 5pm and I have absolutely no plans for dinner.  So I pop open the fridge door and discover a bowl of sauce and meatballs.  GREAT.  Spaghetti it is.  Kind of.  We made noodles with meatballs and sauce.  Along with a huge chunk of Hawaiian bread and dinner is done !!!  Both girls devoured their entire meal.  Man, cleaning house is exhausting work.

Come time for bed and neither one gave me a lick of  problems.  They both gladly crawled into their freshly made beds with clean sheets and fell off to sleep without any hesitation.  I went about finishing the last of two loads of laundry for the night before I headed to bed myself.  By 9:30 I was out.  But I was not going to stay out.

Nope.  The neighborhood howler decided that midnight would be a good time to wake everyone.  Seriously?  I wanted to get dressed and march over to the owners house and pound on their door until I woke them up.  But my bed was so comfy and I just couldn't muster the energy to rise.

Not to be outdone by the dog waking me, John had to greet me with a 2am wake up.  What the Fuck?  I mean, I know you are wanting to work longer hours to make up lost time but 2am?  Slightly ridiculous don't ya think?  That's what I felt like; what I was thinking but I finally drag my butt out of bed at 2:30 to hobble downstairs and conjure up some breakfast and lunch for the man who busts his butt for me and his girls.  If he is going to put in the effort to go to work then the very least I can do is support him with ensuring he has something to eat.

The worst thing about getting up at 2am is I cannot go back to sleep.  Rarely do I ever go back to sleep after John leaves the house.  And today there is just enough that still has to get done prior to the girls friends coming over to play.

Here we are, January 27th, and I STILL have not taken down all the Christmas decor.  Garland still wrapped around the porch columns and the tree in the basement is all that's left but I have had little to no desire to dismantle them.  Today that ends.  The last of the Holiday decorations gets packed away and I can finally mark that off my to-do list.

Five a.m. now and all I have managed to do is walk around taking note of the things that need to get done before 9am - when the kiddos start showing up.  Suddenly it hits me.....my girls are the best.

Pretty much the entire house got cleaned, deep cleaned, by the three of us working together.  We scrubbed and polished every surface.  They never once complained or forgot what they were supposed to do.  They would play for an hour, here and there, and when I needed them to help me they came running.  Things got cleaned that hadn't been cleaned in a year or more.  By the end of the day we were all wiped out yet the girls never once argued or gave me any issues with getting things done.  All the beds were stripped and remade with clean sheets.  The bathrooms scrubbed.  Wood polished.  Floors vacuumed and mopped.  Trash emptied.  Stuff put away.  All day those two busted their behinds for me and I could not have been more proud of them.

Because of them I now have a firm grip on the condition of the house.  I am now able to rethink some of my design choices and start looking at renovations that are more in line with a family with small children.  Time to get rid of the dark and drab and bring in the bright and fab.  Now the house is clean I can relax and focus on what I really want - what kind of home decor I want my girls to grow up with.  It may take some funds to get there but now I have an overall plan that I like.  Hubs likes it too as I showed him a pic that served as my inspiration.  And the girls will finally have a happy house to go with the happy home and happy family.

All thanks to my two girls.  The best kids any mother could ever be blessed with.

Considering all the work Samantha and Jessica poured into here yesterday I need to ensure I honor that with constant maintenance and upgrades.  So while they get some much needed rest this morning I am going to throw together some banana nut bread for snacks.  While that is baking I'll finish the powder room and take down the final holiday decor.  Then its a quick run-through of the basement before headed back upstairs to my office - where it has become the catch-all for all things yard sale.  Hopefully I can get this stuff out into the garage before everyone starts showing up.

With plan in hand I am eager to get the day started.  All day long I know I will be eyeing things around the house thinking to myself   "My girls are the BEST !!!"  I really am blessed.