A small Coo-Coo moment

So I had a small breakdown this summer.  I would like to blame it on hormones after having baby number four.  Or, I could blame it on my dad.  Because you know, everything is still your mom or dad's fault, right?  In my head, I want my house to be perfect.  I want everything to be organized.  But, in reality this doesn't happen. 

For several weeks, I had been begging and begging for some help from my two sweet girls.  I would say, "please help me by picking up your toys.  All I ask is that you put all of your toys away for me.  They are great helpers with Landon and Sawyer but when I ask them to help with putting away their toys, they just get very overwhelmed and can't get it done. 
One Saturday morning, I had been out buying groceries.  I came home and asked Laurel and Savannah to go upstairs and clean the playroom.  Laurel said, "Daddy just made us clean out from under our bed, now you are asking us to clean the playroom.  Are we just going to clean all day!?

I snapped.  I grabbed an armful of black garbage bags and politely and calmly looked at my sweet Laurel and answered, "no, actually you won't be cleaning anything else today, or for awhile.  Put your feet up sweetheart.  Do you want a snack?  Turn on a movie.  Mommy will take care of the toys."
She followed me to her room.  Her eyes were big, big, BIG.  I started grabbing everything off the floor and putting it in the garbage bags.  She was saying, "my friends are going think you are the meanest mommy ever when they come over and we don't have any toys."  I calmly replied, "well, you will just have to tell them that you don't like to pick up your toys when you are finished playing so now you must use your imagination!"

There were moments when I questioned, "am I being too tough?"  Then a voice would answer, "absolutely not!"  "How many times have you warned them that this was going to happen one day?"   With every toy that hit the garbage bag, my stress level decreased tremendously.  So I just kept right on going, all the way to the playroom and continued to sweep the floor clean.  I bet there ended up being about 10 garbage bags taken to the basement.

Fast forward a few days later.  "Girls, do you miss your toys?"  As they look at one another, "not really."  "Girls, do you like a clean house?  Does it make you feel better when the house is clean?"  Laurel replies, "yes, but to be honest with you, I just don't like to clean!"  In my head I'm thinking, where did I go wrong and I reply, "well, at least you are honest!"  Savannah quietly says, "cleaning is kinda boring and it gets me hot and sweaty."  I promise FUTURE HUSBANDS, I will have these girls whipped into shape before they marry you, is the next thought that went through my head.

So this happened back in July and the toys are still in bags in the basement.  And what we have realized.  Toys are so overrated!
And I should have listened to my dad when he told me a few years ago during a visit.  "Lori, you have way too many toys up here in this playroom.  You need to pack up half of them and rotate them out."
And he was right.
And I couldn't help but get a little giggly as I was throwing the toys in the bags, thinking of how proud my dad would be of my small coo-coo moment!