It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon, my husband decided to work today to take care of the pile of papers stacked on his desk, and me?  I was excited to put my toddler down to take care of the piles of crumbs and laundry that are stacked on my floor!  I suggested to my five year old that we watch a movie (of which I would sneak away from to vacuum etc..) but then it happened…I looked down at her sweet face and saw a teenager.  Not a little girl asking me to do a treasure hunt with her, but one that was asking to go to a friends house instead of hanging with me! 

     I like my house clean…no, I love my house clean and I am ashamed to admit that it gets my attention at the expense of spending quality time with my kids.  This is hard for me to admit!!!  I love my kids, about 10 kabilillion kazilllion times more than I even like my house but something draws me to want it spotless.  I wish it weren’t so, but it is.  But today, I chose to use the toys, food, socks and balls as part of the maze that she had drawn for us to follow to the treasure, and attempt to ignore the fact that it really is a mess!  Oh and those that can relate will love this…our treasure hunt ended in the pantry with an “x” over a scarf filled with…gulp…my nice jewelry!  Handfuls of it.  Once again though, I made the decision to be excited pirates and count our bounty!  (I have to admit I did think about the time it will take me to untangle it all..)   It ended with her wanting to watch that movie, and since I promised her only 15 minutes on the computer and I would watch it with her, this is a short post today..

     So today the one thing I want to work on is not forgetting all of the mothers of teenagers that say“it goes sooooo fast” and actually enjoy my kids without worrying sooo much about my house.  I really want my kids to remember how much I was dedicated to them and not how much I was dedicated to my house.       Man do I love my “babies”!  More than life itself!!!!!