remember the time...

Today as I was rushing around cleaning up after the kids I was thinking how thankful I am that I don't have large, crazy messes to clean up like I used to...the kids are getting older and showing a little more responsibility, and it is great! I also think Sam and Eli have done enough crazy things to this house to last them a life time.

As I was thinking about this something triggered my memory and my mind went back to three 'mess' experiences which I just happened to have a camera on me for.

1. The time I walked into the bathroom to find Harmony in the below position.

Here she is looking cute and adorable and looking as if she could do no wrong! She has the basin, the mirror and herself all covered in wet soggy play dough....have I mentioned play dough is banned from my house...except for maybe once or twice a year when I do a big cook up of it for the kids to play with - outside!

The reason I remember this experience is because just after finding her and taking a photo, another major disaster happened and I had to run off to take care of that one first (please tell me this happens in your house too!). By the time I got back to the bathroom most of the play dough had gone dry and it took me ages to clean it off everything. There was play dough foot prints, hand prints and mess every where. I really wanted to just hook up a hose and blast the whole place out.

2. The time I walked into my rumpus room to find that Eli and Sam had invaded my food storage cupboard (more on that another time) and emptied packets of spaghetti onto the floor.

Here is only part of the spaghetti disaster. They were very happy about the adventure they were having. I however was not. This is what I have learnt about dry spaghetti. It cannot be vacuumed. It cannot be swept (when on carpet). It has to be picked up...by hand. Never really wanted to learn that lesson but these boys have taught me many lessons I never wanted to learn. Let's just say that I spent a lot of time talking to the spaghetti and the carpet about the behaviour of these two boys...not a happy lady!

3. The day I walked into the kitchen to find Sam and Eli busy cleaning.

Upon further investigation, I discovered that the cleaning was due to a massive Milo spillage. They had opened up a large tin of Milo, stuffed their faces with it and then spilt the contents of the tin all over the floor. The only good thing about this experience was that they were trying to clean up the mess themselves.

In this picture you can see that two of the bottom drawers in my kitchen have handles missing. This is one of the crazy things we had to do to our house because of Sam and Eli. We had to remove the handles because they would use them to climb up on the counter to talk on the phone, take my keys, take the knives, turn the hotplates on, turn the taps on and every other tempting little adventure they could find. When we removed the handles...it all stopped!

Of course I wish I had my camera for when Sam poured a large (everything is in bulk in this house!) pot of honey over his head...on the CARPET!!! or when they poured a large jug of water right onto the carpet or when they ..... the list could go on forever but let's just stick to remembering a few choice memories for today. Sigh! I am thankful things are progressing and the 'messes' around here are getting more manageable.