this week our nephews and nieces (all ten of them, yes, that's 10) came to visit. It's kind of our annual thing. For having 15 people in the house, it's been great. We saw fireworks, have been swimming every day, and played games and watched movies and played ball and on the swingset and all kids of awesome fun. Most of the kids are incredibly helpful, they're all school-aged so varying degrees of self-sufficient, and they're all super-nice. So we have been having fun.
I have been hitting a certain point, however, and I have no one to complain to. Don't get me wrong, this year is waaaay more fun than last year, when there were only (did I just say, only?) seven and of those, only two didn't cry/whine/complain about the food they were served. At every meal. I was so happy when they finally left, let me tell you. Anyway, on Wednesday we went to swim, then came home for lunch and while everyone changed, I threw a pan of nachos in the oven and had tons of little kids harassing me for food, while I was simultaneously trying to wash their bath towels and clothes so they would be bathed and dressed for Bible class (we made it on time, by the way - woo!) AND empty the dishwasher so we'd have clean lunch dishes AND get my own kids cleaned up and dressed and nursed and pottied and so on. I was a little slammed but being a mom and a fairly ok one, I managed.
So yesterday was great, the little ones played hide-and-seek for a while, they had fun.
Then I get up this morning and find out first thing that they had hidden in Imriel's closet. Inside my crates of sewing patterns. More specifically, they had climbed up the stack of crates and stomped all inside the top one, crushing the patterns inside. It was a mangled mess of paper - patterns ripped, crumpled (we're talking that super super thin tissue paper patterns are printed on), and basically destroyed. All my costume, toy, and coat/jacket patterns. Destroyed or at the least, fairly messed up. I cried. I'm crying right now, thinking about it.
I wasn't going to say anything about it - after all, they're kids, they don't see things the way adults do, and anyway it's done. Then on my way to wash about my 4th load of their laundry (no one packed enough clothes AND they're changing clothes about 6 times a day) I pass through the breakfast room and see that every board game in this house has the pieces emptied from the box and scattered ALL OVER. Just from knowing their mama like I do, I am very sure they do not do this at their house. I was always made to take care of my toys, I make my own kids take care of their stuff, and I can say without a doubt that they clean up their board games as soon as they're finished at their house. But apparently being on vacation as it were, and none of this stuff belonging to them, they just got up from their games and left pieces everywhere. I realize that a part of this is my own children. Some of those games, however, are not games my kids are old enough to play.
THEN I went into the bedrooms and nearly had a come-apart. First, they have been breaking toys left and right all week. I knew that. The first day, they ripped up half a dozen Nerf swords, and I personally saw the littlest boy drop a toy and step on it, breaking it. We're talking 5 feet of clear space on either side of it, and yet he has to step on this one particular toy. Anyway. Toys break, it's true. I expect wear and tear when there are half a dozen kids playing with stuff. And it's not theirs, so there is no reason for them to take care of things.
Anyway, Imriel's bedroom is housing 5 girls. The floor is a jumble of clothes - clean, dirty, somewhere in between. AND in the midst of the mess is Imriel's play dishes and most importantly, all of her American Girl doll clothes. Every shoe, every little tiny outfit that I have put my time and money and love into, is mixed in with all their crap all over the floor. First of all, I think it's pretty gross to have her toys mixed in with everyone's dirty underwear. Second, it's normally carefully arranged into a storage drawer. She puts an outfit on a doll, and puts the old one back into the drawer. It's not hard. I can think of absolutely no reason to drop the in little piles all over the house.
Then Jaxom's room - oh my. Little boys.... the place is a similar disaster. PLUS they have started locking Jax out of his room AND they have climbed up all the closet shelves and brought down all the breakable/heirloom/fragile/valuable things I had stored up there precisely to NOT have it all trampled and mixed in with the mire on the floor.
I started getting tired of having them here when the other night I saw that they had taken all the couch cushions off the couch, and were tromping all over them on the floor - again, something I KNOW their mama would not allow. Like, they just threw them down and were stepping on them because no on e wanted to pick them up - actually, my DH has just come along and read this, then mentioned that they were doing it on purpose, leaping from cushion to cushion.
I am not a fastidious housekeeper by far. We have the amount of clutter expected for people who can afford a lot of junk but not the time needed to keep it organized. I mop every other week if that. My shower is needing a good scrubbing. But I can not have disregard for my stuff, by my own kids or anyone else's, and especially not of my sewing supplies or things I've sewn because next to the church and my family, sewing is my great passion and one of the things I live for.
It feels so much better now that I've vented a little. I'm having to wash two dishwasher loads a day, at least two loads of towels if not more, plus their other clothes and sleeping bags when they pee in them, plus the general de-filthifying I'm going to have to do ALL next week. Oh, and one more meal to cook for people who have on the whole, enjoyed their food, but in some cases are still literally crying and gagging on their food because they'd rather be eating... ? I'm not sure what, but something that is NOT what I'm feeding them. Sigh. Maybe next year I'll just have the ones that have been fun guests.
Posted by
Karen