Wild Flowers and Muddy Feet

 Spring is in full swing now and I muse at the idea of "spring cleaning." Who thought of that bright idea. With 5 children, a dog, a cat,and a {husband} as well as an enormous garden in the midst of planting, every day maintenance is the equivalent of a spring clean. I honestly wonder if the authors of Better Homes and Gardens actually have gardens or children.Any way who wants to spend these sunshiny days inside scrubbing.

I love a nice clean house and can be a bit obsessive about it. My family on the other hand could care less.  A few months ago I started once a week cleaning. Every Saturday we clean the house pretty thoroughly but during the week we pretty much just pick up after ourselves, do dishes and laundry, and clean up anything nasty and sweep(4 or 5 times a day).

Last Saturday after the kids finished their chores I sent them outside to play while I finished mine.
Well lucky me. I just put the mop away and turned around to see. Surprise, surprise, "Look Mom, we picked you some lovely flowers."  I looked down to see those beautiful little muddy feet, three pairs of them, and the forest path that once was my clean floor.

I suppose I could get philosophical. I am in the springtime of my life(at least for a few more years). I'm still planting seeds. I hope that my children will continue to find joy and contentment in nature and not worry about the things that don't really matter(like an immaculately kept house). There's still hope for me too, instead of being upset about the muddy floor as I may have years ago, I was genuinely happy about the wonderful gifts that my children gave me. Just look at the wonderful arrangement.
You gotta love boys!