Life is Beautiful | Page 89 of 329 | Motherhood, Sewing, Family

Thanks to Pledge for sponsoring this post. Try Pledge Multi Surface and Pledge Lemon Clean to breathe life into seemingly ordinary surfaces to uncover their unexpected yet inherent beauty.

So I taught and spoke at Confetti Night yesterday and while I was in Ogden for the event, my husband and the kids got in a car accident. They’re not seriously hurt, but as they were driving home from swimming, they were rear ended while they were at a complete stop. The back of the car is dented pretty bad and everyone got a pretty bad whip lash. The paramedics arrived and they went to the ER. When I got the phone call, my heart dropped as the first thing my husband said to me was, “We got rear ended.” I am just so grateful they are okay. So this post will take a little turn from what I had normally intended to write, my normal post that I had saved to be published a few days ago will be in black, and what I am adding on after the accident and with a different perspective will be in purple. Purple because that’s my husband’s favorite color.:)

If you have read my blog since 2011, you might remember this post with these pictures.

Oh my gosh, they drove me crazy sometimes with their endless messes! But you can’t really get that mad at them because they don’t know any better and for them, it’s just a form of play. And look at their little faces with their round cheeks! Oh my. They’re still so adorable even when they are driving me crazy!

I would take them making crazy, insane messes every single day over ever losing them or never getting to clean up after them. What a privilege it is that my kids are healthy and happy and creative to make messes around the house! That they’re safe in their home and they feel safe enough to think they can make messes and they have a mommy who won’t get too mad at them and will still love them no matter what.

Well, 4 years has passed and my girls are old enough where they don’t make ridiculous messes like they used to(which I kind of miss, surprisingly! Which reminds me to be easier on my boy when he makes messes…), and they’re at the age where they could actually help me clean! I am a big fan of making my kids work and help around the house without any form of reward except for my praise and thank you. They shouldn’t get rewarded with money or special privileges for chores that they should do anyway such as cleaning their room or helping me clean around the house, that’s just the price they pay for living in my house, for being a part of this family. If they do extra chores outside of their designated chores, then I reward them with special privileges or give them allowances.

As they’ve gotten older, I have been giving them more responsibilities and one chore I’ve added to their list is wiping our refrigerator! They kids actually like wiping and spraying, they think it’s fun. Only if I was like them, and oh, how I wish my husband wished I liked cleaning more. 😀 I handed my oldest the Pledge Lemon Clean and they went to work. Even my boy wanted to join in because he wants to do EVERYTHING his older sisters do.

My boy smelling the fridge after his sister said, “Ooh, it smells nice!”

Shake, spray and wipe!

Didn’t they do a great job? I am very, very picky with scents and don’t find many scents appealing but the Pledge Lemon Clean passes the test! I liked how it didn’t smell super strong and it contains no harsh chemical smells that need to be neutralized or masked. I felt it cleaned my refrigerator gently, leaving our stainless steel surface shiny and smooth.

Now, I need to think of other things to add to their chores… 😉 What chores do you give to your kids? I am trying to think of things they can help that is age appropriate for 6 and 7 year olds.

P.S. Now, I am getting off the computer and spending the whole day with my kids and making endless messes with them. I hope you all have a great weekend and remember that life is short and the childhood years go by so fast. They’ll be too old to make innocent messes and depend on you to clean up after them. They’ll stop depending on you less and less until they need you no more. And how I will miss the day when I have no one’s mess to clean up after.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.