The Maid is Gone

Somewhere over the last few months, my kids have come to think of me as a maid.  And somewhere along the way, I let them believe that.  I'm not sure exactly how it happened because I've always been pretty good about getting them to help out, but it did and it has.  I think there were times it was easier to do things myself.  But whatever the case may be, yesterday, the maid moved out and Mom moved back in.  Things are definitely going to be shaken up a bit.  Don't get me wrong, the kids are really good to pitch in and help out when I ask them.  Its just that they've started making messes that I know they have no intention of cleaning up.  And if they did, it would never have been made in the first place.   We'll see how it goes.  It may be a rude awakening for everyone for a few days, but its been too long coming.   For example, yesterday while I laid baby Paige down for a nap, Merry Grace got a half a bag of tortilla chips out of the pantry and dumped them out onto the ottoman (and the floor) in the living room.  First of all, we don't allow food in the living room.  Second of all, no matter where you might be eating, its never okay to just randomly dump the bag out.  Instead of just vacuuming it up myself, which before yesterday I probably would have done, and instead of completely going berserk (which I was sorely tempted to do), I had Merry Grace (and Ian-who was an accomplice) clean the entire mess up.  And they did.  It took a while, but they did it.  Then last night I had the kids help out in a couple of places--Elise loaded the dishwasher and Ian scrubbed the tub.  Can I just say that he did a great job?!  Elise did too, of course, but I was surprised by how much fun Ian had with the tub.  He even enjoyed it so much he offered to clean my shower too.  And he did!!!  So we're off to a rolling start.  Hopefully it will go well, because the maid is not moving back in anytime soon.