Visitors...

Tomorrow J is having 2 friends over from school. One of the things I missed over the last 6 months was missing out on things because of money.
Little things like not buying coffee, not paying to go to a play centre, not buying food while out, skipping dinners and invited events.
Having friends over is great but it also means stress. I am one of those people that hate not having a tidy and clean house when people drop over. But between the 5 of us we make mess and realistically a lot of it is not me!
I clean up behind the kids but I would rather a clean house than a tidy one. I worry more about clean rooms and toilets then whether I trip over toys and blocks. I would rather a mopped floor and wiped table than picking up socks and the 50 shoes that seem to grow all over my house.
I used to exhaust myself making my house like nice.
I would clean top to bottom in the days prior, saying to my hubby "so and so is coming over! Come help me clean up!"
Then to the kids "Clean up we have visitors coming!"
I would turn into the screaching, nagging banshee.
Nowadays I still make sure the house is clean and I try to keep toys out of pathways but yes I hide things in rooms and cupboards and never do I open my bedroom door. The last place I ditch things lol.

So tomorrow when we have 3 6 years olds, 2 3 year old and 2 1 year olds over I will not be stressing about how the house looks or where the kid are going, I will enjoy myself. I will not say "excuse the mess" after spending 3 days cleaning up. I will talk to the other Mums and breathe :)

The mess will be even bigger when they are gone and knowing us it will slowly be cleaned up over the following days.

I have been taught that the little things that used to seem so big are not.
That time spent cleaning should be time with my kids.
That a clean and perfectly presented house does not make me any more than anyone else.

Our house is lived in an enjoyed and when the kids are older and we have money I will pay someone to do it all for me :)

One thing I haven't changed is I love to cook when people come over.
Today I made choc chip biscuits from the Thermomix recipe book.
I also made the dough for the 120 biscuits....I will add that recipe shortly.

So if you ever see my house in pictures you will know this is no magazine house this is my home.