A few weeks ago I made a cleaning schedule (maybe I mentioned it?) because I feel like I spend a lot of time cleaning and neglecting the kids and it stresses me out… yet somehow my house is always dirty!  Actually, I think I did it the same time we made our summer schedule and blocked out 7am-8am as cleaning time.  I did great with it for a few weeks, but then got sick and went to Vegas and lost all touch with reality.  Sigh.  This week I decided it was time to get back to it.  The idea of the schedule is that I can clean, guilt free (ha!) from 7am-8am and get done what I get done and not have to think about it all day.  Usually the kids play during this time, though some day I may start making them do chores too! 

Today I said that I had to sweep and mop inside, sweep the front porch and sweep the mudroom.  To my surprise the kids both jumped up and said they wanted to clean the mudroom!  Well, ok!  We headed outside and I started telling them that I usually like to start by putting the shoes up on the bench.  Lex interruped and said, “No, we put the black mat outside and then put all of the shoes on it.  But first we have to bang the toes together and then the heels together to shake off all of the dirt.”  Apparently they’ve done this before, and believe it or not they did an awesome job!!  They worked together to get all the shoes out (Lex showing Eve the proper way to hold the shoes and tap them together) and then while Eve attempted to sweep the front porch with a big broom, Lex did an amazing job of sweeping out the mudroom!  I was shocked (what low expectations I have of my own children).  I did a tiny bit of touchup around the tight edges, but he got 98% of the dirt and dust out of there.  Towards the end I was thinking that I should have just sent them out and stayed inside myself to do the sweeping and mopping inside.  Who knew they can do the whole job!  After Lex was done sweeping they came up with a plan to get the shoes back inside without trecking in more dirt.  Lex wiped off his shoes and took them off in the mudroom, Eve stayed outside and brought each pair of shoes to the doorway (tapping them off again on the way), and then Lex took them from there and put them where they belonged.  So very cool!  I think next Tuesday they are on their own with that job! :)