Kids = Mess

There is no doubt that I cannot have a consistently clean home and have children at the same time.  Don't get me wrong...I don't mind.  I'd much rather have these crazy kiddos of mine and a dirty house than life without them.  Sometimes I just have to laugh at the messes they make.

I have numerous broken picture frames from the days when Seth and Jack played soccer inside during the winter months.  I also have broken lights on the outside of the house from flying soccer balls.  I'm sure this is not unknown to all you mothers out there, but here is my most common and annoying sweet memories from my messy kids:

Bug guts splattered on cathedral ceiling
Stickers on bed
Names of famous soccer players carved into the headboard of a child's bed
Glue on freshly painted wall so children can hang artwork (never mind they have a cork board for that purpose)
Ink from broken pen splattered on wall
Vomit splattered on wall
Other bodily stuff on wall
Dirty windows because they can't keep their hands or faces off

They can all be cleaned up.  The work is never ending.  And years later, some of the carvings memories still remain.  One famous one:

Jack wrote his name in permanent marker on the side of our couch.  At least it was red and matched the living room.  The kind man who was recovering our furniture saved it for me.  I'm sure it deserves to be framed and hung somewhere prominent.

This brings me to my latest re-do.  We bought a new table before we even thought about adding to our family through adoption.  I made the mistake of buying fabric covered chairs.  Seth spilled soy sauce that first night we used it.  I wanted to cry.  Then we adopted.  Over the years I placed a covering over the fabric...

because it looked like this...

Yes, it was embarrassing.  But this weekend, I broke down and bought some fabric.  Hindsight, I should have bought industrial fabric instead of the indoor/outdoor.  It was much easier than I thought, and I am pleased with the results.

Let's see how long it lasts....