Mess.

So today was a pretty easy day at home. Michael had the car so we didn't really have much pressure to go anywhere and we have some friends coming to dinner tomorrow so I knew I wanted to putter around the house and get a little cleaning done.

After breakfast, the boys snuck into their room, quietly....a little too quietly. I had noticed before breakfast there was a handful of wayward toys on the ground which I mistakenly let slide by before I had them eat.

Apparently, seeing the opportunity to complete a project they had already begun (namely playing the game they call "Mess." Yes, it is just as sophisticated as it sounds).

I knew they were up to no good, and I knew it would involve a lot clean-up for me to do, but I was enjoying some nice quiet time playing with Molly and they were quite content.  So, after Molly went down for a nap, I came back to the front room, grabbed a few sips of tea and went to tackle the monumental task I knew awaited me in the boys room.

What I didn't expect was opening the door and seeing this:

I'm not sure how long they were each sitting on their respective thrones, but they got a big kick of being there.

(The crib gate Matthew was sitting on was from Michael's crib when we disassembled the crib a year ago into a toddler bed).

I think it must really go along with the stage of toys for kids these ages that there are so many little pieces. Alphabet. Numbers. Blocks. Jars of plastic bugs. This mess was broad and deep.

They also managed to get into Molly's box of baby toys (their old baby toys).  I wouldn't have thought baby toys would still have been that interesting to them, but anything to be the best at the game called Mess.

So after an hour of cleaning (and badgering them to help me), we finally pulled it together. I weeded out the various "miscellaneous" boxes, got rid of a few things, put groups of toys back together.

In the end, it turned out better than when the day had started.

And that, folks, is how you really win this game.