Keva Blocks and Housework

I am feeling frazzled once again. I'm going to try to focus on things I am grateful for and things that I love. I love Owen's eyes:

I love Peter.

I love nursing him and being able to step away from all the work that needs to be done. But at the same time, it wears on me to not be able to get done all the things that need to get done. I sit here and nurse him as the figurative snowstorm from these children falls all day and I never have a chance to shovel or get ahead. But I do love it. I can't and shouldn't wish this away.

Our friend Rafael is coming on Monday to spend 10 days here. He's doing some consultant work with Corey. The house is a mess though. Today we were going to make a place for him to stay in the basement today. The lego area has once again become a lego war zone. We were going to work on the finished side of the basement for him since that seemed more doable, but we didn't get to it. But Corey did do a good job cleaning his office though. And we moved things from his office into one of the locked kitchen pantries, so now he has a place to hide the treats he buys for his church class and stuff, without fear of the kids or I getting into it. I told him to not tell me the code, cause then I'll give in to temptation and eat them. So it's good they are locked away from me too. He locked up his Nerf guns and all their orange and yellow bullets, so hopefully this will keep those things locked up safely and I won't find them all over the house anymore? Fingers crossed. We should probably put the Keva blocks in there too. Well no, those are good to have out, but I'm getting a bit tired of seeing them all over. Corey recently ordered these blocks (Feb 5th), per Wesley's recommendation. He and his friend Michael at school always skip lunch and head to the library so they can build tracks with these. Last Thursday Wesley built an example of the kind of tracks they create:

We "only" have one set of 400 of these, so that limits the size and scale of his buildings, but it's all good. He showed us how they race the ping pong balls down their creations...

And yes, 400 pieces. They are pretty easy to clean up, but still - FOUR HUNDRED. (sigh... all I want is a clean house.) Another one of Wesley's architectural works was this tower, which was also hollow to allow the ping pong ball through.

Impressive Wes. So that was where the blocks were the first few days, I cleaned them up and put them away. I saw Sophi bringing them upstairs on a Friday night. "...Nonono, those stay downstairs..." I said. Sophi doesn't complain or talk back, she just gives me a puppy look of "please?" Then I said "OK, fine! But you have to pick them up afterwards" "OK Mom! ThanksMomYou'reTheBest!" She played with them, picked them up, but did not take them back downstairs. So they have remained upstairs since. These next pictures were all from two weeks ago on Saturday, Feb 8th, which was when Wes and Abi found them and played with them....

Wes tried to cage in Abi but she kept bumping it and it would tumble to the ground, so he gave up and told her to do him - HE knew how to stay still...

It's a good game. The blocks have remained upstairs since. They do keep everyone entertained that night for scriptures - Building a fragile cage around Natalie -

She accidentally bumped it, so that meant her turn was over. Sophi was next. She was determined to hold still...

We were all listening despite there being a lot of building activity going on.

Sophi was doing great, but there was still the possibility of Owen, Daniel, or Peter bumping it, so we had to finish it! It is a little addictive - like you can't help but want to hurry and build up a wall!

...and FINISHED! One Sophia cage done.

It does keep the kids kinda quietly entertained while we read. It's a little loud when the knock down each other's towers on purpose or when they argue over whose turn it is to be built around. Owen and Daniel make simple little creations.

Sophi did so good holding still Wes does her again

He wasn't able to finish that one - it's tricky to do build that high. They've provided a few weeks of fun, but my fear of them being left out and all over the floor was not unfounded. They usually don't pick them up, of if they or I do, it usually doesn't matter, cause Owen and Daniel will find the picked up box in a matter of minutes and dump it. The blocks are currently all over my bedroom floor. I can't remember which night it was that we were building as Corey shared this Indian and Snake lesson ....

That's a tale that we both remember hearing in our youth. After the video was over and scriptures and prayer were done, the kids got up and left to brush their teeth or go to bed. I looked at the left over mess on the floor and told the kids that I felt frustrated by it - especially cause they always say they'll pick it up after! Ethan said "You knew what I was..." Haha, should I be surprised that the kids leave messes? No, I know what they are: kids. And Kids=messes. Lol, kudos. Yes, I knew what would happen when I said yes to Sophi. I knew what she was. She would not clean it up. And so here we still are. So the keva blocks are contributing to the mess, but I like them. They are a good simple all natural toy.

Corey and I are going to try and simplify all the belongings and clutter around here soon, but the keva blocks are on the list of toys to keep. We might have gotten to the basement but we had to pause our productivity at 6 to go to little gathering with some neighbors - a gathering of all of us parent's that have kids on missions. We all have sons out right now, it was fun to get together. Corey and I brought Peter along.

We had a nice visit and were there until 9:30 talking. I doubt we'll clean tomorrow, and Rafael will be here Monday, so we'll see what happens. I'm not going to stress about it.