Whirlwind

It looks like my house had a whirlwind go through it.   There are things everywhere.  My husband and my brothers-in-law went to a movie this afternoon.   We had some of the neighbor children come over to try out the trampoline and talk about what each other got for Christmas.   They jumped for a while, came in to get some water as jumping is a tiring endeavor, and then, after jumping some more, they came inside to play with other things.

I started in on the large amount of cleaning it's going to take to get the house back in order.   Perhaps cleaning isn't the correct word as what mostly needs to be done is rearranging, tidying and putting away.   Some things, like all the reusable Amazon bags, are now back at my wrapping station in the craft room.   Presents we received are being put in places other than under and around the tree.   Some of the things have an obvious home, such as kitchen gadgets, while others don't have a spot yet, like new toys for the children.

And that poses a problem, because my motto (handed down to me by my mother) is, "a place for everything and everything in its place".  I need to find homes for everything.   There's a balance though.   It doesn't make sense to put away all the gifts the children received because we want them out so they see them and want to use them.   Or in the case of my daughter, she will know where her things are so she can find them.

Our visiting family members have all gone home.   The house is just back to the four of us and the dog.   And the happy carnage of Christmas.

The Big Boy Update:  My son has to read an hour each day for school during the break.   He had yesterday, since it was Christmas day, off.   Today he's trying to read but he has too much energy.   He's taken two breaks so far during which he went and jumped on the trampoline.   And it helped.   He was able to come back and refocus on reading without much fuss, something he mentally had a hard time doing in days past.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has most likely already done her reading for the day.   She's been reading in the morning, jumping on the trampoline during the day, listening to audiobooks when she's tired and then she falls asleep early.  We have to wake her up for dinner and then she goes to sleep again only to wake up early the next morning.