Well, it is hard for me to have my kids grow up BUT

lately, the girls have become old enough to ACTUALLY help clean the house. (I've been having them "help" for years, but if it was a job that actually needed to be done right, then I needed to do it myself - and most household jobs tended to fall into that category.)

But now, quite a few of the morning chores are done by the girls. (FYI Flower is 10 and Jelly Bean is 8.) I generally alternate who I ask to do which chores, but not always. Mostly, it is just "Flower, you may go do X. And Jelly Bean, please go do that." Here are the types of chores that they usually do:

• Unload the dishwasher
• Wipe down the bathroom counters and the toilets
• Clean the mirrors in the bathrooms
• Sweep and swiffer the bathroom floors
• Sweep and swiffer the dining room and kitchen floors
• Transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer
• Take the trash out
• Vacuum the living room, hallway and upstairs bedrooms
• Dust

And lest you think that I'm just sitting there eating bon-bons while I direct them, I'm usually doing things like folding clothes, putting clothes away, loading the dishwasher, changing diapers on the toddler and the baby that I watch, making bottles for the baby, wiping the counters down in the kitchen, putting stuff away that doesn't belong in the living room or kitchen, vacuuming the preschool area, and doing any of the things that the girls don't get to, etc.

And why don't I do more of this at night, you may ask? Well, the toddler and baby leave around 5:15, and then we eat dinner, and then at least a couple nights a week, we have an outside activity. Super gets in bed by 7:00 pm and the girls are in bed by 7:30 pm. On some nights, I need to do prep for preschool/homeschool the next day. And I have to be in bed by 9 pm because I get up at 4:45 am so I can go to the gym. So oftentimes, I just don't have much time to clean in the evenings. Plus, if I do it in the evening, I would probably start it after the kids went to bed, and I don't want to deprive the girls of their opportunity to be helpful LOL

We usually start chores at 8 am, and the goal is to get everything done by 9 am. Most of the time, we get the chores done around 8:45 am. Most of the time, the girls don't even complain about doing their chores. I'm not lying! I don't know what has come over them, but I'm just keeping quiet and being grateful!