"Clean up, clean up! Everybody, every where!"

If you've EVER had little ones at your house you know this song. Usually it's the only thing I can do to get my kids to start picking up their messes. In fact, sometimes I even catch myself singing it when I'm scrubbing away at the toilet or vacuuming the floors. Today I sent monkey 2 and monkey 3 up to their room to clean it up. I reminded them that I'd spent about 30 minutes cleaning and organizing all of the toys in their closet yesterday and that it'd better stay just as pretty as it had been or there'd be trouble. They whined and complained, of course. So I told them they each only had to pick up two hands and one foot's worth of stuff off of the bedroom floor. (10 fingers + 5 toes = 15 items each...) They were pretty happy with that and so went merrily on their way. Three hours later I went up to check on them and asked how they were doing. They each claimed to have picked up two hands and one foot of stuff but it looked like nothing had moved from where it had been this morning. I also discovered that monkey #2 has Hurculean strength. He pulled the mattress off of one of the bottom bunks so that monkey #3 could have her own trampoline in their room. Lucky! I wish I had a tramp in my room. Anyway, the room still isn't clean but the mattress is back on the bed - for now. If I hear the chandelier rattle in the middle of the night I'll know that there are "2 more monkeys jumpin' on the bed!"