Phoenix Photography | On having Teenagers

Hey all you awesome moms!

Do you have teenagers? I have 3! Boy is it so much fun!

It is so great that our children can hold actual conversations with us now! We can leave them home alone to go out on date night and not have to worry about finding a sitter. We don’t have to pay for a sitter! We can let them go all afternoon and sometimes have the house all to ourselves! Eventually we can even send them out to the store to pick up a few groceries for us! It’s awesome!

There are the play practices and band practice, games and competitions. Driving and driving and driving, all in one day to take all 3 children to different events and practices. I am so grateful that my husband is able to help out with all the driving. Otherwise I have no idea how I would be able to get everyone where they need to be! On top of that we have to find time to make dinner and feed everyone. Many nights My family doesn’t get to eat until 9pm!

I love every bit of it! The busier I am with the kids the better. What on earth are we going to do when they move out? My kids are all 1 year apart. In a flash my house will be empty except the 2 of us and we will have to find new things to do to take up our time.

 

But until then we still have a few years to figure out how on earth we are supposed to get everything accomplished in a day. How do you do it?

On top of all that there’s house cleaning! Uggh. Everyone’s favorite task! Yes our children are now old enough to help out with chores and pick up after themselves. Do you think my kids could pick there towels up off the floor and hang them up> Of course not! That would be too much work! So they sit on the floor all day and then end up in the wash after only 1 use. I am sorry, but I grew up in a house where you used your towel, hung it up and used it a second time. How dirty are you after a shower?! And them being bigger, they often make bigger messes. You should see the floor in my 14 year old’s room! You would think they would understand what “no food or drink in the bedroom” means. Nope. Red stains all over his carpet from juice.

 

Don’t get me started on my oldest’s room! Why do teenage boys rooms stink so bad?! I can understand mess, but where on earth does that smell come from? He isn’t in there all day. He doesn’t spend every moment in there like my daughter does. Her room smells good. She doesn’t use lotions and perfumes. She the simplest girl I’ve met. No makeup, throw on whatever she can find in the closet. She always looks good with little to no effort. Lucky girl!

 

Anyway back to cleaning. When I find the time, I have no motivation for it. See I’m not like your typical woman who has to have a clean house. I HATE cleaning. I will do it of course because I am extremely embarrassed if anyone comes over to a dirty house. Actually I’ve gotten a little better with that. Why do our houses have to be spotless? I have 3 teenagers. As soon as I clean something off or pick something up, there is another dirty cup on the coffee table and a pile of dirty tissues on the couch. And that’s not just from the kids. I admit I do it too at times. That’s my dirty little secret. I can be a little sloppy and lazy!

 

My 14 year old helped me pick up, vacuum, and mop the entire house yesterday for his party.  he is such a considerate guy. He had friends spending the night for his birthday and 2 of them are allergic to cats. We have cats. So we had to try to get as much cat fur up as possible and lock the poor cats up in my bedroom. The house looked great! We vacuumed places we usually forget about. By this morning, the place is trashed. What did I expect having 7 teenagers in the house?!

I’m not worried about it though. Today is a beautiful day. The second in the beginning of a beautiful Arizona Fall. We will get to picking up eventually. But it’s more important to us to enjoy the day. Lets the kids go outside and play, finish projects that have been sitting, waiting for cooler weather, and maybe we will make the husband happy and go hike a small mountain!

 

Have a beautiful weekend!

 

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