RheostaticsFan and Mr. RheostaticsFan will be over in about 15 minutes for a visit, so I was just doing a quick house-wide tidy.
Earlier today we were making valentines, so there were sparkles on the floor under the table, along with scraps of multi-coloured paper and the backs of heart-shaped stickers.
The box from our magnetic letters was in the front room, filled with stuffed animals who took a trip to the moon this afternoon.
In the TV room, there were stacking cups under most of the furniture and a pile of blankets that had been used as the roof for a fort.
There was plastic food all over the playroom floor, left behind by several of the guests at a morning tea party.
In the sink I found a small plate with two partitions — one for baby cereal and one for mushy carrots — and eight little spoons, one for each hand of the eater, one for the Mommy, and one for each hand of the assistants.
Sometimes I feel like our house looks like bombed-out Beruit, and it’s discouraging. But today I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I love our house like this — I love it that it’s full of kids, I love it that it’s full of life, I love it that there are sparkles on the floor.
Our family lives here. It’s home.
TurtleHead 
Sounds wonderful. I would have loved to have grown up in a house like that!
zoom
I know exactly what you mean. It reminds me of the sound bite I often give people who ask me what having kids is like (or even if they don’t). It’s messy, it’s inconvenient, it’s frustrating, sometimes it’s incredibly annoying, and despite all of that, it will make you happier than you ever thought possible.