I have to admit that I really love Mondays.

It's true.

In the last few months as we have adjusted to the sweet addition to our family, my life has fallen into a nice rhythm where Monday's usually turn out great. Here's why:

Monday is my "recover from the weekend and put the house back in order and clean the house as much as possible" day. I don't know about you, but after a Saturday and a Sunday where we break from our daily routine, my house is usually a disaster that needs some serious recovery. To ensure this recovery, I plan to stay home on Monday. Wherever possible I avoid scheduling appointments or play dates or any place I have to be.

Monday is my laundry day. I don't have a set day for washing whites or colors (I just wash them as needed), but I always know that on Mondays I am washing sheets and towels and dishrags--basically all of my linens. I get started right after breakfast. I wash the sheets first so I can get them back on the beds before the day is too late. I always just put the same set of sheets back on the beds, because I detest folding fitted sheets (mine always end up in an awkward, lumpy, somewhat resemblance of a square).

I'm not one of those women who clean house after the children are in bed, minimizing interruptions. Minimizing interruptions might would be nice, but kid sleep time equals my time, and I don't want to spend it cleaning. The one exception to this is mopping my tile floor--I don't try to do that with a crawling baby in the room, since the poor B slips and slides all over the wet floor. Consequently, I clean during the daytime and the Ant Bug cleans with me. Or, she dances and sings and runs circles around me while I clean. But that is fine with me. For some reason, Monday's are magical because her patience for cleaning on that day is much greater than any other day of the week. Maybe it's because she loves routine as much as I do and is happy to be at home and doing normal things after our sometimes irregular weekend?

The B usually does her part by napping extra long after a fatiguing Sunday at church with missed naps. Today she napped a total of over three and a half hours!

So what did we get done today? 2 loads of laundry, vacuumed downstairs and up, made two loaves of Friendship bread, put toys and clothes and papers in their place, and made a quick trip to the store. The Ant Bug and I even had time to do some building with Jenga blocks and made some paper farm tools for the "pretend Farmer Brown and Mrs. Farmer Brown". She was very diligent in feeding and watering the pretend cow and horse and pig and duck.

The girls and I usually do end up leaving the house at some point, usually just a quick trip to the store or a walk around the neighborhood, because who likes to be cooped up inside all day?

And then after dinner we spend time as a family in Family Home Evening. With young children, our lessons are pretty brief. Tonight we used this activity from The Friend, and were surprised at how many animals are mentioned in the Book of Mormon.

At the end of the day, I curl up in my comfy bed with clean smelling sheets. That's where I'm headed right now.

Happy Monday to you.