31 Items Which Can be Found on our Floors at Any Given Moment

Do you feel like you are the only parent whose floor is always dotted with baby and child paraphernalia? Well, you most definitely are not. No one ever told me that once I had children, my floors would forever be cluttered with STUFF. It started when they were babies, when it was diapers and wipes that I had placed on the floor for easy reach--my fault.

Then, we moved into toddlerhood and their toys joined the fun. Their abundant, ever-growing collection of toys. I remember with each toddler, our floor was covered in primary colored toys of every shape and size. I would never choose to decorate my home with these colors, yet they were EVERYWHERE I turned! 

A few more years passed by, and each child began to develop his and her own niche of clutter. No matter how many times they pick up all the odds and ends lying around, there will always be something else landing somewhere else, within a matter of minutes. I can pretty much guarantee it. 

Just for fun, I took about two minutes to walk through the main floor of our house to see what our three sons and one daughter have lying around for us now. I'm not including their bedrooms, the playroom, or the bathrooms. This experiment involved only the rooms we live in the most, which also happen to be the rooms guests would see if they pop over unannounced. We all know never to do that to a mother with small kids, right? Okay, great! 

Let's note that I am not looking under anything. I'm positive the list would seriously never end if I actually looked under the furniture. 

Here's what I see on our floors:

KITCHEN:

• a grape
• a tortilla chip
• a piece of paper
• a Thera-band
• a paintbrush
• my camera case (I did not leave it there, I promise).

FAMILY ROOM:

• a Mario Kart Wheel
• a pillow thrown off the couch
• a tiny flashlight
• The iPad---Are you freaking kidding me?
• an Angry Bird toy
• one die
• a Candyland piece
• 2 batteries
• The Cheese Touch Game (from Diary of a Wimpy Kid)
• a Duplo block
• a bag full of toy money from The Game of Life
• a plastic sword
• an open bag, spilling out Skylanders
• another Theraband
• more Duplo blocks
• a Rainbow Loom bracelet

DINING ROOM:  (This is not a typical representation, since I just thoroughly cleaned this room yesterday)

• a Nerf bullet
• a toy car
• a pack of Rainbow loom hooks

LIVING ROOM:

• shoes
• a little green house from Monopoly
• many pieces from a Mad Lib game
• another Nerf bullet-a different style
• a baseball
• another Rainbow Loom bracelet

As I sat to type this list, Mark walked into the room and kicked one of the pieces from the Mad Lib game. I laughed out loud. If you do come over without fair warning, be prepared to navigate the mine field we like to call our house. Mark does threaten to throw it all in the garbage if it isn't cleaned up "right now, Mister!" yet somehow, nothing really ever makes it to the trash. To be fair, I do know that one day we'll miss these little reminders of our babies and kids spread out over every inch of this place. Until then, I do wish they would just stop dropping everything they touch right in the middle of our walking space. Is that too much to ask?