How to clean with four children in tow...

There are four at home for the summer, seven and under.

While I'm cleaning one mess, they are usually creating another. 

Today, I decided to clean the master bathroom... to really, really clean it. I left the kids and dogs in the front room watching cartoons while I broke out the hard chemicals.

Later, I was chatting on the phone with a friend and she said, "I don't know how you can deep clean the bathroom like that with all your kids home. My kids at that age would have been all over me." 

Well, they actually did come in the bathroom a time, or two, or three...  

I was in the bathtub barefoot with the tub full of Soft Scrub and Method brand bathroom cleaner. My baby Lil' Red tried to climb right in the tub with me and all the cleaners. 

I was cleaning the mirrors with glass cleaner that smelled so minty fresh, and suddenly the paper towels disappeared. I found them. The entire roll was unrolled down the hallway, no child in sight.

The last task of cleaning the bathroom was to mop the floor. Every single one of my children, four to be exact, walked in during the mopping and left footprints to be mopped over again.

One would think that with all the interruptions, they could not be making any other messes in the rest of the house, but...

When I came out to check on them, Brown-eyed Gal, my three year old had sprinkled pepper around the kitchen. 

Our beagle puppy, Scout had shredded a sponge and a roll of toilet paper all over the living room. 

Lil' Expert, my seven year old had pulled a chair up and helped himself to quite a bit of candy on top of the refrigerator. 

Last but not least, Storytellin' Boy, my five year old had started his own cooking project. First, he cracked several eggs that he mixed with some hawaiian rolls and some crumbled parts of a cheese stick to make his own "Health Units" as he called them. 

"Mom, they are really healthy and delicious. Don't you want to try one. They have to harden up in the refrigerator to be done. But then they will taste so good. Don't you want to eat one of my health units?"  

My master bathroom is really, really clean. And as a bonus my son has made lunch.

Here's a couple of original pictures of the bathroom when we moved in back in 2005. This is how it looked after today's cleaning!

By the way, I love and am addicted to Method Cleaning Products. They are environmentally friendly, non-toxic, and they smell so good. These products keep me cleaning. And as you can tell by my motley crew, the cleaning is not going to be ending any time soon.

Here's to summer cleaning projects!!!

*5 Minutes for mom is hosting Tackle it Tuesday to bring housecleaning to the blogosphere. Read more housecleaning projects!