McKennaism with a little hope

I have quirks.  It is that simple.  I'm not going to divulge them all here, for some of them really should be between me and my family BUT here is one of them: I love to vacuum!  It is very therapeutic, to instantly see chaos and filth swooped up into a confined and easily able to do away with space.  It is wonderful.  A few months ago we broke down and bought a 220V vacuum so that I wouldn't have to keep tugging a transformer around the house.  That machine is so powerful and totally fulfilling to my vacuum quirk. She is red and she has attachments, which isn't the reason why I bought her, but she rocks at cleaning up my quirky need to vacuum.

Bailey hasn't really caught onto this organization/cleaning quirk that is mine.  Really, she is bohemian and artsy which makes for a really entertaining and colorful personality in our home but we don't see eye to eye on the definition of a completed cleaning task.  We are continuing to work on this part of our relationship so that we are both happy.  What Bailey's bohemian/artsy quirk brings to the Frandsen home is the constant reminder that life is fun, which I'll talk about more in a jiffy . . .

McKenna on the other hand, may have inherited my quirks, bless her heart and poor thing.  She has found a cleaning quirk of her own.  She loves to sweep.  If she is bored and her toys aren't sending out their "come play with me" vibes then she is off to the kitchen to fetch my broom and dust bucket.  She spends lots of time in this task and really does quite a good job.  After 20-25 minutes she comes to show me her work, which is a bucket full of dust, a big smile on her face that has more to do with the therapeutic cleansing than the feeling of making her mom happy and she tells me, "Mom I sweeped the entire-d room" The best part of all, dumping the dust in the trash.  Aaaahhhh, it feels so good.

Enter, Bohemian Artsy Bailey combined with a lazy Saturday morning, an iPod full of fun and a crazy idea (probably the sugar content of our breakfast was another key player).  She talked Mckenna into "dressing up" not as a princess mind you, but nerdy and quirky.  And here are the results.  Thank you Bailey for reminding us that your quirkiness is just as important as ours.

Lastly, we hit a major milestone today.  Mark and I left for 2 hours BY OURSELVES to run errands.  We left the girls at home.  Now that Bailey is 11 and oh so responsible, Mark and I feel that every once in awhile . . . why not!?  It was really nice and Bailey did an excellent job. What a good good 11 year old.  And I should also send a thank you out to my 5 year old for not doing her worst.