I did feel a bit of guilt when I saw the bags and bags of stuff loaded in the back of the van ready to go to charity. But then I walked upstairs and looked in the perfectly neat kids rooms and their tidy cupboards and all guilt literally flew out the window.
I love the feeling a good clean out brings. I sorted and folded and organised all the kids rooms, my office, the bathrooms and our wardrobe to within an inch of its life and afterwards I felt revived and inspired and absolutely ready to kill anyone who dared to mess it up.
Not that I have ever had one to compare to, but I kind of imagine that a Colonic Irrigation might give you the warm and fuzzy kind of clean I was feeling after the big Purge.
Sunday afternoon rolled around and I realised I had left the kids to pretty much do their own thing all weekend. They weren't bored and they didn't really suffer for it. They rode their bikes and scooters with the neighbours, swam in the pool, played basketball out front and fought with each other - all simple good fun kid stuff.
That afternoon I set up their tee pee / wigwam in the backyard, the hubby fired up the BBQ and we just kicked back and chillaxed while the kids ate their Hot Dog dinner in their tent. After dinner it was Popcorn, Hot Chockies, Fred Clause and cuddles on the couch. Simple pleasures but so much fun!
Don't you remember back when being a kid was so simple? When a sausage sanger was pretty much the best damn meal you ever tasted and Sunday nights were spent pleasantly exhausted from all the playing you had done out in the fresh air.
Sometimes I ache for those days, to be a kid with nothing more important to do than eat dinner in my cubby house and curl up on the couch with my Mum and Dad.
Maybe there is a lesson in it for me as a parent, because as I sit here with my kids and watch them laugh at Vince Vaughn being an obnoxious brother to Santa, they seem pretty much blissed out, happy and content to me - despite the fact they didn't actually go further than the bottom of the street this weekend.
Perhaps it's time to slow things down and embrace the simple pleasures once again?
What is something your kids do that brings back an aching for your childhood?
