{"id":2914,"date":"2014-01-08T10:30:44","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T15:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/?p=2914"},"modified":"2014-01-08T10:30:44","modified_gmt":"2014-01-08T15:30:44","slug":"they-multiply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2014\/01\/they-multiply.html","title":{"rendered":"They Multiply…"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"I<\/a>

I haven’t done a good old fashioned rant about household clutter lately…<\/p><\/div>\n

The images you see in this post are snapshots from around my family room and kitchen on Tuesday, January 7, 2014. Those piles have since moved around and spread out some.<\/p>\n

Today my sons went back to school after 19 days off for the holiday break. That is by far the longest grade school break I’ve ever dealt with, perhaps even as long as some college breaks.<\/p>\n

We had a great time: we did a ton of sightseeing around Colorado, the boys enjoyed time with their grandparents, and had hours…upon hours…upon hours of video game, Kindle game, and TV time. But now it’s time to ratchet all that back and hunker down, at least till Spring Break in 2 1\/2 months.<\/p>\n

One of the perks of their going back to school is that I have the house to myself now for the first time in nearly 3 weeks. I have been able to keep it pretty clean…and sometimes even with their help! But something happens when my sons are home.<\/p>\n

Little things start to accumulate everywhere. Over the holidays this usually involves stocking stuffers.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Tabasco minis and test tube of fake snow were among Jacob’s stocking stuffers. The letter opener is mine.<\/p><\/div>\n

The kids begin to leave little piles of “stuff” all over the house. I do my best to keep it somewhat neat and orderly…but believe it or not, the kids are using this “stuff”. They will suddenly play marbles…or pick up a sheet of jokes from our Christmas crackers<\/a>…or decide to whittle a stick…or enjoy a block of Pez in their new Perry the Platypus dispenser<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8377\"<\/a>

Actually, the “MakeDo” set is my<\/em> contribution to our piles of stuff. Yesterday I was collecting our holiday Amazon boxes for the boys to use the MakeDo connectors.<\/p><\/div>\n

The center of my coffee table has a decorative wire basket that I use to attempt to keep the “stuff” under control. Before long, you can’t even see the basket, you see the pile of Rubik’s Cubes, stuffed animals, SparkFun kits, and Nerf blaster darts.<\/p>\n

\"Can<\/a>

Can you see the basket under there?<\/p><\/div>\n

I try to keep the piles of “stuff” nice and neat at least. But it doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a pile of random “stuff”…and when I visit other peoples’ houses, even with kids around, there doesn’t seem to be this “stuff”.<\/p>\n

Where do you put it all? Don’t your kids play with toys? What’s wrong with us?<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/rant><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The images you see in this post are snapshots from around my family room and kitchen on Tuesday, January 7, 2014. Those piles have since moved around and spread out some. Today my sons went back to school after 19 days off for the holiday break. That is by far the longest grade school break […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[33,376],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-L0","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4575,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2016\/08\/a-love-letter-to-my-local-library.html","url_meta":{"origin":2914,"position":0},"title":"A Love Letter to My Local Library","date":"02 August 16","format":false,"excerpt":"A version of this post originally appeared on GeekDad.com in May 2016. As you know, we've gotten around quite a bit. I am on my 8th home since graduating from college, and our sons are now on their 5th home.\u00a0Each move brings new discoveries. With each new community we learn\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"books\"","img":{"alt_text":"Image credit: P. Vollmer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/geekdad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/ArmadaLibraryBook1200x600-1000x500.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":41,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2008\/01\/five-little-monkeys.html","url_meta":{"origin":2914,"position":1},"title":"Five Little Monkeys…","date":"14 January 08","format":false,"excerpt":"From 2007 12 15 Po...Enjoy this picture from the holiday portrait session my boys and my nephews did together back in December. Imagine how tough it is to get 5 little boys to cooperate for the camera, so even though my sister's youngest wasn't quite looking at the camera, they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"family\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":608,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/07\/road-trip-2011-traveling-solo-with-sons.html","url_meta":{"origin":2914,"position":2},"title":"Road Trip 2011: Traveling Solo With Sons","date":"08 July 11","format":false,"excerpt":"Easter 2011.I've gotta admit it -- my boys travel VERY VERY VERY well. From Jacob and the Amtrak Auto Train to see family at 9 months old, to Timmy and a trip up to North Carolina to find a new house at 4 months old, our boys have learned that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"ranting\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/--MChnsmNKP0\/TbTnjMLjw_I\/AAAAAAABU-Y\/AVKGGwe8DKU\/s640\/IMG_7706.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":533,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/03\/sons-of-the-beach.html","url_meta":{"origin":2914,"position":3},"title":"Sons of the Beach!","date":"21 March 11","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been Spring Break here. Extremely early, I know, but allegedly my boys' school district here had some problems with their calendar and now the timing is \"off\" compared to the other school districts around here. Most kids I know of are having their Spring Breaks later in March, or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"florida\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/_yz59FVsseJY\/TYQRl9IIOAI\/AAAAAAABRw4\/nsdCbHUxfTc\/s640\/IMG_4355.JPG?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2833,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2013\/12\/oh-baby-its-cold-outside.html","url_meta":{"origin":2914,"position":4},"title":"Oh Baby It’s Cold Outside: Christmas Preparations and a Flooded Basement","date":"20 December 13","format":false,"excerpt":"The picture above is what we awakened to this morning, with 19F temperature. This came on the heels of several pleasant days: the kids could walk to\/from school and I enjoyed an outside run. A far departure from the Florida temperate conditions we had every Christmas. You won't be seeing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"basement\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/1467363_10152105134403428_1822561129_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":489,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2010\/11\/hi-honey-were-home.html","url_meta":{"origin":2914,"position":5},"title":"Hi Honey, We’re HOME!!!!","date":"28 November 10","format":false,"excerpt":"We made it! 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