Sunday, May 1, 2011

Sunday Best - Love in the Chaos




If you ever need a cure for house envy, come to our house. You'll leave feeling that your house is the best organized, most tightly run ship on the planet. A visit here is good for that. With 4 males in the house, the level of noise is beyond what some would find comfortable. The same can be said for the level of activity, as in indoor soccer games, and football tossing.

There is someone always either playing the piano, shooting the Nerf gunS (yes--S-- as in PLURAL, as in MANY to choose from), or seeing how many paper airplanes can be flown off the upstairs balcony at once. [Hmmmm....maybe they'll fly better if we tape pennies to them!]

Snacking is always going on, there is PlayStation being played, more boys from the neighborhood, a Wii game started upstairs. The lemonade pitcher will be spilled, and someone will leave their unfinished popsicle to melt on the kitchen island. There are shoes to be tripped over, and Lego pieces that will spike the tender arch of your foot.

This is our home, with love in the chaos. 

I grew up in a silent home. My mother didn't like noise, and didn't encourage interaction. She preferred quiet solitude. This was a good thing, in part, it turned me into an insatiable reader. But, my memories of what it was like growing up are often accompanied by the sound of the quiet ticking of the clock in the dining room that I would hear daily.

I knew, that when I had my own family, that I wanted our home to be a boisterous home, bursting at the seams with family life, much like my  grade school friend, Stephanie, had. That's what I wanted.

Life is so good--I am now blessed with exactly that. I am the mother of three sons.

And, within the sound of yet another vase breaking, a dish being dropped, or the sound of experimental aircraft being thrown off the upstairs balcony, you will hear love among the chaos. The sounds of a full house, and my own full, satisfied heart.

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This post originally appeared at Stephanie's,  The Drama Mama, Scoop on Poop. Click over and meet her, she is a lovely woman.

47 comments:

  1. I had three boys and one girl. I understand all about chaos. Believe it or not, my house is worse now. I used to be much more organized... I had to be!

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  2. Yes, I know the quiet solitude house! That's one of the reasons I hope that I'll have six loud children and a house full of their friends. Your house sounds like a home I wouldn't want to leave!

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  3. I love the idea of chaos. My house was fairly quiet when I was growing up. If we wanted to be loud, we had to go outside.

    I think this is such a lovely post and I'm glad you got the home you dreamed of.

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  4. no way i could live in a silent home...luckily i did not grow up in one...there were plenty of other religeous rules to follow but now silence...

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  5. I will be honest, I *prefer* a house that is more calm than chaos, but I know it's just not likely.

    I think it's a mix here. There are times when I can let it go and let the noise happen but there are times where I have to ask everybody to chill the eff out.

    3 boys...bless your heart

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  6. The noise is definitely something to cherish - because someday, it will be quiet.

    I too grew up in a very clean, very quiet house. Very depressing. Now I try to surround myself with as much chaos as I can to drown out the silence.

    There is love in the chaos.

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  7. My parents encouraged a quiet home and today I go NUTS if I go to someone's house and it's loud. I can't think!

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  8. I would love to go to your house any day, messy and loud? Bring it on! Wait did you say messy?

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  9. You're writing of our parallel lives again, Empress! Love hearing how someone else loves the chaos, too. (Just add one more boy to the mix in mine.)

    It's the love, though -- that's what's important.

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  10. That house sounds a lot like one I know. Hmmmm? I complain about the noise now but I'm sure I'll miss it one day.
    Your Friend, m.

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  11. Quiet??!! Quiet to me is death. I was raised on the street that was a major truck route, went in the Navy where noise was 24-7 and later lived at the end of a Lockheed/Navy runway. I cannot sleep in a quiet room. Noise is my life.

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  12. I love this so much Alexandra! I need to remind myself to be grateful for the happy noises in our house!

    Sometimes I just want it all to stop...but then I think...no I don't...they are happy sounds of children being children. Thanks for the reminder :)

    Glad you are basking in your love in the chaos!

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  13. I love this post. Even though there are days when the noise is teenagers bickering and I long for solitude, I feel joy in my heart when I hear the noise of hilarity and music and foolishness. It's why I haven't questioned the bent ear on my metal cat sculpture on the landing.

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  14. I love this. Growing up, I had a friends' house that was THE hang out spot for all of us. For my younger brothers? My parents' house was that. My mom relished in having all those teenagers through her house, eating all her food, and just knowing everyone was safe.

    My baby brother married one of the girls that used to hang out there.

    And I married one of the guys that I used to hang out with at my friends' house.

    It's a lovely thing being The House.

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  15. I love this post! My husband LOVES quiet and I crave noise. It's so nice to have the baby around because she adds such life to the house.

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  16. As much as I sometimes long for a calm, quiet home, my children are imaginative, spontaneous, dramatic, silly beings. Our house is filled with laughter and giggles, dinosaur roars and Dobby impersonations. And I love it.

    (Great post!)

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  17. Your house sounds like a wonderful place to be! I didn't grow up in a quiet house per se, but I did grow up in a house that I didn't want to take my friends to, between my mom being a smoker (in the house -- yuck) and my parents owning several dogs AND my mom not being much of a housekeeper. I'm not suzy homemaker by any means, but I do want my kids to feel comfortable bringing their friends around. I want it to be warm, friendly, and lived in!

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  18. That's what I love about staying with you guys.

    The noise.

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  19. It's crazy but that's the point, right? You want to be THAT HOUSE! And the boys and their friends will remember it-and you-forever. Even though most of the time you feel like M-O from Wall-E.

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  20. Ah, those are the sounds and sights of a house being LIVED in!

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  21. You are such a wonderful mom!

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  22. We have forts being built in every room and living room furniture that will wear out for being climbed on by the time JDaniel starts kindergarten.

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  23. When I read this yesterday I turned to John and said..gosh I hope that our Sundays sound like this as they get older, grow up. I would love the noise of love and chaos inside our home. This just made me anticipate what having boys is really all about! Thanks for peek inside my future!

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  24. I'm with you...i always wanted to be the "kool aid house" where everyone hung out. When my girls were around, that's exactly what it was. I miss that chaos... a LOT!

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  25. Love.
    My home was boisterous growing up. So when I moved in with hubs, the silence drove me batty. He would chuckle when he'd come home and the TV and radios were all on at the same time ;)

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  26. I love this. You have a home that your children are happy and the sounds of happiness are everywhere-good for you :) This is how I am, I want the sounds of life to echo in these walls :)

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  27. If my daughter is awake, she is making noise, singing, Mmmming while she eats, running from room to room. Sometimes I think she makes the same amount of noise as three boys. Then, my nephew comes to visit and I realize....

    Lovely post.

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  28. When I visit my sister (whom I love, don't get me wrong) she looks at my kids then at me and says, "Don't they know how to use 'indoor voices'?"

    I look at them and then at her and say, "They're inside and talking. So, yep."

    We're loud. And we scarf our food. It's not pretty, just the truth.

    Fish gotta swim...

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  29. Alexandra, you are living your life as it should be lived. A bit of a mess, sticky floors you can't quite get to mopping, snacks, and laughter.

    A life your boys will always treasure.

    A life you are blessed to have.

    And I would happily plop my lazy butt down on your sofa and enjoy that chaos with you over a warm cup of tea any day.

    I loved this!

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  30. I hear you! We had five kids and a MIL living in our house. that made 6 females and me. The shrieking was ear piercing at times. As to missing all the noise, that never happened to us. I also grew up in a very noisy house, so I don't miss the noise AT ALL...
    Great post!

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  31. Your writing always gives me goosebumps, Alexandra, and this piece is no exception. Beautiful as always. Your home sounds lovely to me, what with the crashing dishes, falling paper airplanes, and sounds of the Wii. I would so much rather be one in the chaos than sit in a formal dining room any day.

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  32. Aw, so sweet. With three boys, quite has been banished from your house for quite a long time - and good riddance. Yay for loud, happy homes.

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  33. I remember this as one of your best written posts, Alexandra. I wonder if you can submit it somewhere?

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  34. Isn't that funny? I grew up in a LOUD chaotic always something happening home and all I wanted was a quiet place to just be.

    So now, we have our quiet home and then we invite people over so it'll be loud and chaotic. Best of both worlds.

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  35. Sometimes the chaos makes me crazy, but mostly I love it. I was just over at a friend's in the late evening and her house was so quiet. Ours is always so crazy at that time and I found myself missing it.

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  36. You gave nice ideas here. I done a research on the issue and learnt most peoples will agree with your blog. Certainly, these practices are unfair; but they say that most of their rules are only to apply to people who overdraw.

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  37. Love this and your house sounds like a fun house to visit. I love loud houses the quiet ones are so uncomfortable. You just sit there staring at one another and clearing your throat every few seconds. I'm trying to find a balance between a house that's comfy and one where I don't lose a pair of scissors every few days. I wish I could say the kids made me this way but it's all me. I'm a chaos who desperately wants to be more put together.

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  38. I grew up in a house with 6 people so chaos, noise and mess is my norm. For me, that's a happy house. So I'm with you, totally.

    p/s* Darn, I think the comment above me is spam.

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  39. Sorry, comment above the one above me. Your comments are coming in fast and furious! Sorry, Lydia, I don't mean you!

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  40. Plus, all of the noise lets us appreciate the brief moments of silence...

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  41. Enjoy it, they grow up and LEAVE sooner than later....

    Good post and I felt the same about my house


    that is all

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  42. I only have one son (1 kid actually) but he's loud and funny and I love (most of the time) the noise. Like you our house was supposed to be quiet at all times so I enjoy the chaos. I revel in it!

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  43. Oh, I just KNOW that my Cherubs - especially The Small One - would love to learn your salad eating cow technique. But I think I am going to keep that little tidbit all to myself. :)

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  44. I totally agree. I like a loud fun house. If I wanted to live in a museum I'd move to one. I'm the house all the kids come to and I love it! Dirty floors and all.

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  45. I do not have any kids yet...but I am not sure how I will feel about the "chaos" .... I grew up with three brothers, so I KNOW the chaos...but...it wasn't mine...technically.

    We'll see, I suppose... :)

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  46. I'm all about the chaos. In my opinion chaos = love. You are awesome, Empress. I love you. Your children are very very lucky to have you.

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