Cleaning up...Daddy Style

We are headed out of town this weekend and I have learned my lesson about leaving the house messy!  I try to make sure we are good to go with laundry and clean up so I don't come home to twice as much work.  My husband will help unload the car and then that is where he stops the "unpacking" process.

So in an effort to run around like a chicken with my head cut off and get things done, while getting things packed up, I ask the kids to clean up the puzzles.  The puzzles that they took every piece of and put in a basket then threw around the room, while I was folding a load in the bedroom.  In the meantime, my Dad calls on the phone to check in, my husband calls to see what he needs to pick up from the store and all the while I am telling the kids to "put the puzzles together and on the shelf or else!!"  My Dad must have heard me say it about 13 times in one conversation!

They apparently did not think they had to listen to me and this could be A: because they were superheroes today and superheroes don't have to listen to their Mommies?  or B: Mommy took a phone call so she doesn't really mean what she is saying?  Either way, I meant it!

My final order to them (maybe it was a plea) was "Do you know what Daddy is gonna say when he sees this??  This is your last chance to clean it up before he gets home and when he gets home he is gonna make you cry AND throw the puzzles away!!"  (now normally I pride myself in not having to use these tactics and handling situations myself, but sometimes you just need some ammo at the end of a day of taking care of kiddos and diffusing all the bombs that go along with a day in the life)
Sure enough Daddy comes home and tells them to clean up.  Of course, they listen right away.  They are cleaning up, Daddy is helping them clean up and then he comes to me and says, "wanna see my big finish??"  They have cleaned up and put all the puzzles together and he is still getting the garbage bag!!

They are shocked, Henry is crying, Callie doesn't know what to do and I am secretly smiling to myself at how satisfying it feels to let them know I am dead serious when I say, "CLEAN UP OR I WILL THROW THIS STUFF AWAY!!"

Of course, it is not in the trash, just the basement and out of the way for awhile.  Maybe that is what we need to get them to appreciate it.  Might sound mean but hey, it works every so often.