Walking Disasters

I love my children, but they are little walking disasters. Today, I woke up later than usual. Mat was up sick last night so we slept in today. The kids did NOT sleep in so they were up earlier than us creating messes...the kind only an adult can clean up. Just to give you a picture of some of the messes that already lay in waiting for me to clean...a rainstorm earlier in the week minorly flooded my daughter's room. The rug was soaked, the boxes under her window that were filled with lots of tiny pieces of toys were soaked, and that left lots of wet toys inside of the boxes. In the middle of the night while the power was out, my best idea was to dump all the toys out of her boxes all over the rest of her room so they could dry out. We haven't had much time at home lately so her room is still a disaster. My son's room is also a wreck. He's been creating little Lego master pieces that he believes need to be on display all around his room. Since their rooms aren't any fun anymore b/c they are too messy, they have moved on to the school room and the living room. The biggest mess this morning had more to do with all the craft projects they started (mainly the girl). There are craft projects sprawled out all over the school room. It's stressful to start school with the house a wreck, and even more difficult to sit there teaching my children when on the inside my heart feels as cluttered as my house. We started with Bible, so while I don't feel like I'm a spiritual mess...just a stress kind of mess! I'd love suggestions or advice from other moms in this same stage of life. How do you cope with the stress of the mess? Do you start school in spite of the mess? Honestly, little minds here are fresh in the morning. If we don't start school first thing, the day seems to last forever. By evening, I'm so tired that I don't have enough left in me to put things away. And if there is a friend out there who just loves to organize, I'd love some help. I'm not doing the whole organizing thing very well...and somehow that causes my stress level to stay on high all the time so when little additional stresses come along, I fall apart. I love my babies. I love their little works of art whether it's in Lego form or made with glitter glue or markers. I love the little gifts they make for me and for friends. I love teaching them and staying home with them. I love the fun times we share together throughout the day. This whole cleaning up thing is such a bother! Where is that cleaning lady when I need her?...or better yet, why can't I seem to part with some of this junk so my life will just be simple?