Our string of six birthdays in eight weeks is over.

End of school year plays have been performed.

Advancement speeches have been made.

And now all the children are home with Mom. Time for spring cleaning. I envisioned all the cleaning taking the first week of summer break. We’ve begun week two and aren’t even halfway there yet, but here are a few things my children learned last week:

1. White means no dirt in the corners either.
2. Mom yells.
3. There are four screen edges, eight if you count both sides.
4. Mom checks both sides.
5. The ledge where the latch is attached to the windows is part of the window and has to be cleaned, too.
6. So does the latch.
7. Mom yells loudly.
8. Mom will take the phone from your ear and tell your cousin that you can’t talk right now because you haven’t finished your windows. Especially if this is the third call in thirty minutes.
9. Window tracks go all the way around–they’re not just on the bottom.
10. Straight pins can be used to extricate fly parts from window tracks.
11. Mom won’t let you play until the window passes her inspection–even if it’s 2:30 and your cousins are hovering outside the house.
12. Mom doesn’t understand “I can’t …’
13. It can take two days to clean all the windows if the children help Mom. One if she does it by herself.

And this is when I chant, “Teach your children to work even if it’s easier and faster to do the job yourself.”