Kids or Clean?

Laundry....what is the deal with it?!  Today as I was folding laundry, that never ending job, and my son Drew asked me to stop and help him with something, at first I said "Just a minute." A few seconds later I thought, "No, not just a minute, now!  The laundry will always be here, He will not."  He will not always want or need me, but today Drew does!  My friend Holly shared this poem in her talk to our moms group and I always think about it:

Cobwebs be quiet, dust bunnies go to sleep, I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Drew isn't a baby any more, but he needed some attention today.  So today I took 5 minutes to help him.  

Sometimes you just gotta stop folding laundry:

So Finn McMissile can save the day!  

He played with our new creation and scotch tape for 45 minutes, and all because I took 5 minutes away from laundry.  And you know what?  I finished!  I am so glad I helped him when he needed it, I wouldn't miss the excitement in his face for the world. I feel like I could clean non-stop all day every day, but I find if I focus on having this perfect house, it takes time away from my kids and it makes me grumpy when it isn't "just right".  I have had to throw that unrealistic expectation out the window.  At the end of the day are my kids really gonna care if my house was perfect, that the laundry was all done or would they rather have a mom who cared about them, their interests and payed attention to them?  I want to make lasting, fun memories!  The house cleaning will always be there, but they will not.

What is your laundry routine?  Have any really great tips to stay up on it?