Mommy locked the door

About two weeks ago I took all the girls toys, right down to the last stuffed animal decorating their rooms, and put them in the bonus room and locked the door. I came to the conclusion that they have too many toys. The pile on the floor seemed endless. Mostly it was a pile of stuffed animals. OK so maybe they have too many stuffed animals. Word to the family.....no more stuffed animals. OK so some of the animals came from us when we went to Circus Circus. Can't help but try to win the stuffed animal for your little girl. Those big brown eyes of Cocoa's and those beautiful green eyes of Sweet Pea's, you just can't resist. (Daddy's pretty good at those claw machines.) That first night I started to feel guilty. They wouldn't clean up the mess they made with the toys that were in the room in the first place. It had been two days of saying "clean up the toys". Giving them time limits and bribing them with candy and the chance to watch a movie. I would start to help them but they had to do the bulk of the work. It just came down to me not wanting to deal with it anymore I guess. I did give them one stuffed animal a piece, Sweet Pea's "Horsey" and Cocoa's "Dumbo" (I'm not that mean). So that night Cocoa walked downstairs and told daddy that, "Mommy locked the door." She would continue to repeat this same phrase over and over again. I called my sister one day and Cocoa even mentioned it to her.
Get this, the first day after I locked the door, they found something they could use to unlock the door. I called my husband and told him about it and he asked, "How did they know to it?" I told him that they're not stupid. They're SMART! They've seen us do it before to other doors they've accidentally locked. The next day, they did it again. Now it's two weeks later, they've gotten a few things back. Two boxes of blocks and a box of Toys Story toys. They sure were excited to see those. But since then, nothing else. I actually was going to give them all back the other day. They, of course, had opened the door and so I told Sweet Pea to start putting the animals in their rooms. Once the animals were back in their bedrooms, I would come and help put them away. Simple right? Wrong. After two hours, about two dozen animals had been moved. They went back into the bonus room. The next day, same thing. I don't really think they missed the toys as much. We certainly spend more time together now though. I have it in the plan to give them the toys back by the end of this week. They have to work for them though. They must help make their beds, clear their dishes from the table, and listen to mommy. Simple stuff. Maybe they'll appreciated their toys more now. I don't know. But I guess I can always lock the door again.