How much dirt is too much?

I don't walk around with a dust buster behind my kids (anymore) so I'm okay with a little dirt and a little mess. I want my kids to have fun and I am not going to stress over every little thing out of place and the house not in perfect order. I have chilled tremendously about keeping a perfect house! Life's too short, right?

And I realize how great it is to have children that want to play outside. The stream (maybe its a lake) behind our house fascinates my kids. They find various items around the water and have made secret hideouts with the neighbor kids. But water is water, and there is something alluring about putting your hands in the water, next comes the feet and before you know it, they are filthy and wet.

My big complaint - the dirt! The amount of dirt they collect on their bodies, shoes and clothing is mind boggling. The process just to get "clean" to come into the house is truly exasperating. Take off your filthy shoes, (whine) now the socks, oooh, they are wet and filthy. Okay, son, you are so disgustingly dirty you must strip down in the garage. Go scrub your hands and fingernails (more whining). I need one of those outside showers you see at the beach. Daughter fusses, telling me she's not that dirty. Uh-huh.

I have friends that would love to see their kids play outside instead of sitting in from of the tv or computer or even playing on the Wii, X box or any other gaming device. These kids are probably clean and neat.

The shoes are a huge problem, I have purchased boot scrapers (you know, the cute animal kind) to help them clean their shoes off before coming inside. Well, a boot/shoe scraper doesn't work if you don't use it.

Don't get me started on the laundry. I have tried every stain remover to remove said stains. The clothes are so bad they need cleaning before they go into the washer. What's a mother to do?

So seriously, how much dirt is too much? Any suggestions on ways to control the dirt before it is deposited into our house will be happily noted.