Mess-makers, Mess-makers, make me a mess!

As those of you who have lived with or are living with toddlers in the house, it's a constant battle to keep up with the mess. Each child seems to have his or her own unique talent. I'll share some of my kids' talents.

A while ago, Claire earned the nickname of 'Destructor.' Now we have pictures to show why! It didn't take her an hour to discover the Halloween decorations on the entry table. Despite Dani's best efforts to keep them out of the reach of two little toddlers, Claire was able to pull half of them down! Siblings, do you recognize the painted gourds that mom used to put up?

Sometimes, they tag-team it, and Jacob loves it, as you can tell! If the tissue box is within reach, they'll bring it down to the floor and take turns pulling 1 tissue out at a time. After the box is empty, they'll take a tissue and rip it into little pieces. Dani says that stuffing tissues back into the tissue box is one of her least favorite things she does as a mother. It only took 3 emptyings to convince her to keep the tissues on the kitchen counter instead of the end table.
Little Destructor loves to read the Yellow Pages and the other various magazine-like advertisements we give her. She tears out the pages she wants to save - she'll be a good coupon-cutter in a few years!
She doesn't just make a mess of the house, she somehow ends up with messy hair by the end of every day. The small picture doesn't quite do justice to just how out-of-control her hair was because of the static on the couch, be sure to click on the picture for a better view!

Another favorite activity for both Claire and Jacob is to sit in the toy bins, but since Dani and I (for some reason) clean up the toys every night, kiddos need to empty the bins before they can sit in them. Out of the 12 bins that begin the day on the shelves, typically less than half are still there at the end of the day!