2008 Damage Report

Here is the damage report for 2008 delivered by our team of troublemakers (twins). We do not have pictures of all the damage since at some times we seemed to be experiencing some form of shock after seeing their newest feat of destruction that we went straight into clean-up mode and forgot about capturing the moment. We do feel that these events however, need to be documented in order to one day look back and be able to speak of these comical tales.

First off, to insure you they are off to a great start this year, assuring us there is much to look forward to for 2009. Here is a highlight of this week. Below is Koen who found a bottle of white-out and decided to paint part of his face with. This does not come off easily and feeling bad about the scrubbing involved in removing all the evidence we decided to let most of it wear off on it's own.
The next day, Koen and Kael found more bottles of white-out (I wasn't aware I owned multiple bottles) of which they each participated in the destruction of the TV room. And yes, as luck would have it, Kael also painted his face, along with his hands and together finally attacked our poor couch and carpet.

There was a cushion of the couch that was also affected along with the ottoman to the sectional shown below. I didn't capture our newly speckled carpet, but you get the idea.

Now these are the only images we have managed to document. I'll continue the list organized into categories.

FOOD
- A dozen eggs- Koen pulled out a carton of eggs out of the fridge and had a blast breaking them all over the kitchen floor.

- Apples and Bananas- The boys love to take apples and make as many bite marks as they can and then discard the fruit usually underneath furniture and in closets to be found at a later date. Bananas are also bitten into and if they do not finish the fruit it then turns into a form of entertainment as they love to mush the banana remains into the carpets and couches.

- Cereal- We usually go through 2-5 bags or boxes of cereal a month that are not eaten, but dumped either on the kitchen or living room floor or both. They climb on top of counters and into cupboards to get to the changing locations. So far, cereal seems to be their favorite food to display in a lovely array over our floors.

- Pineapple upside down cake and a wedding cake- This is the worst food mess so far of which I regret not taking any pictures of this. I woke up one morning to the twins giggling a very distinctive giggle that can only mean one thing.......T.R.O.U.B.L.E, trouble. As I exited my room and glanced down the hall, past the stairs into the family room below I saw the contents of my purse scattered amongst a full bag of cereal that stretched into the kitchen with no visual of the mess makers yet. Getting a closer look at my purse remains I notice that individual checks and pages from notebooks have been ripped out along with lotion squirted onto the carpet. As I peered around the corner into the kitchen I saw Kael and Koen sitting on top of the table surrounded with Pineapple upside down cake debris surrounding them so thick that I couldn't even tip toe through any opening exposing the linoleum below without getting the cake stuck to the bottom of my feet and stuck between my toes. The same description can go for the boys as well. I went upstairs, woke Barry up and we entered together into the war zone and started to clean up the mess. Shortly after cleaning this attack on the home front I ventured out to secure the rest of the house and discovered the top layer of my brother, Reed's wedding cake, which was being stored in our spare room for his wedding 3 days later, was destroyed. Luckily I had enough ingredients to remake the layer in time for it's debut at their reception.

- Carrot Cake- In a past blog entry I mentioned the destruction of this lovely 2 layered carrot cake that I made for part of our Thanksgiving feast. All other pies and deserts were crammed into the fridge and atop cupboards and high counter tops. This poor carrot cake was left vulnerable out on the main counter top and no, a glass covering over the cake that rested on the pedestal was not protection enough from their destructive fingers.

ROOMS

-Outlet Covers- One thing Koen likes to do is break off the plug coverings if they are not secured flush against the wall. Any jiggle at all and it's gone. Our total loss of outlet plates are 4.

- Moon Lamp- The boys had a moon and star motif in their room and they had a matching moon lamp that they destroyed down to the wires.

- CD Player- The CD player that was once on top of their dresser of course peaked their curiosity and they would drop it off the top of their dresser and continue to push the buttons and eventually ripped off the top cover for the CD.

- Bedroom Window- We still have no idea how they broke their bedroom window. I woke up one morning to get them out of their cribs and Kael had crib hopped into Koen's crib and they had both started to pull the pieces out of the already broken window. We thought at first that it could have been a bird since they always seem to be flying into our windows but surveying the crime scene we noticed most of the glass pieces had fallen outside meaning the impact had come from inside. I gathered the pieces I could find and taped the window back in place for the time being.

- Blinds- These are the blinds that go in front of their bedroom window. This is all Kael's doing. With the set up of their room with one large window on one wall, a closet on the other and a door there is no way to fit two cribs in without having one near the window. Kael loved to gaze out the window either before he went down to sleep or just after he awoke. After tearing down multiple curtain rods from the wall, he then went to work on the blinds to create a less obstructed view.

- Books- We have lost several pages of multiple books which of course I'm sure is fairly common as kids learn how to turn pages and handle books.

- Shelf- The twins had a nice hand made 4' wooden shelf in their room by my uncle. They apparently wanted to redecorate the place and climbed a creative version of a ladder and hung and knocked the shelf off the wall.

- VCR and DVD Player- On the bottom is a VHS player, and yes, we still own a VCR. Their addition to this high quality electronic device are multiple toy cars, and other small objects and of course food! Not to mention the missing door to the player. The DVD players have also suffered some damage but most has been able to be fixed.

- Box Fan- A box fan fell victim to a higher purpose as it seemed to be of better use when tipped on it's side and used as a stepping stool. The plastic grill on front and back failed to support their continued weight and gave way.

- Couches- Our poor couches have been colored on with pens, highlighters and permanent markers more than I can recall. I want to find whoever invented micro-suede and give them the biggest hug!!! I never believed permanent marker could just wash off, I am more than happy to be wrong.

- HDTV- This, by far is the most expensive job they have accomplished. This was our 37" LCD flat screen, $1700 HDTV. They have managed to puncture the screen in multiple places, one of which has caused these lovely colors to be constantly displayed across every image.

In a closer look you can see at least 3 punctured spots. Since this picture has been taken the color strips have increased in their width covering more of the TV and now starting to develop horizontal lines as well.

BATHROOM

- Toothbrushes- We have been through 3 different toothbrushes this year. We keep finding Koen up in our bathroom cabinets, sucking and biting them. After so much biting the bristles aren't functional for cleaning teeth and need to be replaced. One time he was even caught cleaning objects in the house with our toothbrushes.

- Rugs- Barry and I have a few hoop rugs in our bathroom and Kael and Koen have started pulling up on one of the loops and removed a row thus far.

- Toilet paper- Now this is mostly Kael's favorite thing to do is unravel the toilet paper. Sometimes entire rolls are unraveled and attempts are made to hide and dispose of the evidence via the toilet in which that case thorough plunging is then required.

- Tampons- Now this has only happened twice so far and hopefully never again. I though toilet paper was bad. I will never again doubt the absorbing power of this particular product, especially when no toilet water remains in the bowl.

- Toilet- Not only has the toilet been invaded by it's paper and feminine hygiene products, but various toys, hands, and my hair accessories have also invaded the cavernous confines of the bowl.

MISC

- Terra Cotta Pots- We had nice big pots throughout our yard until the boys tipped them over, breaking them and using the remaining bottom as a good place to store mud.

- Toaster- The twins found entertainment in shoving plastic cartridges to their kid karaoke and Vtech devices into the toaster and turning them on. I gotta admit the smell of burning wood is a favorite of mine but plastic is not a nice soothing smell and yes, the toaster was declared "totalled."

- Christmas tree decorations- With the past holiday we lost about half of our bulbs on the tree. They doubled as balls that were thrown for fun and made a cool noise when stepped on. Prior to Christmas Eve I had to got to Wal-Mart to buy a package of plastic bulbs so our tree would look half decent.