How a load (or 5) of laundry almost gave me a heart attack.

Last week, I was home one day with both girls because they were sick with strep throat. You wouldn't know it from the following pictures. While they were having "quiet time" I thought it might be a good time to catch up on my never ending pile of laundry. Why on earth I thought this, I have no idea. Folding the laundry with these 2 around has never really been successful, as you can see below.

Within minutes of setting the basket down, chaos ensued. They (yes, Ava too!) ripped the clothes out of the basket and Ava climbed right in. Excellent. Just the kind of activity the doctor ordered for a child who just got out of a body cast for a broken femur.

Ava soon lost interest in the laundry and moved on to the toy room. Natalie, on the other hand, thought it would be a fantastic idea to flip the laundry basket upside down and use it to jump into the pile of laundry. Hmmm...lemme think about that. Ummm, no. No. No. Natalie, I said no. (And I roared my terrible roars and gnashed my terrible teeth. She didn't like that very much). And she stopped jumping into the laundry pile.

I'm standing next to the laundry basket and about 30 seconds later I hear this giggling and turn to find THIS:
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OF COURSE this isn't the exact position I found her in. I got a firm grasp on her before I yelled out to Jeff that he should most DEFINITELY get the camera for this one. OH. EM. GEE. This child is going to send me to an early grave. Oh she was so proud of herself! And man, she was quick - and stealthy! And poised to JUMP! Monkey see, monkey do, right?

Just look at the look of satisfaction on that lil' stinkers face!! She knows exactly what she did!! "Hey Mom, whaddya expect? I gotta make up for lost time!"

And she's not kidding.

In addition to her laundry basket climbing escapades that day, I can also share with you her dishwasher climbing escapades as well.  Luckily I was right next to the camera to take pictures and Jeff was right next to Ava...to save her.  I swear if there weren't dishes already in there, she would have climbed RIGHT inside.