I do NOT appreciate that!

My kids are great.  They usually play very well together, want to help me when I need it, and don't talk back (especially the 5 1/2 month old...she is very respectful).  Trust me, there are millions of things that they do that I find cute, funny, endearing, etc. (Like my middle daughter saying "but you are my best friend" to her older sister when she wants things to go her way).
Sometimes, however, there are things they do that I really do NOT appreciate.  Here are 8 examples...

1.  Arguing first thing in the morning
Some days it seems like as soon as they open their eyes, they have some sort of issue with each other.  It is either getting downstairs first and who "won", who looked at who with a mean face, or who gets to pick the TV show that they watch.  Please ladies, let me at least have my coffee first!

2.  Raiding my closet
My oldest daughter has started to raid my closet lately...not for my clothes, but for shoes.  This does not bother me.  What does bother me is that she leaves my shoes all over the house.  She will come downstairs wearing knee high black boots...about 15 minutes later I usually trip over them as I carry a laundry basket through the living room.  Once I definitely think I got a slight ankle sprain from tripping over a pair of hot pink high heels at the bottom of the stairs.  This leads me to #3...

3.  Not cleaning up after themselves
Now I know that they are young, but I am really trying to get them to clean up after themselves when they are done playing.  My 6 year old is getting better at it.  She puts her plate or cup in the sink when she is done...and if she is playing with something that she doesn't want her little sister to get, she sure as hell puts that away.  But for some reason they leave all their crap EXACTLY where they were playing with it and move on to the next conquest.  I must sound like a broken record...I threaten at least once a day to put all of their toys in a bag and give them to other children that will appreciate them (and I actually have done it 2 times when I had a strategically placed Purple Heart Society pick-up scheduled the next day).

Exhibit A: Toys left on floor while the girls decide to take out all the coloring books and crayons in the other room

4.  Treating me like a short order cook
For some reason, my daughters think that the world is their oyster when it comes to meals.   Even if they both decide on the same thing, say pancakes for example, one wants plain while the other wants me to make banana.  I don't always oblige so I am not sure why they continue to request specific meals when I usually ignore those requests. 

5.  Coloring on the walls
My oldest daughter does not do this anymore, but the almost 3 year old has been known to take a crayon or pencil to my wall more than a few times.  The one place that she likes to do this is on our sunporch where we have a brick wall.  She has colored on more than half of it with chalk.  At first, I would take the chalk away and put her in time out...but I have kind of given up on that battle.  I have no clue how we will clean this up in the future...

Exhibit B:  As you can clearly see, the coloring on the brick wall has gotten a little out of hand.  You might be wondering how she reaches the higher spots on the wall...she has a stool that I have found her on quite often.


6.  Drinking from my glass
Nothing gets me more annoyed when we are eating dinner than one of the girls drinking out of my glass.  I don't mind if I offer them a sip...but when they take it without asking and get their nasty backwash all in it, that really ticks me off.  I end up just giving them my glass and getting a new one.  Who thinks that it is okay to just take someone's drink and help yourself to a sip?  Obviously, I still have some lessons on manners to teach around here.

7.  Expecting constant entertainment
Like I mentioned earlier, most of the time my 2 oldest girls play together pretty well.  They get along about 75% of the time and it is wonderful.  BUT, they are some days when they want or expect constant entertainment.  The oldest one will wake up and say, "What are we doing today?", "Can we go to someone's house?", "Can we go shopping or out to eat?".  They look at me like I am an event planner and my daily job is to fill their social calendars.

8.  Tattling
I can't stand tattling.  If it is something major that I need to know about, that is fine.  However, tattling on every little tiny infraction is super annoying.  Sometimes I want to say, "Don't you know snitches get stitches?".  But I just can't bring myself to say it...yet.


Are there things that your children do that get under your skin?  Please share... I would LOVE to hear about it:)