Sneaky Elves

At first there was this....


And who could forget moments like this....


But from the moment Sarah developed the pincer grip that allowed her to grab one of Liam's toys, all bets were off. They have fought tooth and nail (literally!) for two years....Until now.
I don't want to jinx anything here, but all of a sudden these two are the best of friends. They have developed a comraderie that revolves around mischief and giggles. They are partners in crime.
It started this past weekend. After spending a day playing Lego and Police, and sometimes Police Lego, they couldn't pause playtime long enough to get a night's rest. They kept ending up in each other's rooms and after discovering Sarah on Liam's bed, rocking his baby bear to sleep I gave in. They had a "sleepover". When Matt and I went in to move Sarah back to her room late that night, they were so adorable snuggled up together, we just couldn't. And so it is now night 3 of "sleepover", and we are starting to wonder if we can reclaim Sarah's room as an office.
Here they are tonight, all ready for bed:


But! (You knew there was a "but", right?) Remember the mischief thing? Back in the old days, when Sarah slept in her own room, she would wake up in the morning, play with her toys in her room for a bit and then quite often barge into Liam's room to wake the lazy sack of potatoes (and the rest of us) up. At 7am or so. But now they're awake at about the same time, and it is quiet. That's a good thing, right? Well, we'll see....
First thing Sunday morning we heard them tiptoe downstairs, and then we could hear them giggling for nearly an hour. Considering their recent pattern of not-trying-to-kill-each-other we accepted this special gift from our children and dozed in and out of sleep. A lazy Sunday morning not unlike those "before kids" years. It was bliss. But when I did come downstairs a short while later, those angelic little cherubs greeted me with faces smeared in chocolate. See, I had hosted a little get-together the evening before, and covered a few dishes with plastic wrap before calling it a night. They snatched all of those - a bowl full of chocolate and two large bowls of chips - and binged on them under the table. And then they went in search of the Christmas stash. Under that same table I found evidence of 1 Kinder egg, at least 4 Andes mints, bubble gum and a tic tac box. They were sure the rubble was well hidden under the table, and seemed quite surprised I was onto them. The sticky faces were my first clue. They reluctantly admitted to the mischief, but giddily told me they were playing "Sneaky Elf."
Fast forward 24 hours or so.....
This morning I stumbled down the stairs to punch a bleary-eyed "Go" on the coffee machine, and blocking my path was this precarious scene:


The Sneaky Elves strike again. All that cereal you see there was in the upper cabinet. I later discovered they also hid the sugar bowl with the plates (Liam's sly smile lit up like a light bulb when I stumbled on that one). Sneaky, sneaky, DANGEROUS Elves. I think I will need to tie some jingle bells to their toes!