Monster Bash

In preparation for Halloween, the girls were excited to try out their costumes this week at several different parties.  Thanks, Grandma, for the Madeline costumes, handmade with love!
I sent my mom a photo with an idea of what I wanted months before Halloween  and she totally delivered my vision. The girls received many compliments, although a handful of people (teenagers) didn’t know who Madeline was and thought the girls were dressed up as “school girls.”
All dressed up for the My Gym Halloween bash.
Two Madelines, Miss Clavel, and a French dude.
S and A kept their hats on for a surprisingly long time.
Notice we are the only adults (besides the teachers) wearing costumes. Where is your Halloween spirit, people?

 

It was nice to do a trial run with the girls’ costumes and get all the kinks worked out. For the real deal, I will need to triple knot the bows on their frocks and hot glue the ribbons on their hats, for example.

 

S and A were fascinated by all the crazy costumes. There was a little boy from their gym class dressed up as a monkey and the girls followed him around everywhere making monkey noises, for example.Climbing a ladder in a stockings next to a monster? Why not?

Ever the realist, Samantha was a little dazed and confused by all the weirdos dressed up.

 

Amelia thought it was all great fun!

 

Grace, what are those sticks poking out of your head? Let me fix that…

 

Nun Mommy looked really out of place next to the colorful Disney princesses, Miss Stacey, Miss Amber and Miss Jasmine.
Next up: Crystal’s Halloween bash for all the neighborhood friends. Amelia clearly enjoyed herself.
I was having a mental breakdown a teensy bit stressed out during the party trying to keep the girls from ruining decorations, eating rice from the sensory bins, squirting glue and cupcake frosting everywhere and other mayhem, so I didn’t get pictures of all the girls’ friends or fun activities. It really was the ultimate toddler party though!
Crystal had some crafts, cupcake decorating, Halloween-themed sensory bins and games set up, but S and A were perfectly content hanging out in the back patio playhouse instead.
The water table was another favorite.
 And eating, of course.

 

The girls’ favorite Halloween activity was the pumpkin-scented homemade play dough Crystal made (NO idea how she found the time to do this with three little kids of her own, including a newborn).  Samantha loved the play dough so much, she wanted to clench some in her fist and walk around with it the entire party. Part of my stress during the party came as a result of playing guard, trying to keep the girls from eating bits of the yummy flavored dough.

 

Crafting with Camden.

 

Our next Halloween adventure: the Ladera Harvest festival with the Wrights.  Live music, food, skull tattoos, pumpkins and large, grassy areas on which to run around…what more could a toddler ask for?
Thanks for inviting us, Maliyah! Very interesting choice of pose, girls.
Pumpkin sitting is a legit hobby.
The all-time coolest thing ever: a miniature garbage truck!
I’ve died and gone to heaven!
Let’s roll.
All dressed up again for a night on the town.

 

Munching away at our church Halloween party/Trunk or Treat.

 

We didn’t stay for the Trunk or Treat part since it was nearing the girls’ bed time, but we had fun people-watching at dinner and stuck around for a few games.

 

Getting sleepy.
One of the girls’ favorite things right now is hand stamps. They are always excited for their hand stamp after gym and music class, so when they found out they could get monster hand stamps after playing some of the games at the party, they stood in line over and over again.

 

We even caught fellow identical twins, Charlotte and Claire for our annual identical twins Halloween photo! This year’s turned out slightly better than last year’s due to S and A not completely freaking out this time.
Samantha, Claire, Amelia, Charlotte 2013:
So traumatized!
At least we’re making progress.
Lots of love,
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Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins!

Despite having already picked out our Halloween pumpkins three weeks ago at the Irvine Regional Park pumpkin patch, S and A insisted on checking out the pumpkin selection at the Irvine Great Park’s Spooktacular festival. You know. Because they have to make sure they got the best ones.

 

Hmmmm…smaller in circumference,  yet optimal stem curvature.

 

Definitely passes the “sit test.”

 

Super comfy.

 

Just the right weight too.

We ended up getting two more pumpkins to add to our collection. This is what we’ve done with our previous pumpkin stash so far:

 

S and A are still arguing over what to do with their latest pickings.

 

Before we left the pumpkin patch, we said hello to the poor soul sweating in the 80 degree head in a cow costume (Amelia was “mooing” the entire trip after that) and did a practice round of trick-or- treating at the booths they had set up. The girls were a little confused at first as to why random people were handing them treats, gift certificates, and toys, but quickly got the hang of it. After our test run, S and A will definitely be ready for the real thing in a few weeks.

We topped off our outing with a stop at one of the food trucks, which was serving all varieties of crepes– our favorite! S and A can’t wait to return to the Spooktacular next year when they are old enough to try out some of the carnival games and crafts. Now that the girls are a year older, we’ve found that Halloween (and holidays in general) are really ramping up in the fun department!

Lots of love,

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Happy Halloween from the twins of Saddleback Valley

The Halloween season would not be complete without returning to the Pumpkin City pumpkin patch with a few other twin families for the annual Saddleback Moms of Multiples Club pumpkin outing. Other non-twin people at the patch that evening were pretty confused to see so many twins running around!
Samantha at Pumpkin City in 2013, 6 months old: 
Samantha, 2014, 18 months old: 
Amelia, 2013, 6 months old: 
Amelia, 2014, 18 months old: 
The girls in 2013: Poor Amelia had a rough time!
2014: Now Amelia is our happy party girl! Olé!
2013: Amelia was so grumpy last year!
2014: 
2013: Amelia, left; Samantha, right.
2014: Amelia, left; Samantha, right. 
Giggly babies on the tractor 2013: Amelia, left; Samantha, right.
Fighting toddlers on the tractor 2014: Samantha, left; Amelia right. 
It was an epic battle to control the tractor’s steering wheel this year!
Samantha reigned supreme. 
Props to Amelia for not giving up.
Samantha was pretty happy with herself. 
Finally, Amelia got her hard-won turn. 
Before heading to the pumpkin patch, we ate dinner at the nearby Ruby’s Diner for our Moms of Multiples Club fundraiser. 

Enjoying some apple juice. The girls were dying for one of Ruby’s pumpkin shakes, but, unfortunately, they don’t make them with any dairy alternatives, like soy or almond milk (milk still gives the girls major upset stomachs–almost everyone in Jake’s family is dairy intolerant as well). So disappointing!

The girls were fascinated by all the toy planes. 
Not even close to all the twins in our club are pictured here, but we attempted to take a group photo for those that were there early anyway. Watch Samantha in the bottom left corner. See that mischievous look on her face? 

That means she’s about to make a gleeful run for it!

Leaving Amelia twin-less. 

Taking a group photo of 8+ sets of twins was a daunting task. At least Amelia and Samantha weren’t the only ones to keep bolting during the photo shoot. Note the ADORABLE sets of boy/girl twin babies on the bottom right. I was DYING.

Good girl Amelia looked straight at the camera with her sweet grin for Mommy. 

Chilling with the twin girls. 

Photo attempt with mommy fail #1: 

Photo attempt with mommy fail #2: 
Photo attempt with mommy fail #3: 

Photo attempt with mommy fail #4. I give up!

Family photo fail. The girls simply refused to put on their happy faces!

Off to more exciting things. 

Love you, pony!

Amelia thought these moving ride-on toys were awesome. 

Samantha liked them too. Until they inexplicably started moving…

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

GET ME OFF!

We had to switch Samantha onto the non-moving rides while Amelia enjoyed a relaxing ride on what was left of Samantha’s quarter. 
Happy Halloween from the twins of Saddleback Valley!
Lots of love, 
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More Halloween-ish Photos

In the days leading up to Halloween, I had the girls wear their Halloween outfits pretty much every day in order to get the most use out of them!
Amelia at the park.

 

The girls enjoying “fall” in SoCal.

 

Trying out their Thing 1 Thing 2 outfits.
Yo.

 

Samantha always gets jealous when Amelia has Sophie the giraffe.

 

Neener neener!

 

Recently when the girls wake up from their naps, I sometimes find them sitting up in the corner of their cribs, just chilling. Amelia likes to pull herself up on the rail and peek over the edge of the crib too…we are going to have to lower the mattress very soon. Sometimes, Samantha sleep-crawls to the end of her crib and sits up in her sleep. When I’ve gone in to check on her after hearing her cry, I’ll find her sitting up, Wubbanub still in mouth, but still pretty much asleep! I am infamous for sleep-walking, so she must take after me!

 

Samantha tries on my Cindy Lou Who wig for Aunt Sarah.
Cruisin’ the neighborhood in style.

 

While Grandma was here last week, we took some photos of the girls in their costumes. I’m so glad we did, because actual Halloween was so hectic that I hardly got any good pictures.

 

On the slide!

 

Serious Amelia.

 

Samantha wanted to hug her sister for one of the poses.

 

This is fun!

 

Faces of stone! It was impossible to get these two to smile after we took them off the slide.
Amelia was such a grumpy hold-out!

 

Blue eyes.

 

Even Grandma and Great Auntie Lynn’s crazy antics weren’t enough to get the girls to cheer up.
Twin things at the park.
All this picture taking has made me tired!

 

We thought maybe the twins would fare better inside for pictures.
Buh-bye!

 

Daddy came home, which helped Amelia crack a smile.
Samantha was still not too sure.

 

We wanted to be princesses for Halloween! YOU NEVER LET US CHOOSE OUR OUTFITS!

 

We can choose next year? Ok cool.

 

Not only will we get to choose our costumes next year, we’ll get to go trick-or-treating with the big kids!

 

I can’t handle the excitement!
Lots of love,

 

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