Halloween 2013: The Twins Dress as Horses... I Mean Cowboys

Julia and James try on their Halloween costumes for the first time, and then gallop around the house.

Here is Halloween 2012, 2011, and 2010. (I apologize for pictures with broken links.)

Choosing Costumes

After making the mistake of suggesting costumes last year, I let the twins dictate what they want to be and they choose… (drumroll)... horses. James’s second favorite animal is a horse. That’s after first place finisher dogs, of course, which - not coincidentally - was last year’s costume. And these days Julia chooses whatever James does.

I discover a cool costume where it looks like the wearer is riding a horse. I think it would be fun to make them appear to be a cowboy and cowgirl riding horses. I dress them up one night in cowboy and cowgirl costumes (all either recently purchased at garage sales or borrowed from our friend April), and they excitedly gallop around the house on a hobby horse. 

There’s a new sheriff in town...

James totally looks like a little boy from the 1950s.

When the horse costumes arrive I realize that there’s no way those will work. Unless the kids hold up the reins the whole time (good luck with that when they’re already holding candy buckets and grabbing candy), it looks like they’re wearing a slaughtered horse carcass.

How the horse part should look

And the dragging-around-a-horse-carcass reality

Googleween

Still, they are pretty enthusiastic about being a cowboy and cowgirl and I think they’ll be fine with those costumes. However, at their first Halloween event, Googleween, Julia’s mad she’s not a horse. Plus, for reasons only Julia knows, she doesn’t like her shirt. Thankfully, the next time she dresses up she’s happy about her costume. But in the meantime she keeps forgetting what she’s dressed as. She tells people, “I’m a horse!” and then remembers: “I’m a cowgirl!”

Daddy's work chair! (Notice the Father's Day tie artwork on the window.)

Sheriff Julia arrives to clean up the lawlessness of Daddy’s office.

With absolutely no encouragement by us (I swear!) James suddenly strikes a modeling pose.

Wandering the halls of Google looking cute

A cowgirl has no qualms about peeing in a parking lot. I should add that we were absolutely willing to bring her into the bathroom inside but she insisted on this. "You can take the girl out of the farm..."

All tuckered out after the cattle drive

Preschool

At Milestones Preschool the kids parade in costume around the Abilities United parent company offices. And at Mountain View Parent Observation Preschool, my parents come that day and see the twins in their costumes for the first time.

Trick-or-treating at the Abilities United offices at Milestones Preschool

Mommy with her cowboy and cowgirl

Cowgirl Julia rides a different kind of horse.

With their class at Mountain View Parent Observation Preschool

Carving Pumpkins

The kids carve pumpkins for the first time with the help of Papa and Gaga. James and Julia each pick a simple jack o’lantern face from a page of sample faces on the computer and then I attempt to replicate it. Julia likes stirring the pumpkin guts with a spoon. James likes removing handfuls of guts. They are really excited to light up their creations.

Mommy (with knife and boot) carves the pumpkin face.

James helps take the innards out of a pumpkin.

 

Papa and Gaga watch James and Julia squeeze handfuls of pumpkin guts.

James is excited to see the lit-up pumpkins that night.

Trick-or-Treating

My parents join us for trick-or-treating around the neighborhood, but don’t stay with us all the way to the end. LIke last year, the kids enjoy scaring the neighbors by shouting “boo!” at them and then laughing victoriously.

The twins usually dig into candy without saying “trick-or-treat” and also forget their “thank you’s.” Even though there are lots of trick-or-treaters on the side of our neighborhood with the new houses, for the older houses we’re some of the few (if any) trick-or-treaters so they give our kids lots of candy. They get a kazoo from one neighbor and James excitedly announces, “a gazooba!” He also calls Rolos, “rollovers.”

After a few instances of dogs running to the door when the kids knock, Julia stays her distance at each house, demanding to know from the sidewalk, “Do you have a dog?” instead of saying “trick-or-treat” before coming forward.

Trick-or-treating at the koi pond house

The kids see me put a Kit Kat bar aside at home for Emily, the 5-year-old girl across the street. Last year Emily looked through our (good, really!) offerings, asked if we had a Kit Kat bar (nope), and took nothing. After seeing me, Julia keeps taking Kit Kats at each house, even though she doesn’t like chocolate, so she can give her stash to Emily at the end of the night.

Julia and James get tired when we’re almost to Debbie’s (last year’s last stop) so we skip houses and go straight there. Julia asks us to carry her home so she can fall asleep in our arms. That’s a sign your kid is spent from trick-or-treating. We start at 7:45 and end at 9:15.

In Debbie's front yard pumpkin patch on Halloween night

Getting candy from Debbie

James is thrilled to be carried home.

Right after trick-or-treating, the twins break into some lollipops and commence germ sharing.

Party at Stacy’s

Even though our playgroup has had to go on hiatus because of competing preschool schedules, Stacy squeezes in her annual Halloween playdate party between preschool and naps. My kids are so excited they tell all their teachers about it and walk in circles outside during free play waiting for class to finish so they can go to the party.

At the party, other than our cowboy and cowgirl, Josh is Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and the other three attendees (Ronan, Oliver, and Sam) are superheroes. The kids decorate cupcakes, affix stickers to masks and treat bags, and bowl with orange soda bottles made to look like pumpkins.

Super Oliver, Superman (Sam), and Batman (Ronan)

Julia with the cupcake she decorated

Party with Lila, John, Jessica, and Brendan

The day after Halloween, Mark and I realize that we can actually get away from the kids to go to a Halloween party with Lila, John, Jessica, and Brendan. That’s a coup in adult world. At the last minute, Mark decides he wants to dress up after all and likes my Google map marker suggestion. We put our costumes together the hour before the party.

Google map markers A and B

Looks like we found our way to the Halloween party! Our Google Maps show the party location. (Thanks to Lila for the photo!)

A Google map marker at the end of the night

Halloween 2012, Part III: Preschool Parties, Googleween, and Playgroup Party

(See Part I and Part II.)

Bright Beginnings Preschool and Mountain View Parent Observation Preschool Parties

The first event is a Halloween party at Bright Beginnings Preschool, which as I mentioned is over a week before Halloween. They also dress in costume at their other preschool, Mountain View Parent Observation, on Halloween. At Bright Beginnings the kids put on costumes and troop through the adjacent adult education offices where the staff gives out little toys. Adorably, James keeps coming over to ask, “Pet me.”

Julia shows off her puppy dog ensemble at preschool. 

 

James is a casual puppy dog.

 

Julia is not so sure she wants a puppy dog hug.

Bright Beginnings Preschool Halloween line-up.  Julia wouldn't let me get away so I hoped the parents could crop me out. Top row: Arjen, Pari, Lilly, Ivania, Samuel, James, and Julia. Bottom row: Ivan with brother Wyatt, Elania, Christophe, Shinvanjali, and Koki.

Mommy with her clingy puppy dogs at Mountain View Parent Observation Preschool.

 

Puppy dogs on Gaga’s lap during circle time

Leaf fight!

Googleween

Next is Googleween. We make the brave decision to have them skip their naps to attend. That means that when the shuttle bus arrives they are not in the best frame of mind, and they are terrified to board. We end up driving to a lot near Googleween instead and taking a long walk.

Julia gets her ears out of her eyes so she can see on the long walk to Googleween.

Someone admires Julia’s costume, and I ask “Oh, you can tell what she is?” “Sure,” says the woman, “a polka dot girl.” Right. Because that’s a thing.

Googleween itself is pretty disappointing with long lines to do any of the activities. And my kids are too fearful of things like petting zoos anyway. 

 

When Julia no longer wants to wear her ears (complete with bow), Daddy steps in.

 

Inspecting their Googleween trick-or-treat bags

The best part of Googleween: the walk back to the car. (Seriously. I'm not sure if it was because Googleween was crowded and unenjoyable or because the walk back was so fun.)

 

The twins play a game of Who can touch Daddy’s hand?

Mark’s Google Halloween Costume

Mark dresses up for Halloween at Google as a new employee badge. Apparently if you work at Google this is hilarious. For the rest of us, we shrug our shoulders and go, “okaaaaay...” Also, everyone who knows Mark is shocked that he is going to any effort on a Halloween costume for the first time ever. He ends up winning his team’s costume contest. Not to take away from Mark’s win but it helped that there were only a handful of half-hearted entries, many of which consisted of a wig or a mask and nothing else. He wins a Nexus 7 Tablet for his efforts.

Mark the New Employee Badge

MNO Playgroup Halloween Party

Next up is our playgroup’s Halloween party hosted again by Stacy (here’s last year’s). She provides vegan doughnuts, purchased at the Ferry Building during a moms’ day out excursion the day before in San Francisco. The kids decorate Halloween coloring book pages with stickers and rubber stamps, play with bat necklaces and bat rings, and run around in the backyard. (Thanks Stacy for most of the pictures!)

Item one on the agenda: Get a group picture before any kids can take off their costumes! Julia wouldn’t let me leave her side so the moms (sans Stacy) got to join this year’s picture.

Ronan the race car driver

Hmmm... wonder whose hand Julia could be holding.

Best picture taken this year of my kids in costume

Oliver with Rachel

Julia eyes Ronan suspiciously as he eats his doughnut. Maybe she thinks he’s going to make a grab for her doughnut, which is totally within the realm of possibility given that he ate her cupcake at her second birthday, and considered eating her cupcake at her third.

My sweet boy

Stacy mines her art history background to give Ronan advice in choosing crayons for embellishing his Halloween coloring book page.

James shows off his bat rings.

Ronan is a tiger. Rrrrrowwwrrrrrr!

Julia tries to see how many bat rings will fit on her finger.

James makes baskets from the play structure.

Julia climbs on Mommy.

Oliver the zookeeper smiles at the hordes of cameras.

Puppy dogs on the play structure

Next time: Part IV: Trick-or-Treating