Halloween 2010

So as I mentioned in the last post, I finally decided on the twins dressing up as Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion for Halloween. I wanted them to dress up in matching costumes, and although Julia would be an adorable Tinkerbell, Flower, or Dorothy, the only corresponding one to those for James (Peter Pan, Bumble Bee, or Cowardly Lion) that would evoke any emotion in me other than a LOT of sympathy was the lion. And when my friend Leslie commented that James would make a cute lion, I kept thinking "James WOULD make a cute lion!" So when I went to choose costumes that kind of put that pair over the top.

And the dog wig ended up working after all...

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Julia makes her true feelings on the dog wig known.

We also did a photo shoot sans wig:


Cowardly lions still need their pacifiers.


"Sorry I thought this was an audition for Cheetahs."


"Hold on. I've got a call on my other tail."

All of a sudden the lion just rolled over and crawled away like he had things to do, hyenas to eat, jumperoos to jump in...

"Grrr! It's good I'm in my cage or I'd devour you!"

We took the babies to Googleween, Google's big Halloween bash. I had to find an empty carpeted area to change James since there was no way I was going to put him in his heavy lion costume and mane and then put him in a car seat. (That would have made him The Sweaty Lion.) We were also going to go to a twins Halloween costume event put on by the local twins organization, Gemini Crickets, but with Mark sick and my not looking forward to putting James into his costume, we decided to skip it. (My main reason for wanting to go was to see the other twins in costume, but I did have a small ulterior motive: seeing which 2 year old babies had good costumes so I could buy the clothes off their backs for next year!)

Since the babies eat dinner at 5:30 p.m. and go to sleep right afterwards, I thought trick or treating was a bad idea. Now I wish we'd done it, if only to bring the babies around to the few houses near us. This was our first Halloween in our first house so we were excited about getting trick or treaters. Mark and I had a debate over how many "funsize" candy bars each trick or treater should get. (Mark said ONE! Okay, Scrooge...) We ended up only having two groups of kids come by. Mark offered them all the candy they wanted.

Spotted at Googleween: Backwards Zack Galifianakis (Back Galifianakis?)

The babies at Googleween with some friends from Oz. There was a dog/lion face-off: Toto (in Dorothy's basket) kept staring at James's tail and James kept staring at Toto.

Wearing shoes is new for Julia so she had to try them out... in her mouth.

The Twins Visit Their First (and Second) Pumpkin Patch

A few weekends before Halloween, Mark, Grandma, the babies, and I all headed out to the pumpkin patch at Webb Ranch in Portola Valley. It was a much better pumpkin patch than one of those vacant lots on a busy street that will later transform to its next incarnation: Christmas Tree Lot. Webb Ranch also included a petting zoo and a haunted yurt house.

Anyway, I spent the morning and early afternoon making sure everyone was showered, picking out outfits for the babies, and figuring out when best to leave to maximize babies-in-a-good-mood time at the pumpkin patch. Fifteen minutes before we were scheduled to head out the door, Mark, who of course was not involved in any of the logistics, said, "Do we have to go today?" I would have killed him except I needed his camera. And thankfully we did go that day since it rained the following day.

The babies wore $20 pumpkin hats, snatched up on sale by Grandma ten months ago for $2, so they could blend in at the patch. They both also wore shoes, a big novelty for them. Julia kept hitting hers together, and James seemed very intrigued by hers as well (more on that to come!).

We had such a good time that when Poppa* arrived a few days later we all were game to go back (even Mark!) and we all wore the same exact outfits.

*Grandpa has elected to go by Poppa in the hopes the babies will say his name sooner.








James tries to eat Julia's shoe (he did this four times!), while Julia reaches a dirt clod to eat

Rejected (and Two Accepted) Halloween Costumes

In case you hadn't heard I have twins, so I wanted them to dress in corresponding outfits for Halloween. Since I wanted them to match, that eliminated the following cool costumes:

Lobster in a pot. Some friends of ours actually put this costume on their baby registry.

Mr. T. (since Julia's hair naturally grows into a mohawk)

And then there were costumes online that were so awful they almost turned all the way to awesome.


Um, how does this baby stand?


This baby haunts my dreams.

James could be a baby pimp and Julia would be-- wait, never mind.

Out of all my matching costumes ideas, the one that was head and shoulders above the rest was Princess Leia and Darth Vader. I was about to order it and I could have sworn I had told Mark my plans, but apparently I hadn't (or, more likely, he hadn't been paying attention) because he was adamantly opposed. His vehemence was due to his belief that the kid in the Vader costume looked like Louie Anderson. He told me to get whatever costumes I wanted, just not Star Wars ones.



Leia and Darth Louie Anderson

Actual Louie Anderson. In his spare time he fights to give the Empire galactic supremacy and hosts Family Feud.

I also considered this Yoda outfit for James.

I stumbled on this but did not seriously consider the Most Ridiculous Chewbacca Outfit Ever.

Mark and I went as Princess Leia and Darth Vader for Halloween 1997, so that made an even better reason to have the twins go as Leia and Vader.


Those are real cinnamon buns on my head.

I went as Princess Leia again in 2006 (below) but decided to use fake cinnamon rolls that year so they wouldn't stick to my hair.


Obi Cinnabon Kenobi, you're my only hope.

So after Mark nixed the greatest twin Halloween costumes ever Leia and Vader, I considered these Halloween costumes for twins:

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. I would have felt sorry for James as Peter Pan, and James isn't exactly light on his feet. Plus, I don't see how that hat would have stayed on. Julia would have made a cute Tink though.


Angel and Devil.


Bee and flower. I liked that the flower was in a pot, but I would have felt sorry for James as a bee. Kind of like that kid in the bee costume. Ashamed.

Lobster and Octopus. I really liked the lobster in a pot shown earlier, but wanted to make it work for twins. In the end we decided it wasn't twinsy enough.

It wasn't until after ordering this year's costumes that I discovered this:


Twin Octopi!

And finally, here's what the twins actually will be for Halloween. (I couldn't convince Mark to go as the Tin Man and have me go as the Scarecrow, even though I just learned from his mom that he actually was once the Tin Man as a child.)

One is the best child model ever and the other... isn't. You can decide for yourself who's who.

Weirdly, I found some good Dorothy accessories packaged with a dog costume:

I thought Mark might freak out when this costume arrived at our door. I only bought it for the wig, but it ended up not working out.

At least I didn't get this:

The Tin Poodle. I'm pretty sure if that dog could talk he would say, "Euthanize me."

The Babies Go to a Music Class

The Saratoga-Los Gatos Recreation Department hosted a free demonstration Musical Me class at the beginning of September. Since they normally charge about $300 for 3 months of classes, I took advantage of the freebie. The morning classes were all really badly timed for James and Julia's napping and eating schedule, and Julia ended up taking a monster nap that day, so by the time they woke up, were fed, and I drove there, the hour long class was finishing! Thankfully another class followed that one, and we were able to join.. The class was for 9 month old babies and up, and at a few days under 9 months James and Julia were easily the youngest in the room. The babies can mostly sit on their own - though Julia occasionally will fall backwards if unsupported - so I plopped them in Boppy pillows

The moms all sang, hit the floor and clapped while the babies watched. All the babies received a rattle to shake. James and Julia promptly tried to eat theirs. When it was time to give them up, the moms were told the wee ones could hang on to them if they didn't want to return them yet. Julia relinquished hers but James roared when I started to take his away so I let him keep it for several more songs. A few songs later there was a soothing song to help the babies relax and of course that's when James started shaking his rattle. So to recap: during the shake-the-rattle song James ate his rattle, and during the quiet song he shook his rattle.

Later on I gave the babies tambourines and bells and they enjoyed gnawing on those, too.

In conclusion, the class was enjoyable for me and the babies, though I'm not sure the babies got a lot out of it. Also, instruments are tasty.


The babies wear name tags in case they're confused with some other leg warmer-wearing twins.


"You use your rattle your way, I use it my way."



James as Henry VIII with a chicken leg


Julia shows off her new chompers.


"You call THAT tambourine playing? Bitch, please."


Mommy happened to wear striped socks but didn't get the memo to wear striped leg-warmers.


"Bells taste even better than rattles!"


Note James's drool drenched name tag.


James actually uses it as an instrument?


Yay! Victory! He appears to have hit it, well... once.


"Okay. Enough of that. Back to eating."


"This isn't right! Why can't I taste bells?"


"Much better!"