Halloween

Tonight was the twins' first Halloween!  It was a lot of fun, but I will also say, it was chaotic in many ways.  I love Halloween and anything fall, so I was super-excited about going trick or treating.  I've gone for the past few years with my sisters and nephew-I always find a child to take!  So imagine my delight when I had two of my own to take!   Meme (Dawn) found the costumes at a yard sale, hardly worn, matching, Winnie the Pooh Hunny pots from the Disney store.  You may have seen the pictures in my email.  Well, I was worried that it might be too hot for those, so I ordered "Twins first Halloween" t-shirts online.  It was a good thing I had that foresight.  The babies got down for a late nap which was probably not good.  I went in their room about 5 to wake them by just doing a few things, getting clothes out.  Usually this wakes them right away.  Nothing today...they were both sound asleep.  I talked to them, restocked the diaper changing area, got clothes out-nothing was waking them up.  Finally Carson began stirring a bit after about 5 minutes and they got up.  Now, there are many times when we are doing stuff with them and I think it gets so crazy that it's just hysterical.  Or you feel like maybe you are on candid camera.   Trying to get them ready was one of those times.  After I fed them, we had to dress them in regular clothes to wear under the costumes.  That in and of itself is always a challenge.  One twin distracts the other, they flip, kick, wave their arms around and try to make it interesting.  After we got them both dressed, we had to get the Hunny pots on them.  Carson's went on fine (Mommy dressed him ;-)  Daddy was struggling with Emilynn's.  When he finally gave up and gave her to me, I honestly don't even know what had happened.  Her leg was through the arm hole, then her leg and the arm hole were through the leg hole.  It was very strange.  I had to take it off then start over.  Finally we were all dressed, two diaper bags packed, and ready to hit the road.  Well, Hunny pots are padded to give you the "round pot" effect.  Carseat straps are generally tight for safety reasons.  The two just don't easily mix.  At this point.....kids are screaming as we are trying to strap them in the seats and pull the straps out enough to cover the pots.  Dustin's Dad has called to see where we are because we are about 15 min. late at this point.   It was getting rather crazy so I ended up throwing in the towel.  No big deal, I'm still smiling-sort of....let's go to plan B.  We take them back out of the car seats, open the hatch and strip the costumes we worked so hard to get on them off.....then added the "twins first halloween" tees to each baby's outfit and called it Halloween.  We both decided if someone wanted to deny the babies treats for not being properly clad-so be it!  :-)  LOL>  After this small road bump, we were finally on the road by 6. 
When we get to Papa's house (Dustin's Dad), Dustin says the unthinkable.  "How about we put the costumes on for Daddy to see?"   I just look at him, thinking he's kidding.  He's not.  So,
back up goes the hatch and we re-dress them in the Hunny pot costumes.  Papa sees them, takes a quick pic, and the costumes come off again.  This time for good.....I will probably keep them for sentimental reasons but at around 6 pm I just wanted to throw them away!  My honest thought was, thank goodness these costumes were only $5 total and I hadn't spent a ton of money on costumes we've worn a total of maybe 10 minutes. 
After we gave up on costumes-the night went really well.  We had a good time at each house, everyone loved seeing the twins, no one was upset we weren't clad in costumes.  Emilynn's smile made up for it I think.  She was putting on quite a bit tonight.  Carson was serious as usual.  You have to work for his smiles these days (except for Mommy).  It was very tiring getting the babies in and out of the carseats so much, they were tired and we were tired when we finally hit our last stop at 9 pm.  Luckily the last stop was my grandma's and we could just relax for a bit.  We didn't get to all the houses we wanted to visit, but maybe next year.  You can only do so much with two 10 month olds.  I just hate leaving people out who want to see the babies. 
We did get to see Shaun, our nurse who was with me through labor and the delivery of the twins-so that was really neat.  We were so glad we got to visit with her and show her how much our teeny babies have grown!  We also got lots of baby-appropriate treats- Papa had bought baby food which was so cute because I doubt if he's bought baby food before-it was very thoughtful of him, Meme & Poppy got yogurt melts & books, Cousin Hunter gave us puffs & books, Nanny Margaret & Granddaddy gave money, Big Nanny & Patom gave money, Rawhide & Betty gave graham snacks, Dottie (a.k.a. Grammy) gave finger puppets & cups, Aunt "B" gave socks, juice, book, & baby food, and Nanny & Papa gave juice, yogurt, & snacks.  Everyone else gave lollipops (I'm still not sure about those....can you imagine the riot I'll have trying to feed lollipops) and yummy candy for Mommy & Daddy to enjoy! 
All in all, it was great fun, and Dustin and I got lots of laughs for the evening.  We ended up getting in and out of the car at 10 houses.  That means loading and unloading the babies 10 times.  Hooking and unhooking the carseats 20 times per baby plus 2 more for leaving and coming home for a total of 44 times all together....it was a tiring day but well worth it.  We are making memories!