Fall Round-Up, Before It Becomes Winter

First day of school, September 2016.

It has happened. They are all in full day school.

Intellectually, I knew the day would come (and to be honest, it's what got me through the summer). But the reality of adding another four hours of kid-free time to my work day (and my non-work days) cannot pass without notation, reflection and yes, celebration.

For the last year, we've had ridiculous mornings that involved all of us waiting outside for Leo's bus, then hurriedly packing into the van to dash to Lucy's school, then racing home to (on a good day) meet Harry's bus (on a bad day, Harry would be late to school because I'd have to drive him AFTER I dropped Ellie off). On a good day, Ellie and I would have a "leisurely" ten minutes to get ready to drive down the street to her school, where I would drop her off (no walking big girls down to the black top necessary).

The twins have adjusted unbelievably well to full-day kindergarten, which in my mind, speaks to how ready they were for it. In the mornings, Lucy, perhaps the world's Most Social Person Ever (she did not get it from me, I assure you) leaps from the car and bounds down the hill toward her little row of squirmy friends as though she's just been informed they'll be taking a field trip to the Magic Kingdom. Nope, just kindergarten. She's FINE with that. The other day I casually hung her (and Harry's class picture) up in her bedroom. Well. There went a good thirty minutes after she discovered this little gem. "I can't believe there's a picture of ALL my friends! MOMMY? Do you want to hear me say all their names?"




Harry is less forthcoming with details of his day though it's clear by the way he greets his little posse of buddies (full body hugs, let's just say) that he's also bonded. He is quick to tell me who sat out at recess and who got a "red square" (for bad behavior). They are learning Spanish: "Uno, dos, tres, tacos cincos, seis." They are both starting to write more, asking how to spell words and copying letters independently to make up their own words. I had forgotten how magical it is to watch young children learn to read, as their little worlds burst wide open.

And Ellie in fourth grade, Leo in seventh. It's exciting and terrifying. Yes, the little ones still make me nuts (though with less frequency) and yet I want to stop time because I know this is the Last Time they'll go to the kindergarten pumpkin patch and the last time they will experience elementary school for the first time ("MOMMY! I got to walk to the office and be a messenger! With Devon as my partner!!") and their enthusiasm is adorable and heartwarming. And yes, even when they follow me into the bathroom ("It's because I LIKE you!" Harry explains) I remind myself they're not always going to like me this much. Also. I love having big kids. With election season, it's been such fun talking politics. Ellie begs to stay up late to watch the debates and of course falls asleep next to me on the couch, but still.


Lucy's depiction of Donald Trump: "He's crying because he lost the election."


Halloween has come and gone--in our house it actually begins around late August ("MOMMY? Can we put up the Halloween decorations?" is literally a daily question). This year we had a cowgirl, a last minute Spiderman (I really thought he'd be Batman for a third year in a row but no such luck) and of course, Elphaba, from "Wicked." And for the second year in a row, Ellie trick or treated with friends instead of us. How quickly they become "too cool?" Perhaps, but in this case I really think it's more practical reasons that has her looking elsewhere for trick or treating options: Let's face it. We aren't the fastest candy fetching crew. Five year olds get tired quickly AND they're afraid of the dark. You do the math.


One of my favorite pictures of Halloween night. Darkness fell. The whining began. Too dark. Too cold. I'm tired. Uppy! One wanted to go one way, one wanted to go another. If this picture doesn't sum up the experience of parenting twins, I don't know what does.

Day 2: Tidbits

1. It was a cold, rainy Saturday here today. It feels like October came and a switch flipped. Hello, fall. Joaquin (hurricane, that is) spared us thank goodness. Three years out and we're still all a little twitchy, after enduring Super Storm Sandy. Because you just truly never know.

All set for Halloween, already!

2. One week into school and the kids (mostly Ellie) started asking me when we could start decorating for Halloween. I broke my own self-imposed "Not Until October 1" rule after much whining and caved last weekend. Of course they had to throw a "Halloween Party" complete with snacks (Ellie can be quite industrious when she wants to be--see how she fetched everyone beverages and filled the Halloween bowls with snacks?). And yes, they dragged out all the costumes. 'Tis the season.

One costume possibility: Pizza Spider Man. Combining two of Leo's most favorite things. Have I mentioned I will never tire of his fantastic sense of humor?

Believe the Hype: Halloween 2013

I'm happy to report that Halloween 2013 exceeded expectations.

After its two year hiatus, how could it not?


Witch Vogueing.





Harry, admittedly, may have been less than pleased with his costume. Or, the wearing of a costume in general.


Can't you just hear Lucy saying "Cheese."

Lucy on the other hand, was SO excited about dressing up that she ended up wearing two costumes, starting out the day as Tinker Bell and ending her day as Clifford the Big Red Dog (Harry was so annoyed with us all by this point, he couldn't even show his face and was happy to trade his earlier Clifford look for a different dog costume, not that you can't tell from this picture).


My little chain gang and me. A few people who saw this picture didn't realize I was wearing a costume (I won't take personally the fact that the sight of me in an orange jump suit apparently seems de rigueur). I will however, take this opportunity to shout from the roof tops in my nerd-fan glee that not only was my costume that of an inmate, but it was a real jumpsuit from the costume closet of the show "Orange is the New Black" (which, by the way, is one of my favorite shows of all time, if you haven't seen it yet, run, don't walk and sign up for Netflix). Yes, I may have been a bit excited.





By the time we set out for trick or treating, Leo was DONE. I'm impressed that he agreed to join us at all, since he's not a big Candy Guy (like, at all). That explains his subdued costume choice (for the school parade/party he went as Michelangelo, one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. By afternoon, it was all he could do to don an old cape and his Spidey Web slinger. Hey, whatever works.


First-timer.

At point point while we were trick or treating, Erin was holding Harry and she said to me, Is there a reason Harry isn't wearing a diaper? I looked at her in horror. I mean, I do forget stuff but that would definitely be up there in terms of pretty remarkable screw-ups on my part. Oh wait, she said. It just fell off. Here it is just slipped down around his ankles. Of course! I reached for him to fix his diaper and that's when I realized his shoes were on the wrong feet. Because, of course! (Gee, that might explain why he was not enjoying the walking aspect of trick or treating). Sorry, buddy.


Haul.

As is always the case in our house (so far), the handing out of treats is even MORE exciting than the getting of treats. At one point Erin had to break up an almost fist fight between Leo and Ellie about who got to hand out treats first. Yes, the two of them had a gigantic brawl, with tears and everything, in front of some unsuspecting neighbor kids who stood on our porch with mouths agape, as if to say, We just wanted some M&Ms but is this a bad time?


Waiting for begging for trick-or-treaters. And yes, at one point Ellie stood on the front porch calling out to random people walking by, are you trick-or-treaters? Oh and of course, Ellie's sitting on a baby potty. Only in our house.

I carved a pumpkin for the first time in three years.

Of course I forgot to take a picture of it.

With all the festivities, the babies were up a little later than usual. Lucy had an epic meltdown/tantrum of extraordinary proportions (I really don't think I've ever seen her so upset and that's saying a lot) for the simple reason that she wanted a candy bar.

And so I did what any responsible parent would do.



I gave my two year old a Hershey bar.

Hey, it was a miniature.



So, I think Lucy might like chocolate?

Happy Halloween!*

*Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Hanukkah to plan in just 28 days. Wait, WHAT?

I'm Dreaming of a Non-White, Actual Halloween

Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. For the past two years, we've had two major, life altering (at least temporarily, for us, thank goodness) storms on the same day. You can't blame me for perhaps hiding under the bed for most of October 29, 2013, right?

So far, the weather report for the next few days is good. And if all goes well, in a few days we'll celebrate our first Halloween since 2010.


Halloween, 2010. Ellie was three. Leo was six (and little did anyone know-including me-I was pregnant with twins). But look at these two! Look. How. Little.

In 2011, we lost power for five days and Halloween was cancelled by an unusually early in the season snow storm, which landed us in a hotel twenty miles from home with five month old twins (who unbeknownst to us had double ear infections, ask me how much fun THAT was). I remember on Halloween night that year, the hotel manager cheerily telling us there was a nice little residential neighborhood a few blocks away where we could take the kids to Trick or Treat. Just...no. Then there was the little Halloween party we'd planned. And the refrigerator full of food that went spoiled. And as the blizzard raged on outside our living room window (and the power went out), Ellie's sad little four year voice quivering, "Why isn't anyone coming to our party?"

Last year on Halloween, with our area still reeling from the after-effects of Sandy, our town put out an APB that trick or treating was strictly prohibited. This proved to not be that difficult to enforce since we had no electricity, (therefore no street lamps), heat or hot water and several giant trees were down all over our neighborhood. School was closed all week, so those parties were cancelled. We did, as a family, have a little at home celebration the weekend after our power was restored, but let's face it, dressing up at home doesn't have quite the same cache as school.



It might sound silly, but I'd been hesitant to get my hopes up about Halloween this year. And let's face it, TWO storms in TWO years on the same day? You might be a little uneasy too.



But yesterday, feeling confident and celebratory, we dug out the Halloween costumes. I had two tucked away that I thought would work for Harry and Lucy (no spoilers-you'll see them after the big day). For some reason I saved the twins' costumes from last year, which they did wear, as they paraded up and down our driveway before feasting on Munchkins--yes, that was our eventual family Halloween party, somewhere around November 9, I believe.


Harry's old bee suit was laughably snug on Lucy. But don't tell her (and yes, she insisted on trying it on and keeping it on in an insistent manner that only Lucy possesses)..

I'd forgotten about the stinger.

We are SO ready. Halloween 2013. Bring it. But can we keep our heat and power this year?

The Eventual Halloween

For the second year in a row, Halloween in our neighborhood (heck, I think in our whole state if not the entire region) was cancelled due to a major weather event. This year of course, it was Hurricane Sandy, which hit on October 29. There was no trick or treating on the actual day, no school parties or parades, period.

Oh sure, trick or treating was rescheduled. In our town it was last Monday. When we were still without power. I wasn't about to bundle the kids up in freezing temperatures and walk through a dark neighborhood, nor was I about to answer the door to trick or treaters without a porch light. Honestly that's Leo favorite part, handing out the candy. Ellie, on the other hand, doesn't play. She is all about the getting of the candy. She was not happy at the news that there would be no trick or treating.

Part of me just wanted to forget the whole dang thing. Just the sight of Halloween decorations has semi-bad connotations for me at this point. Bright and early on November 1, Leo and Ellie and I efficiently packed up all the Halloween accouetrement: gone were the witch and ghost figurines from the mantel, adios to the pumpkin garland and candy corn collages.

Let's make Turkeys and hang them all over the house! I practically shrieked, so ready was I to Put Halloween Behind Us. The other day I joked to Erin that I'm going to need doggy tranquilizers next October 31, so fearful am I of Another Spooky Major Weather Event. Third time's a charm?

This year's "official" Halloween (unbeknownst to the kids) was spent changing the radio station and the subject when the newscaster announced it was Halloween (Ellie didn't miss a beat and asked, "It's Halloween today Mommy? Are we going trick or treating?).

Later I did my best to maintain normalcy: We went to the playground and wandered around the neighborhood (anything to keep four stir crazy kids out of the dark, cold house for a few hours). The "highlight" of our day ended up being an impromptu field trip to the local Red Cross Shelter, where the kids ate chips and Cheerios and I was able to charge my cell phone (at first they weren't going to let me, saying the power needed to be conserved for the phones belonging to first responders). I was gracious about it and didn't argue but the gentleman in charge insisted that a woman with four children and no cell phone certainly constituted an emergency (I'll say! No Facebook? No Words With Friends?). KIDDING.

Well, thankfully, life has mostly gone back to normal for us. Unfortunately, Ellie was not taking my lead about the decision to do our best to ignore Halloween this year. She kept asking about trick or treating, kept asking when we were going to have our party (for the record, we were not having a Halloween party but that didn't stop her). I had explained several times that due to the storm it wasn't safe to trick or treat and she understood that. But the power came back on, the streets were cleared of trees and debris. And so her question, understandably, persisted: When are we going trick or treating?

That's when it dawned on me. All the kids really wanted to do was wear their costumes and get some candy.

I know! I exclaimed, not quite sure where I was going with my idea, I just knew that if I had to explain to Ellie one more time...

How about, you dress up in your costumes and you knock on OUR door and we give YOU candy?

Unanimous grins all around.

And that's why Halloween 2012 will be remembered as the Year We Trick or Treated At Our Own House.

And the nice thing about having four kids is you always have an instant party. We didn't even need to invite anyone for it to feel festive. The big kids put on their costumes. We got to dress the babies in their first Halloween costumes and take the proverbial ten thousand pictures. The kids ran around in the sixty-two degree weather (why yes, two weeks ago we had a hurricane! Of course!).

Don't ask me why I felt the need to have Munchkins and apple cider (which I of course forgot to serve) in addition to the Three Musketeers, Milky Way, Twix and M&Ms we still had left over, due to the whole, no Trick or Treaters thing.

I told Ellie she could eat as much candy as she wanted but it would be gone the next day. And like any well-adjusted kid, she ate so much she almost made herself sick, but stopped just short. Later she reported she was going to "Just eat tambourines, because they don't make my stomach feel so yucky."

For the record, she meant tangerines.

Waiting for Sandy

We're on storm watch. Don't even get me started. I am still recovering from the trauma of last year's Halloween storm. On the bright side, at least it's not snow that's forecasted and we don't have five month old twins with double ear infections?

Good thing we don't need bread. This is what shelves looked like at the grocery store yesterday. No extra charge for what Ellie dubs her "Fashion Pose." (I have no idea where she gets her style--certainly not from me.)

Or paper towels. (By the way, this marks the first official twinsie mischief. We wondered why it was so quiet in the mudroom...) Look at Lucy. She was so proud of herself. Harry was sheepish.

We've had to watch what we say this go 'round but we've had the radio and weather channel on a bit out of necessity and, well, these kids pay attention now (so inconvenient!). Ellie keeps asking about the hurricane and both Leo and Ellie are worried about what will happen if the lights go out. Last night, keeping a flashlight nearby seemed to soothe her fears.


A sampling of our emergency supplies: (from left: Fisher Price Dinosaur flashlight, Disney on Ice Light Up Doohickey, Battery powered-Dollar-Store pumpkin lantern.)

Thank goodness we're clearly prepared for anything.

The Weekend Before the Weekend Before Halloween

We took four children to the pumpkin patch today.

Fifty percent of the children. Oh sure, a shot of all of them together would have been nice, but YOU try getting all four in one place at the same time.

Another fifty percent. Harry was there! He was!

And now, I'm having some wine.

The New Normal: Crafts and Baking Edition

In addition to having a relatively relaxed weekend (notice I didn't use the word "relaxing" because there is just nothing relaxing about our house!), I was uncharacteristically domestic. Behold, the pride of our weekend: Egg Carton Spiders:

Ellie enjoyed sticking the pipe cleaners into the holes I made for the legs. She grew tired of the decorating part: we used pens and in hindsight I realized we should have painted them but that would have tripled the amount of time it took to complete this project. For now, brevity is our friend. (When I told Ellie that next time we'd paint the spider bodies, she replied: "Oh yes Mommy! That would be my dream!") That girl.

Before the babies came, one of my favorite things about the fall and winter season was doing little projects and crafts with the kids (art projects, seasonal collages, gingerbread houses around Christmas, holiday themed baked goods). Once the babies arrived, things got a bit hectic (understatement of the year) and just keeping everyone alive felt like a Herculean task. Collages and baking fell supremely by the wayside.

I'll be honest: I mourned the loss of that time with the big kids. I knew we'd get back to it someday. But when you are sleep deprived and in the midst of marathon breastfeeding stints, "Someday" can feel a little...discouraging.

Believe me, I've tried (who can forget last year's turkeys?). But it hasn't been quite the same and certainly not with the same frequency. I've missed making candy corn topped cupcakes or heart shaped cookies with pink frosting and red sprinkles or gluing leaves and acorns to orange and brown cardboard (Voila! Fall Themed Collage!).

We also decorated the house for Halloween. Lucy was fascinated with the hanging of the purple and orange lights in the mudroom.

With two little babies who rarely napped for a long time or at the same time, it was difficult to fully commit to something because it felt like we would just get started and then we'd hear the faint and then insistent wail on the monitor. And then the project would sort of disintegrate, the kids would lose interest and scatter without me steering the ship as I was suddenly forced to switch gears and be on Babies Duty.

Gingerbread house, December 2010, made in the midst of some of the worst morning sickness of my pregnancy (even then the babies made their presence known). Thankfully, did you know candy corn is great for nausea?

Last year I specifically remember nursing two fussy babies while Grandma Nayla (visiting from Oregon) supervised Gingerbread Houses 2011. Notice, how I don't even have photographic evidence?

But, now that Lucy and Harry are getting older and are on more of a schedule, dare I say, we are dipping our toes into a return to "normalcy?" Well, what's normal for us, anyway. Don't get me wrong: there is still a bit of urgency involved in most everything I do (have to get this done before the babies wake up, have to get that finished before they finish their bottles...you get the picture). But I can feel myself relaxing, easing up, just a little. And somewhere down the road I imagine four little people at the kitchen table, elbow deep in candy corn and marshmallows or pipe cleaners and egg cartons,  immersed in one of our little "Projects" and yes, I swoon just a little. OK, a lot.


The babies were quite impressed with our work when they woke up from their afternoon nap and beheld the Grand Spider Display. 

And if the spiders weren't enough (because truly, they made my weekend--hey it doesn't take much--that's a good thing!), Leo and I made his beloved pumpkin bread (I use half whole wheat flour and he eats this for breakfast most mornings) and I made acorn squash risotto (with brown rice, since I didn't have arborio on hand. The result was...different). But hey, I actually completed a recipe! From beginning to end! That in itself feels kind of huge. And on top of that,  I used the acorn squash, rather than simply buying it with such good, wholesome food intentions and then letting it sit on the counter until it became an unrecognizable lump. So I call that? Success.

Good Sports

Ellie, impatient with my tardiness (see tiny tip of Giant Twin Baby Stoller in bottom frame of photo that gets blame for said tardiness) on the way to Leo's school Halloween Parade (there were no photos of Trick or Treating this year).

As I reported, due to last week's hugely inconvenient and destructive storm, Trick-or-Treating was moved to last night. A week late. Can you imagine, as a kid, the enormity of this?

Thankfully, Leo and Ellie are still a little too young to get too up in arms about this. Leo's never really been a candy guy (though he did discover candy corn this year and asked for seconds which for him and candy is huge). Ellie on the other hand though, is a Candy Fiend.

Can I just pause to say that I wish, for the sake of all working parents (especially those that commute to and from ridiculously large cities to the suburbs--not naming names here--) that we could all just collective agree to make Halloween, say, the last Saturday in October? It would just make life so much easier. This year Erin had to work late and there was just no way I could take all four Trick or Treating by myself.

Which brings me to last night. There we were, with me upstairs, trying to get the babies to sleep (since daylight savings time they now want to go down at 5:30 instead of 6:30), Leo and Ellie are in the mudroom shrieking because "Someone's at the door! Someone's trying to get in!" (Um, yikes?) "They want to give us candy!" (Ellie is giving the play-by-play here, clearly because she's not quite down with the concept of Trick or Treating is when We give Them candy). Of course I responsibly turned the porch light off before I went upstairs (the universal sign for We Are Not Participating in the Trick or Treating.) And...of course people still knocked.

The hours between 5:30 and 7:30 are a circus at our house on a good night with the whole benign neglect (I hope) of the kids big eating dinner downstairs while I try furiously to get the babies down so I can catch the tail end of dinner and do baths and books with the older ones with my whole heart.

I finally got the babies to sleep and came downstairs to see what the racket was about in the mud room. Ellie kept asking if we could go trick or treating. I reminded her that the babies were asleep and she suggested we put them in the stroller. Not going to happen. Feeling terribly guilty about the fact that not only was our Halloween party an absolute and complete bust but the kids also missed out on trick or treating, I decided that it would be just fine for us to at least hand out candy.

Well. Bless their little hearts, you would have thought it was Christmas, Hanukkah and Halloween. Such. Excitement. The front door burst open and Leo and Ellie took their positions on the front porch, giant bowl of M&M's and Skittles in hand.

"I think I see someone! They have a flashlight!" Ellie exclaimed, jumping up and down. Nope. Car headlights.

"Trick or Treaters!" said Leo. Again, no. Just a middle aged couple taking an evening stroll.

And then. We had maybe six "customers."

I'm not sure if it was the fact that it was a little on the late side (but not really) of 7:30 or that it was, oh I don't know, a week After Halloween. But it was a slow, slow night. We did get a sweet dad dressed as a self-proclaimed "crazy dentist" (wearing the white pants, coat and rainbow afro and yes, I asked, and he really is a dentist). There was also, I kid you not, a 50-something (at least) woman trick or treating with her teenage son. Odd.

But still. Leo and Ellie could not contain their glee. And the lucky six that did grace our porch? They cleaned up, with handfuls of those Skittles and M&Ms.

And I hereby proclaim, officially, Halloween is finally over.

Yup, It's Still Halloween Here

It must be every kid's dream: The Halloween that won't end.

Our little storm closed schools for three days, postponing the annual Halloween parade at Leo's school until today. Trick or Treating was moved from October 31 to this coming Monday (by order of the town mayor, due to the multitude of downed trees and power lines. Yikes.)

En route to the parade.

Ellie was immediately invited to join in, much to her glee (and Leo's).

Of course the babies came too, making their debut at Leo's school. Leo was beyond proud. You may recall he's the one who broke the news about the babies to much of the free world.

I think it's safe to say that the feet of these babies didn't touch the ground at yesterday's Halloween party. When I got home? I found lipstick on Harry's cap. There were many, many kisses for "Leo's babies."