Happy Halloween!

School Pictures

We just got Connor and Chloe's Fall school pictures back and I LOVE them!  I didn't even notice the background was poop brown until days after I got them!

 

 I still can't get over how they get them to smile and sit like that!

I think they look a LOT alike in these pictures.

HallowZOOeen

This year, we took Connor and Chloe to HallowZOOeen at the Zoo. It was nothing like I expected at all. I was ready to see the animals but it's nothing like that. You don't see any animals, except we did see the elephants when we rode the train. Everything else is blocked off and there are stations where you trick or treat. I think Connor and Chloe are still too little to really enjoy it, but it might be fun for them next year.

Chloe was also a little clingy and I couldn't get any pictures of them standing next to anything except for at the front of the zoo. She wasn't feeling her best until we were leaving!

Our favorite parts were the carousel and the train of course.

They enjoyed wearing their costumes and seeing the other kids in theirs. There was a little boy dressed like Buzz Lightyear and every time we passed him they would yell "Buzz!". And other little ones would get excited when they saw the Mickey and Minnie costumes.

Pumpkin Painting

Yesterday, I was home sick with the babies. They were sick and I wasn't feeling my best.

Around mid-morning, after we had already watched a movie and played in the playroom, they started getting fussy, so I decided it was time to paint our pumpkins!

Connor loved it, but Chloe wasn't really in to it and after about 5 minutes she was ready to get down. 

"No!"

Last night we went to have our family pictures taken.

We have done this every year since I was pregnant and we use the picture for our Christmas cards. We haven't had our pictures taken since Connor and Chloe's 1 Year pics back in January. But also, keep in mind that my photo loving gal will sit and pose for me about 98% of the time.

  Well, I guess we were in the 2% last night...when I was actually paying money to have their pictures taken and when we were all going to be in pictures together...for our Christmas cards!

 

The whole way to the location we would practice our "sweet smiles" as we call it. She would smile for me over and over again and think it was so funny!

And when we got to our location, we sat down on our bench and practiced sitting together and Connor practiced putting his arm around Chloe and posing. I just knew we were good to go!

 

WRONG!

 

  The second the photographer pointed a camera at Chloe she said "No!" and frowned with her bottom lip out the whole time! WHAT IS HAPPENING?! is all I kept thinking. WHY IS SHE DOING THIS TO ME?!?! I also kept thinking.

 

Towards the end, I was trying everything. And I ended up telling her that if she just sat down next to Connor without mommy right there, that I would give her a sucker. Well, she sat down right next to him and shouted "SUCKER!" the whole time until tears started streaming down her face.

 FAIL.

So needless to say, our session was over and she just kept saying "suuuucker! suuuucker!" over and over again until she finally got her sucker back at the car.

 

Connor, on the other hand, treated it like he was at a Baby Gap modeling audition and worked it! He would sit where we told him to sit, he would smile when we said smile or even when we just smiled at him. He was loving the camera. So I will at least get some good pictures of my handsome little man. This was his moment. Chloe will just have to have her moment another day, on her time, her way.

Pumpkin Patch #2

Yesterday, we met up with David's brother and his family at another pumpkin patch.

We had so much fun! There was a petting zoo, lots of animals to see, pony rides, camel rides, and a hay ride. Connor and Chloe loved it and they seemed like such big kids posing for pictures and running around feeding all of the animals.

I don't know how I got so lucky. And I don't just mean with having the cutest kids ever, but because they will actually pose for pictures and sometimes without me even asking! Chloe just automatically knows that I want to take their picture, so she will find a place to sit down to pose and Connor kind of just follows her lead and sits down next to her (sometimes we have to direct him to sit next to her), but then he will slowly put his arm around her and I will get to take a few pictures and then Chloe jumps up and says "OK!". She's done when she's done!

They usually get distracted and forget to look at the camera so we have to ask questions like "Where's momma?" so they will look at me or make silly noises or funny faces and there is a lot of peek-a-boo.

They don't always cooperate. Here, I was telling Chloe to go take a picture with Daddy and Connor and she stood far away saying "No! No!"

I needed to remind myself to never underestimate the twins. I was afraid they would be scared to feed the animals and have nothing to do with them. But of course, I was wrong. They loved it! They didn't understand how to put food in their hand and hold it up for the animals to eat out of so they just fed them one pellet at a time.

I think watching their cousins feed the animals helped too.

And yes, it's super gross that Connor has his fingers in his mouth after feeding the animals.  He did it all day and we couldn't do anything about it! We kept washing his hands and pulling his fingers out of his mouth.  I'm not sure what was going on because he can't be teething anymore!

I also thought they would start screaming the second we put them on a pony, let alone having a stranger just grab them and put them on a pony. But again, I was wrong. They loved every second of it!

After the ponies, we rode a camel! This wasn't as exciting. I'm not really sure they knew they were on a camel. They were more interested in the tractors we passed while on the ride. And with every step the camel took, Connor and Chloe would bump heads so I had to hold my hand up like a shield in between them and try to hold on and try to hold on to them all at the same time. Not the best $15 I've ever spent.

It was such a good day! And a good weekend! I'm not sure if it was because we were busy the whole weekend or what, but there were no temper tantrums and not really any fighting between these two. They also stayed up later and watched movies with us and even slept in until almost 8:00 both mornings!