Identical Twins, Opposite Reactions - 2011 School Portraits

It is hard to believe that the twins are old enough to have their first school pictures taken!  Now, based on our history, I had little to no hope of a decent picture.  When picture day arrived, Kate hated her shirt and was in a lousy mood on our walk to school.  I had warned the staff about Jocelyn's photographer phobia beforehand so they took both girls in for their photos immediately, knowing there would be no other kids in line.  After school, we were told that they got a picture of Kate but were not able to get Jocie to go near the photographer.  Imagine my surprise when I opened up Kate's picture packet to find this adorable shot of her, complete with a smile and bright eyes!  We scheduled Jocie for re-takes the following month and the staff allowed me to come with them to help get her picture.  After many minutes of covering her eyes and scrunching up into a little ball, we were able to get her to stand up (with a little help) and she briefly looked into the camera with a combination of horror and disdain and SNAP! Voila - worst picture ever. Another moment captured!  I can't help but laugh every time I see the differences in the pictures. Identical twins, different reactions to a photo shoot.

Kathryn

Jocelyn

Ho Ho Oh No!

Our trip to Santa this year was much the same as it has always been. Jocelyn gets the slightest inkling that something is different in the mall and she covers her eyes and hides her face. We got a fairly decent picture of Kate - she didn't even try to slither off Santa's lap! Poor Santa got more than he bargained for with the girls and their roaming hands. Kate kept her hands firmly buried in his beard and Jocie, all the while keeping one arm over her eyes, slid her free hand all over Santa's face and under his glasses!

2011 Christmas photo

Roaming hands

This was Jocelyn, less than five minutes after our Santa visit.  Happy, cheerful and enjoying her lunch in the food court.

Trick-or-Treat!

It's Halloween!  Since the girls are not yet capable of telling us what kind of costume they want, we just have to guess what they would enjoy the most. This year, we decided to let them be their favorite thing in the whole world. That's right. iPhones! We had the shirts made especially for the occasion. This was our most successful costume ever, since both girls liked their shirts. Jocelyn made it to one house before she was DONE with trick-or-treating.  She preferred to spend the evening in her room, with a small bag of M&Ms and a good book.  Kate, on the other hand, was a rock star.  She went to six houses in our neighborhood, said please and thank you, attempted to say Happy Halloween and Trick-or-Treat.  Many of her words are garbled but she made an effort at each house.  What a big improvement over last year, when all they would say was "treat."

Jocie and Kate dressed as the Apple iPhone.

The back of the shirts.

Kate sat by the pumpkin briefly before she made her way down the driveway, blowing out the candles in each pumpkin.

Jocie checking out our white jack-o-lantern. She did her best to blow out the candles faster than we could light them, too.

Jocelyn looks ready to trick or treat!

Kate waiting patiently with her candy bag.

Ringing the neighbor's doorbell together!

Here is a little video sample of Kate and her Halloween etiquette. She requires a little prompting, but she does a great job attempting to use her voice and her words!

Rainy Howl-o-ween

Another year, another chance to go to the Oregon Zoo for Howloween. This year they had a scavenger hunt, with a page full of clues and animal stamps when we discovered the answers to the questions.  The girls liked the stamps, but didn't care too much for the clues.  Instead, they preferred the actual animals!  It was damp and we weathered a few scattered showers, but it was such a pretty fall day that we just donned our raincoats and participated in all the fun.

Kate, Kurt and Jocie at Howloween.

Jocie watching the penguins, who were pure entertainment.

Kate loved the penguins, too, but they swam too fast for the picture.

A little rain couldn't stop us from enjoying the gorgeous fall day at the zoo.

Upon completion of the scavenger hunt, we turned in our clues for goodie bags. There were lots of fun treats for the girls, courtesy of the zoo.

More Fall Fun

Below is a random selection of photos from the other activities we participated in during the last weeks of October.  We visited another pumpkin patch with all of the Templeton kindergarten classes, then we attended the Fall Festival at their school for a little early trick-or-treating, and finally we partied with the Westside Autism Moms at their first annual Halloween bash.  It was a busy couple of weeks, but the girls enjoyed all of the events.

Jocie and Kate on their first field trip!  The kindergarten classes all took a trip to the pumpkin patch at Baggenstos Farm.

The girls with their class, posing in front of the mountain of potatoes in storage at Baggenstos Farm. Jocie wanted to get her hands on those potatoes. Kate was more interested in her classmates. Standing with the girls is Tiffany, their awesome classroom aide. 

Me and the girls debuting their iPhone costumes at Templeton Elementary's Fall Festival. We are standing by their classroom door, which was decorated for the trick-or-treat event that night.

Kurt and the girls at the Westside Autism Moms Halloween party.

We took my dad and grandpa with us on a trip to the zoo. This is four generations of the Porter family!

We managed to do our zoo outing on one of the most beautiful days in October. Fall in Portland is spectacular!