Happy Monday, everyone! I’ve never been so happy for a week to start, which is shocking because I love my weekends.  But this weekend was filled with arts and crafts and making Leo’s Halloween costume which I have been agonizing over since about mid-August.  I blame my mom for giving me a complex about homemade Halloween costumes.  From my very first Halloween until the last I actually dressed up, my mom would slave over our Halloween costumes and stay up until all hours of the night sewing whatever crazy idea we came up with.  She’s made papermache Care Bear heads and Rainbow Brite costumes that made think I really did have “the power of the universe”.  I even decided to be a mailbox one year (which proves what a weirdo I was) and my mom made a working mail slot where I could slide my candy into.  So when it came time for me to pick something for Leo, I felt like I just had to make something, if only to prove to myself I could do it.  There was just one minor glitch–my mom has some actual talent at crafting a costume, and owned a sewing machine, and had a husband with some artistic talent himself that didn’t mind pitching in.  So after I finally decided what to make, I spent a good four hours at the store collecting materials with the rest of Boston who decided to do the exact same thing, and spent a good 5 hours of my Saturday night hot gluing and painting, all while doing some online shopping for a backup costume if this one failed.  Then I spent an additional 2 hours begging Alex to cut a hole in the bottom of a bowl which is the ONLY part of the costume I needed his help on (and I should ask that he is the one that insisted that we picked this costume as opposed to other costumes where I wouldn’t have needed his help!)  So Leo’s costume is a labor of love if nothing else.  And I know he’ll never understand my need to make it myself, but I’m happy I did.

Want to meet another mama who, like my own, makes being a mommy look like a breeze?  Meet Marina.  She showed up for our shoot looking like an absolute goddess with her beautiful blond hair in perfect curls and dressed in an outfit that I wished I was wearing myself.  You wouldn’t even know she had kids except for the fact she was pushing a double stroller holding two adorable blond haired, blue eyed old baby girls.  How in the world she looked flawless with two year old twins is beyond me.  And not only that, she was so organized.  The girls wanted to feed the ducks?  She brought them little cups of oatmeal so they could have their fun.  The girls wanted snacks?  She was ready to go with healthy little treats.  And the fact that her and Paul are raising these babies in Boston alone while their families both live in Chicago gives them parents of the year award in my opinion.  I can’t imagine what a challenge it is to be a plane ride away with twins, but both Marina and Paul do it with ease.   Howwwww?  I need to know their secrets!  Although the best part of this shoot for me was seeing people’s reactions when they saw this gorgeous family walking through the Public Garden with little Ella and Harper and watching everyone stop and stare.  I think if you would have hashtagged #bostontwins you would have seen their faces all over social media because SO many people shamelessly took out their phones and took pictures of them as if they were part of a street show.  Watching the crowd watch them made me giggle.

I have never, ever, seen two little girls love animals as much as these two.  From the ducks to the squirrels to their doggy, Lola, Ella and Harper looooved to watch all the creatures in the garden!

Hi Miss Harper!  Love your ruffle bum!
Sweet little Ella and her daddy, Paul.
The world’s cutest dog walkers!
There were ten people behind me taking this same picture of them.  The most famous family in the Garden right here.
Obsessed with Harper’s kissy face on the right!

People don’t usually step back and let me take over the Make Way for Ducklings statues…unless you go with some blond headed twinsies, in which case they just stood around and stared while they nonchalantly took out their cameras and snapped pictures.
Daddy’s girls!
Harper’s face is priceless!
Love, love, love.

Marina and Paul, thanks for letting me hang out with your gorgeous family last week.  We’ll have to get together and eat some sharp cheddar cheese (Cabot, of course) with the kiddos!  Give Ella and Harper a squeeze for me!