Last year in 2019, we took a spirit animal quiz to decide what to dress up as! The kids were a raccoon, a deer, a skunk and a bear. Adam and I dressed up too, he was an owl and I was a butterfly but we forgot to take pictures with us in them! Oops. We love to join in the fun but keep it simple. I talk a lot about our costume traditions in the post: Halloween with Two Sets of Twins. Here is my favorite Spirit Animal Quiz if you want to take it for your kids or yourself. We had a lot of fun with it!

Our older boy loves fire trucks and wanted to dress up as a firefighter, older girl loves animals and wanted to be a dog so for Halloween 2018, we combined them for this twin duo. The babies were pumpkins because who can resist babies dressed up as pumpkins!?

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The bigs were almost two for Halloween 2017 and it was the last one I really chose the costumes. I did base them off of their interests at the time, but they were still too little to give input. I can still remember how much they lit up when they saw themselves in the mirror for the first time.

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For Halloween 2015, I was way too exhausted from the twin pregnancy to do anything but stay in! It was the year rain poured all night, causing floods so I guess it worked out to watch movies and relax, inside. I was just starting my third trimester and we watched Beetle Juice, which I hadn't seen since I was a kid. The exhaustion of a twin pregnancy isn't even describable. 

We have always loved Halloween for the excuse to dress up! Check out this throwback costume when we dressed up as Meg and Jack White of the White Stripes. This was pre-babies in 2014. We were newlyweds!

I hope you enjoyed seeing our photos from our first six Halloweens! On Halloween Day, we’ll share this year’s costumes. They all picked their own out this year and I can’t wait. Don’t forget to subscribe to the email list and follow me on Instagram @halfadozentwins to see what they picked!

If you're up for a good laugh, check out one of the funniest things that ever happened...when the bigs were toddlers:  Twins, They Will Team Up On You, so be sure to check it out for a good laugh.

Amazon has endless choices for kids and adults and can be delivered last minute! 

Click the link below to shop Amazon Kids Costumes!

I know it makes me sound and feel old and boring, but we would not have a harmonious family if it weren’t for structure, consistency and rules. The kids know what is expected and we try our best to be consistent in our expectations and consequences. When they don’t follow the expectations, there are consequences and that is just a matter of fact. I try my best to keep the emotion out of the discipline and the choice on them while showing I love them. I learned a lot about the Love and Logic Method as an early childhood teacher and I believe this is the best and most kind way to bring structure and discipline to a classroom and to families while still bonding and nurturing the relationship.

We do a lot of assembly line style parenting! 4 bowls at snack time, 4 milks- ready to go and we even bathe them and have them brush teeth together. Sometimes it feels like we have quads!

House Rules:

1 Kindness First- No Hurting Each Other
2 No playing with the doors (a constant problem and tiny fingers)
3 Help with family jobs
4 Listen the first time

These cover almost everything and if they aren’t followed, they get an age appropriate time out (minute/year of age) or we will take away something fun (outside time, a show, books before bed, etc.) We try to save these consequences and use them sparingly. I’m lucky that time out is still so effective for my children but I don’t overuse it. 

My Favorite Discipline Strategies:

Love And Logic
123 Magic
Setting Limits

Transitions: I also love to give warnings before most transitions, “We’re going to clean up to go bye-bye in 2 minutes.” Or “Pretty soon, we’re going for a walk, does everyone have their shoes on?” This can really set kids up for success when they know what to expect with transitions.

Consistency:
I learned very early on, during my first year of teaching kindergarten, and I’ve never forgotten, how important follow through and consistency are with young kids. They are constantly testing you and that’s their job! They’re wired to see what they can do and what is unacceptable.  Consistency is key- if one day you give a 4 minute time out or take away a privelage for certain behavior, then next day they should expect the same reaction. This should be across the board, every time! I know it’s hard to do this, I have trouble for sure! Sometimes I’m more tired or less patient and sometimes I’m feeling like I really don’t care but I know I have to at least try to be consistent.

Follow Through:
This is so similar! If you give a warning with a possible consequence, “If you do this again, you’ll have to go inside and miss out.” They will sometimes do the thing again, sometimes to test you, sometimes just because it’s that fun... either way, you HAVE to follow through. I still have to remind myself of this constantly! 

What are your favorite ways to use positive discipline at home? I’d love to hear in the comments below!

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