Harper & Lee Plus Three

Mockoween

As the cameras rolled in the background, I took pictures of my smiling triplets in their costumes. They were full of giggles today, but mostly because Mommy was dressed up as french fries. They just could not stop laughing. I loved it.

    For filming, we couldn't have the kids in just regular old costumes. Jamie said it would be better for views if we did a "theme." So I commissioned Etsy, and boy, did she deliver. The ten of us were all going as junk food items. My french fries' outfit and Lee's silly hotdog costume were store-bought, but Etsy made everything else.

    The triplets were going as super adorable cupcakes, and Etsy made the outfits custom to each kid. Ella's costume had light green frosting and Zozo's had pink frosting, both with sprinkle decorations added to them. She made a blue cupcake for Lukas without the sprinkles so it looked a little less feminine.

For the five babies, each one had a different custom fleece romper and hat, since it was cold out. Hawk was a pizza, Griffin was a milkshake, Wren was a lollipop, Raven was a donut, and Robin was an ice cream cone...until she had a blowout and ruined her beautiful costume. We put her in a frilly pink onesie with white pants and just said she was cotton candy instead.

"Are you guys ready for candy?" I asked.

"Yeah!" they all said.

"Does everyone remember their trick-or-treating buddy?" I asked.

"Auntie Hazel!" said Ella.

"Levi!" said Lukas.

"Uncle Blake!" said Zozo.

I purposely paired her with Blake so he could pick her up if she got tired. Each triplet had someone to watch them because Lee and I would be busy with the babies. In addition to that, the rest of my family was here too. This was an all-hands-on-deck mission.

When we finally had the five babies in their strollers, Jamie directed us to the first house. All the cameras and sound guys were in position and our sweet, old-lady neighbor, Miss K, was ready on her porch with a bowl of candy.

"Go ahead guys, get the candy!" Jamie said to the triplets.

Following Levi and Zoe's lead, they ran full-speed down the walkway over to Miss K, each grabbing a handful of candy.

"No guys, she said only two each!" Levi said to them.

He ripped a few pieces right out of Lukas' hands, which made Lukas scream and stomp. I was holding Raven. I put her down so I could run over and grab Lukas. Levi was yanking him back down the walkway. I got down to eye level with my son.

"Lukas, you can not act this way. This is your warning. You take the candy and then you say 'thank you.' That's it. If you act that way again you're going home, understand?" I said, the cameras getting closer to my face. Lukas nodded. "Okay. Go back with Levi and we'll go to the next house."

Jamie was already a few houses down. Whoever wanted to be filmed was notified beforehand and had to sign a waiver. The crew kept a list of each house participating so we could go through the street seamlessly. We'd be going to eight houses.

Honestly I thought no one wanted to participate, seeing that we lived in a snotty gated community with other big houses, but it didn't surprise me that everyone else wanted their fifteen minutes of fame.

The kids went from house to house, the crew got their shots for the show, and the babies quieted down in their stroller. If I blocked out the cameras, it felt like we were a normal family on Halloween.

"Okay kiddos, last house! Let's go quick before the sun sets so Miss Jamie can see you guys in good lighting!" Jamie said to the triplets. She marched down the street with the crew and we all followed after her.

"Uncle Blake, my legs hurt," I heard Zozo say behind me.

"No worries, my cupcake princess!" said Blake.

I heard him lift her off the ground. Ella and Lukas were already way ahead of us, with Ella yelling, "Daisy's house! Daisy's house!"

All the way at the end of the street, tucked next to the woods and down a long driveway was the girls' friend Daisy's house. They met her in their pre k program and were over at her house all the time. I really wanted to have Daisy come over and play at our house, but with the babies it was way, way too chaotic right now.

I'd never even met this girl's mother. She usually dropped my girls off in the front of the house and never even came to the door.

Before the crew could even get to their positions, Ella was running full speed down the driveway. Daisy, dressed in a purple Rapunzel dress, ran down the driveway. The girls crashed into each other.

"Zozo! Hug!" Daisy said as Blake set Zophia down.

Zozo promptly went over and hugged her. The girls ran rup to the front door, where a young girl in a frilly witch costume was waiting with a bowl of the kids' favorite: peanut butter cups.

"Momma! Tricky treat!" Daisy said.

I blinked a few times. This girl in the witch costume couldn't be more than twenty. She couldn't. Was she...like me? Another teen mom?

"No Daisy, you're supposed to give candy to your friends, remember?" said the girl in the witch outfit.

I wheeled my stroller of girls up closer so I could say hello. The girl looked up at me and smiled.

"Hey, you must be Harper. I'm Daisy's mom, Poppy," she said. "We're like, huge huge fans of the show."

"Oh uh...thanks. Appreciate the support. Thanks for letting the kids come play at your house all the time," I said.

"Girl, you literally have nine kids. It's the least I can do," Poppy said.

The kids got their candy and the cameras turned to follow them down the driveway. Jamie had us all walk down it together, then got a shot of us going down the street as the sun set.

"And...scene!" Jamie said as we were almost to our house. We turned back around and Jamie came over. "Great job guys. We'll see you tomorrow to film the doctor's appointment."

"Yup, see you guys then," Lee said.

Lee and I kissed and went into the house while the crew got loaded up in their cars. The crew helped get all the mics off of everyone.

"Hey, are you really sure you want them to film tomorrow? You know they don't have to, right?" Lee said.

"If our daughter is sick, it's nothing to be embarrassed by. I could kinda use more support right now, and if our fans are behind us it would be even better," I said.

"Alright. I'm not a big fan of this, Harper. What if this is something really serious? Do you really want your reaction to be displayed for the whole world? I don't."

"We display everything else. They literally filmed the inside of me during my C-section. I seriously have nothing else to hide. We'll be fine," I said.