Halloween 2013

We had a fabulously fun Halloween this year! In preparation for it, here's how I decorated my house. The bats were made of card stock cutouts and hung using thin fishing wire and tacks in the ceiling. It was fun to have them hanging there for a few weeks, and every time Charlie would see them while eating he would point and say "bats!".

On Halloween day, my brother and his girlfriend Chandler were visiting for a few hours, so we decided to go ahead and carve pumpkins while Charlie was napping. Since it was a Thursday, Trevor was working most of the day and missed out on the carving festivities. I have to say I think our pumpkins turned out pretty awesome! I used a stencil I printed out online for my owl on a branch, and even though it had some tricky parts, I was completely pleased with the outcome!

Mike and Chandler created these cute little ghosties by free-handing it! Not bad, guys! :)

For his costume this year, I purchased the cheapest costume I could find that was still cute, and also didn't have a hat involved with the costume. Charlie was in this phase where he would pull off anything you put on his head, so a hat was a no-go. You wouldn't believe how lucky Meghan was to actually snap this amazing picture of him in his costume (in between all the trying to run away, pulling off the headband, not smiling, and looking all over the place)! 

We trick-or-treated with his cousins in Springville again this year! (See... his headband is gone already, haha!)

It was an absolutely gorgeous evening. No stormy weather, and it was cold, but not too cold that we couldn't acclimate quickly. Kelan was a cute little Mickey Mouse.

Cohen was dressed as Captain America, and I think we would lose him on occasion when he ran ahead or in a completely different direction before he realized he wasn't with us anymore and would come rushing back. :) Charlie also did his fair share of running. They have a similar little boy running stance, huh? Haha

Even though his legs are a lot shorter than the others, Charlie did his best to keep up with all of his bigger cousins. He definitely got the idea of trick-or-treating better this year. He wouldn't carry his bucket with him to and from each door, and sometimes he would run up to the doors so fast he would trip and fall. I also caught him taking multiple pieces of candy at a couple houses (I guess he was so cute that the people at the doors would say it was okay when I tried to make him put the extras back), and one time he even placed a candy he still had in his hand from the house before back into the next house's pot of candy. Haha... silly boy. I'm SURE he won't be putting back any candy next time he trick-or-treats! Once back at the wagon, we would help him deposit his new candy into his bucket.

Cousin Scarlett was a princess this year, and Kanyon (not pictured because I think he ran too fast) was dressed as a football player!

Going up... and coming back. My Mom was still in town again this year from flying in to help with Charlie's party. She said she couldn't miss the cuteness of Charlie trick-or-treating!

We saw a group of Dads along the way. It cracked me up to see them man-mingling. And one of them was dressed epically as Darth Vader, and he even had buttons that played a recording of Darth Vader quotes! Totally awesome.

When we were all done, we headed back to the Sonnenberg house to relax and let the kids enjoy their candy! Uncle Troy was there and Charlie had fun hanging out with him. I'd say for being only two years old, Charlie got a pretty good stash of candy. I'd also be lying if I said I didn't eat any of it myself..... ;)

We arrived home later that night and Charlie crashed in bed. We had left a bucket of candy on our porch for the trick-or-treaters in our own neighborhood. Surprisingly, only about half of it was gone! Usually the bowl is empty from some older kid who probably thinks it's a great idea to dump the whole thing in his pillowcase. I'd also be lying if I said I didn't eat candy for days and days after that... :P

Our porch was decorated with our carved pumpkins as well as some additional glowing Halloween decor I dragged outside for the evening. I felt bad we weren't at home for our first year in our new house in a neighborhood, but I think Charlie had way more fun trick-or-treating with his cousins!