A Fruity Little Halloween

We had a fun-filled Halloween this year! More than anyone else, I know Charlie totally loved it. He hasn't stopped talking about "trick-or-treating" or going to "Meghan's house" for over two weeks now. I first found Delilah's costume, the little strawberry, at Costco for pretty cheap and knew I had to buy it. Then, trying to figure out a common theme, I convinced Charlie it would be pretty fun to be a banana and ordered his costume off Amazon.com. The first time he put it on I almost fell over laughing at how dorky/awesome/adorable he looked. And that's how this year's "fruity" Halloween theme came about. Trev and I are mainly just fuddy duddies and didn't dress up. Or maybe we're dressed up as good-looking parents in their late 20s. I'll let you decide ;)

As far as pumpkin carving goes, we didn't do it this year. Instead, I found these awesome sticky face-making kits at Target and Charlie and I just decorated our pumpkins a day or so before Halloween. It's totally a win-win-win situation. Win because I didn't have to spend 1-2 hours scooping and carving pumpkins (I've decided I'm really not a fan), win because the pumpkins turned out super cute, and win because our pumpkins are still in great shape halfway through November!

This is also the first holiday since having our new fireplace where I've taken time to decorate my mantel. I'm very happy with the results, especially the dried tree branch that's hanging out in my glass vase. I had taken the kids to the park one day earlier in October, and a couple of older kids from the neighborhood accidentally broke the branch off of an aspen tree nearby. Instead of just leaving it there to wilt away, I decided it would be a fabulous idea to take it home, let it dry out, and use it for decor! After spending 20 minutes cutting off all the little dried leaves, I was in love with the finished product!

And here's the decor on my porch. We decided to keep it simple, but the light-up witch and spider on the pillar are this year's new decor additions. Also, we left out a bucket of candy since we went to Springville for trick-or-treating. I left a sign that said "Please take ONE! (We are watching you!)" and I think it actually worked because we still had about 1/4 of the candy left in the bucket when we got home! Haha!

The week before Halloween, our ward at church had a Halloween get-together where we got to enjoy a chili and cornbread dinner followed by a trunk-or-treat. I signed up to hand out candy, but didn't have time to decorate the trunk beforehand. The whole night was a blur. By the time we got our food after talking and waiting in line, I barely had time to eat before rushing out to the car. The trunk-or-treaters had already started before I even had my trunk open. It was a mad rush to try to get some decor put up and open my bags of candy. Basically it was craziness and next year I'm not volunteering to hand out candy if it's optional. Haha ;) I didn't get any pictures of that night, but Charlie and Delilah had their same costumes as on Halloween night.

And now here are all the quick iPhone photos I snapped when we went trick-or-treating in Springville on Halloween. The weather was so nice! It got just a bit chilly near the end as the sun started going down and the wind picked up. I wish it were that pleasant every year! Also...I'm just loving my cute little strawberry girl! Charlie really hated having to stick his face through the hole of his banana outfit, so we just pulled the face hole all the way over his head and called him a "partially-peeled" banana for the rest of the night. :)

He was so excited to get his candy at every house! And also to show Grandma his spoils. Even though he walked the whole time, he could barely keep up with his speedy older cousins. By the time we walked around a block or two, he was asking when we could go back to Aunt Meghan's house. I think his poor little legs were done!

We finally arrived back at Aunt Meghan's house where we got to enjoy our candy and some Krispy Kreme doughnuts. (We also had some delicious soup before going out to trick-or-treat.)

Delilah got to spend some quality time with Grandpa and Grandma. Look at that adorable strawberry bum! Haha!

And we changed Charlie into his skeleton PJs (from last year!) and let him sort his candy and eat a little, too! No wonder he hasn't stopped talking about it... Halloween is a little kid's dream come true!

Pumpkin Pickin'

We went to get some pumpkins at the local Eagle Mountain pumpkin patch last Saturday! Delilah fell asleep on the way over, so we left her nearby in the car (with the door open to keep an eye on her, don't worry!). So, there's no pictures of that cute girl, but I snapped a few of my boys and had Trevor get one of me and Charlie! I LOVE this time of year!

I can't believe this kid is almost 3!

Charlie's favorite thing in the whole place was this little metal sunflower decor. He stood and played with it nearly the whole time, and it was the only reason why he was mad that we had to go home. Silly boy. As he always says: "Flowehs Hahtifoo" which translates to "Flowers Beautiful" which translates to "What beautiful flowers!" haha. My silliest little boy!

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!

Picking Pumpkins

This past Saturday our little family took a short drive to a local pumpkin patch in Eagle Mountain. I had heard about it through the community newsletter and since it was close, we decided to give it a try. Upon arrival, we were a little surprised at how few pumpkins they had... but then we realized that the pumpkins were FREE and they were asking for donations to a charity. Score!! So we walked around a bit, snapped some photos, and found our perfect pumpkins despite the slim pickings!

Charlie's trying to make the perfect pumpkin selection:

I called this one a zombie pumpkin because it was all deformed... or it looked like a zombie was chewing on it last night! ;) (Oh, and this is a straight out of camera picture! It was too pretty on its own to edit!):

He also made friends with a scarecrow, and definitely gave Trev a hard time when it was time to leave. He was having too much fun!

Until next year, little buddy!

Pumpkin Pickin'

Today, after General Conference, our little family drove down the road to the pumpkin patch so we could pick out our pumpkins for Halloween. Charlie had a lot of fun exploring the pumpkins, crawling in the dirt, and discovering hay!

Sweet smile... we're all feeling a bit under the weather (again, ugh!) over at our house right now.

Walking along with Daddy's help:

My little pumpkin.

Love these shoes and socks:

Despite not feeling well, I finally got a hearty smile out of him:

Do all little boys kneel like this? So cute!

And lastly, my favorite. Gotta LOVE those baby blues! You can tell, though, that he's not feeling well with his flaky nose, extra drool, and chapped chin :( Poor thing. He hasn't caught much of a break since mid August :(

It was somewhat chilly outside today and is really beginning to feel like fall! :)