Howl-O-Ween!

 

This year Halloween was quite fun.  After that horrible day when you realize you're too old to Trick-or-Treat Halloween just never seemed to be as fun.  When Stetzen came around, it changed things up and Halloween's excitement returned.  We were a little late in getting things kicked off.  I had planned on taking Stetzen to a pumpkin patch, but between Zach's schedule and trips we never made it, so we opted for the Wal-Mart specials. 

Stetzen loves to be involved in EVERYTHING we do, so why not helping his dad draw and cut his pumpkin?  We ended up carving pumpkins the night before Halloween.  Zach was working days, so Stetzen and I cleaned out the pumpkins before he got home, and then we got down to working our magic. 



As you can see, Stetzen is very excited about his wolf.

 

Once we finished, Stetzen had to show off his masterpieces (completed with the help of Zach and I).

 

The next day, our ward held a Trunk-or-Treat party.  They had dinner, carnival games, and, of course, Trunk-or-Treating.  I wanted to go with a theme this year, so I chose Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  Stetzen was my little Oompa Loompa, I was Veruca Salt, and Zach was Mike Teevee.  I had planned on Brandon being Wonka and his parents on dressing up with us, but it never panned out.  So we were a few characters short.  For the trunk, I decorated it as Wonka's Factory.  It didn't turn out quite as I liked, but we ended up winning the Best Trunk Award...YAY!

 

When we got to the party, everyone kept asking me what Stetzen and I were supposed to be.  I was floored that no one 1) knew what an Oompa Loompa was, and 2) had seen the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie.  Major culture shock!  Not even Stetzen's Grandma Nancy had seen the movie.  Zach had to work on Halloween too, so it was only Ted and me to represent.  
 

 

After the dinner, Grandma Nancy took Ted around to do all of the games.  He went around the cake walk, bowled, and tried the fishing pond.  Of all of them, he really loved the fishing pond.  He won a couple of scary sling spiders (which he LOVED) and some stickers.
  

 

 

When it came time to Trunk-or-Treat, he was ready for bed!  How sad is that?  We made the rounds with Brands, and of all the candy he got, his favorite was a cookie he got from Nella Rae.  Overall, I think he had fun and enjoyed all the attention he got.
 

 

 

When we got home, we did a little photo op with Zach, took a bath to wash out his cool green hair, and went to bed.  I hope he had a fun night because I did especially since Zach and I could ration his candy haul (the biggest perk of a parent's Halloween!).