Wally's of Halloweens Past

2006
2007200820092010 It is amazing how we have celebrated Halloween in Iowa more often than Montana!

We'll Miss You Grandma Minnie!

Great Grandma Minnie passed away in Fargo on September 6, 2010. We were blessed with being able to make it there before she passed so that Joel could spend some time with her and be able to say his good byes. Though she will be greatly missed, we were thankful for the time to spend with family.

Jenna, Molly, and Wally were able to play, play, play for over a week. Wally loves his cousins so much! The girls love to wear dresses and dance...

Jenna...
Molly...

Wally...wait, boys can dance too, right? And you need a pretty dress if you want to dance!

Jenna and Molly are definitely more graceful dancers than Wally, but he might learn.

The Fairies (Wally loved Jenna's black dress. We would find him in it often during the week.)

Blackmail...Not that we need anymore for Wally!

Mary and Linda are quite the musicians. Though I don't have a picture, they sang beautifully at Minnie's funeral. I'm sure she was proud!

Nothing like reading a good old Bull catalog with your daughter and grandkids!

Grandma Cindy, a pink book about princesses, and a doodle pad...what more could Wally want?

Who wants to be in the the "I ate all my carrots club?"

Hmm..maybe not him.

Definitely not him!

Aye! Did he try one? (Actually, I think he hid them in his cup, then fished them out and ate them.)

I thought I gave Molly a carrot, not a lemon!

Gramma Kathy drove Eric, Chandler, Keegan, and Autumn to Fargo, so we got to see her! After the visitation, Gramma, Amy, kids and I ate at Culvers (at a mere 9:00 at night). I think Gramma was a little happy to get to see all of her grandkids!

Who doesn't love cousin Keegan?

Sister-in-law, aunts, neices? Whatever, we all love each other!

Much of the Graff family.

We were super happy that Kourtney was able to join us even though it was the week before she got hitched. Congrats Kourtney!

Ah, nothing like small children chucking toys at Papa Steve's head to end a week of family time!

Kinderfarm

OK, so Wally started Kinderfarm well over a month ago, but I, like always, am behind in posting. In the beginning of September, Wally had an ice cream social/orientation. It was downpouring when the thing was supposed to start, so a billion kids and parents were jammed into a little school house. We did get to meet Wally's teacher and see his classroom. Then the rain stopped and we were able to go outside to see the animals...

Do you hear Papa's turkeys?
Rex, the ancient pony (word has it he is over 40!) that the kids get to ride on occassion.

Rex and Rondo by the pond that the kids will get to explore in the spring.

Wally's favorite animal is Pearl the Pig. He has to say good morning and good bye to Pearl each day.

The three goats are quite fun as well. Just don't let your fingers get mashed between their horns and the fence.

Wally missed his first week of school because we were in Fargo (post coming), but he was sure exited on his first day.

My baby is going to school!

Ah ha! I got the video of a very excited little man getting ready for his first day of preschool!

Anyway, Wally just loves "Farm school." Every morning when I would pick him up, I would have to drag him away kicking and screaming because he didn't want to leave and his friends were getting to stay, etc. So, I started him 3-full days each week beginning in October. He has loved it. It has been interesting dealing with the napping/not napping thing. If the kid had it his way, he would sleep 8-9 hours at night and 2-3 during the day. And he would definitely never sleep past 6:00am! I'm wondering if he is going to be like his cousin Keegan who has always woken up early.

Wally's Glasses

About 3 weeks ago, Wally had his vision tested at Kinderfarm. Turns out that he takes after his dad in lots of ways, including needing glasses as a kid. Though his vision isn't horrible, it is lopsided in that his right eye is quite a bit worse than his left. Apparently a difference like that can lead to lazy eyes, so today we picked up his first pair of glasses...

Does anyone else see Cousin Chandler here? My goofballs!Sorry Joel, bad picture. Are they not the same person? Back in Montana, we found some of Joel's original glasses and Wally (about 18 mo) was trying to figure out how to use them. Oddly, Wally was doing the same thing with his glasses today! Though Joel's glasses might have been more practical with bigger lenses, I kinda like Wally's better.

A late summer picnic in an Iowa state park

The last weekend of August, we decided to go for a dinner picnic at Kent State Park just northwest of Iowa City. We had been out there a couple times before. We found the ultimate playground with no fewer than 7 slides. We had it to ourselves the majority of the time we were there. Joel grilled up some hotdogs as we played. And we sat down and ate. Well, Wally sat down briefly now and then, but ate it all gone.

Like all state parks should have, there was a drinking fountain located in the middle of the nicely mowed grass.

Mmm...hotdogs!

After our picnic we drove to the beach in the park for some serious sand castle and pond building.

Hands made great claws for digging.

We had so much fun working to build ponds, only to break the dams and have the pond wash away.

Wally wondered a little further into the water to find the best sand.

And he wandered a little further...

I wish I had his energy!

Though the beach and play ground have nothing on the mountains, we had a great time. We do prefer the beach at Lake MacBride as this beach had a lot of the stinky black mud. We just wish we had discovered the beaches earlier in the summer. I can forsee what next summer will hold though!

So, about 2 months ago (I know I'm a bit behind) at the end of August, Wally and I went to a local apple orchard to pick some apples for pies and eating fresh. I forgot Wally's hat in the car, but he figured out how to make a hat.Ah, the first apple.

As we were just wondering, we found a snake skin. It must have been from a bull snake because it was big. Wally thought it was pretty neat. But then it unexpectedly moved (thanks to the breeze), the kiddo jumped (nearly out of his skin), and wouldn't touch it again. In the bucket was fine.

We decided to leave the skin for others to enjoy. Red pie apples.Yellow apples for eating. Wally helped me peel the apples using my grandma's apple peeler. I wish she was still here to see him using it, but then again, I imagine she was watching.

The long peels were fun too.