Preparing for Christmoose

I couldn't resist.

What goes bump in the night

Finally, Joel was home when we had an unpleasant animal experience...

Wally was in bed and Joel was standing guard to make sure Wally stayed in bed. I was downstairs. Joel came down with a strange look and said, "I need your help upstairs, now." Well, Wally was out of his room by then and this is what we saw...Hmm....Yuck! Joel covered the lamp with a big bowl and we carried the lamp outside. A couple hours later I checked the lamp, and thank goodness, he was gone!

A trip to the farm

At the end of September, we went to the farm where we had camped earlier for a hike and to let the dogs run. On the way we found some gigantic fungus on a tree stump (see behind Wally). While hiking, we apparently were under a "butterfly attack."

We also found the oddest fruit. I have no idea what it was. There were several trees around. The leaves kinda looked like apple or cherry tree leaves and the trees were that size too.
The fruits were the size of large grapefruits and looked like brains. We broke one open and each little section looked like a tooth with the root reaching towards the center.

The fruits were hard and we played catch, kick the ball down the hill, and even throw the ball down the hill.

All in all, the fruit was stange, but fun!Climbing trees is always a favorite activity for Wally... and Moose? One handsome (old) dog...

A pretty cute and very happy doggy.

On the hike back we found an apple tree with very delicious apples for a snack. Later Joel found out that the apple trees in that area were likely planted by the cows...yummy!

Wally...what else can I say?

On Tuesday, we had what was probably our last warm day of the year. Wally enjoyed it thoroughly.
Wally has been watching The Cat in the Hat lately, and so he keeps referring to Thing-a-ma-jiggers, or he comes up with more appropriate similar terms. He tied his balloon to his safety goggles (Wally is always focused on being safe) and added an extra rope too. This way, he could be safe and his balloon wouldn't fly away.

Someday, some girl will be very lucky to get this catch!
I mean, check out that body and fashion sense!

The guy can even sing and dance!

With his balloon, Wally has been into recreating the movie "Up." In the movie, a old man ties a bunch of balloons to his house and makes his house fly away. Well, Wally has been tying his balloon to all sorts of things to make it fly away. I'm pretty sure that is what happened the other morning while I was in the shower. I heard a crash and some crying. Somehow, Wally's ear made contact with the corner of the coffee table. It looks so sore! I know it doesn't show up well in the photo, but the outer part is all black and blue, as is the center, it has scrapes on the inside in a couple places and is bruised behind the ear as well! Poor kid kinda looked like a lop-sided Dumbo! Oddly, he's never complained, even with his glasses! He's tough!

Creating an Engineer

Wally loves building and using toys in ways they weren't meant to for. The Children's Museum is great for him. Here, Wally was building ramps on a wall for a ball to roll down.
Yes! We did it!

A mirror box is great fun. Wally is holding a rocket he made earlier.

Millions of Wallys!

Lowes has a build day on some Saturday mornings where kids are given goggles, and apron, and a kit for building something. It was supposed to be a fire truck, but apparently that kit was recalled, so he made a totally lame puppet stage. We had fun building any way.

Now, do this Daddy....

Trying to ween Wally from naps has been interesting. He still likes his naps. This was taken one napless day at about 5:15. He was quiet while we were cooking dinner. Came to find him out-cold on the couch.

Parenting Techniques

Our little monster...

Wally really enjoys Kinderfarm and has gotten much more interested in writing, coloring, etc. Here he is working on a book about the animals at school.

Wally loves his teachers. Here, he is drawing a picture of himself with his teacher, Mrs. McGivern.

One last blast at the beach (yeah, this is old, end of September).

And, a parenting technique suggested by my friend Rob, Shaundra's husband. He has food, toys, and a blanket!