Slime, Shapes, and Beauty Shop?

Wally came up stairs one day and started getting out a bowl and sugar and water. I asked him what he was doing, and he simply said, "making slime." Obviously. I questioned him more about it and found out he learned how to make slime while watching Sid the Science kid on PBS Kids. His recipe didn't seem right to me, so we got on line and found the episode where they made slime (1 part water and 1 part corn starch, plus food coloring). It was pretty messy, but fun. I love how he takes what he learns (yes, on TV or the Internet) and then tries to repeat it himself. Lately, he's been into doing "experiments." At Wally's parent/teacher conference, we were given some shape blocks for Wally. It has been fun working on those with him. Notice his tongue...that is why his lips are always chapped.

Look at our pattern!

Wally has been into making his own art projects or designing art projects for us to do. We were all outside, Daddy was pruning and I was hanging Christmas lights, and Wally was, well, being Wally. He disappeared and we found him in the house. He had collected a bunch of red leaves and was making flowers with them using pipe cleaners and construction paper.

He then left flowers on all 3 of our pillows. What a sweet kid! Scouty liked the flowers too.

One night, I'm not sure how it happened, but Wally decided he wanted to style my hair for me. Maybe I was having a particularly bad hair day, and he worked hard to make me "beautiful."

Here I am...beautiful. Thanks Wally!

Halloween 2011

We had a great Halloween season...is it really a season? I don't know, but with a kindergartner, it sure seemed like it. Wally and I made Halloween cut-out cookies. This was the first time that he actually helped me make cut-out cookies every step of the way without losing interest at some point. His decorating skills haven't changed much, but we had fun. And he was sure proud of them!

We also got in the Halloween spirit by reading "spooky" books.

On Wally's "early out" day (Wally is done with school at 2:00 on Thursdays), we went to HyVee to pick out a pumpkin. Wally looked very carefully to find the biggest pumpkin there. I told him to wait by the pumpkin while I got a cart. As I pushed the cart back, I saw Wally pick up the pumpkin and immediately topple over sideways rolling right over the thing. It was very hilarious to all who witnessed. Wally drew a face on the pumpkin for me to carve. Can you tell who it looks like?

Pumpkin guts! I think he remembered this part from last year. He was so excited to grab the goo (and save the pumpkin seeds that he wouldn't eat - Joel and I liked them though).

Look at the tough boy (with a tiny little scratch on his forehead from a few days earlier that he just noticed) and his pumpkin...twins!

"White Orange" was allowed to come out for the festivities and was joined by the Jedi Wally Jack-o-lantern...notice the pumpkin has a stick (aka lightsaber) sticking out the top...the kid is obsessed.

I was given the task of coming up with a craft and a game for Wally's Halloween party at school. I made a Pin-the-Grin on the Jack-o-lantern game and found a simple Ghost Windsock craft on-line.

Ready for the parade through school, Wally was dressed as Yoda (of course).After the parade, Mrs. Smith instructed the kids on how to make the windsock...cutting, gluing, no problem! During snack time, 1 table at a time joined me for the game. It was great fun getting to interact with all 25 of Wally's new best friends.

The following day, our church had a Halloween party. Can you spy Wally?

The next day, we went trick-or-treating at the mall (never doing that again - talk about a crowd!). And then, finally it was Halloween. I got Wally a glow wand and removed the star from the end, so he had a green, glowing lightsaber for trick-or-treating. I have to say, it was the perfect touch for his costume. Though he may have looked like Yoda, he was still Wally...after trick-or-treating for a while, Wally just sat down and said, "My feet hurt. I'm tired. I'm ready to go home," even though his friend wanted to keep going. Candy just doesn't mean anything to him. Where did he get that messed-up trait?

Yoda is still making near-daily appearances at our house...the costume was a great investment for this kid!