Randomness in March...

A happy scientist (or a scientist that is embarrassed because some weirdo is taking pictures of him in the hood).Webcamming is always fun! Hi Gramma Kathy! Hi Aunt Mary!

March 5th: Wally was able to build his one and only snowman this season...

March 6th: Wally was playing in his sandbox with no coat and no shoes. Does this make sense? What a crazy "winter" we had.

Wally found his Snap Circuit set and loved it! I was amazed at how he was able to understand what was going on with the electricity and how he was able to switch out sections to get the effect he was wanting...

I remembered the Lowes Build and Grow program and took Wally one Saturday morning. He built a basketball hoop. Check out his cool trick!

Well, building the hoop got Wally back into building mode. I bought him a little bird house kit, so he built and painted it and hung it under the house. Birds have actually eaten the food he puts in it! Wally is pretending to be a bird in the picture.Then, Wally needed to build a bat house. He learned how on Wild Kratts (PBS show). So, using Papa's wood, he built a bat house that is now hanging below our porch. We've seen lots of bats, but I would be surprised if one actually used the bat house...then again, one used our floor lamp in the living room!After old dog Moose tweaked his neck (or something), the vet suggested we elevate the dogs' food and water dishes, so Wally and I built some tables just the right size for Moose and Daisy's dishes.It has been great fun building with Wally. He has a pile of wood ready to make into a balance beam (Mom just needs to make time to cut a piece of wood for him). He is also making a chair for Brother and Sister...but it needs a better design as it collapsed under Wally.

Moose enjoys Wally's artwork as all good princesses would.

On March 16, 2012, we received new referrals!! To celebrate, we had a picnic pizza party at a really cool park with Brother and Sister Bear.

I can't wait to be able to snuggle all 3 of my babies!

In celebration, I also made some special brownies in honor of our three kiddos.

A bit of basketball and the farm...

Wally's basketball skills really improved over the course of his season (6 weeks). However, his concentration and his competitiveness did not. He had a great time though!Check out that defensive stance!

He shoots! Nice jump shot!

The last game, Wally got to play point guard. This was the only game that he got to touch the ball. Turns out that k-1st graders are not very good at passing the ball (especially if you are scooting across the floor on your butt or are in the middle of an interpretive dance). Wally did a great job dribbling down the court and then passing the ball in the general direction of someone wearing a yellow shirt.

Check out those skills! Why is no one paying attention? Oh yeah, they're 5-7 years old!

A pretty trip the farm in February.

Yes! I found a flag and some golf balls!

A good month! March pictures to come within the next 6 months!

February was fun too...

Now that Wally's wood is stored on the porch, we build stuff constantly (or at least come up with ideas and start building stuff).After accepting our referrals, we finally saw the referral clocks we've been looking at for so long...

jump from February 2010 (us) to March - meaning we finally had been matched!

Wally rarely uses things for their intended purposes. Here, he discovered a very fun game (notice the sarcasm) in which we roll a golf ball around and around the bottom of his Dora sit and spin.

Moose is an old dog.

Daisy is not.

Wally is a very lovey boy (if you all haven't noticed), so logically, he wrote in huge blue letters "I love you" with the "o" in love written as a heart. He then surrounded the words with pink hearts.

And, of course, no drawing is complete without a rainbow.

To celebrate the 100th day of kindergarten, the kids were to wear something with 100 things on it, like a shirt with stickers. So, of course Wally had to make a cap to wear to which he added 100 stickers. It was quite the cap!

We went to a Lady hawkeye b-ball game with Lucas Elementary. What fun!

Hmm....donuts are the perfect pre-game meal!

Our little basketball star!

Wally got to try bowling for the first time at a friend's birthday party. He even got a spare!

Wally got hold of the camera and tripod. I set up the timer for him so that it would take 4 pictures at a time. We had several series similar to this one.

Well, as you know, we lost our referrals on February 15, 2012. The support we received from family and friends is what kept us going. Who would have guessed that kids could become such a part of our family through pictures in such a short amount of time. Thanks for the support everyone!

A family picture (also with tripod and timer).

Well, that was some randomness for Feb. I think I have a bit more to come...

What we did a long time ago...like in January.

Since it is taking for ever to bring Brother and Sister home, we had to re-do most of our paperwork. So, like the first time, I took a picture of the paperwork with Brother and Sister Bears before it was sent to Ethiopia in January.Wally wanted scrap wood from Papa Randy for Christmas. Since the weather was nice, we were finally able to do some building outside. With very little design advice, Wally built a "Sword Shooter." You can use a sword (or lightsaber) to hit the target to make it fall or you can put a marble in the cup and use it as a catapult.

Since the weather was still nice, he was able to paint it and put Pixie dust on the moving part.

Wally is still very much into building with Legos and making Good Guy Ships.

We didn't have much of a winter. Maybe 3 snows, and not much snow with those. This was the best snow. Wally discovered that he could scoop up the packed snow on the driveway from the tire tracks and use it to make a wall. It really was pretty cool!

A bunch of area libraries had a reading week. As part of the festivities, we could ride the Hawkeye express up to North Liberty and back. Train ride? Sign us up!

Wally was only a little excited...

It actually turned out to be really lame. It was advertized to have hot cocoa, Legos, activities, crafts, stories, and book characters...turns out only a couple book characters were on the actual train ride and everything else was at the libraries. The train was also really hot, the windows were almost impossible to see through, and the ride was therefore full of bored, crabby kids. Well, at least we got to ride a train!

We only got to go sledding a couple times, but Wally and his friends made the most of it.

Whew! We've put a couple miles on the van since we got it!

Wally has been building Lego things and then making instruction books for them.

On January 18, 2012, we got referrals! We had a little party with Chinese food and pink and blue balloons that night to celebrate.

That kid is ready to be a big brother!