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!

Randomness of our life...

Since we are trying to sell the dog house, we moved it from its home in the back yard. I decided to turn the rather ugly area it was, into a flower bed. I'm quite excited because it is oddly one of the sunnier places around out house. I bought some landscaping bricks and built a little wall. I think it looks really nice. Now I need to get some dirt to fill it in. I'm excited to plan some awesome flowers there next spring.

While I built, Moose found a nice place to lay..."its like a beach!"

We "celebrated" our 2-year anniversary of working to bring Brother and Sister home on Oct 12, 2011. We just had chili, but we made injera to eat with it.

Some day, the other chairs will be filled with kids too.

I made Ethiopian honey rosemary bread for dessert. Yummy!

Wally likes to make stuff from Star Wars. His latest creation is Anikin Skywalker's pod racer.

Wally likes to model his various Star Wars stuff...pod racer, picture of light sabers, a Star Wars necklace, and a light saber. We have been enjoying taking weekend walks at Hickory Hill. It is so beautiful. If we get lost, we won't be hugging this tree...see those 4 inch spikes?

Wally loves parades. I wonder if he gets tennis elbow from waving the whole time. This parade was the U of I homecoming parade down town.

When Joel got home from church last week, he found quite a site...water was spraying up from from under our mailbox. The city was soon there (our neighbors had already called) to fix the broken water main. Oddly, our mailbox had been backed over a week earlier, but they didn't think it was related. What did our mailbox do to get such bad karma? Anyway, they dug it out, fixed the pipe and filled it in in about 1.5 hours. Wally and I only caught the very end of it. It was pretty exciting for Wally though.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Wally decorated Joel's birthday cake. These days, he works so hard on his projects. Go figure, Wally make X-wing fighters, a death star, and tie-fighters out of butterscotch chips. He also figured we had to use every candle we had in the house...Daddy is really old!

Wally planned Joel's birthday dinner...apparently the theme was orange...sloppy joes, candy carrots, and Cheetos. All that strayed from the theme was me and Wally's purple milk and Joel's blue milk. With that many candles, Daddy needed all the help he could get!
"I love you Daddy!"

"Seriously, underwear?"

"Sweet! I'll look like Murr!"

Joel did get Star Wars Episodes I-III. We have really enjoyed Wally's Star Wars obsession. Not because it is Star Wars, but because Wally loves learning about Star Wars everything and lives and breathes it.

Fall Fun in Iowa

Wally is still absolutely obsessed with Star Wars. We finally finished watching the last movie (well, the last original movie). At the end the good guys have a party to celebrate defeating the bad guys. So, Wally decided we needed to have a fiesta. He made decorations (see the round thing on the house) and we ate cake outside and sang and danced. I love watching Wally's mind with this Star Wars kick. One morning, Wally decided Scout needed some stuffed animals. He made quiet a wall around her so that the dogs couldn't see her. He is always thinking of others' happiness.

The other week was the high school's homecoming parade. All of the feeder elementary schools get to march in the parade. Of course, Wally had to do that. Here he is ready to go!

We only made it about a block before Wally was out of candy to hand out. He did have a great time though!

After about a half-mile, we stopped marching in the parade and watched the rest of the parade go by. Wally and his friend Sam never stopped waving.

That weekend, we went to "the farm." Moose was born to live at a place like this.

Maybe Wally too.

Wally needed his camera so he could take pictures of wild animals, like these geese.

We went on a nature hike, and had to climb over the fallen tree rather than walk around it. That's my boy!

We found a 2-headed dandelion. It is hard to see in the picture, but there were 2 perfect flowers that came off the same stem. I love nature! I was so afraid he was going to fall in, but the kid has peeing skills!

We found a huge tree that had recently been chopped down by beavers. They had to work hard on that one!

He can balance!

And he jumps!!!!

Fall is a beautiful time in Iowa. I'm so glad we've had the chance to enjoy it and are blessed with being able to go to this farm.