A Random Slow January

This January has been slow. The weather has been cold, so we haven't done much outside and we just haven't gone anywhere. We pretty much read a lot. Wally has really gotten into the Magic Tree House book series. Joel tried reading the first book to Wally in the beginning on January on his Kindle. I thought he was crazy trying because Wally has a hard time sitting still and there are not many pictures in chapter book. I was wrong! Boy was I wrong. Since that first book, we have read through book 13 and are headed to the library for more. Luckily, there are over 40 books in the series and the librarian recommended another series for when we are done. Our baby is growing up!

Speaking of babies...here is our original baby. Scouty Babe is over 8 years old now! And, in her old age, she is getting braver...other people have actually sighted her when they visit! Wally loves to make "chocolate fudge cake" (aka any chocolate cake type thing). He is getting to be a really good helper and is learning about fractions with the measuring cups.

He does still cook like Wally though, resulting in a lot of clean-up and laundry!

Maybe I am biased (OK, I know I am), but the kid is a genius! He is always building things with his toys and mixing his different toys together to build new things. A couple weeks ago, he called me over to show me what he built. Using tinker toys, Legos, and marbles, he rigged up a thing that he could put marbles on one side of the "wall" in middle and then use a "hammer" made of tinker toys to hit another marble into the opposite side of the wall to make the first marbles go flying. I tried to get a video, but of course it didn't work out...Engineering, here comes Wally!

For something different, we actually went out to dinner one night last week. None of us had ever been to an IHOP that we could remember, so we tried it out. Wally got a huge pancake that he could decorate like a face with fruit and yogurt. It was a lot of fun, but awfully expensive for pancakes! Notice his sweater. How cute can you get? Some friends from church gave it to Wally as they didn't need it anymore.

Drum roll....My first quilt! I know you all have been excited to see the wonderful creation that is my first quilt. Being Grandma Wynja's favorite granddaughter should come with a certain set of skills, right? Well, I'm pretty sure they got passed to Katie through some weird case of lateral transfer, but any how, I made a quilt! Since Wally and I made fleece tie blankets for Brother, Sister, and Wally, he's been wanting to make a quilt out of the 4-inch squares that we cut from the corners of the blankets. Last weekend, I finally tried. I got better and figured out a few tricks, but really, how good can a quilt be that starts with very-much-not-square squares made out of fleece? I kind of like it because it is made up of parts of the blankets for all 3 of my kids. After I was all done and the sewing machine was put away, Wally pointed out that I forgot the pocket in the middle. (A pocket??!?!??) So, out came everything and I sewed a big Cubs pocket in the middle from fabric left over from Joel and Wally's scarves. Well, Firedog is happy with his quilt (as is Wally). Maybe someday, like 20 some years from now, I will get into quilting in my spare time!

Wally has played with shaving cream a couple times at school recently and has been begging me to get some so that he could play at home. This past week, I swear the kid has grown up a lot. I used to hate taking him shopping because he would wander away and ask constantly for things and throw fits if I didn't give in (though in reality, I think he has always been pretty good). But, last week, it was actually fun and helpful having him there. He helped me find stuff and would ask if something was on sale before asking me if we could get it. If I said no, he would say, "Maybe it will be on sale next time." There were some other examples of him being a big kid too, but I can't think of it. Anyway, I bought him the shaving cream and he's had a lot of fun with it. So has Dad...

Today we were trying to figure out what to do, and Joel said, "Well, it is as warm as it is going to get for a while (aka about 32 degrees), so lets go for a walk in the park. We went to Hickory Hill and took the dogs...stressful because there were other people who dared to bring their dogs to the park when we did! It was nice to get outside though.

A rare picture of Joel and I. Wally is getting good with the camera!

After hiking, we played Play-doh. Wally had a great imagination. The last thing he worked on was building a bear cave and grizzly bears. He then wrote a song about grizzly bears...

Here is me and Wally doing the Grizzly bear dance.

Tonight, Wally told me that he loves me more than God loves me. Wow! That makes a mom feel good!

Steve's Kid

So many reasons to be proud of Joel...

Maybe facial hair isn't one of those things.

Home on the Range

Wally loves dressing up in his cowboy clothes. Last night, he put on his vest and jacket from Papa Steve and started singing his version of Home on the Range. He wouldn't stop and let us go over the words with him, so this is not quite the traditional version. This first video is Wally "singing pretty" for Mommy and Daddy.

We got Wally to sing the "pretty" version only by promising that we would video his "silly" version next.

Katie told me that Reder said that Wally is one of his favorite things because he does silly things that Reder doesn't do. I think this would qualify. I'm pretty sure I've heard his other cousins say similar things about Wally.

Ethiopian Christmas

January 7th is the Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas. To celebrate, we made Ethiopian food (Doro wat, injera, honey bread, and sweet potato green beans). I'm getting better at making doro wat as it was actually mild enough for me to enjoy it this time (I suppose that means it was less authentic though). I was apparently too excited to eat and I forgot about taking a picture.

What makes a holiday special is being able to celebrate with friends. It just so happened that Jen Isaacs (Papa Murr's daughter) had surgery on her hand in Cincinnati the day before and Iowa City is a perfect half-way point for the drive home. It was great to see Jen and Robert again and get to spend some time with them. Moose is growing up. He used to be scared of strangers, especially men, but man, did he love Jen and especially Robert! Jen and Robert were sitting on the couch, and Moose decided that he could fit so he could be with his new BFF.

Post-Christmas Fun

Christmas was a lot of fun, but really, we've still been having fun. In the past, it seemed to take Wally several months before he would really play with his new toys. Not this year though!

For quite a while, Wally has been into super heroes (Spider-man, Superman, etc). So, the first time I found him wearing a plastic bag like this, I assumed it was a cape. Wrong! It is a parachute. He has been demonstrating this fact by jumping off everything he can. I wonder why he always has bruises? Yesterday after the grocery store he wanted me to count his parachutes as he took them off. He didn't quite make it to 10 like he did with the underwear, but made it to four paper bags. Wally used some of his Christmas money from Great-Gramma Camilla to buy a new motorized Thomas as the tires of his old one have worn out and it can't climb hills anymore. He is having a blast with both of his Thomases.

Joel thought of trying to read Wally a chapter book (with very few pictures). I figured Wally wouldn't have the attention span for it, but he loves them! It might help too that it is on Joel's Kindle and Wally loves technology!

Though he is a big boy and can read chapter books with his Daddy, he is still a nut ball!

Our neighbors gave Wally some incredibly cute finger puppets for Christmas. Here, Wally's puppet was the teacher and Joel's were the students. We can't remember how the trains came into play, but they weren't trains in Wally's imagination.

To help pass the time, I've made Brother and Sister blankets. Wally went to the store with me to help me pick the fabric. He had no problem picking the fabric for Sister's blanket, but Brother's was a bit harder for him to decide on. For Sister, he picked a pink print with flowers, hearts, and peace signs with a solid purple for the back. For Brother, we finally settled on a blue print with dogs and lime-green for the back. Yesterday, Wally and I went back to the fabric store to get fabric for a curtain for my new kitchen cabinet (couldn't find any I liked though) and ended up buying him fabric for his own blanket. With much coaching, I got Wally away from the pinks, purples, and pastels (figure he'll thank me some time in the future). He finally settled on Fire trucks on one side and dogs on the other - no solids for him! It's rather obnoxious, but perfectly describes the 4-year-old Wally (Well, maybe pink fire trucks and pink dogs would better suit...).

Now we just need Brother and Sister home to share the blankets with!

Our budding photographer

We gave Wally a camera for Christmas as he always wants to use ours. Though the pictures aren't high quality, the camera has already taken a licken and is still ticken. I've included a lot of photos in this blog to show what Wally likes to take pictures of and what the camera can do (but mostly because I include probably way too many photos in all of my posts).

The camera does a "very good" job taking close ups (of Grandma's gifts). Mmmm...pie!

Wally can take close-ups of himself.

He liked taking pictures of the tree, but most pictures had lights blurring across the screen (he isn't very good at holding still while taking pictures).

He's also not very good at keeping the camera upright. But, knowing Wally, he probably knows exactly what he is doing, he's just being silly!

He loves his dogs.

And his garbage truck. He has a rapid fire finger, so when you click through the pictures, it looks like you are watching a movie. I think there were about 20 almost exactly like this one.

Maybe Dad got a hold of the camera and starting taking pictures of the dogs.

Pie!

This is the Alien book that resulted in underwear all over our house Christmas morning.

A new idea...close-up up-side-down self-portrait.

Scouty Babe wasn't left out of the picture taking fun.

And neither was Daisy's nose.

The camera does much better with a lot of light, so outside is best.

I think I actually took these because I wanted to see how it does.

I guess it is pretty obvious that he didn't take this one!

He's ready for the snow party!

And so is he!

Wally got creative and took pictures through one of his blocks with a hole.

The camera also has a zoom feature...zoom out...

Zoom in! Hmm...this camera makes it look like Wally always has a dirty face just like our camera does!?!??

We took the camera to Joel's lab and Wally needed to "find someone to take a picture of all of us!"

We of course had to get a picture of the construction site outside of Joel's lab.

The camera is even a video camera and actually takes fairly good videos. I helped Wally a little with this one.

This is a Wally solo video. He has a hard time remembering to stop taking a video. He loves the computer screen "art" in the hallways near Joel's lab.

Wally has a had blast with the camera so far. According to the reviews, he probably won't have fun with it much longer, as the software seems to crash easily. We'll see, but it has probably been worth it already.

Christmas 2010

The week before Christmas, we had a blast with friends playing in snow. We went sledding with the Tompkins. Here are 4 happy boys heading down the hill. Levi, like Wally at that age (and still), just wanted more and had the biggest smile! Playing in the snow isn't complete without a snow angel.

Later in the week we had Wally's friend Joel over. We mad snowmen in the loop.

Throwing snow at Mommy while she is taking a picture is sure funny! We stayed home for Christmas for the first time ever (in Bozeman, we were always at Jason and Katie's house). It was nice to start our own family traditions (which mostly entailed a very relaxed, and laid-back week!). Grandma Mary and Papa Randy made it here hours before the big snow hit. While we waited for the big snow, Wally and Papa played with the artificial snow that Gramma Kathy gave Wally. I'm not sure who thought the stuff was neater, probably Papa.

Right before we headed to church on Christmas Eve, Wally had to put on his cowboy clothes. Papa Steve's leather jacket is just a touch too big right now, but Wally will certainly grow into it. Wally worked very hard to cut strips of paper and tape them together to make a lasso. Wally then proceeded to wear his cowboy gear to church. Needless to say, he got a lot of comments and smiles out of people!

Moose and Daisy got all dressed up in their Christmas bandannas (which is what might have triggered Wally's need of his cowboy clothes). Moose had to wear his for several days because it made him feel like a pretty princess. We took Daisy's off her quite often so she wouldn't eat it.

For Christmas Eve dinner, we had corn soup. It was good, but not like Gramma Kathy's.

We did get to eat it out of snowman bowls though. Wally thought eating "snowman brains" for dinner was pretty good!

Once dinner was done, we announced to Wally that we could open presents. We first had to let the pets open theirs. There were some tense moments while Wally (and Moose and Daisy) helped Scout open her present of kitty treats.

I made Joel and Wally matching Cubs scarves. Their smiles sure make me feel good. My cute boys!

Then it was my turn to open my present from Joel and Wally. I had been asking Wally for a week to tell me what he had gotten me, but he was very good and kept telling me that I needed to wait until Christmas. Well, the boys had wrapped my new tea kettle in a box with an old blanket and a maraca to try to throw me off.

Wally's major present from us was a digital camera of his own (kinda a present to ourselves to make our camera last longer!). He was pretty excited. I will try to get a blog up soon of his photography.

Wally gave Papa a Bobcat. Papa liked it, but I'm not sure about Gramma because it makes a lot of loud "realistic" noises!

Wally also got trucks (even a garbage truck!) from Gramma and Papa. We were all getting tired at this point in the evening.

But I made them all smile again if they wanted to play trucks for a little while before bed.

Of course, we had to leave a note and cookies for Santa. I expected Wally to write, "For Santa From Wally." That would be too normal for Wally. He instead asked me how to "draw" "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit." I figured that would take too long, so we finally got it down to "1 little bit." As in, you must try one little bit of everything (that is a Team Graff rule). So, Wally's not said, "1 little bit. (heart) Wally." The rest of the scribbles were "decorations."

On Christmas morning, Wally came into our room too early, so I let him crawl in bed hoping that he would fall asleep (not like that had ever worked in the past) as we hadn't mentioned Christmas. Well, it didn't work again, and before too long he said, "Let's go see what Santa brought me!" Wally got a book from school called, "Aliens Love Panta Claus." In the book, aliens help Santa deliver presents and the aliens give all the kids underwear and decorate the houses with underwear. Wally loves the book, so Wally's stocking was replaced with underwear and there was underwear on the tree. That definitely got some giggles!

A happy boy on Christmas morning. Though we don't have a picture as it was too dark, when Wally found his ladybug Pillowpet under the tree, he exclaimed, "Exactly what I wanted!" The kid loves stuffed animals!

We've been trying to get Wally to color pictures without just scribbling all over, as we know he can do it. Gramma Janet and Papa Rob gave Wally some giant Handy Manny coloring sheets and a huge box of crayons. He has been working so hard and does a great job coloring in the lines! Thanks!

Wally and Grandma Mary had a great time playing trucks and blocks. Wally sure loves his garbage truck and dump truck! Thanks!

Isn't Papa cute?!?!?!!

We had our Christmas meal in the evening since I knew Wally would need a nap and then we didn't have to feel rushed cooking. That night as we sat around our Advent candles, we discussed what we were thankful for and what our favorite thing was that we did that day. Being Christmas, I figured Wally would say his favorite thing was presents from Santa or playing with his new toys, but in true Wally fashion, he said, "Taking a really long nap." What???

Me and my boy.

My Grandma Helen Daughenbaugh's sister used to make these snowball candles, so my Dad's cousin Rust made some a few years back. I was saving it for a special occasion, so I figured Christmas at our house with my parents counted.

Wally kept saying things like, "Hey Momma, you know what would be more fun than a party inside? A snow party!" So, we had a couple snow parties outside. Wally is fascinated by time and clocks right now, so he makes up times for when things happen. Here, he decided we were going to have a snow party at 3:30.

Wally kept getting face fulls of snow. Not sure how that would happen!

We also had a lively game of tag with Grandma and Papa in the loop. We were all exhausted, except for maybe Wally!

Tackling Grandma was fun. She didn't know what was coming!

We should have just gone to a sledding hill as pulling Wally through the 7 inches of snow was hard work.

Sant brought Wally some Triops that were supposed to hatch and grow to be 2 inches long. The package said, "So easy, you can't fail!" Well, so easy if you have the exact right water and can keep it between 73 and 85 degrees and they get 16 hours of bright natural and artificial light... They hatched, they died. A lesson in life.

We had a great Christmas that was topped off celebrating my mom's birthday at a mexican restaruant. We brought our own party hats (as per Wally's request). I of course forgot my camera...