Walden deserves another post just for him

So here it is, littlest buddy.

Having a big old time singing to the bears that rotate over his pack and play.

Loving his bath with Grandma Bonnie.

Making silly faces with sister Len.

Being drooldorable with Daddy while decorating.

This rug ain't big enough for the both of us.
Actually it's quite large. Never mind. Carry on.

When can I play Duplo?

When can I play trucks?

Seriously? Seriously!

Fine day for a tree hunt

With many of our in-town friends still out-of-town for Thanksgiving, we headed out to Spilker Tree Farm with Aunt Laura and Shaun.

It's nice to have a young aunt who will fit on the playground equipment with you.

And to have a silly Shaun as well.

Walden was, as always, acquiescent to our strange excursions that interfere with his naps.

And we found the perfect tree.

But a little too flimsy for our bigger star, not to mention that Dad had a hard time getting our bigger kid up to top it off.

So we tried the smaller star and the smaller kid. That worked much better.

Giving Thanks(ukkah)

You know the meal was splendid, but the best part of Thanksgiving is the hanging out. And that's the part we have our camera for.

Dad and the big kids make cranberry bread.

Our newest annual tradition: The Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Feast, served at the coffee table while watching the holiday special, features popcorn, buttered toast, jellybeans, and pretzel sticks.

At the Mohr's house Ern finds out he fits into Grandpa Darrell's old chaps and vest.

And Walden discovers he's already too big for the Jessie from Toy Story hat.

Shaun spent a lot of time playing Legos with the kids.

And read one of our holiday favorites: The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming.

Pioneers and Barn Kitties

Aunt Laura is a weekend nature educator at Pioneer Park, so we not only get the benefits of being pm a first name basis with all the rescue raptors, but we also get first dibs of some kittens that could be better slated as barn cats than raptor food. She invited us up for a visit when she was working one day, and we not only had fun, but got our first farm animals: two ginger kitties.

Walden meets Stella.

Len and Ern enjoy a new play structure added to the Children's Garden.

How much do you want to bet when it's finally time to dig out at the farm these two bail out?

Meet Fred and George Weasley. Currently residing in a bathroom in Lincoln, destined for a Barn in Avoca. Their momma was snagging birds from the Pioneers Bird Garden, and got trapped and sent to the Humane Society. These two itty bitties were left behind to fend for themselves, so we were happy to take them in.

The only reason to rake leaves . . .

. . . is to jump in them. But still, we had to make them work for it first.

Prairie Run

Lenora loves prairies and Lenora loves running. (And Lenora loves babies and Lenora loves princesses, but those have nothing to do with this post). So naturally, she competed in the first ever Prairie Run at Pioneer Park.

She didn't quite understand when it was time to start, so she just stood at the line as everyone else took off. Ernie ran up to her to encourage her to get moving to where Dad was waiting for her.

After seeing his sister off to her next running partner, Ern ran back to Mom and Walden to wait for them to come in.

And even though she gave everyone a head start, she still finished ahead of quite a few runners! Here she is high-fiving Nancy Furman, who's middle name may as well be "Pioneer Park" because of all she's dedicated herself to through the years.

And she was proud of herself, as she should be.

Farm Chores

Grandpa Darrell has been determined to get his old Ford tractor to start up again. Getting the new starter in proved to be a two-man job, so we came over to lend a hand.

Gloriosky! The starter worked! For almost four seconds! That's ok, there's a few more techniques we're ready to try to get it really running.

And before they tore down the old garage, which used to be the old summer kitchen, we went in and cleaned out a few items. There was an old tin sign that read "Ernest Mohr recommends . . . " and some seed brand logo, and on a shelf covered in dust we found Grandpa Darrell's very own homemade skateboard! Just a wooden board with rollerskate wheels screwed on.  Lenora was desperate to brave the windy day and bring Grandpa back his lost, but not forgotten, toy.

Halloween 2013

October is one of those months that feels like the holiday never ends, and Halls never mind that, because this one has candy and costumes involved.

Werewolf, Pumpkin Baby, and Yoda prepare for the first night of costumed candy-begging: Boo at the Zoo.

The Boo Crew.

Almost right away Len took off her mask, believing her hair arms to be enough of a "werewolf" indicator, and halfway through Ernie converted his Yoda costume into a Wizard's cloak by removing his mask.

Halloween night and we added some glow-in-the-dark claws for Lycanthria (Len's werewolf name), and Ern added an unsharpened pencil "wand" to his wizard "costume" (see, he's a real wizard, he says, so really he was just going as himself for Halloween).

Aunt Laura and Shaun stopped by to see their costumes.

One of our favorite stops on the trail: Rob's house.

And of course our favorite Hallwoeen guides, Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Denie.

Walden Walks

Walden's name references many things: Walters, Denie, and also the peaceful pond that two of our favorite Unitarians, Thoreau and Emerson, were inspired by. On our honeymoon we visited Walden Pond and brought back some beautiful fall leaves to remind us of the trip. It seemed fitting that we made sure our own little Walden got plenty of Fall color experiences in his first Autumn.

Pumpkin Carvin' 2013

Oh, party of parties! We had another beautiful day for the annual pumpkin carvin' party, and our friends all got to turn out to compete and enjoy waaaaaay too many sweets.

Jeremy added a spooky station where kids could add gummi body parts into jello and petri dishes. Gross.

The Wells family hard at work carving. One of them wins a category every year, you know, and this year Toby won for Most Original.

Ernie, Johanna, and Lenora spent most of the time in the haunted garage, decorated as a mad scientists lab this time. Ernie of course played the part with a full costume while the adults carved.

Mohr carving station. Grandpa Darrell and Grandma Chris won again for Silliest this year.

Third baby foot ghost pumpkin. If there was any doubt Walden had Powell feet before, there's none now. This is the narrowest foot ghost ever.

Giving instructions for his pumpkin face

Manning the s'mores station.

Walden got lots of Grandpa laps during the party. Later he paid back the Grandma's by having a bath they both helped with.

Once again, fine pumpkins competing, but only four can win!

And once again, somehow Dusty Walsh allows all the kids turn him into a piece of playground equipment. There's no category for "best sport/most willing to sustain abuse for the amusement of children" because Dusty would just win every year.