RJ's Harry Potter Birthday Party - June 22, 2013

We have been reading the Harry Potter books to RJ at bedtime for a little over a year now.  He was interested in the series when I had been reading it for the first time last year (I know, I was late to the party!) and we gave it a try.  We're currently in the middle of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Book 6 for the uninitiated), and RJ is still completely enthralled.  He has several of the Harry Potter lego sets, was Harry Potter for Halloween, loves playing the Lego Harry Potter game for the Wii and frequently carries around something resembling a wand in his ongoing pretend play.  We even spent one morning a few months ago building quidditch hoops from Logan's straws and connectors set so he could play quidditch in the yard (wearing my cousin Dave's quidditch cape of course!).  He even drags his best friends along for the ride, convincing me to make "Ron" and "Hermione" their own robes for Christmas presents!  So it comes as no big surprise that he wanted his birthday party to be Harry Potter themed.  Luckily, there is A LOT that one can do with such a theme, and RJ is a lucky kid to have a mom who is also a Potterhead!

RJ's friends first received Hogwarts Acceptance Letters as their invitations, along with the evite that I sent to their parents.  His friend "Hermione" even sent her RSVP back using an owl she left on our porch!  This wonderful brown owl was originally named Hedwig, despite its coloring, but when I finished his stuffed snowy owl, the owl was renamed Errol, since RJ reasoned that Hermione probably borrowed the Weasley's owl!  In any case, they've written back and forth a couple of times, and I'm hoping that "Errol" helps RJ to be motivated to practice his writing over the summer!

When his guests arrived at our house, they entered through the magical brick wall at Platform 9 3/4.

Once inside, they visited Ollivander's Wands to obtain their handcrafted (by RJ and I) magic wands and Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions to obtain their handmade wizard cloaks for attending Hogwarts.

 They might have also spotted Hedwig, Errol, and Pigwideon hanging out in Eyelop's Owl Emporium along the way.

Oops.  I guess Hedwig was busy with Harry when I snapped this. Pig and Errol were there though.

Once they were outfitted for their studies, it was time to sample some courses (after all, this was advertised in our invitations as a Hogwarts Orientation).  In the living room, future Hogwarts students assembled toilet paper roll and fabric owl models in their Care of Magical Creatures class.

RJ taking another Charms class
after the party ended.

In the back yard, students conjured bubble snakes in Charms class, planted pumpkins in Herbology, and created the Exploding Potion in Potions Class.

Periodically, we ran an advanced Potions Class out in the garage dungeon where students were assisted in making "Fred and George's Bruise Removal Slime".









RJ somehow got it in his head that he should teach "Defense Against the Dark Arts" up in his room, of course pretending to be Harry Potter running a "Dumbledore's Army" meeting in the Room of Requirement, which would've been fine if he didn't have the poor leadership skills of a 6 year old, or if we would've been prepared for his expectations, so we could've addressed them realistically.  It worked at first when there were only a few children there, but as more people arrived and he was more insistent on people fulfilling specific roles when they didn't want to or didn't understand what he wanted from them (understandably so), his bossiness was met with either ignoring his requests or outright refusal to go along with his demands.
This ended up leading to a bit of unfulfilled expectations and upset for RJ, sporadically throughout the party, as he also got bossy during "quidditch practice" in our front yard (we had hung three hula hoops from the tree and made sure that we had a couple of black "bludgers" and a red "quaffle" to go along with RJ's golden snitch.  The idea there was to just let the kids run around throwing the balls through the hoops, but RJ, being RJ, was trying to recreate a Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Quidditch match and had a hard time understanding that not everyone wanted to recreate the events of the match in his head.  Given how much effort was put into the party, the fact that he spent some time not enjoying it to the fullest was a little disappointing, but sometimes over-excitement can lead to these things.  However, in the end, he said that he loved his party (and he did participate in other activities), so that's good!


While the children rotated randomly through the classes, our guests enjoyed carrots and dip as well as a tray of Pumpkin Pasties.  Our beverages included Pumpkin Juice and homemade Butterbeer.

Okay, so I was still dressed as
Molly Weasley instead of
Prof. Trelawney, but...

Just before serving dinner, I ran a Divination class/demonstration where we read the future of each student by the color that their clear (all natural with no HFCS) soda turned (a little dried dot of food coloring hidden under ice provided the color surprise).  Children with red liquid would find great love in their lives, children with yellow would find great friendships, children with green would have great luck, and children with blue would have great success.  This was the perfect activity to gather all the children up so that we could announce that it was dinner time in the "Great Hall".

Dinner included traditional Cornish pasties, as well as some vegetarian pasties, and some Cornish pasties with added greens (we were inundated with leafy greens from the CSA - and in a pasty, my kids gobble them up!).  There were even a few with gluten free crust!  Oh, and there was salad (because we were also inundated with lettuce from the CSA).

Soon after dinner, it was time to move on to birthday cake.  I know this is usually an area in which I go completely overboard, but I managed to go even further off the deep end this time.

The main cake was fashioned to look like Harry Potter's second broom - a Firebolt.  As per RJ's request, the cake was strawberry, with chocolate buttercream filling and frosting for the bristle part and peanut butter buttercream for the handle (which actually gave JUST the right color!).  I also added marshmallow fondant details for the goblin metalwork part of the broom and for the Gryffindor scarf RJ wanted featured thanks to his spying my Harry Potter cake pictures on Pinterest.

And of course, if we had a broom, we had to have a snitch, so I made snitch cake pops (chocolate inside, white chocolate coating, with piped white chocolate snitch wings), and snitch cupcakes in two flavors - butterbeer and chocolate with peanut butter buttercream, both with sugar cookie snitch wings.  And I made Gluten-free, vegan chocolate cauldron cakes for our guests with allergies.  And for some odd reason, I thought that wouldn't be enough, so I added on a replica of Harry's 11th Birthday cake from Hagrid, which was chocolate cake with strawberry filling and strawberry frosting.  Guess what?  It was WAY more than we all could have consumed in one night.  Especially when there was also homemade pumpkin cheesecake ice cream.

Once the children were all sugared up with cake, we also let them loose in Honeyduke's, which I set up on the second floor, featuring some homemade Harry Potter sweets (chocolate frogs, peppermint toads, fizzing whizbees, exploding bon bons) and some store bought treats (lemon drops in honor of Dumbledore, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Bean (really Jelly Bellies), Flossing Stringmints, and some gummy frogs that Logan insisted on buying in the store even though they were not strictly Harry Potter candy.  Each child got to fill up a bag from the "store" before going home.

As you can see, RJ tore right in to his bag from honeydukes!

Finally, RJ opened his gifts, which were much appreciated!

It was a ton of work, but so much fun for us and hopefully for all of our guests too!

More pictures here.

Halloween 2012

RJ was Harry Potter, since he has been LOVING the books (we've been reading them at bedtime!).  His was an easy decision.  Logan was a little more indecisive, but we finally settled on Hedwig (Harry Potter's snowy owl).

RJ in his school's Costume Parade

RJ's Kindergarten Class

After School, RJ & I carved pumpkins together.

Logan was there too, but he mostly ran away with the pumpkin tops and tried to destroy them.

Logan and RJ with their Jack-O-Lanterns

Hedwig and Harry

I love this picture of my cute little Hedwig

Candy Corn Parfaits for a light dinner (Mandarin Oranges, Pineapples,  Honey sweetened Plain Yogurt)

Trick-or-Treating with our friends

Group Picture

Post-Trick-or-Treating Crash

More Halloween Pictures here.

RIP, Grandpa C

We were destined to travel in October.  First Logan and I traveled to Long Island for Heather and Iris' Wedding and then on October 14, my grandfather passed away and we found our way headed East again, although for a much more somber occasion.  

One thing I really have to say at this point is that RJ was actually helpful!  I think this is the first time we've traveled where he managed to carry his own stuff in a backpack AND wanted to help pull the luggage.  So that aspect of traveling is getting easier.

How we found them sleeping in the morning.

Traveling at the last minute is always a little crazy, but we really weren't counting on delays out of the gate at SFO and missing our connection in Charlotte as a result which of course necessitated an overnight in a hotel, followed by a really early flight out in the morning (at least the airline paid for the hotel).  So, the children were eating their pizza dinner at midnight (felt like 9pm to them, which is still late, but...) and finally settled down by 2, and we had to be up at 6.  Oh, and did I mention that the flight there was super turbulent and that Logan managed to vomit, all over me, twice?  Yeah.  But once we were in the hotel room, he was just fine to run around and play and devour pizza.  

We arrived in Buffalo with just enough time to relax for a few minutes and then shower and get ready for the first viewing.  I have to say that I think Grandpa would've liked that there was a larger celebration of his life, looking at old pictures of him and sharing old stories, rather than everyone bawling their eyes out.  Sure, we're all going to miss him, but he had a full life and touched so many people in a positive way and those are happy memories that we'll all have.

Speaking of which...I wrote and delivered the eulogy at his funeral.

Today I am wearing a ring that I haven’t worn in quite a while - I’m surprised it still fits.  It might not be as sparkly as my engagement ring, but it does carry with it a certain amount of symbolism.  See, once upon a time, I got dragged to a lot of craft shows when my grandparents were selling their wood crafts AND jewelry.  The friendship knot rings were the most common ones, and I have a few of those still too, but this ring that I’m wearing today was a result of a pre-teen version of me wanting something COOLER than a friendship knot.  So, Grandpa sat there (I believe this took place sitting on one of those log benches up at the trailer at Parkwood) and twisted the gold into what I see now as a crazy mess.  But THEN.  Well, he had just created the most AWESOME piece of custom jewelry EVER.  He handed it to me with a twinkle in his eye and a smirk, and said (a bit sarcastically), “How’s that?”.  Well THAT, Grandpa, was pretty cool, and THAT is exactly how I am choosing to remember you - as the sweet caring man, who was a little rough around the edges...the man who kept laughing when Grandma & him kept confusing the space bar with the return key at middle school Grandparents’ Day, or who came to my third grade class to talk about rocks and minerals during his rock hound phase in the 80s.  

It's ridiculous that I don't have a picture of Grandpa
doing this, even though I KNOW my father does! So a
picture of me and Lance the last time I was at Parkwood will
have to suffice

Or, as I’m sure everyone will agree with, the man who was patient in teaching two generations of us how to fish, all the while rolling his eyes because I was a total girl and wouldn’t put the worm on the hook myself until I was an adult.  He wasn’t even mad when I was an overzealous caster and nearly hooked him a dozen times...before settling into my usual routine of fishing for 15 minutes and then curling up on the boat with a book while my Dad and him sat and fished.  

And of course, he would dutifully put his life jacket on as he walked back to camp so that Grandma would think he actually wore it in the boat.  He would disappear for hours to hunt for the frogs that he used to catch the fish....all so that on Christmas Eve, we would all happily devour Canadian Bass from Paudash Lake in our Wigilia meal which I think everyone can agree is irreplaceable.

I know I’m supposed to stand up here and reminisce about the poignant, caring, and loving moments, and of course, make you all cry, but I don’t think Grandpa would enjoy that very much, so let’s all become “celebrate life” kinds of mourners today.  After all, it was the gruffer, sometimes sillier side, that endeared him to all of us. I think my cousin summed it up the best when she posted “we’re gonna miss your crazy Polish ass” on facebook this Sunday.  That crazy Polish man she speaks of left us with such fine memories as once blessing the Christmas tree with vinegar because grandma handed him the wrong bottle...but mostly ignored the smell until my dad kept sniffing the air around him obnoxiously, and then, his reaction was a curt, "shut up".  

Growing up hearing stories of Grandpa dealing with the trials and tribulations of parenting has always proven amusing.  Whether it was chasing my aunt and uncles around the house with friction ray guns in the dark while Grandma lay in bed with the flu or playing what might have been either Ravels Bolero or Crazy Jungle Music like Norwegian Wood while spitting watermelon seeds in the kitchen, or nearly knocking himself out while slipping and sliding all over the homemade hockey rink in the fields, painstakingly running the hose back and forth over the ice to make the rink as smooth as glass, or teasing David (who got the boat stuck between two trees in the narrows) by saying, “boat’s never been the same since David drove it”, it was clear that Grandpa loved and enjoyed his family.

Note the camera in his hand...

In fact, if this was a wedding or a graduation instead of funeral, we’d probably be hearing that familiar hum of his camera rewinding the film after he took the last picture on that roll. 

When Uncle Jim crashed his car,  and left a note that only a kid in trouble can, saying, “Wake me up when you get up, we have a problem”.  I can practically hear Grandpa wake him up gruffly saying, “What’s our problem?”  And the fuming that escalated as they drove to and then saw the totalled car is completely understandable. But the touching part of the story was how after hearing other people circling the car and spouting speculations like, “..they must’ve died”, he was quiet, then said, “I’m glad you’re okay”, and never said another word about it.  But Uncle Jim also didn’t get to drive another family car for a while either.   He sometimes opted for the quiet punishment for his kids...seeing Uncle John’s new tattoo at age 16 and pressing his thumb into it as it bled, but he also found the humor in his kids like when they stuffed reader’s digests down their pant before getting whacked with the belt, and while he still made them take down their pants to get their punishment, he chuckled his way back down the stairs...clearly recognizing their ingenuity. And you know you’re in a unique household, when you’re woken up by your father  exasperatingly saying, “How much money you got?  I gotta bail your brother outta jail.” 

Just after RJ dropped Jesus.

The legacy that he leaves, regardless of how far flung we may become is the deep love and pride for this family and its traditions that he instilled.  My favorite holiday is Christmas.  And a great part of my love for that holiday isn’t because of the presents, or even the meaning behind the holiday - it’s because of the reverence for following our Polish traditions and heritage and including all of us in them...in real life and as increasingly smaller snowballs on the family room picture window...a tradition Nicole has carried on.  Even when it might have been ill advised to let my 18 month old RJ carry in ceramic baby Jesus amidst the chaos that the entire family squeezing into the family room creates.  Sure enough, he kinda got confused and dropped him, but Grandpa didn’t say a word while my heart pounded until the danger of shattering an irreplaceable family heirloom was over.  Many of us can't wait to turn the Christmas lights on as soon as the tree is up...but keeping the tradition of lighting it for the first time as it gets blessed ( a task much easier once it got hooked to a power strip)  is part of the magic that grandpa brought to the holiday.  And as the family grew, Grandpa relished in the new traditions that popped up too...teasing and laughing as Amanda, Sarah, and Candice performed their annual fashion show, parading around in whatever new outfits they got for Christmas gifts and swapping Christmas dresses.  And some of the legacies are simpler, like how he laughed when after 30 some years, my dad finally figured out why grandpas pancakes,using the same recipe, were always better.  

We might be sad that our grandfather, father, husband, friend has left us, but he leaves us with these rich memories and traditions that we can pass on for generations to come.  
Bob Dylan once wrote, “how many years can some people exist, Before they're allowed to be free?”  The last couple of years have been rough on this family, knowing full well that “existing” is what this man did.  But now, he’s free again, drinking his evening martini with those giant green olives.  And while the answer to WHY he had to merely exist for a while, might be “blowing in the wind”, Grandpa himself will always be floating...in a boat.  On Paudash lake.

Amazingly, RJ and Logan behaved quite well during the viewings and the funeral, and in the crazy whirlwind of visiting with relatives.  And while our traveling was not under the best of circumstances, it was nice to see the kids get to visit with family, even if that was mostly climbing all over David for a while.

In fact, RJ did so well, that we decided to reward him with some new legos when he got home.   

DeLanceys go to Joan's Farm (again)

The beginning of October can only mean one thing - it's time to make the annual pilgrimage to Joan's Farm and Pumpkin Patch for our friend Zach's Birthday party!  We've also been there in 2010 and 2011!

I made the cake again...this time, Zach wanted a lego cake, but different from RJ's lego cake.  

Here are some pictures from the farm!

RJ Goes Rock Climbing - August 11, 2012

With my newly found climbing opportunities, I did a little research into finding a place to get the kids to climb.  There is a place called City Beach, not too far away that has a "Family Fun Night", where for $15/kid, there is climbing and a couple of bounce houses, space to run around, hula hoops, etc.  We figured Logan might be a little small to climb, but this was a good place to go because if nothing else, he could bounce, and RJ would definitely be able to climb.

Turns out, Logan was just barely big enough to try it (but not even close to mature enough to do any climbing - he just bounced on the self-belay line), so we just got them both geared up and gave it a shot.

Look how cute his little belly is
sticking out of his harness.  His
biggest fascination was the lock
on the sport bolt.  

Okay mom, you've proven your
point, I'm on a rock wall.  But I'm
2.5 years old.  This is all your
getting.  Next!

Logan might have been a little
young, but RJ took right to it.
Here he is getting started.

While RJ climbed, Logan found hula hoops.

Going up...

and up...

...and over the slight outcropping.
This is definitely one of my
favorite moments of being a
parent.  Right up there with him
being born, saying he loves me,
singing songs from glee,
and he first time he stole my sushi.

Pretty good form there, RJ

Meanwhile, Logan enjoyed the
bounce house slide.

Yay!  He likes it!!  RJ and I will definitely have to go back here sometime to get him fully hooked.  Logan is still a little young to justify the cost, but it's a perfect Mommy-RJ date!  

More pictures here.