RJ Turns 5!

As of June 19, 2012,

Physical Stats:
Height: 44inches
Weight: 39lbs
Teeth: 20 (still has all his baby teeth, none lost yet)
Sight: 20/20
Hearing: Normal
Sizes: 5-6, 5T
Sleep: ~9:30 - 7:30/8 (though I'd like him to go down earlier...)

Favorites
Favorite Food: Sushi, Corn on the Cob, Apples, Pears (really any kind of fruit), 

Favorite Dessert: Ice Cream, Cake, Brownies, Cookies, Gummy Bears, M&Ms,
Favorite Drink: Eggnog, Hot Chocolate, Chocolate Milk, Horchata
Dislikes: Cheese, Leafy Greens (with the exception of Spinach, which he LOVES), Spicy Food
Favorite Book: Cars (Level 1 Reader books), Harry Potter books
Favorite Video Game: Lego Harry Potter (he did just get it today), MotorStorm (he doesn't play, Daddy does and gives him the inactive controller - he's way too uncoordinated for that particular game), he also enjoys Beatles Rock Band and Glee Karaoke Revolution, but he didn't say so.

Favorite Toy: Lightning McQueen, Harry Potter Lego sets, Toothless the Dragon from "How to Train Your Dragon"
Favorite Color: Red
Favorite Outdoor Activity: Looking for Roly Polys
Favorite Indoor Activity: Play with Cars/Toothless/Harry Potter
Favorite Sport to Watch:  Football ("Go Steelers!")

Favorite Sport to Play: Soccer, Gymnastics
Possible Future Occupations: Race Car Driver
Favorite TV Shows/Movies: Car Toons (Mater's Tall Tales), Cars 2 ("even though you don't think it's good, I think it's the best on earth"), How to Train your Dragon
Favorite Number: 95

Favorite Letter(s): R, J (duh)

Favorite Song: Life is a Highway (Tom Cochrane - though RJ does mostly like the Rascall Flatts version from Cars...sigh), Jet Airliner (Steve Miller Band), 

I would sit here and detail his development like I've done in the past, but really, all you need is a summary.  He's pretty much a normal five year old, but with outstanding verbal and comprehension skills; pretty typical gross motor skills (though he tends toward being lazy and doesn't want to work hard at new skills or walk far or work at pedaling his bike); and decent fine motor control (he can write and draw and color and use scissors and all that).  He might initially play shy, but he warms up really quickly to people and makes friends easily.  Emotionally, he's sensitive and gets scared and upset easily, but he's getting a lot better at controlling himself the more we work on it with him.  All in all, he's a wonderful kid and we enjoy him being his normal inquisitive self!

On his actual birthday this year, Lance took a day off and spent the morning in RJ's preschool room talking to the kids about DreamWorks Animation.  We took Logan to our friend's daycare for the day and picked RJ up early from preschool to go to Funworks, which had GoKarts, Miniature Golf, and a Game Room as well as some other fun stuff.  RJ was particularly excited about the GoKarts!







After picking up Logan, RJ of course requested a sushi dinner.  And since it was his birthday, sushi came complete with an ice cream-filled pastry fish!

Happy Birthday to RJ!!!

RJ & Logan go to Dinosaur Story Time

You might remember from Halloween 2011, that RJ and Logan were dinosaurs.  When one of the local library branches hosted a Dinosaur Story time, they, along with their friend Ashlan (for whom we had made a dinosaur costume for her birthday), decided that they needed to be dinosaurs again.

More pictures here.

DeLancey's Go to the Sunol Wildflower Festival

When I noticed that Lance had put the Sunol Wildflower Festival on our calendar as a possible weekend activity, I was at first skeptical.  Wildflowers are pretty, sure, but as a family activity?  Would the boys really be happy looking at a bunch of wildflowers.  A quick look at their website showed me that guided hikes (some specifically for children) were available, which could potentially be a lot of fun, so we decided to check it out.

We took too long at lunch on the way there and missed both of the hikes I had selected as good for the kids, but we continued on anyway since we could always hike ourselves if we wanted (we had been to the Sunol Regional wilderness before after all).

It was a pleasant surprise, but the festival activities were SO good (and SO free) that we never even got on a trail.

Each kid got a "passport" that they would get stamped when they finished an activity and when they collected 8 (out of 12) stamps, they could claim their prize (a button with a wildflower depicted).  The activities kicked ass.

They learned about animals living in the watershed and each got to color a wooden animal (RJ picked a steelhead trout and Logan picked a salamander).  They learned about bees and other insects (and collected a plastic bee and plastic moth as swag) and made coffee filter butterflies.

RJ got his face painted (a bee) and both boys got temporary tattoos (RJ got a bee and I think Logan's is a dolphin or something).



Then, the sweetest thing happened...RJ and I were walking around the bee house building tent and one of the boy scouts running the activity (the smallest one I might add - they were probably 8-12 year olds if I were to guess) approached RJ and asked him if he wanted his help in building a bee house to take home.  This boy was a natural teacher - he gathered up the materials and led RJ through making his bee house.  He didn't do it for him, and he didn't just tell him what to do - he brilliantly did the activity WITH RJ, letting RJ do what he could on his own, and helping him when he needed it.  I made sure to tell this child that he was a really good teacher and that we really appreciated his help.  And now we have a bee house to hang outside.


RJ also learned about the parts of a flower at another tent, drew flowers at another, made paper out of cotton and wildflowers, and swindled me into making him an elderwood flute while he stole the awls and dug in the mud with them.  That flute is a pain in the ass to make.  My only complain about the whole festival was that to hollow out the stick sufficiently takes a LONG time.  RJ lost interest way before we had even hollowed out all the way through and it still needs "about an hour or so more hollowing" to make any sounds.  It would've been better if they had pre-drilled some of the sticks (we were doing it with hand files and screwdrivers), so that we could've left with a working instrument - but still, it's pretty cool they were doing this activity at all since I'm pretty sure this was the first time RJ held a hand saw and he managed not to saw anyone's fingers off.

While RJ was busy at the flute station, Logan found the "mud cup" station (yep - chocolate pudding + cookie crumbs + gummy worms) and spent the rest of the day with chocolate all over his face.  RJ and I got some too when we were done, but this was clearly the highlight for Logan, who, at 2 wasn't super engaged in many of the activities, which were understandably geared toward older kids.  He spent a lot of time running around in the field and relaxing with Lance by the band (yes, they had live music there too!).


We were so impressed with the incredible activities for kids, especially considering that they were all free and there was no admission other than the park's normal $5 parking fee!  We did make a small donation because it was such a quality event.

RJ & Logan Join the Circus

I missed out on the Madagascar 3 opening day celebration at DreamWorks, back in June, since I was recovering from a D &C the day before, but the DeLancey boys seemed to have a blast, as evidenced by the pictures.

Logan Eats Little Lunch and Lots of Treats = Logan goes insane

Real Circus Performers

:

When you're a little sleepy and a little loopy, it's a little trippy when your family comes home wearing these wigs.

More pictures are HERE.  

DeLanceys Roam with Dinosaurs

On June 1, we found out that baby #3 didn't have a heartbeat and we were a.) dealing with the shock and b.) trying to decide whether or not I should go ahead with a D&C or wait it out since I hadn't miscarried yet (Lance was going out of town in a week, so we ultimately decided to do the surgery so I wouldn't have to deal with the kids and miscarrying all while Lance was gone, but that's not really the point of this post), so we didn't really think about making any plans for what we were going to do on June 2, after we got to see the latest DreamWorks movie; Madagascar 3 (you should see it if you haven't already!!).  Granted, we could've planned something earlier than the day before, but well...we didn't.

Anyway, since the movie brought us to the glorious bay area, we figured that we should stay for the day, even without plans.  So we ended up driving around a bunch after lunch, heading toward Half Moon Bay, ending up driving along Skyline Blvd. for some pretty views.  We got out when we found a trail head, but quickly turned around when we realized that we were on a different trail than the easy one we thought we were on (it was not well labeled, and apparently there were two parking lots; the easier trail starting at the OTHER parking lot).  After that, we continued heading toward Half Moon Bay and when we randomly saw the giant metal dinosaurs outside the Spanish Town Market, we had found another destination.

Of course there were the metal dinosaurs.

It looks ginormous next to RJ!

Mom, I don't think that's a good idea.

But I don't WANT to leave the giant metal dinosaurs.

 I totally want one of these for my front yard.  The super large ones do not appear to be for sale, but a smaller one could be bought for $2598.00.  Anyone???

They even had a metal Beyonce Chicken, which is really only notable/funny if you read THIS.

We eventually made our way randomly down Route 1 and then back to the highway and I think we had dinner somewhere before heading home, but the lawn full of giant metal dinosaurs was the highlight of our day (after the movie that Lance's company made, of course.).

More pictures are here.

RJ Plays Soccer

I have joked since Logan was born that RJ would be my soccer player and Logan would be my hockey player.  The city of Tracy offers inexpensive sessions of soccer (between 6 & 8 weeks per session) for preschoolers (and school-agers since that's what he'll be soon), so we thought we could let RJ give soccer a go in addition to his steady diet of gymnastics.  He's actually quite the natural and has decent control of the ball for a little kid and was the fastest one in his session (which makes sense because he's on the older end of  the age spectrum, but I didn't want him to be discouraged when trying the sport for the first time, so I went with the younger group that he was eligible for).

His soccer practices are really well run, where the coach has fun games for them to play to practice discreet skills, and most practices end in a short and friendly scrimmage.  I was really impressed and RJ enjoyed himself this month too!  

These pictures are living proof that I'm now a "soccer mom".

I think Logan will be starting soccer too next spring when he's old enough for the 3-4 year old session!

More soccer pictures from this month are here.

  

RJ & Logan Host Co-op

We've been enjoying co-op for nearly 2 years now, starting when there were only the three big kids (RJ, Ashlan, & Zach) participating and Logan only hanging out when we hosted.  Co-op started like this, circa July/August 2010:

Now there are six kids, with Natalie and Austin starting to join in the festivities too.   These pictures are from one of our recent co-op hosting duties. We made sidewalk paint and played in the sprinkler!  It's hard to believe how much co-op has changed in the past two years and how it will be changing soon, as the big kids move on to Kindergarten and Pre-K.  

More co-op pictures are here.

May 2012 in Pictures

It's May!  The Sprinkler Parks are turned on!

We managed to take a trip to the zoo...and caught the elephant trying to climb the fence!

Seems that RJ does have my climbing genes!

Who says you can't take a picture of the eclipse?
(I did it  facing away from the eclipse, shooting with my phone
over my shoulder.  Regardless of the warnings that taking a
picture of the sun would irrevocably damage my camera, it did not hurt my
phone's camera in the slightest AND I have a kick ass picture.
So there.  May 20, 2012

Oh, don't worry, we viewed it the safe way too, using the homemade pinhole viewer.

Logan and Ethan continue to be best buds!

RJ is still enjoying soccer and even asked to sign up for the next session!
 (I'm signing him up for the Kindergarten group this time).
More Soccer pictures from May are here.

More pictures from May are HERE.

Easter 2012

As a non-religious family, Easter is usually pretty low-key with a few family traditions, and the usual secular Easter activities.  Last year we had the excitement of me doing the Bring Your Own Big Wheel Race, but this year, I sort of forgot about it until Easter Sunday, and there's no way we would've made it to San Francisco in time even if I had the motivation to do it.

Easter is a fantastic excuse to buy chocolate (then again, I can find an excuse to buy chocolate any random day, so that's not saying a whole lot).  

The kids Easter Baskets featured chocolate heavily (and also included the eggs they found at the DreamWorks Easter Egg Hunt...funny how the Easter Bunny found their egg stashes and neatly combined the treats), and they each got one small toy.  RJ got a new Lightning McQueen (the Cars 2 version with the Grand Prix spoiler) to replace the exact same one which happened to have a slightly crooked wheel.  Mommy and Daddy wouldn't replace a toy for such a small imperfection, but the Easter Bunny thought that Mommy and Daddy could use a break from hearing about the damned crooked wheel and thought that perhaps Logan wouldn't mind having an identical Lightning with such a minor flaw.  Logan got some cool Haba stuffed Ice Cream Cones for the play kitchen.  

When they woke up, the kids went hunting for their baskets.  Logan's was found pretty quickly being that it was in the kids' favorite hiding spot; the cardboard space shuttle/Lightning McQueen (it recently got converted and painted by RJ, but Logan still calls it the space shuttle).  RJ took a bit longer but eventually found it under a pile of future art project recyclables in their learning tower.  (I know the Easter Bunny is a BITCH for hiding his basket under what looked like a pile of trash).  I'll just let you watch...

Once the Easter Basket shenanigans were over, we had some breakfast.  Usually I do the traditional Polish Easter Breakfast (swienconka), but this year I didn't have polish sausage (I need to get the family recipe to make it myself!), so we had homemade "funfetti" waffles, bacon, babka, and hard boiled eggs.  The kids had decorated the eggs the night before with the dinosaur egg kit.  

Then for dinner we had ham, candied scalloped sweet potatoes, and broccoli.  Overall, it was a fun laid-back kind of day.

DeLanceys Go Hiking to Cave Rocks

We've written about the Sunol Regional Wilderness a few times (like here and here).  But the fact is that it's the closest place that has pretty decent hiking within the kids' attention spans/abilities.  So we went for a hike on Memorial Day.  It was pretty.  Here are some pictures of our hike to the Cave Rocks.

Daddy, Logan, & RJ

Momma, RJ, & Logan

I have to plug the ergo here (it's the baby carrier for the uninitiated), since it's probably the one piece of "baby gear" that gets used for the longest period of time (birth through preschool years - I can still carry RJ in it if I have to), along with the stroller and car seats. Logan is quickly catching up to RJ's hiking stamina (mostly because RJ is a lazy whiner a lot of the time and Logan is not), but his little legs do get tired, so it's nice to be able to quickly strap him on and continue with the hike.  It certainly allows us to do less boring hikes than if we needed to depend on him walking the whole way or having to just carry him.  Both Lance and I can use the ergo and it's easy to get him in and out of.  Oh and it's made out of organic cotton and machine washable!  Can't beat that!  I LOVE the ergo!

This hike was largely meandering through the grassy hills

The "Happy Cows of California" graze in some areas of the parkland.

 Our destination for this hike was the Cave Rocks, which was a random rock formation in the middle of the hills.  It's nice to have a destination break point with the boys so it's not just walking for them.  Here they could climb around the rocks and we also sat in the shade of the rocks and trees to eat our lunch.

By the end of our hike, Logan was getting a bit delirious and
decided that he was going to hang onto RJ's arm, move it around
and laugh uncontrollably.  At least he was happy and tired rather than the cranky alternative!

More pictures from our hike are here.