January in Pictures

In reality, most of January was spent in preparation of Logan's Birthday Party teaching the kids about outer space, but we did some other stuff too.

We took down the Christmas Decorations.
I used RJ to wind the lights and garland.
He was at first pissed until I plugged him in.

RJ learned to play Asteroids.
Yes, that is an ATARI.  And Yes, it WAS one of RJ's Christmas presents.
Shhhh...he doesn't know it was used, nor that it was used back in the 80's by Daddy.

We got our zen on with the Wii Fit Plus.
Scratch that, it's not zen-like trying to do yoga with the kids around, but it IS exercise!

We got our Glee on with Glee Karaoke Revolution.

Co-op learned about Outer Space.  Here they are with the Stomp Rocket.

Erika and I started having semi-regular sewing/crafting days,
where Logan and Ethan entertain each other.

We made massive messes, including this one where Logan and RJ
made cloud dough and then spread it all over the living room.

And this one, where Logan opened a bag of packing peanuts, which I had JUST bagged from a shipping box (Thanks Grandpa/Dad for packing Christmas gifts in peanuts) and then got them all over the house.  For reference, the only way to get them all was to unleash the shop vac on them.  Interestingly, this was NOT the same day as the cloud dough, even though they're wearing the same shirts.  I should know these are their MESS outfits from now on.

RJ continues to LOVE gymnastics.  Seriously Coach Josh is AWESOME.  Here, he's doing a headstand.

We might have even gotten a little rest...well, the kids at least!

More pictures at https://picasaweb.google.com/105405683086462999665/January201202?authkey=Gv1sRgCMraqZyF9NacOw.

Logan's Second Birthday Party: An Outer Space Adventure

Thanks to RJ, Logan is into all things outer space these days, so when he suggested an outer space themed birthday party, we thought that was a great idea.  A runner up idea was "Where the Wild Things Are", but I think we had a lot more options with the space theme.

As usual, I probably went overboard, but it was a LOT of fun and my three weeks of preparations was 110% worth it, since most of the projects were a lot of fun.

As Logan's friends arrived we handed out their Junior Astronaut ID Badges, which I made on the computer and popped into the many id badge holders that I had laying around from Academic conferences.  I LOVE when I can reuse otherwise useless stuff into something fun for the kids!  They were invited to play with the shuttle launch pad on the train table, the homemade outer-space themed felt board (felt thumbtacked to the wall with felt cutouts we made), decorate paper-mache space helmets that we made, draw a space theme with chalk on a black piece of fabric tacked to the wall, play in the cardboard rocket we made, or make their own toilet paper roll/paper towel roll rockets.  There was definitely enough for the 10 kids to do!  They could have gone outside to play with the moon sand and cloud dough, but no one ventured out.  As they played, everyone snacked on veggies and cheese cut into the phases of the moon.

For dinner we had "moon" ball hoagies and "flying saucer" falafels, and sweet potatoes covered in marshmallows (depicting a rocket launch) and two types of coleslaw (we had quite the CSA cabbage bounty - so one was a vinegar based cabbage-apple slaw, and the other was a more traditional cabbage-carrot slaw).  To drink, there was a healthy "tang" concoction, which Lance claimed should have been called "Tang inspired" because it didn't have all the scary chemical ingredients in it, and as such, was not really that Tang-like. It was closer to an orange-ade.  I also made fresh squeezed lemonade since we had a bounty of meyer lemons from our neighbors AND the CSA box.


I lost the most sleep over the space shuttle cake though. It was all chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling, covered in loads of thick buttercream frosting!  Logan actually requested chocolate.  He LOVES chocolate! ...and, we're still eating it because I made the damned thing 8 layers tall.  I should've learned from the 8 layer T-rex cake, but I have some sort of confection-related mental illness, where I find the need to keep topping myself.  We've been giving away and sharing what we could and I think the smoke part is going into the freezer in chunks to take out when we get a cake craving.  And, because the cake wasn't enough, I made homemade vanilla ice cream rocket popsicles (really it was an excuse to buy better popsicle making supplies...) and super rich dark chocolate ice cream for the adults.

Logan's friends went home with their space helmets and rockets and their favors: reusable sandwich bags that I made with outer space material filled with a small telescope, stickers, and glow-in-the-dark stars, and a container of homemade moon sand.

Thank you to everyone who came!  We hope everyone had a wonderful time!  We know we did!

Here are more pictures.

Logan is 2!

Our little guy is 2!

Physical Stats:
Height: 35 inches (between 50 and 75th percentile according to BabyCenter.com- haven't been to the pediatrician yet)
Weight: 28 lbs.  (According to the Wii Fit, 50th percentile according to BabyCenter.com)
Teeth: 16 (no 2 year old molars yet)
Sizes: He's pretty much a 2T, though he is wearing some 3T tops and some 3T pajamas
Sleep: grrr.  ~9:30pm - 7:30am

Hair: Light Brown with some lighter streaks from the sun

Eyes: Hazel.  They range from Blue/Gray to Green to Brown, sometimes all at the same time, with them being brown near the iris, green next, and blue/gray on the edge.  I think he'll always have chameleon or multi-color eyes.

Favorites

Favorite Food: Cheese, Z-bars (kids clif bars), bananas, macaroni and cheese, anything chocolate
Favorite Drink: juice, hot chocolate (but he mostly drinks milk)
Dislikes: leafy greens (although if they are in a soup or something, he does eat them, unlike RJ who will try to pick it out),
Favorite Book: "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak (he can recite it verbatim along with me)

Favorite Toy: RJ's lego space shuttle, anything with wheels, anything that RJ currently has in his hands, scissors, any writing utensil he can get his hands on, blocks of any kind, shoes, dress up accessories
Favorite Color: Unknown.  He seems to like James (the train) over Thomas & Percy, so MAYBE red, but he also likes some of RJ's orange cars, so maybe orange.
Favorite Outdoor Activity: Climbing stairs and going down the slide, trying to run into the street, pushing carts, lawn mowers, shoveling sand from the sand table to the ground.

Favorite Indoor Activity: Playing with whatever RJ is playing with or stealing art supplies and painting/drawing wherever he can, playing dress up (he currently loves the "Train Your Dragon Hat", which is a viking hat, but he will find whatever he can to dress up in!)
Favorite Phrase: "Spaceship..to the moon!"

Eating

Logan used to be a great eater, but now he's in typically toddler mode, where he is picky and would love to subsist solely on Z-bars and cheese and sweets.  He usually has cereal (sometimes with milk, sometimes without) for breakfast, and we often eat leftovers for lunch, and a homecooked meal for dinner (see http://delanceydinners.blogspot.com if you're interested in what we eat on a daily basis).  Breakfast is whenever he wakes up (anytime between 6:30 and 8:30 depending on the day), and he usually wants a morning snack around 9:30/10).  Lunch is around noon, and he usually has an afternoon snack when he wakes up from nap (anytime between 3:30 and 5).  Dinner usually starts between 6 and 6:30.  He basically will eat for a few minutes and then run off to play.  I will try to snag him again and keep him eating a few more bites, but usually I just give up and decide that he will eat if he's hungry.  He really would snack all day if he could, and I'm working on offering more fresh fruits and veggies for snacks instead of Z-bars and raisins and bananas (which yes, I know are a fresh fruit).  Lastly, he has recently shown us that he can drink from a regular cup, although it is messier than him drinking from a sippy or straw cup.

Potty Training

I'm going to go ahead and call it.  Logan is potty trained.  As of his second birthday, every poop for 3 weeks has made it directly into the potty (as I write, it's now been 4 weeks).  And most of his pee makes it into the potty too.  I will still ask him if he needs to go, but it's only if I remember.  

At this point, he's telling us that he needs to use the potty.  More often than not, he ends up wearing the same underwear and pants at the end of the day that he started out in.  That said, he does still occasionally have an accident, but it's rarely a full bladder accident; mostly just a squirt and then he goes running to the potty.  We have started venturing out wearing underwear and he has handled being in the car for about 30 minutes now without incident.  We only put him in a diaper at naptime and at night.  His nap diaper normally comes off dry, so that might be a short-lived precaution, but his nighttime diaper is usually wet in the morning (but he is in a phase where he will wake us up to go pee in the middle of the night, which sucks for our sleep, but in the grand scheme of things, is a great developmental milestone).  

Sleep

Logan used to go to sleep easily, but now he fights it constantly, much to our annoyance.  We have a routine of reading a story or 2 (usually one for him, one for RJ at bedtime, and only one at naptime), and then singing a song to him, saying goodnight, and then leaving the room.  This used to work great. He might talk a little and then would just sleep.  Not anymore.  Now there are 3-4 curtain calls where he wants a variety of things such as a.) to use the potty (even after he JUST WENT), b.) another song, c.) to get tucked in again, d.) to have a toy sitting on his dresser, e.) another hug, f.) to get the blanket OFF, g.) to get a toy OUT of the bed, etc...  We try not to give in to it (especially the ridiculous demands for toys), because it is a relentless cycle, but sometimes, singing the song again (especially if he just went potty again) will get him to settle and sleep.  We do think he's manipulating us with the potty thing though, because he knows we'll take him.  We hope that fizzles out on its own once potty training isn't so new to him.  And while he was sleeping through the night great, he has now started to wake at night again, which we think is related to the potty training, and occasionally 2 year old molar pain since they are not in yet.  He takes an afternoon nap still, but he fights that too.  I'd like for him to sleep from 1:30 - 3:30/4, but usually it's more like 2-4 or 2:30 - 4:30, especially now that he fights the sleep.  2 hours is the norm, but we can get by on 1 hour if we have to (e.g., Mondays when RJ goes to gymnastics at 3, I put him down at 1, and he fights it until 1:45 and then I have to wake him up at 2:45 to leave - if there was another class at a better time for RJ, trust me, we'd take it).

Fine Motor Development

Logan loves to draw.  My walls have suffered, but he really likes making his marks.  He can also draw a circle on demand.  His new thing is cutting with scissors.  He very quickly learned the correct grip on them and now makes fringe around nearly every piece of paper that comes within his reach.  He is also really good at unzipping his own jacket...and then throwing it on the floor for me to pick up.  He absolutely loves to stack blocks and make structures out of blocks (duplos, bristle blocks, wooden blocks; he loves them all).  And in the bath he is getting better at pouring water into other things and more effectively dumping water on RJ's head (or my pants).  He can feed himself with a fork and spoon relatively well, although sometimes he gets frustrated or just doesn't want to.  He can also easily turn the pages of books now without ripping them (most of the time). 

Gross Motor Development

I don't think Logan ever walks anymore.  He runs, he jumps (up and down on both feet in place and off of things with little warning to catch him), he dances, and he climbs, but rarely does he ever just WALK.  He is gaining better balance as I realized a couple of weeks ago when he wanted to walk on the skate park rail like a beam.  He did really well!  I'm more confident of his skills going up and down stairs, though I still lock the gates because he does still occasionally slip, and I like to be there when he's going down especially.  He can throw and catch when you throw a ball right to him.  Climbing is his absolute favorite thing. He regularly gives me a heart attack at the park because he climbs the structure in the big kid area (as in the 5-12 year old playground, not just the 2-4 year old playground) as well as hangs from his arms on the monkey bars (I think he's been watching RJ at gymnastics!) and insists on the big kid swings.  I've also found him scaling the outside of our staircase, making it nearly to the landing.  I think he's part monkey!  It's clearly time to get him into a gymnastics class!

Cognitive Development

Logan's cognitive development is right on track and focused mostly on verbal skills, as he is now talking in 2-4 word sentences regularly.  He has a great memory and has already memorized "Where the Wild Things Are", and can sing the Alphabet song, Twinkle, Twinkle, Brown Bear, and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  Even though Christmas is long over, he started singing "Santa Claus is coming to Town" in the car the other day.  He generally knows where the toys belong in the house, but still only rarely puts them away without significant cajoling.  

He mastered the shape sorter, though he doesn't yet know the shape names, nor can he reliably tell you what color things are.  He can count to 3 and he can count backwards from 10 (thanks to our Space Theme and pretty regular Shuttle launching throughout the house) by himself.  I'm sure he'll learn to count forward soon.  He loves to engage in pretend play, and will use objects in non-traditional ways to fulfill his ideas in his head.  However, that only works when it's his idea, and unfortunately NOT when you try to convince him that what you're giving him can used just like something that RJ is currently using (that said, we're also working on sharing with both kids).

Language Arts

Logan chatters quite a bit now.  He tells us what he wants and lets us know when he's unhappy (usually with a loud, resonant, "NO" or "MINES" (yeah, he says "mines" instead of "mine").  We can understand most of what he says, although it's still hard to distinguish some words - one of our current issues is telling "Daddy" from "RJ" because Daddy sounds like you would expect Daddy to, but RJ sounds like "Dahr - Day", but he sort of swallows the r, so it's hard to tell sometimes.  He finally says his own name (Doh-dan) to refer to himself sometimes, although he sometimes refers to himself as "my" or "mines".  He has a great vocabulary for everyday objects and toys and can usually get his point across using sentences.  (E.g., "RJ hit me" (although he's used that one when RJ was nowhere near him too...)).   He is also getting good enough in his expressive language that he can hold a short conversation with RJ, although a lot of their play involves Logan imitating what RJ is doing and mimicking his words.  Still, not a bad way to interact peacefully.  

Emotional/Behavioral/Personality

Somewhere around 22 or 23 months, Logan flipped a switch and became a quintessential two year old.  He wants to do everything by himself, and gets frustrated when he can't quite do it.  He also gets frustrated when the other people in his life don't do what he wants.  And he tantrums and yells "no".  He occasionally hits when a toy is taken from him or some similar event, but has quickly learned to say "sowwy" and give hugs instead.  All of this is normal for a 2 year old, but we obviously try to encourage his persistence with tasks all the while trying to avoid his frustration responses.  He absolutely adores being around people, mostly other children.  In some ways he idolizes RJ, who can do all the cool things a four-year-old can, and in other ways you can totally see him rolling his eyes at RJ's drama queen episodes.  That said, Logan is a lot more easy going than RJ and even though he gets upset when things don't go his way, he calms down a LOT quicker than RJ does (even at 4 years old, so we're not comparing RJ-at-2 to Logan now).  One thing that Logan does have in common with  RJ at 2 is that they both learned emotion words around this age and used them appropriately.  

Logan is a really empathetic kid, who gives RJ (and other people) hugs when they're upset.  When the babies we know are crying, he loves to bring them toys to cheer them up too.  It's so cute to watch!  I used to think that Logan  didn't feel fear nor anger, since he was just such a happy-go-lucky baby and young toddler, but these emotions are clearly starting to develop; anger more so in the form of frustration, and fear mostly in response to things that startle him (because he still has no fear for his own safety when hurling his body around the playground or running down the middle of our street).  He is also starting to get bashful.  He's really easy to drop off at our co-op houses or at Erika's house which are familiar to him, but he does seem to be initially shy with new people.  And he likes to cover his face for pictures, which is typically as children develop the emotion, embarrassment.  Mostly though, he's just a happy, mischievous, little boy who likes to tackle his big brother to the ground with overzealous hugs and tickles and get into EVERYTHING.  

DeLancey's Go to the Bay Area Discovery Museum - January 15, 2012

Since our membership for the Bay Area Discovery Museum is expiring at the end of January, we decided to take one last ride up to Sausalito to let the kids play.  This membership has been totally worth it as we have gone  to the museum several times AND used it to get into the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose a couple of times, AND it got us into the Boston Children's Museum and Pittsburgh Children's Museum when we were travelling.  We might look into becoming members at the museum in San Jose instead this year since it's a.) closer and b.) we have friends who are members too, and c.) also has the reciprocal program.  Anyway, the kiddos had a lot of fun.

Before heading to the museum we stopped for lunch in Corte Madera, where there was a line-up of food trucks with lots of yummy food to enjoy.  The kids liked the little play area there too, which was basically all cut from old redwood trees!.

 Both Logan and RJ spent a considerable time in the Imagination Playground area building structures with the super-size foam blocks.  If I ever get a child care center up and running, I want these.  They are fabulous!

 Logan loved the pea gravel area for playing with the shovel and dump truck...

 ...which he then moved over to the bark area next to the replica golden gate bridge.

 Here, RJ climbed the crows next and really I just made him climb up there to get a pictures with the golden gate bridge in the background.  Gratuitous, I know.

 RJ also loved the Imagination Playground.  He stayed there for a Looooong time, first building by himself and then with a new friend.

 This is his T-Rex.

 When RJ finally decided he was done with the imagination playground, I convinced him to spend some time in the art area, where they were creating structures and artwork out of reeds.  So, here is Reed, with his Reed Fish.

 And this one is just a goofy picture of Logan in the Boat Room!

It was a wonderful day at the museum! More pictures are here.

Funny Shit Kids Say: 2011 Edition

This is all the funny, sweet, or notable phrases we've recorded during 2011 (RJ aged 3.5 - 4.5, Logan aged 1-2)

• Jan 9 , 2011 - After (finally) unpacking my margarita classes, I (jokingly) say to Lance, "Maybe Logan's birthday party should be margarita themed". RJ replied, "But mom, Logan can't drink anything." Good point, RJ...thanks for pointing it out for me. 
• Feb 18, 2011 - RJ: "when you have a girl baby, she can wear it (the panda costume)". Me: "when are we having a girl baby? I'm not pregnant, RJ" RJ: "the day after Saturday"  
• Feb 25, 2011 - RJ: "When I grow up, I want to be the director of my school." Hmmm...I think RJ and I have similar goals. 
• March 4, 2011 - Me: "You're one of my favorite people". RJ: "I know Mom, but I wish you had a penis"  
• March 25, 2011 - Daddy: What is the most famous orca? RJ: Sham.....paigne. D: No not champaigne, RJ: Shampoo!  
• March 25, 2011 - Something I will never say no to. "Mommy, may I have more broccoli? I'm being an herbivore."  
• May 4, 2011 - RJ just informed me that he would start listening better when he turns 4. If that's the case, June cannot come quick enough.  
• May 7, 2011 - RJ informed me earlier that he wanted to get me a broom, worms, and snakes for Mothers Day, so tomorrow should be interesting...  
• May 26, 2011 - RJ: "Mom, where is my birthday [party]?" Me: "Where do you want your birthday party?" [STUPID MOMMY!!] RJ: "In Washington." [Where his friend Hayden just moved] Poor kid.  
• June 4, 2011 - First words out of RJs mouth this morning, "mommy, is Sully here?" Now in the car to go get him and RJ tells us, "I'm going to cover him in kisses!"
• June 11,2011 - We're on our way home from a great birthday party where RJ had a great time and he says, "I miss Sully." Not easily forgotten.  
• June 15, 2011 - RJ just asked for Mint Ice Cream Dinosaur Eggs to go with his T-rex sitting on a rock 3D cake. This kid really does think I'm super-mom, huh?  
• June 26, 2011 - RJ: "mojitos are good for adults." Mommy: "yes, yes they are." 
• June 29, 2011 - Just found four more apricots in the kids' pantry. This literally moments after answering RJs questions about how babies get in ones uterus. 
• July 3, 2011 - RJ: "I'm happy I got to pee in a bottle! It was my first time!"  
• July 17, 2011 - RJ upon seeing a Justin Bieber mylar balloon in a store, "Look, a pinata!!"  
• July 19, 2011 - RJ is making up songs, " looook at the happiness on his face. Heee's having a greeeeaaaat day. Oh helicopter you flyyyy so high." Might have to record this one.  
• July 28, 2011 - RJ: "I will find a girl who wants to be a mommy, spray sperm into her, then when the baby comes out I will protect it every day. And when I grow up people will call me Reed."
• ‎Jayson DeLancey: "Where is my Black Sweatshirt?" Me:"Hanging in the closet" Lance: "Oh, I didn't think to look there." 
• Sept 3, 2011 - ‎"RJ, are you going to tell Madeline about how you're going to marry Ashlan?" RJ: "No! Its special! A special secret!" Hmm guess I shouldn't have posted it on facebook then.  
• September 22, 2011 - Me: "Good Morning, Logan" (who was still in his crib). Logan: (Points to his behind) "Butt!" (Points to his front) "Penis!" Thanks for the anatomy lesson little one. 
• Sept 23, 2011 - RJ: "Mom? I think I'm smarter than any paleontologist around. They thought something was a horn and it wasn't. That's why I'm smarter." Yep, nothing wrong with his self esteem. 
• Sept 23, 2011 - RJ is on fire today with the quotes. Today during clean-up time (said in a perfect robot-voice): "I am a robot. I am not programmed to clean up. I get distracted easily during clean up time." I tried reprogramming Mr. Roboto but it was unsuccessful. I would hope that Jayson DeLancey would have better luck. However, he is also the one that taught RJ the phrase: "Does not compute".  
• October 9, 2011 - RJ: "Daddy, I want to go somewhere where robots serve dinner".  
• October 13, 2011 - RJ: "He sings like a girl" [pointing at Kurt from Glee].  
• Oct 15, 2011 - RJ just started singing "Freak Out". Then he exclaimed, "I'm copying Glee!" Oh how I love him.  
• Oct 23, 2011 - RJ: "I didn't like it when Puss lost his boots cuz then he was just the cat in the hat."  
• Oct 24, 2011 - RJ:"I did donkey kicks!" Coach Josh:"oh cool!" RJ: "At a wedding!"  
• Oct 25, 2011 - Me: "You must've been sleepy" RJ: "Mommy, I'm not a dwarf!"  
• Oct 25, 2011 - RJ likes to ask about our day when he gets home from preschool. Today, his response to me telling him that Logan used the potty all morning was, "I didn't know my brother could do that!"  
• Oct 28, 2011 - I have my work cut out for me with RJ. E.g., "I am going to marry Ashlan, Madeline, and Maddie so we can have lots of babies all together. Actually I need to have 10 so I need help with them all."   
• Oct 29, 2011 - Me:"RJ, how can you not like cheese?" RJ:"Because I am a sushi fan!" Logan:"Momma, sushi? SUSHI!" and we thought they'd like the stuffed crust pizza.  
• Nov 5, 2011 - Daddy: "The high is only 60 today" Mommy: "Oh that's cold" RJ: "That's like WINTER cold!" Oh our little California boy!  
• Nov 7, 2011 - Unintentional humor= Mommy : "please sit up and eat" (instead of hanging on me and hitting his head against my arm). RJ: "I love you so much I want to keep banging you"  
• Nov 8, 2011 - RJ: (screaming) "I need help calming down!" Logan: "in...out...in...out" RJ: " is Logan trying to get me to breath?" Wow Logan has been paying attention.  
• Nov 9, 2011 - Logan: "Daddy. penis." [points to mommy's mouth]. Hmm...never thought I'd have to say "That's not where Daddy's penis goes" to my 21 month old.  
• Nov 11, 2011 - RJs opinion of my coconut almond milk yogurt: "yuck. It tastes like twiddlebugs" good! More for me (and Logan). And...now I guess I know what a twiddlebug tastes like...delicious.
• Nov 18, 2011 - RJ: "ROAR!!!" Logan: "Arrrrgh Matey!" Dinosaur vs. Pirate? I have NO IDEA what they're playing right now. 
• Nov 23, 2011 -  RJ:" Logan, stop it! You're a sticky little mess; don't touch me!" (Logan was actually sticky from pomegranate jelly)
• Nov 28, 2011 -  RJ: (Randomly at dinner) "I'm thankful for my family. Even though its not turkey day anymore we can still be thankful for stuff. Being thankful is like liking stuff."
• Dec 10, 2011 -  RJ: "Mommy, I love you. And I love the tree. I'm going to marry the Christmas tree, but I'm not going to kiss it, I'm just going to hug it to get married to it. But when I grow up."
• Dec 24, 2011 -  "Mom, I like this Polish sushi!" (pickled herring for the uninitiated!)
• Dec 28, 2011 - (To daddy as he was ushered out of the room where I was playing Glee Karaoke): "Mommy sounds like Rachel"

December in Pictures

We have been learning about Outer Space at home.
Here RJ is with the Space Shuttle he made.

We tried new vegetables, like this Romanesco Cauliflower

We hosted dinner and pajama parties

We played Outside

Our friends Erika and Rich had a cookie swap party; pictured here are Logan and Ethan getting some energy out before eating the cookies!  More pictures from the party are here.

Lance got to see his Steelers play Monday Night Football at Candlestick Park
(too bad the power kept going out and the Steelers lost).
Thanks to John for the tickets! More pictures from the game here.

RJ took his bike for its inaugural spin.  Unfortunately, mommy
and daddy suck at assembly and the pedal fell off.  So his inaugural
spin was interrupted by repairs.  We did eventually make it
all the way to the park though.

During Christmas Week, Lance and I took most of a day without the kids since he was off, RJ's preschool was open (and we were paying for it regardless), and our friend Erika's daycare was open for Logan.  We picked RJ up a little early and took him Ice Skating at Dell Osso Farms for a little while before continuing on to pick up Logan.  He really enjoyed the special time with momma and daddy alone (without Logan).

By the end of the session, he was skating on his own!
More ice skating pictures here.

More pictures from our busy December are here.

DeLancey Family Christmas 2011

Our Christmases have usually involved insane travel.  In the 10 years that Lance and I have lived together, we have only stayed in our own house for the holidays once, when I was 8 months pregnant with Logan.  However, this year was our first Christmas home alone without any family members with us, so it was a little lonely, but we still managed to have a good time.

Interestingly, Logan is now close to the age RJ was when we first did Christmas at home, so we think, as was true for RJ back in 2009, that it was a good year to establish our Christmas traditions at home and to reinforce some family traditions that would happen regardless of where we are.

Christmas Eve:
We started by cleaning the house.  This isn't a tradition, but I didn't get to it during the week since I was busy procuring groceries, making teacher gifts, making and drying kluski noodles, etc. on top of all the normal craziness.  Then Logan's naptime involved putting RJ in front of the TV and doing some covert Santa wrapping.  And then cooking.

 I made my Dad's family's traditional Polish Wigilia meal, which involves a fruit compote, mushroom gravy (which is traditionally made with imported dried mushrooms from Poland, but they are crazy expensive out here and I'd have to go to San Francisco to get them - so I used Porcinis, which are close, but not quite the same), homemade kluski, a rice-apple-raisin casserole, boiled potatoes, peas, rye bread, fish (I made beer battered cod, my family has been doing halibut since my grandparents stopped camping and fishing all summer long to have enough bass), and pickled herring.  Last time I made the Wigilia dinner, I forgot the rye bread.  In similar form, this year I remembered the bread, but forgot to make the peas (which is by far the EASIEST to make).

The best moment from this meal was when RJ proclaimed (referring to the pickled herring), "Mom, I like this Polish Sushi!" (which is what I called it to get him to try it). And while RJ and Logan didn't like everything on their plates, both of them tried everything, which I was very happy with.

After eating and clearing the table, the kids opened presents from Grandpa, Great Grandma & Great Grandpa (from whom they would receive gifts on Christmas Eve normally), and got the book "Twas the Night Before Christmas" (to read at bedtime) from us. After opening gifts we drank eggnog and let the kids stay up a little later to play with their new toys.

And then after getting the children nestled all snug in their beds and were satisfied that visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads, mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap did not settle our brains for a long winter’s nap, but instead set to work assembling Logan's Plan City Parking Garage (easy) and RJ's new bike (pure hell) while eating the cookies that RJ so lovingly set out for Santa us (I also made sure to snap the carrots off the carrot tops [returning them to the fridge] to make it look like the reindeer got their treat too).

The end product was a very nice looking display of Santa magic under the tree.

Which brings us to Christmas Morning:

Here Logan enjoys his new
Pillow and Blanket

There's not much to write about Christmas morning.  The kids opened their gifts with fervor and played with them.  And we ate chocolate chip pancakes.  It was how Christmas morning should be.  We actually filmed the whole thing, which is why there aren't a lot of pictures, but someday I will edit and then post the video too.

Christmas Dinner:

Since we were Christmas orphans, our friends the Goldsmiths invited us to share in their family Christmas festivities.  They are Russian Orthodox, so there are some Christmas Eve similarities that we talked about.  RJ and Logan enjoyed playing with Maddie and Hannah and their cousins Jayden and Jack (the kids are all around the same age, so it worked out well).  I was really impressed with RJ at dinner time.  He was really well behaved, stayed in his seat, and ate really well.  I think the delicious food had something to do with that. We started out with the broccoli cheese soup I brought, then had Beef Tenderloin with a side of Horseradish cream sauce, twice baked potatoes, jello salad, asparagus, and bread. After the way RJ ate, he definitely deserved the big dessert of cookies, ice cream, and chocolate cake!  It was an excellent Christmas Evening and we're grateful that Ashley and Jason shared their family with us!

Overall, I think our Christmas was fantastic!  Santa was very good to us!  More pictures here.