JJ is 5!

Last Thursday, August 27th, JJ turned 5 years old!  I'm way late on posting this because I had to dig up pics from an external hard drive and on my phone, and then I got distracted by trying to organize all those photos...  
JJ has started Kindergarten this year.  He is young for his class, but he has been in school since the age of 3 for his speech delay.  We originally weren't planning to send him to Kindergarten this year, but when we found out he aged out of preschool in the school district, we decided to go ahead and put him in Kindergarten so he can continue his speech classes.  Our other option was to put him in an outside preschool program and hire someone to make house calls for speech (which would be quite expensive for both of those).  
He seems to be doing well in Kindergarten so far.  He loves to try and read books and he is getting really good at sounding out words on the pages.  
His communication is getting better.  He used to get frustrated easily and his main form of communicating was squawks and angry noises if he was in a hurry to get our attention, but now he is a little better about using his words and even telling us what letter the word he is trying to tell us starts with.  He has always been very creative about his ways of communicating, but he is improving and I'm sure there will come a time that we will have forgotten how hard it once was to understand what he was trying to tell us.  
He is our helpful kid (most of the time).  He wants to help clean, cook/bake, do yard work, and help with the baby.  This is great for me since Jeremy and Drew are super busy in 2 different baseball leagues right now.
It's amazing to think back before JJ came along.  Drew was 1 years old and we decided to start trying to get pregnant with another child.  Fast forward 5 years and it seemed we would never have more children.  We had almost completed the lengthy/expensive process of adopting internationally and we found out we were pregnant!  I was excited/worried about having an adopted baby that would've been just 9 months old when our new baby was due to be born, but I thought we'd be OK and we had a very excited big brother to help us with it.
When I was 12 weeks pregnant we found out that the Philippines had denied our request for the adoption because we were not related to the baby we were trying to adopt.  We had put in a request to be considered "like family" since Jeremy's step mom was related to the baby.  We were disappointed and sad, but I know that is one of our many unexpected blessings.  I am very grateful that I was pregnant when we received that news because I believe it softened the heartache quite a bit.
JJ's such a great addition to our family.  He is funny, so sweet, and has the cutest dimples that will melt your heart (even when he is making you CRAZY).  He teaches me patience and how to love unconditionally every day.   

Unexpected Blessings-Blog Revisited

Hi all!
It's been 3 years since my last post on here!  That makes me sad.  They're not kidding when they say time flies...
I blame Facebook.  Facebook is like a mini-blog world and it's very convenient to post pics, videos and quick status updates.  Same with Instagram.  There's nothing wrong with that, I enjoy using them for that purpose, but I've had the urge to revisit this little site recently.  So I thought I'd hop on here, start updating it, and see where it goes.
I've decided to rename my blog: Unexpected Blessings.  If you know me, you know that I am a planner, a little controlling with a side of OCD as a bonus (wink).  But, at the same time, if you know me, you know that many things in my life have happened unexpectedly.  That may sound negative, but I assure you they are not.  The unexpected things are all blessings to me.  I'll go into more details on that in future posts.
My goal with this blog is to update it often about our family, post recipes, share tips on how we run our home (what works for us), and miscellaneous stuff like fitness, finances, and faith.
Here's some pics to tide you over before my first real post:

 Bear Canyon Lake, July 2015

First day of school, July 2015 (J.J.-Kindergarten and Drew-6th Grade)

Andrew's in 3rd Grade

Drew started school on July 23rd this year.  He is well into the routine now; I'm a little late (but, hey, I forgot to post for almost a year now so I think this is progress!). 
He says his teacher is pretty nice.  He seems to be doing well so far and enjoying school, so that's GREAT!
He says his favorite thing about school is doing reading centers in class and playing football at recess.
As for me, it's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that he is in third grade already.  Every time I tell someone he is in third grade, I feel like I messed up and should've said 2nd grade.  So weird.

Halloween 2011

Well, I was hoping to stay more current on my blog since I am not on Facebook or Twitter right now. But... we have had a busy November! I don't think it'll be slowing down anytime soon, either, but I will try my best to keep somewhat updated.
Here's what we did the weekend of Halloween:
We went to Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek with some of Jeremy's family.

Me and Andrew on the swings.

JJ got to ride on his first amusement park ride! He liked it!

Andrew and Jeremy love to go on the roller coaster.

We went to Jeremy's cousin's Halloween party. It was a lot of fun! She had the house decorated like a haunted house and she did lots of fun games with the kids.

We went to our friend's Pumpkin Carving party. JJ just kept wanting to eat the pumpkin...

Jeremy and Andrew did a great job on our 2 pumpkins. (Pictures further down, too)

Look at all those carved pumpkins!!

Now our Wisconsin Badger is ready for the Harvest Celebration at our church.

And so is our ninja.

Jeremy dressed as the Senior Commander of the Royal Rangers. He got a kick out of it.

The Badger has a moustache? (He wouldn't sit still for face painting)

Now it's Trick or Treat night! Yay! Candy!

The big boy was trick or treating, too. This year I stayed at home and handed out candy.

Here's awesome pumpkin #1.

And here's super awesome pumpkin #2!

Tired after trekking all over the neighborhood for Andrew's pillow case of candy.

" No pictures while I'm chocolate wasted please!"

Andrew was happy with his 110 pieces of candy (of course that doesn't count the candy he ate while out and about).

Time to Blog

It has been a long time! I have been using Facebook to upload current pictures of what the Dalmacio's have been up to and I've neglected this blog. However, I am going to take a year long break from Facebook and Twitter. Therefore, I should have plenty of time to keep everyone updated on what we're up to on here.
I am not going to go back and try to update you on everything. You can look at my Facebook account for that. I'm just going to move forward from this past weekend.
I attended my soon-to-be SIL Mindy's bridal shower. My other two sister-in-law's threw Mindy a tea party shower. It was very beautiful and fun! We had decided to kill 2 birds with one stone and head out to celebrate the bachelorette immediately after the shower. Our evening was spent in Scottsdale at Sushi Roku and a couple lounges/clubs. Everyone had a good time!

The bachelorette ready for her last single night out
Amy, Cherish, and me

Here's the group ready to hit Scottsdale

At our first stop, the W Hotel lounge

Catch-up Part 2: Baseball

Andrew is in Coach Pitch baseball this year. Jeremy is coaching his team, as well as Jeremy's friends, Manuel and Bill. Andrew's so happy because their son's, Brysen and Ty are on his team, too.
JJ and I enjoy watching the games and haven't missed a single one!

Here's some of the team at a high school baseball game. This was their "practice" one Thursday. Jeremy wanted them to see the older boys playing. After the game, the team got to meet the high school players and coaches. The high school players signed baseballs for each child; they thought that was so cool!

Coach Dalmacio and Andrew.

Our Little League Division had a special night at an ASU game where the kids were able to meet the players and coaches and go out on the field for the National Anthem. We purchased the general admission lawn seats and it was great to watch the game and let the boys run around and play.

Andrew is doing well this season. He really has to work on his batting, but when he practices, he can hit well. He does very well in the field. One of his favorite positions is first base and he does great there. I can't believe how far he has come in just 3 seasons of playing. I am really proud of him!

Catch-up Part 1: J.J.

6 Months
JJ weighed 19.8 pounds and was 28.5 inches long at his 6 month check-up.

This month he mastered sitting up and rolling over.

We took a vacation to northern Nevada; we drove 15 hours each way. JJ did so well in the car. I know it's because his big brother was in the backseat to keep him company.

JJ wears size 9-12 months clothing and size 3 diapers. He eats 3 baby foods a day now (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and he drinks 6 oz. bottles about 5-6 times a day.

7 Months

This month, JJ weighed in at 21 pounds.

He had his first swimming pool adventure at Andrew's friend's birthday party. He wasn't too sure about the water. He kept quietly saying "ah" "ah" "ah" like he was about to cry, but he never did.

This month, JJ began to figure out if he keeps rolling, he can go places. So, that's what he sometimes does. He gets a few feet and then starts fussing for someone to just pick him up and take him somewhere.

Also, this month, JJ has began to get bored in his crib. From day one I have laid him down for bed and naps while he is still awake so he can learn to fall asleep without needing to be rocked or already asleep. This month, he has figured out how to untie the bumper and pull it away from the crib. He likes to pull the bumper down on him and then fall asleep. Pretty funny!

He is such a good, happy baby and we are really enjoying watching him and helping him discover new things.