Melissa’s Blog

Happy Easter! Kids make it so exciting. We dyed eggs this morning. The kids loved it. I wrote messages on the eggs too like I love you and their names. We dyed a lot of eggs. We also gave the kiddos their chocolate bunny after we finished dying eggs. Here are some pics:

They loved eating their bunny. Obviously it was too big for them, so dad melted it down. He put nuts and raisins in chocolate. Really good but I think the kids will guard their bunny next year. We decided to head to the park, monkey bar park. Nicole did the monkey bars a few times and decided she didn’t have any energy and was cold. Dad and Justin flew the kite and Nicole and I waited in daddy car for them. It was nice and warm in the car plus she had fun pretending she was driving. It was funny she seemed under the weather again but when we got home she was her normal self again. It was nice as the rest of the day she was so happy and go lucky. The kids watched the movie Cars while I went to the grocery store. The store was packed. Justin loved the movie of course, Nikki not so much. We hid eggs while the kids were watching. Lots of eggs. It was so fun watching them.

They loved opening all their eggs and also shared them. Justin got a King (Dinoco) car that he has been wanting. It didn’t fit in the egg though. So the kids started playing cars together. The kids and I were down playing and dad was upstairs. All of a sudden dad yells earthquake. It was scary as it seemed to last for almost a minute. We all stood in the doorway. The kids didn’t seem to be bothered or scared of it.  It was so nice this afternoon the kids actually played together. They were having a great time and you can tell Nicole is much better. Dad and I put a marble thing together. After dinner we rewarded the kids for playing so well together with a few games of Mario Cart on the Wii. We went upstairs and Justin became a tickle monster. He was so giggly. Nicole and I while not getting tickled were having a tea party with her animals. I never ever let the kids touch my hair or brush it as it gets too puffy. But I let Justin brush it out tonight, he liked it but not so gentle with the knots. We read some books and off to bed the kids went.

I forgot something. Nicole mentioned that she has been to Antartica. When I told her we hadn’t she said yes we did when we went to the mountains, Big Bear. She was disappointed and asked when we would be going to Antartica to see real snow. She cracks me up.

It was musical beds or something last night. Nicole woke up a zillion times, to pee, needing water, saying she was cold, telling us we forgot to say goodnight to her, etc. Justin ended up in our bed. I went to his race car bed then Nicole woke up. I slept on her floor for a while. She doesn’t push over enough in her bed so I barely fit. Then I came back into our bed and carried Justin back to his. Nicole woke up not feeling all that terrific. Poor little thing. We just took it easy at home then she started to fall asleep on daddy. No soccer for Nikki today. Justin and I did a few errands. I needed some things to stuff in eggs for our egg hunt tomorrow. Nicole slept for a while this morning. Dad and Justin headed to soccer. I am a little sad I had to miss it. When Nicole woke up I brought her up to our bed to get more cozy. She was so unhappy so I gave her some Tylenol. She was feeling much better and I let her watch TV in my bed. I stuffed eggs at the same time. Nicole actually said she was hungry. I made her some oatmeal and let her eat in my bed. She loved eating in our bed in front of the TV. Justin had fun at soccer and made a couple goals. He did get knocked down but went right back in the game. Dad did water balloons with the kids and played outside. The kids were a bit wet so we gave them a nice warm bath. Nikki stayed in the bath for a long time but then was so cold when she got out. Dad got Justin’s street stickers up on his wall. It looks good and Justin said wow when he saw it.

Nikki started to feel yucky again so we cuddled her in her bed then brought her downstairs. Dad and Justin played Wii a bit then we let the munch kins watch TV. Dad ran to the grocery store. I need to make it to Whole Foods very soon. Right before dinner our neighbors, Andree & Howie with Zoe delivered all of us Easter baskets. It was so sweet and put a smile on Nikki’s face. The kids loved their baskets. It was so generous and thoughtful of our neighbors. I read lots and lots of books tonight. We read downstairs, we read in Nikki’s bed…..We gave Nikki some Tylenol and she got a little hyper but I think it is quiet now so hopefully she is asleep.

Nikki was still under the weather a little bit, poor little girl. She was kind of sleepy this morning. She didn’t want to come with Justin and I to the Easter thing. I was so sad as she always wants to go everywhere with me. I did think about it a little more and realized I will have her here the entire week so I will get lots of Nicole time. Justin and I had a great time. He wanted to take daddy car and was so happy when I said yes. We went to Laguna  Hills for an Easter event. It is sponsored by a church which isn’t that appealing but it is a pretty incredible event. We met some friends there too, so strange for me with one kid. It was really special to be with Justin alone but I can’t imagine ever having one kid now that I have always had two. Justin went into a few bounce houses, we had a snack, he got a dog painted on his face, got a sword made out of a balloon and he even asked for one for Nicole. The lady made Nicole a flower. We did the Easter egg hunt too and crafts. There was so much going on and we got whatever we could for Nicole. It was so nice to see her smile when Justin gave her all the stuff. We had lunch then Nicole was feeling a bit better. Her and I made some cupcakes, one of her favorite things to do with me. Dad was outside with Justin working on the balancing on a two wheeler. Justin will get it soon. Since Nicole was doing well we decided to go to Castle Park. We hadn’t been to that park in so long. The kids were happy to be there but were really into swinging. Justin rode his bike there with us holding on for him. Every once in a while we could just lightly hold the bar and he did pretty good. When we got home from the park, Nikki and I frosted and decorated cupcakes. Dad and Justin played Wii. Nicole was so happy to surprise dad and Justin with the cupcakes. Someday she will read this and know they smelled the cupcakes and guessed what the surprise was. I ate too many cupcakes. Nicole started not feeling that great again so we read lots of books and let her watch some TV while we ate dinner. Justin liked the TV on at dinner time. He was a hungry little piggy tonight. We had lasagna and I can’t believe how much he ate. After TV we went upstairs. Nicole was feeling yucky so I just read her books in her bed. Justin joined us while dad put up Nikki’s canopy. I just need to get some fabric or something next. Nikki was ready to go to sleep pretty fast. Dad read to Justin in bed with a flashlight then it was my turn. He is so loving-I hope he is always like this. I love his hugs!

Here are some pics from our day:

The kids played Wii a little bit with dad before going to work. We got ready for a play group here this morning. We invited our pre school friends over. We cleaned up a bit and put together tracks, the shake n go cars, and a track on the train table. The kids helped too. The kids had a lot of fun with their friends here. Justin lucked out there were all boys who came. Justin loved sharing and racing cars with his friends. Nicole was fine with just boys and played well. She loved showing everyone her room. It was a small group and nice. After everyone left Nicole was kind of acting tired. We read library books then Nicole was sleepy. She looked at books for a while on the couch and ended up falling asleep. Aunt Roberta dropped off T. T is in her terrible 2’s. It was pretty funny-she was into everything and loves to throw. It wasn’t the same with Nikki feeling a little under the weather. She seemed better after nap but still a little sluggy. We just played at home all afternoon and did a lot of reading. When dad came home I escaped to Kohls and got gas. The kids watched a little TV before dinner. I changed my status on facebook to single for an April fool’s joke. One of Bret’s friends wrote it and I thought it was pretty funny. Nicole didn’t really want to eat dinner. After dinner her and I went upstairs to play doll house. I wanted to make her happy. We had fun playing dollhouse then had a big tea party. Justin and dad did all kinds of things as well. They did Geotrax, raced, bowled, played Memory, etc. Nikki and I read a lot of books and snuggled in her bed. She went to bed pretty easily. Justin on the other hand was the silliest guy tonight. We read books in his bed with the flashlight. He was so talky while I was reading then he grabbed his big dog Pumpkin. He held him up and said brocoli and started cracking up. Bret and I were laughing too. And this went on for a little while. The dad put Mr. Lizard in the bed, more laughter. Love seeing him so happy.

Gloomy/cool day and it makes me blah. This morning I was working at school. It was a little crazy at school since Ms. Donna wasn’t there. I was green mom for a change and helped the kids make Easter bags for the egg hunt. They decorated them with stickers and markers. I tried to call people back that are interested in the school during the class since there was an extra teacher there. So cute watching the kids share. Justin got a little shy when they asked him to play the trumpet. It was so sweet though. He even went tickle tickle to Ms. Lana. Nicole shared the Snow White book she borrowed from school.

We had snack, not a healthy snack-I hate that. Then the kids went out for the egg hunt. It was cute. There were so many eggs and I can’t believe how fast they were picked up. We watched Keyon for a bit after school. The kids were so excited. We stopped at the library to return books. The kids were running around and having fun as we walked to the library. We looked at books for a while. Justin played on the computer. Nikki read books to Keyon, so adorable. We checked out books and came home. The kids all played really well together. I made lunch then Keyon had to go home. The kids brought plants home that they planted at school (I think bean plants). The kids were a little fighty, ugh. We ran to the grocery store where they were great. They love helping but getting them to go can be difficult. When we got home it was bath time. The kids wanted me to take a shower with them, so I did. It was interesting as the kids were really  interested in mommy’s parts. No more showering with the kids. After we read all the library books and dad came home. Nikki and dad ran out to get some dinner while Justin and I played Geotrax. After dinner the kiddos played Wii with daddy (Mario cart). Then we headed upstairs where we played hide n seek. Then we just read books and off to bed. Justin wanted me to read to him in his bed with a flashlight and Nicole didn’t want me to leave, so sweet.

We dropped daddy off at work with his bike. He still managed to forget his biking clothes so we ended up back at his work again later in the day. It was kind of gloomy out this morning, so play group moved here instead of the park. The cleaners were coming a little later than usual so it worked out ok. The kids brought the princess table down stairs and had a tea party then they pretended to play Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Nikki was Dopey and Justin was happy. They pretended to go to the mine (train table) and find diamonds (various parts of the train stuff, tracks, etc). The cleaners came and we ate lunch quickly. Then we headed out. We went to a class called Kids Can Cook. The kids loved it. They made matza pizzas, rice krispie egg nests, dirt cups with pudding and gummy worms, lettuce chicken things, fruit kebabs, and frog (avocado) dip. The teachers asked if I wanted Nicole and Justin together for the kindergarten readiness program. I had just assumed they would be together. We are going to separate them. The good news is the two classrooms are right next to each other and they do combined activities so the kids will see each other. I was a little worried about Nicole but she took a huge liking to Ms. Sarah. Nicole went over with Ms. Sarah to see her classroom and she told me she didn’t need me. I was so proud and sad at the same time. Nicole told me all about the classroom and showed me around. Justin will be with Ms. Marla. Man, these kiddos are growing up too fast. We stopped at dad’s work to drop off his clothes. The kids really wanted to go see the inside of daddy’s work. He is supposed to sign in the kiddos but he snuck one in at a time. The kids loved being able to go into daddy’s work. Nicole said she met someone and got to pet her pretend dog. We then went to Sweet Shade Park for a free cheerleader class for Nikki. She seemed to like it. Justin was outside playing at the park with his friend during the class. Nikki liked the class and liked showing daddy what she learned, but I think she had more fun at the park just playing. The kids were on the swings a lot showing that they can pump. They climbed on all the climbing stuff and just had a great time. I caught up with some of my mommy friends. On the way home we stopped at the grocery store to get some milk then came home and had dinner. The kids weren’t too hungry for dinner, ate too many snacks at their cooking class I guess. Or they were too excited to play wii. We went upstairs and got the kiddos ready for bed. I ended up reading to Justin by flashlight in his bed while dad read to Nicole. Both went to bed pretty easily tonight. I got some eggs filled for preschool tomorrow.

Dad gets to work from home today. It is another beautiful day in Southern CA. I dropped the kiddos off at school this morning. Nicole didn’t want to go-she said she wanted me to work. When we got there I read her Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs and she was just fine. Justin just ran outside when we got there and was happy to be there. The kids had a great time at school. While they were at school I attempted to go for a run. It didn’t go so well though. I did some picture editing as well and before I knew it, it was time to pick up the kiddos. The kiddos brought in baby pics of themselves and they all had to guess who everyone was. The kids made birds’ nests today. Justin brought home some grass he had planted in a cup. He loved it and couldn’t wait to get home to cut the hair. Him and his sister gave the grass a trim with scissors, it was great. After lunch Justin took a bath. Nicole hung out with daddy while Justin was in the bath. I got the house ready for the cleaners too. We left to go to grandma/pa’s for Passover dinner. We had a nice time. The kids were silly as ever. I am tired and I am goign to spend time with hubby.

Such a beautiful day out today. We decided to head to “pirate” park this morning. The kids had a great time playing. It was pretty relaxing for dad and I too. I love listening to the kids play together and talk to one another. We played hide n seek too. When we got home we ate lunch in our backyard. It was so nice. We also discovered not only are there black widows but brown widows too. I am a bit freaked out. After lunch the kids played in a sprinkler. Hard to believe in March that they are able to play in the sprinkler. They had a blast. The grass got to wet in the backyard that we had to move the sprinkler up front. I did a lot of gardening as well. I just hedged recently and will need to do it again soon, spring has sprung. The kids and I went to a birthday party for someone in their pre school class. It was really fun. Dad stayed home and worked on projects. He is in the midst of re-staining/replacing wood on the jacuzzi steps. The party was at the park. The kids swung, played on the play structure, bubbles, played with friends, and an egg hunt. It is so weird that the kids are so independent and don’t need me anymore at parties. I was able to talk to some moms. We ended up staying much later than expected as the kids were having so much fun. When we got home we played and tried to clean up a bit. The kids played Wii for a bit. We went out to dinner and the kids got to run around a bit on the grass. We played duck duck goose. Zoe the dog was on the greenbelt, so we talked to Andree and played for a bit. I didn’t think it was possible but the kids went right to bed. Justin has been loving me reading in his bed with a flashlight. Nikki wanted to talk about how Zoe got some tinfoil that must have had some leftovers in it and we had a hard time prying it out of Zoe’s mouth. Nikki also asked me what happens if we got locked in a store, silly girl. She loves figuring out life.

Tierney’s birthday party today! The kids had to miss soccer but they still have plenty of weeks of soccer. T’s party was at Ferrel’s at the Mission Viejo Mall. It was really nice. I ate so much. Got some really great shots so have to work on my gift for T. I have to decide on whether I want to make a poster collage or a photo book. Nicole and Justin got clown sundeas. The cone was the clown hats. Our kids started taking the ice cream and spooning it into their cones. Nicole was a little sad she got ice cream on her new outfit.  I can’t believe T is 2, I feel like she was just born yesterday. So great to celebrate with her and friends/family. I hope she remembers it. The kids loved the goody bags. After the party we walked around the mall for a bit, played at the toy store. I was able to run into a store for me too. The kids were getting a little bratty wanting things in the toy store. We did buy them a toy trumpet, hoping to encourage the music gene. Nikki was a little cranky most of the day. We played outside for a bit. The kids raced the remote control cars until a wheel came off. Justin’s training wheels are getting kind of little bent, so we decided to try to take off the training wheels. Not sure if this was a good idea. The kids were a little weary but started to do ok. We only went around a couple of times. It is rough on our backs. Bret and I had to get something notarized so we headed out. A friend of mine does it so thankfully she has kids, so she turned on the Disney channel for the kiddos. They were loving it. When we got home the kids colored and said they were hungry. It turns out they weren’t really hungry, none of us were. Gave the kiddos a bath and just read books. Nikki was complaining about her tummy hurting, maybe that explains the crankiness. Either way the kiddos both fell asleep really fast tonight.

Some pics from today:

All is well in the Sanders’ household. Justin is all better. I kind of mentioned missing pre school yesterday so decided the kids would miss it. It was kind of fun playing hookey. Although I could have used the break. I can’t count the times we were woken up last night. I could barely get out of bed this morning, thank goodness for coffee. Anyway I was eager to get out, so we went to the Irvine Regional Park for the Easter Eggstravaganza. We had our first Easter egg hunt of the season. The kiddos had a great time. They got lots of candy! The kids were really interested in the Easter bunny but wouldn’t sit on his lap-he was a ig guy. I tried to take some pics of the kiddos. They were bust bugging each other and climbing the tree.

They played some carnival type of games. One game was a bean  bag through a hole and the other was rings on the bunny. They got blow up tigers, as you will see int he pic below. They loved putting their heads through all the picture spots:

These pics were taken while the kiddos were waiting to go in the bounce house:

So if egg hunts, bounce houses weren’t enough I then let the kiddos ride the ponies. They were so excited to ride Rocky.

We stopped and got some lunch on the way home then headed to Target to get a few things. When we got home the kiddos played so nicely together. They were pretending to be chefs cooking, etc. Justin even went so far to say he needed to close the restaruant since it was a mess, ha ha ha. They pretended to feed Nicole’s doll named Amy. The kids watched a little TV. Then we went outside.  The kids had fun squirting with the water toys outside. Two of us would be inside with the slider shut and the one outside would put a ton of water on the door. The little things that occupy them. We walked around the neighborhood selling a few more candy bars. Dad drove up so Justin went home with dad while Nikki and I visited with a few neighbors. While we made dinner the kids played Wii. The time went by fast tonight. Nikki and I played doll house while Justin and dad made a ramp for his cars. Cars everywhere. We read a few books and off to sleep they went. Bret and I are tired.