Melissa’s Blog

Last night Nicole woke up and went potty. She got pretty fussy trying to go back to sleep. Then finally she went back to sleep then I couldn’t sleep. This morning we ran out to the grocery store. The kids went into the car carts which made shopping go by quickly. We needed to get home so the guy could come and fix a scratch in our kitchen table. The kiddos played with water outside, squirt guns, water bottles. We played inside too. When the guy came Nicole got her tools too and pretended to fix her little table. The kiddos went to Kangaroo club at pre school today. It is a drop off for 2 hours. Their favorite teacher, Ms. Lana was there too. So the kiddos took their lunches in their backpacks and off they went. I wasn’t sure if Nicole would be happy or not about it but she was great. When I came to pick them up I was told that Justin was so helpful. He asked Nicole if she needed help with her lunch and went potty with her. Nicole is very lucky to have a sweet brother. The biggest compliment I receive is when people say nice things about my kiddos. The kiddos went in the bike trailer to pre school then I biked around and then to Kohl’s. Bought some clothes for all of us and good thing I had the trailer to put the bag in. We came home and the kiddos really wanted to watch Curious George, so they watched for a bit. Then we packed up and went to the Spectrum. We met Carin, Sofi, and Mylee there. The kids all played in the fountain. So cute when Justin gets wet he lets out a big squel and a smile. Nicole was busy running from the fountain to Target. She loved the automatic doors and pretended it was her parking garage. We did a little shopping as well. We headed home and made dinner. We bought bath markers at the Spectrum so the kids wanted to take a bath. After bath the kiddos and dad played hide and seek. The kiddos read books and stopped looking for dad. We read books in our bed tonight, nice and cozy. Nicole put Winnie The Pooh to sleep in the crib and got into bed. I crawled into bed with Justin for a bit and the kids are sleeping.

Pre school day. The kids woke up a little late so we rushed around a bit but made it on time. I was red mom. We had fun with bubbles and bowling. I blew a zillion bubbles. It was all about eggs today. The kids dyed their first eggs. Nicole loved it. They dyed it and then saw their name. Nicole and Justin loved the bowling. All the kids are so cute at pre school, I have loved getting to know them. The kids were pretty dirty from all the egg dye and paint, so when we got home the kiddos got a bath. Grandma/pa came over too. After bath the kiddos ate lunch and then played. They were outside most of the time. It was such a beautiful day. After grandma/pa left we took the bike trailer to Blue Gum Park. We met some friends there and the kiddos played. Nicole played with Sarah and they went down the slide together. Sarah held onto Nicole’s waist. I love watching the kiddos interacting with their friends. They put sand and water on the slide. At the end, they played with a ball in the volleyball area (sand). They loved throwing the ball to the net. We had a great afternoon and dad met us at the park. He rode his bike to work so he stopped by on the way home. We biked to Kohl’s center and had dinner at Fat Burger. Not a very good dinner but it was fun. We went for ice-cream too. Nicole wanted chocolate and Justin wanted green ice cream with chocolate (mint chocolate chip). When we got home we played for a bit. Dad showed the kids music on the computer and pictures. We went upstairs and the kids were pretending to be Dora and Diego. I pretended I was lost and they brought me to safety. Nicole was silly asking Justin what time it is? They got out their rescue packs and saved lots of animals. I also moved things around in their closets a bit so they both could reach things easier. We read some books and the kiddos are sleeping.

Guess it was a busy night, Nicole slept on my bed in her room and Justin woke up so I just brought him in our bed. It took him a while to go back to sleep-that was after kicking me! At least I slept pretty good. This morning we spent most of the morning at home. The kids were happily playing at home. They were into their dry erase boards. Of course they just make me nuts with those markers. Finally it was such a nice day out the kids wanted to go to the park. We had fun. The kids played in the sand, on the swings, tire swing, etc. We ran into some friends there too! We came home and had lunch. The kids played in the futon room with the cars, the games, the string the balls, etc. Then they watched some TV. I am feeling sorry for myself. One of my friends wanted to do something today, I e-mailed her ok and I never heard back. Also another one called to see if I could babysit-I am just feeling very taken advantage of these days. After TV the kids did their music homework, colored a piano. Nicole’s was pink and Justin’s was green. They also made pictures to give to their music teacher. We were off to music class. We were the only ones there. Glad that my two kids make a class. It was actually really great just being the only ones in the class. The kids had fun and got 100% of the attention. The kids showed the teacher their coloring and got stamps for it. They made notes (watermelons) on the board and rests. They got to strum the guitar while singing the hello song. They played high and low notes on the piano. They got bells, shakers, and scarves to go along with music. The part I liked best is the kids both got a turn. They carried a drum around and as the teacher said walked, they hit it slowly, then she said hop they hit it a little faster, then run and hit is really fast. We had a great class today. On the way home we went to look at a swim school. The kids just wanted to watch. They loved watching all the kids in the water. They really wanted to go in and got to feel the water. Not sure what I am doing yet but am thinking of swimming lessons. On the way home we stopped at Costco for fruit. The kids stayed in the cart which made it really fast. They also got new bathing suits, princess for Nicole and cars for Justin. We came home and had dinner. After dinner I needed to drop some things off at the neighbors so we took a walk. Both kids in their bathing suits and boots, it was really funny. We stopped at our neighbors with the dog Zoe so we could see what they did for lighting in their living room. The kids were loving playing with the dog. Came home and the kids were silly. We read books then cuddled in bed. I got lots of extra squeezes which I love. Had to write clues for their sharing for pre school and off to watch TV.

This morning the kiddos slept in a bit. Even though it was a bit stressful getting them out of the house for pre school, they needed the sleep. Justin wore his dino jammies, I so need to take a picture. I dropped the kids off at pre school then headed to the gym. Came home and did laundry, cleaned up around here. Went to pick up the kiddos and someone told me during circle time Justin got up and Nicole announced he was using the potty. After school we walked over to Orchard Park with some of our pre school friends. Walking over was an adventure in itself. The kids just wanted to hang out at the freeway overpass. They just love waving at everyone and hearing the cars/trucks beep. We got to the park and had a picnic lunch with our friends. Then the kiddos just played. So great to watch the kiddos all play so well together. It was such a beautiful day out. We were at the park for a couple hours. When I was getting ready to go I told the kids and Nicole said ok mamma 20 minutes. The kids were excited to come home and open the party favors a friend from pre school had given them. They love presents. Then we watched Curious George. After I gave the kiddos a bath, Justin hadn’t had a bath since Friday night. They had a great time in the bath as usual. I could barely get them out. So nice to have clean kids! The kiddos played in the tent room. It was so warm so I tried on last summer’s clothes on the kiddos and finding them too small. My babies are growing. I seem to have trouble getting Justin’s head through his old clothes. So if I get upset with Nicole over something she says ok momma next time I will do that. After dinner we decided to go walk the bunny path. We took carrots and the kids saw some bunnies. Most of the bunnies were scared so the kiddos just left carrots for the bunnies on the grass. It was so nice to go for an evening walk. When we got home, the kiddos got dry erase boards from one of their friends, so they had a great time drawing. Justin made a car and Nicole made a cat for me. Finally got the kiddos upstairs, got into jammies and brushed teeth. We read a few books and the kiddos are sound asleep.

This morning the kids and I went to a friend’s house to play. We had a great time. The kids pretty much played upstairs together, so I got lots of mom talky time. It was really nice. My kids just love going over to other people’s houses and playing. I asked the kiddos if they wanted to go to My Gym, Nicole said no and Justin said yes. Of course they never agree. Christy even offered to let Nicole stay and play, but Nicole wanted to be with me. Very sweet but I also knew she would be happy at My Gym. Such a great class as there were only 4 kids in the class today. The highlight was the space flight. Nicole and Justin aren’t scared to try anything there. We came home and dad was home waiting for the water heater to come. I was so happy when he got here. The kids watched Curious George and I went for a quick run. Since dad was home we decided to head to Disney. We never get a chance to take daddy with us. We loaded the dishwasher-a million dishes were piling up in the sink due to no hot water. We packed up dinner and we were off. Disney was really crowded so that was a bummer. But overall we had fun. First we rode the monorail into the park then got fast passes to the Autopia. While waiting for our time we went on the rocket ships, a favorite ride for the kids. Nicole really didn’t want to go on the Autopia, so I went on Small World with her while dad and Justin went on the Autopia. We met up and then Justin wanted to go on Alice in Wonderland, so we stood in line for that ride. We had dinner then went into the Tiki room. By then it was time to head home. The kiddos didn’t get into bed until 8:45, hopefully they won’t be too cranky tomorrow. I have laundry in and the dishwasher already to go again. And I am off to take a hot long shower.

Still no hot water. So we went to the gym to shower. I took Nicole with me. She had fun. It was so nice to take a shower. We woke up to rain so spent the morning at home. So boring at home, but we made the most of it. We played play doh, colored, cut, etc. Tried to do a load of laundry on cold-who knew cold needed hot wate so now my washer stopped After lunch we headed to Wal-Mart to get a bunch of things. So nice to have dad with us so we got two carts. The kids got squirt bottles and that was the best thing ever. They went outside in the cold and squirted everything. It was all fun until they kept dumping it and asking to fill it up. I am tired of the kids making Curious George noises. The kiddos watched TV. Then we went to our friend’s Trevor’s birthday. It was at Pump It Up. We had a great time. The kiddos loved it. They first went for the slide. They got one of the things you sit on to slide on and called it their blanket. Nicole was wanting Justin to go wherever she went. They loved the bounce house with the basketball net. I had fun in the round bounce house with the kiddos-we were chasing eachother, jumping, rolling, etc. It was so cute watching all the kids sit at picnic tables and eat pizza together. The kids said they loved the bouncing and the cake. We came home and went upstairs. The kids wanted to read a bunch of books. We have dinasour feetie jammies for Justin and he wanted to wer them so badly tonight. It was so cute, reminded me of him being a baby. The kiddos went right to bed tonight.

No shower=unhappy wife and mom.This morning I got up and went running with a friend. We ran/walked 9 miles. My feet hurt! I was amazed I held in there for so long. It took a while so dad entertained the kiddos. He built the new bookcase. The kiddos were so excited to show me when I got home then they put all their books in. I read a ton of books to the kids while dad went to Home Depot for the water heater. We think we finally found someone to come out on Monday. I think we are going to stick to a tank as we don’t want a new vent to go through our beautiful roof. What a pain this is. I went into the jacuzzi and the kids came with me. Temperature is not too hot. The kiddos loved it. They can actually touch at the bottom. They brought paint brushes in with them. They loved jumping off the step and pretending to splash me. I had a great time with them. I think they could have stayed in it all day. The first thing Justin did when he got in was to pee in it, boys! Bret and I needed a break so after we let them watch Curious George. It felt like a really long day and we realized we had better get out before we all went crazy. We needed milk so we decided to walk to the grocery store. Along the way Justin said lets go to the park. So we said what the heck and we all went. The kids had a blast sliding down the slide head first. There was a spiral thing to climb up and Justin loved it. The tire swing was a big hit. The kids walked with their skateboard dog/cat. Needless to say we never made it to the grocery store. So when we got home I took the kids in the car to the grocery store. They just stayed in the cart which made shopping so much easier. We got home and dad and the kids went to get food to go thru the drive thru. A combination of daddy car and the drive thru the kids were thrilled. I took the time to clean up, what a mess our house was. After dinner we played in the futon room. The kids did puzzles and played with these crystal climbers. I got the box to get rid of them and the kids just had fun. The kids don’t really play with these things and I think they would enjoy Lego’s more. We went upstairs and moved into the book case. So much better than the basket. I brought a ton of books up from downstairs, so the kids were excited to have daddy read them. The kids went to sleep so fast which was nice after the long dreary day it felt like. Nicole told me that she was going to wake me up tonight-how considerate.

This morning we stayed at home and played for a bit. I tried to get a bit organized as well. The kiddos put their feet in tupperware bins and pretended to ice skate. We packed up and headed to the Echo Run Park AKA Big Wheel Park. What an awesome park. We were there from 10:00-4:30. A few friends stayed as well and then Paula and kiddos met us over there. The kids had a blast biking. They were on their bikes for the longest time. They went over the little hills. There were tunnels, bridges, gas station-so cute. At first they had a little trouble but they got the hang of it pretty quickly. Each class had a little race. Justin came in 3rd place. He was in first place until he got stuck on one of the bumps. So cute to watch. There was face painting as well. Nicole saw all her friends with their face painted and decided this would be the day she gets her face painted (first time). She got a butterfly and Justin wanted a green dog on his hand.

They had so much fun with their friends. We had a picnic lunch too. After everyone started leaving the kids were biking around and around. The kids also played in the tiny playground and loved the dirt. Justin filled up a water bottle with dirt and gave it to me. He said they were flowers and not to spill them. Paula came to meet us too and brought snacks (I was running low). The kids just biked and biked and got dirtier and dirtier. Finally we packed up and headed home. The kids had a great day. I wanted to give them a bath right away but then we ran into our neighbors. The kids got all energized again and played with Zoe the dog. They threw the ball for her. Dad came home and the kiddos played. After dinner, the kids went right into the tub. They were having a great time in the bath then we discovered our hot water heater was leaking, ugh. So Bret dealt with that while I finished bathing the kids. Got into their jammies then played with their airplanes. They flew the on top of their canopies and bop them off. We read lots of books and we had very tired children and mom!

Bret took the day off today. We dropped the kiddos off at pre school today. The kids love it when daddy comes with me. While the kids were in pre school I went running and dad was on a conference call. We spent a little time together before getting the kids; it was nice being in our house alone together. The kids wanted to play outside of pre school for the longest time. I let them but then we were so rushed. We came home and scarfed down lunch then headed to a pre school field trip at Pre Historic Pets. I am still creeped out. Nicole was so brave wanting to pet and hold things. Things being snakes and reptiles. Justin liked petting them too and near the end wanted to hold some animals too.

Bret and I were ok until they brought a scorpion out, creepy! The kids really liked it but were getting a little antsy listening. After the kids walked around and saw all the snakes and bearded dragons in their cages. They also fed sea turtles worms. Even the worms were creepy. Anyway it was a great experience but one I wouldn’t do too often. We came home and the kids watched some TV. After they just played. They amused themselves outside in the backyard but it involved mud, dirt, rocks, etc. We steered the kiddos towards basketballs, making baskets and dribbling. So cute how they try to dribble. Dad made dinner so I played with the kiddos. We played hide and seek in the backyard. They loved to find us in the play house. When the person finds the rest of us, there is happy screaming and really loud when you are in the play house with one kid. Bret and I had dinner by ourselves as the kids were too busy pretending to paint in the backyard. The kids came in and I had to go to the pre school meeting.

We played at home this morning. Playing meant bringing all the toys that belong downstairs upstairs and vice versa. What a mess but they had so much fun playing. They were “hiding” in their room. They loved when I came and found them. They also had to shut their door as there was a storm coming. Carin come over with Sofi and Carin. So cute Nicole wanted Sofi to go upstairs to play. Nicole had me holding her Minnie Mouse while she went out for a jog. Sofi joined in too. So cute to watch the kiddos play together. Justin was playing with the girls a bit but also played by himself more. It was so nice out the kids were so happy to be wearing shorts. We went to My Gym. The kids had so much fun. We got there a little early too so I played with the kiddos. They loved sliding into the ball pit and jumping on what they called the stage. Neil asked the kiddos what their favorite animal was, Justin said a giraffe and Nicole said a cat. After My Gym we ran home to meet the termite inspector. The kids were all staring at what he was doing. No termites and just a little dry rot on our patio cover. We needed to run to Target to get a few gifts, so hard to race through Target with the kiddos. I bribed them in the cart with snacks and they were great. After we headed to our music class. It was ok. The kids learned high/low notes and tempo. They both participated really well. They got to strum the guitar a bit and learned where the high and low notes are on a piano.After we raced to meet some friends at the library for story time. We didn’t make it in time, so we just read books together. After we played outside with our friends. The weather was so nice and the kids are so excited to be wearing shorts. We did an errand then met dad at the Tustin Marketplace for dinner. The kids were crazy, running around and playing at the fountain. After dinner dad and Justin headed to Lowe’s to get some stuff. On the way out dad and Justin stopped at the farmers market store and bought an apple. Nicole and I went off to go shopping at Carters. So much fun being alone with her. She loved it, so happy. I let her do stuff that I can’t let them do when they are together, like hold my keys, jump together, etc. I decided to get her a special treat and she picked gummy bears. She shared them with Justin when we got home. We went upstairs and the kids just played. They pretended to play doctor with baby. Nicole was the mom bringing her baby to the doctor (Justin). They had brown paper bags and filled them with toys. What a mess upstairs. Dad got called for work so the kids and I just continued the nightime routine. We read books and the kiddos went to bed pretty easily, we had a busy day.