Melissa’s Blog

This morning we read the paper and the kid’s bikes we bought were on sale, so I ran to Target. It wasn’t crowded so I also did some shopping. We needed to take my car to Costco for new tires. So we went over a half hour before it opened, Bret waited and I took the kids first to the play area at McDonalds, then walked around Sears Essentials. Daddy came and met us with the new that it was going to take like 2 1/2 hours. So we played at Sears for a while, then walked over and had lunch at Chin Chin. We introduced our kiddos to chopsticks and they really like fortune cookies. We went back to Costco and picked up pics and X-mas cards, three hours later the car was finally done. Justin fell asleep on the way home and he stayed askleeo on me.

He woke up so happy then the kiddos watched TV, Thomas and Barney. Bret built one of the kid’s bikes in the garage while the kiddos watched TV. After TV the kiddos were pretty screamy and fighting over everything so we went outside to ride bikes. Then we headed to Vena’s house for play and for dinner. We all had a great time. On the way home, we drove around and looked at some Christmas decorations, the kids love it. We read books and the kiddos fell right to sleep. Now I want to relax and watch TV!

This morning we went to Costco to try and get new tires for my car. Even though we got there when it opened the wait was 4 hours. So we did a little shopping in Costco and came home. The kids wanted to play trains and did for a bit. Nicole was busy playing with the Little People farm and fire station, it was so funny listening to her talk to all the people, so cute that I had to get the video camera out. We also put together the gingerbread house, the kids had fun decorating it but it was a bit hard for them. They loved taking the gingerbread people and dancing them around the table with crumbs going everywhere. After lunch the kiddos took a bath then we had to get ready for the pre school party. Plus since we were all dressed I wanted to try to take the family Christmas picture one more time. We got one we all look half way decent in-yeah, I will be ordering cards tonight.

The kids pre school holiday party was cute. We ate some food then the kids all got up on stage by class. First to go was the 2 day class, so cute. They sang hello to everyone and Jingle Bells. We videoed the enitre thing. They raffled away baskets as well and we won a couple things. Justin actually got near Santa at the party, wouldn’t sit on his lap but he stood in front and told him he wanted a Diego bike.

After we raced over to the Tustin train station to watch the holiday train. We ran into lots of friends. It was just a train all decorated for the holidays with Santa, they did a little show. The kids loved it and ate their first candy cane. We got some dinner on the way home. I Was taking pics of the kiddos in their car seats and they were being so silly when the flash came on and the kids had a little flashlight so they were flashing me back, cracking up.

Our tired kids went right to bed.

This morning I convinced the kiddos to go in the bike trailer with a bribe to the park. Play group was at see saw park (Hicks Canyon). The kids were great in the trailer with snacks and books. I think the trailer is short lived, once the kiddos get their new bikes I bet they won’t go in the trailer anymore. The kids had a great time at the park, Nicole made a new friend and it was adorable to watch. Justin got a little cut on his finger and just wanted to go home. Justin just sat on my lap forever and was convinced to go to Vena’s for lunch and juice. So we biked over to Vena’s and the kiddos all played and had lunch together. The kids all got little guitars and keyboards and made music together. So nice just to hang out. We biked home, Vena was so nice to give them juice on the way home in the trailer, so they were more than happy to go in the trailer. They are getting harder and harder to pull in the trailer. We came home and the kiddos played. We played in the front, the kids rode bikes, and played. We played in the backyard and then in the house. We went from laptops, to trains, to games. I played Candyland with the kiddos, that always takes lots of patience. We played lots of games, Hi Ho Cheerio, and Don’t Break The Ice. It was fun. Daddy came home early, he and Nicole went to mow the lawn together while Justin and I played cars. We decided to try and go to Kohl’s as I needed a few things, what a mistake the place was packed. We just left and headed down to a street in RSM to look at X-mas lights. All the houses weren’t done decorating yet, but it was still pretty cool. The kids loved it, so cute. They kept walking around and wanting to see more and more. Then we went dinner at a cool restauraunt in Rancho. We had fun! We came home and the kiddos were a little wired. Nicole is still awake.

This morning the kiddos went to pre school. They were so happy to go. It is so hard to leave them there. I looked back as I was leaving, they didn’t mind but it broke my heart. I went to the gym and finally worked out-it felt like it had been weeks. I ran an errand and then came home, before I knew it it was time to pick the kiddos up. We came home and had lunch, Nicole was really hungry. After the kids played trains. They like putting on their socks and sliding around the floor, pretending they are ice skating. Surprisingly they love to fall. I gave the kiddos a bath. I had to warm up the water twice as they were loving being in the water. The kiddos got dressed, Nicole was so excited to wear her new pink Cookie Monster shirt and Justin wore Cars. The kiddos watched Thomas while I finished my book, The Innocent Man by John Grisham. I got so close to finishing last night that I had to finish it. After we went over to the pre school teachers house to help make baskets for the holiday party. I was so proud of my kids. They played so well, no fighting, very independent while the moms worked. And they played like this for 2 hours. Everyone complimented the kiddos. So after we were done I took them to Northwood Pizza as they asked for pizza for dinner and they love the games. Dad met us there, he had to work a little late. So the kiddos would eat a bit of pizza and run to play more games, few minutes later came back for another bite and this went on for a while. They were having fun with the driving games. Came home and read books and off to bed.

This morning we were out and about early to go to Target. Trying to beat the crowds. We did lots of shopping. I realized I needed more clothes for the kids plus lots of stocking stuffers. The kids were great at the store except they have been hungry all day long. We decided to go to park day as I haven’t been to a park day forever. It was at Woodbury Park, one of my favorite parks. The kids had a great time, swinging, sliding, playing in the sand, so cute. After we went to Costco as I needed to pick up pictures of the accident. We ate lunch there too. The kids love Costco but they begged continiously for snacks even after having a big lunch. We came home and of course we all played trains. We went to open gym at My Gym. The kids are loving being back at My Gym and Neil was great in donating an 8 week session for our pre school. Justin was loving sliding into the ball pit. Nicole loved being rolled around in this tube thing and she played peek a boo for the little kids in it. It was so weird as now my kids are the big kids. I remember being at My Gym all worried about the kids, that they would fall, etc. I would put one in the ball pit so I could help the other. Now it is just the kiddos running around and having a blast. We ran into some friends at My Gym too, so it was fun for us all. We came home and made baskets with the balls using the laundry hamper. The kiddos found the light up balls so we shut off the lights and the kids had a great time. Flashing balls going all over the place while I was trying to fold laundry in the dark. Bret came home from work and doesn’t feel too well. The kiddos played really well with trains then we headed upstairs. We read lots of books to the kids, Nicole is really into the Curious George books and Justin still loves his Thomas The Great Discovery Book.

Tis the Season of runny noses. The kids have a runny nose, so I decided to keep them out of pre school. Hopefully other parents will keep their sick kids away. At first I was disappointed I wasn’t getting a break but then I had such a great day with the kids that it didn’t matter. I had to do a call with the insurance adjuster this morning. The kiddos played so well while I was on the phone, I was so proud of them. I was prepared to turn on the TV but didn’t need to. After we went to go get my car washed since I needed to take it to a body shop (insurance requested) to prove there is no damage to my car. The kids loved watching mama’s car get washed. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and the kiddos were great big helpers. Nicole is wanting to wear her goat shirt (pink polo) and pink shorts but it is so cold. I finally let her wear them but ended up changing her in the car. So I asked Nicole and Justin if they wanted to go to the park. Justin says yeah in the bike trailer, so I ask Nicole if she wants to go in the bike trailer and I get “I am thinking of taking my own bike”, It was so funny the way she said it too. So after keeping my kids away from friends their noses were not bad at all, better to be safe than sorry. I gave the kiddos a bath.

We headed to Castle Park. The kids wanted to ride their bikes there. They did so well listening, waiting for me to cross the street with them, etc. We biked around the track then went to the park. The kids had a great time today and we ran into Maggie and Aliya. I brought my camera and practiced taking pictures a bit. And when you see Nicole’s helmet on she just insists on wearing it backwards.

After the park, the kids biked home and loved looking at the Christmas decorations. Affter dinner we played CandyLand. It is getting easier to play with them but it is still a challenge. They played trains for a while and then our nightly routine. They were tired tonight and fell asleep quickly.

This morning we decided to go to Disneyland. We have been going so much since getting passes, but it is so much fun. We met some friends there, Janet and Krista. We got on lots of rides but the park was getting really crowded. The new ride we went on was Peter Pan, Justin loved it but Nicole was a little scared. We stayed at the park for a while. I did lose  my cell phone for a couple hours and luckily found it. We came home and the kdidos watched Thomas then we went outside to play with Maggie and Aliya. The kids had a great time on their scooters and bikes. It was getting cold so we came in. Justin went to play trains and Nicole decided to use the sit and spin as an ice skating rink; she kept saying she was ice skating and almost falling. The kiddos played really well while I cooked dinner, probably because they were separated. After dinner was a dif’t story. So many fights broke out at the train table. The kiddos are pretty tired so I think everything is exagerated a bit. Finally we each took a kid and played laptop with them. We went upstairs and the kids wanted to read immediately. It is amazing how much they love books. Everyone went to bed pretty quickly-yeah! Here is a cute pic of the kids all dressed up for the family pic.

Today was spent decorating mostly the outside of the house, daddy was such a trooper and put lights everywhere. Along the garage and up to the front, we wrapped palm trees. Can’t wait to see what it looks like tonight. The kids played relatively well outside while we worked. Justin brought out his truck with the trailer and pushed it all around. Nicole followed by pushing her Barbie car. The kids did bubbles, rode their scooters down the driveway, and were just really busy. Yesterday before bed Justin was saying Thanksgiving platter and cracking up-it was so funny. So at lunch he continued and we got it on video. Not sure why it is so funny. After lights we gave the kiddos a bath. Then got ready to take our family Christmas photo. The kids looked so adorable. I can’t believe how big they are getting. The pictures came out ok. Hard to get everyone looking and smiling at the same time. I even tried to bribe the kids for a good picture. After dinner we played some more and I tried to clean up around here. For some reason the house always gets to be a mess on the weekends. Nicole is still awake and it is almost 9:00-ugh. Here are some pics of the kiddos room all painted and with Justin’s top.

I got out all the holiday decorations this morning. What a mess. The kids got out all other holiday decorations, Easter, Halloween, etc. They opened all the Easter eggs and horded all the candy. The kids played with all the decorations, laptops, and trains. Daddy worked most of the day unfortunately. We started My Gym again. Since we are going to miss our normal Monday class, we went to a make up class today. The kids were so excited to be back at My Gym. It was really cute. Now that they are in an older class, they really had to follow directions and pay attention. The kiddos did great. Justin even volunteered to go over to the instructor to show everyone the practice skill. They loved sliding into the ball pit. So cute to watch them play. We came home and had lunch. Then we played outside for a bit, the kids were really into riding their scooters, more so than their bikes. We did a little gardening. We met Alan, Roberta, and Tierney at Aliso Creek Beach so I could take their Christmas photo. My first beach pics, I had fun. The backyard lighting came out a little weird but besides that pretty good pics. The kiddos played in the sand for a while and I got to play with T.

We headed over to the Ritz to see their decorations. Very disappointing but it was still fun. We all went to Knowlwood for dinner. The kids played with the video games and of course there was only one driving machine, so I became a referee. On our way home getting off the freeway, I bumped someone’s car. You can’t even call it an accident as I hit so lightly. Unfortunately I hit a crazy lady. I called Bret to come over and just as Bret came a police officer stopped. What a nice guy. He gave us his card as he would testify she wasn’t acting like she had hurt her back. Thank goodness I had my camera too and I got a picture of her bending over getting something out of her trunk. She may have a scratch on her bumper from me, it is hard to know if it was there previously but I got pictures. The ironic part was her name is Lie. Oh well we are all ok so that is all that matters and no damage to my car. I called the insurance company when we got home. Bret read books and got the kiddos in jammies. They are sleeping.

What a bummer Bret had to go to work today. This morning the kiddos played with trains. We got ready to go do a couple errands. We made it to Wal Mart but not until late. What a crazy place. It was so busy-the hardest part was keeping an eye on the kids. But the kiddos did so well listening. I wanted to go there to get some Hot Wheel things for Justin. After we went to Chuck E Cheese. The kids were so excited to go there, so cute. They had a blast playing all the games they could. It wasn’t busy at all which was great. After I took the kiddos out for lunch then to the grocery store. We came home and played trains again. The kiddos played so well when we got home. Gave the kiddos a bath and daddy came home early from work. Since we had our Turkey Day dinner tonight, daddy got the turkey fryer out. The kids played really well while we worked to get dinner ready. Right before dinner Art and Bernice (neighbors) came over and gave the kids birthday gifts. They got laptops, so cute. They were so excited and thank goodness there were two.

So with dinner and the mess of opening the laptops our kitchen was a mess! We had a great Thanksgiving dinner. The kids helped make the rolls and were very proud to eat them. Dinner was a bit hard as they were so excited about their laptops. After dinner we played laptops. The laptops have little mice and everything. They practiced with the mouse and led him through a maze, Justin was the first one to be successful. It was a great family night! I am thankful for my amazing family. I was a little sad thinking that our doggie Tracey died 3 years ago on Thanksgiving. She was my baby and I think about her and miss her all the time. When the mention of pie came was mentioned the kids dropped their laptops. They did really well with their laptops, Justin was figuring out what didn’t belong and Nicole was picking letters. We went upstairs and read books. I got out all the Christmas/Chanukkah books. The kiddos are sound asleep excited that we will be starting My Gym tomorrow. We signed up for the Monday class but I am going to miss the first one so we are going to go tomorrow instead. Hopefully daddy can come-he may have to work.