Melissa’s Blog

This morning we heard Justin around 5:00ish, I guess heading downstairs. This is the first time he has ever gotten out of bed without telling us. Bret grabbed him and put him back in our bed. He was asleep soon after and slept in until 8:00. He looked so comfy in our bed. We were in a hurry to get out of here to go to pre school. I hate being late. The kids just love this pre school, it is so nice. Justin was into the trains as usual. Nicole wanted me to come outside with her, she played in moon sand. I got Justin to come out and play with the parachute. The kiddos loved the parachute. So cute to watch the smiles on their faces. Justin and Nicole loved when the blow up crab went flying up in the air on the parachute. The kids loved going under it too. Justin had fun playing on the play structure, climbing, sliding, and swinging. The kids went in for circle time; stories and dancing. Nicole and Justin participated so well. I love when they ask Justin something and he points with his finger as he talks. The kids did snack together while the moms and teacher had a discussion. Nicole was a little hesitant at first to go without me, but then she was off. After we came over and my friend, Wendy and her kiddos, Tobin and Camden, came over. I needed a haircut so badly so she cut mine and the kiddo’s hair. Nicole didn’t need a haircut but she wanted one. The kids did great. Wendy’s kids started melting down near the end. After lunch the kiddos and I just played at home. It was nice to be home playing. The kiddos played really well together for the most part. They were happy to be home too. We did the Dora puzzle on the kitchen table-they wanted to do it over and over again. Our backyard fence is still being worked on so we haven’t been in our backyard much. I finally decided to go out there. We hooked up the fishy sprinkler and the kiddos had so much fun. So cute to watch.

I actually sat for a few minutes and started on the tu tu I am making for Nikki. Then we decided to go out in the front and the kiddos rode their scooters. They also rode tricycles. They had so much fun outside. Daddy decided we all should go out to dinner, so we went to the Woodbury center. The kids had so much fun playing on the grass, running around and playing tag. Of course the kiddos pushed each other down but were laughing. The kiddos took their skateboard animals and Justin decided his doggie liked the grass better than the concrete. We had a fun night but had to come home to put the kiddos in the bath. The kids were kind of crazy in the bath for some reason. They were a little out of control tonight at home. I think they were just tired as they went right to bed.

We were out all day. It is nice to be at home. I had to go get a blood test today. I explained to the kids what we were doing and how they needed to act. I even bribed them by saying if you are good we can get ice cream after lunch. To my surprise they were excellent. They immediately sat right down and were the best behaved kids ever. I was so proud even though I did need to bribe them. I probably didn’t even need to bribe them but it doesn’t hurt. Nicole was so concerned about my boo boo-what a sweetie pie. After we got some bagels and went on our way to music class. The kids had fun in music class. They liked playing with the sticks and they also enjoyed climbing all over me. After music we went to Fashion Island. We went to Barnes and Noble and the kiddos played with the train table. I wanted to read books with them but they wanted to play trains. Finally Nicole found a potty book she loved. She said she loved it because of the little girl. There was a little boy there who was a nightmare, Justin and Nicole just kept on looking at him. I wish I knew what Nicole and Justin were thinking. This kid was out of control. Grammy met us there and then we had lunch. Nicole decided she needed a high chair. I let the kiddos bring their skateboard dog and cat. So they had fun pulling them around the mall. After lunch I promised the kiddos ice cream so off to Hagan Diaz. The kids both wanted chocolate ice cream. Who knew a cone could make such a mess. Justin was a little messier than Nikki. They had ice cream everywhere on their face, clothes, shoes, etc. But they loved it and they were so cute eating it. They were playing on the grass area. Security scolded me as he thought my kids were too far away from me. Everybody commented that it looked as though the kids liked ice cream. Serious mess! After the kiddos played in the area with the fish. They both wanted to go to Grammy’s house, so off we went. They played for a bit. Grammy bought them trikes and she put one together, so they both wanted to ride the one. Of course I had their trikes in the back of my car but they weren’t good enough. So Grammy tried to get the other one together but no luck. So we finally got in the pool. Nicole is a little fish these days, she loved it. Justin had fun too. They both jumped in and I caught them. They played on the stairs too. Justin got out first and Nicole stayed in for a long time. Justin even said he went pee pee on the potty. After we got out of the pool, we decided to stay at Grammy’s. Daddy came over too. The kids built cd towers and took turns with the one bike while dad built the other one. I was so impressed watching the kids share the bike. They were communicating well and taking turns without adult intervention, it was amazing. We had dinner but the kids didn’t eat too much. They were too excited to ride their bikes. They rode around the pool, having fun together, and filling the baskets on their bikes. They watched a little TV and then it was time to come home. The kiddos were tired, it was a long day. They went to sleep pretty quickly.

Busy day, I am exhausted. This morning was pre school morning. Since I was snack mom today I decided to drive. So nice not to walk in the warm weather. The kids had so much fun. They made octupuses with paper plates and staples and decorated them. So cute. Then they did more glue and glitter. They made fishy scenes. I think my kiddos used up all the glue and glitter. The kiddos weren’t outside much. They were into building tracks and playing tracks. Nicole wanted to dress up but that didn’t last long. They did so well at circle time while I prepared the snack. I am so nervous about leaving them for the first time. They love it there but they also love it while I am there. When I re-joined them at circle time the kiddos were so happy. After pre school we met our friends, Victoria, Vena. and Stacie at the Woodbury pools. My kids loved it! Nicole was so happy to be in the little pool. She was jumping in it and just loved it. I couldn’t even get her out to eat lunch. Justin loved it too but he was more into the fountains. I felt bad as I couldn’t leave Nicole to go over with Justin. But he was pretty happy over by the fountains and I could still see him. He would come running over to tell me he got all wet. The kids had as much fun in the showers as they did the pools. Nicole is doing so well with water in her eyes. Justin was busy with the sprayer shower head, spraying everything-the plants, me, Nicole, etc. Justin looked so tired so I decided to head to Costco hoping he would fall asleep. He fell asleep so fast-he woke up a little early this morning. At Costco, I got gas and then just had Nicole in the front sleep while Justin got a little more sleep. They had a great time in Costco. They loved the snacks and looking at the TV’s. Going to Costco with the kids is pretty easy. We came home and the kiddos watched TV while I got organized. Then the kiddos and I just played for a bit. We put up the kiddos new pictures from pre school and we played with the kitchen. The kiddos rode their scooters and filled their baskets on their scooters with pretend foods. We met our friend Stacie and Nikki at Chick Fil A tonight. It is kids night on Tuesdays. They had crafts, balloons, face/hand painting, etc. It was cute, a little crazy but manageable. The kids decorated balls and visors. Nicole got a pink cat painted on her hand and Justin got a blue dog. They played in the play area for a bit. They loved going in the yellow slide tunnel thing. We came home and the kids were pretty tired from our busy day. Off to bed and I am following soon. Right now Justin is singing and Nicole is saying Justin is waking me up-ha ha ha

This morning Justin shocked us by pooping in the potty! He did so great, we are so proud. He is doing so well with the potty. There is hope that he will be in underwear before pre school officially starts. I gave him M&M’s after. He was so proud of himself and we even called daddy at work to tell him. This morning we have been just playing, reading books. Nicole did markers while Justin played on the train table. I tried to clean up the house a bit, quick vacuum, etc. Vena and kiddos came over to play for a bit before we all went to story time. We went to Hush Baby for little bunny fu fu story time. The kids just love this story time-it is great. They love getting bopped in the head by bunny fu fu then kissed. They always wait patiently for the hand painting. Nicole got a pink dog and Justin got a blue dog, so cute. Then we went over to In N Out Burger for lunch. The kids were so good for me. We had a great time. We went to Michael’s after as I am going to attempt to make Nicole a tu tu. The kids love wearing these hats at Michael’s-they say they are picking out their costumes, like our Dora Halloween book we read to the kids. It was a pretty hot day, so Carin invited us to the Ladera water park. Well I debated about going and should have probably stayed home based on what happened. Well I got there and got the kiddos out of the car and realized I forgot their bathing suits. Of course the kiddos really wanted bathing suits. So off to Kohl’s we went. I found Justin a spider man suit but couldn’t find one for Nicole. I convinced her to go in the water with pink shorts and a Minnie shirt. Then on the way back to the water park, Carin called and said someone pooped in the pool and it was closed. Oh man! So we went to another little water park and a kiddo pool. Nicole and Justin had a great time in the pool. Nicole was jumping in and using her kick board. Justin lost his footing so in the water with my pants on. Oh well. Justin really wanted to go the fountain part of the pools, so we went over. Nicole and Sofi wanted back in the pool though. The kiddos got out of the pool and were starving. Lots of snacks and I couldn’t believe they stayed awake on the way home. We decided to skip dinner since so they had so many snacks. So we went to the grocery store. We tried to get one kiddo to stay home with daddy and one come with me. But the kiddos wanted each other to come to the store. So we all went. The kiddos put their dog/cat skateboards in the little carts and pushed them around. Nicole had a little melt down at the end of our store trip-all of a sudden she was starving. So we made a quick dinner and then played. We went upstairs and did our usual brush teeth, read books, etc. Hopefully soon it will be quiet up there.

We were out and about early this Sunday morning. Our first stop was Lowe’s. We needed to get all our Malibu lights working again. Thanks to Bret only one malibu is not working now. Then we headed to a kid’s furniture store. We are looking into new beds for the kiddos. Of course it wasn’t open. We were near Ikea, so we went over there and let the kiddos play. They had a great time, trying out the beds, crawling through tunnels, sitting in new chairs, etc. We were around our favorite sandwich place, Little Pickle, so we stopped there to get lunch. Then on the way home we stopped at the kid’s furniture store. The kids loved the bunk beds with the slides. it was really cute. But if we are going to keep both kids together then we can definitely not fit two of those in one room. The kids had a blast playing at the furniture store. There was this awesome castle/princess bed there but it was huge and so expensive. We came home and the kiddos played. They were happy outside, blowing bubbles and playing catch in their play house. They watched a little TV. Then we headed to the lagoon in Rancho Santa Margarita. We met my brother and baby Tierney there. We had a great time. No water slides like the lagoon here in Irvine but it was still great. The kids could go out pretty far with their head above water. I got to hold Tierney while Bret was in the water with the kids. Nicole and Justin loved it and enjoyed making sand castles in the sand. After Alan and Tierney left, we got back in the water with the kiddos. Just loved jumping on my knees and being thrown in the air over the rope and in his words like Shamu. Nicole decided she wanted to go under the water. So with daddy’s help under the water she went. She loved it, she did it about another 5 times. She went under the rope and was so proud of herself. Hopefully she will remember this next year for her swim lessons. It is amazing to go through the first things with the kids. This is the first time she has willingly went under water, so cute. We gave the kiddos showers there and off to a concert in the park in Irvine (Bruce Springstein tribute band). We met some friends there and had a picnic dinner. The kids had fun playing in Penny’s wagon and jumping out of it. We went over to see some guy blowing bubbles. The kids had a blast trying to pop the big bubbles. We both held the kids and let them reach way up high to pop the bubbles. It was cute. We had a great time. Kiddos were pretty tired from our big day, they went to sleep pretty easily. Oh I asked the kiddos what their favorite food it and I got ice-cream, not much of a shocker.

Well we had fun last night on our night out. We went to a friend’s birthday luau. It was nice to get out, definitely very weird. I can’t remember the last time we did something like this. We decided to go to Tanaka Farms this morning for the watermelon tour. We had a great time. Nicole was at first scared of the scare crown and wouldn’t take a picture but before I knew it she was posing in front of it. Justin said he was too scared. The kids were so well behaved on the wagon ride. They liked the big tractor. We got lots of veggies and fruits to sample on the wagon. The kids tried the tomato’s but did not like them. We got green beans and carrots which the kids liked. We got off the tractor and got to try so many more fruits. We got yellow cucembers, zucchini, canteloupe, and yellow and pink watermelon. The kids got to pick out a watermelon to take home. It was so cute watching the munch kins carry their watermelons.

We came home and just had fun playing at home. Justin wanted daddy to play trains with him. Nicole was making a rainbow out of the tracks. The kids played pretty well, at least while they were in different rooms. We tried to give the kids some quiet time in their beds, but they were wild. They just played and made a bunch of noise. Finally let them watch TV. We did some cleaning out today, gave some stuff away free on freecycle and sold the changing table too. Kind of sad, but opening a new chapter in our lives. Getting rid of the changing table makes more room for toys! Justin was pretty much in underwear most of the day while we were home. He did so well. I am so proud of him. We are getting there, slowly but surely. Nicole says she is helping potty training Justin. We decided to go down to the Woodbridge Lake and let the kiddos ride their trikes. They loved it. I think Justin could have rode for hours. We ran into Jacole and family. The kids rode around and played. They saw the ducks and Nicole wanted to take them home. There was a concert in the park too. By the time we made it over there, the kids wanted to eat. So we went over to Ruby’s and had dinner. The kids are liking food on sticks these days and ate an entire corn dog each. We went into Barnes and Noble-the kids read some books. Then they kept asking to ride bikes again, so we got them out of the car and they rode bikes around the lake. So cute watching them go down hills. We ran up and down the grass hill too. We just had a fun night. We are just tired and we still hear Nicole upstairs chatting away.

Well this morning we just took it easy and played at home for a while. Here is a picture of what the kiddos wore today. They looked pretty silly but so cute too with their boots. They just love their boots and Nicole loved wearing her ballerina dress.

We went over to Vena’s this morning. It was fun, lots of friends. My kids don’t get while the younger kids grab a hold of toys though. My kids mostly played outside. They loved Cole and Grant’s little guitars. After we went to the grocery store. The kids did so great helping me shop and push carts. We got home and had lunch. The kiddos haven’t been into eating lunch lately. After lunch we just played then I ran an errand. We came home and the kids watched TV. Our back fence is all pulled out now. It looks so nice all open. I wish we could have a huge yard, it would be so nice. Of course we want our privacy back and are looking forward to the new fence going up. The kids played so well today. We were in and out. The outside is a mess right now though. Then Grammy came over for dinner. We had dinner and the kids played. They played with the doggie bone toy and Nicole was really into diapering her baby. Every minute she needed a new diaper. The kids didn’t eat much dinner but they were all into the pudding. Then they wanted to use their fishy sprinkler but that only lasted a few minutes. It was cook though. Grammy is going to babysit tonight so we can go to a friend’s party. We are going to put the kids to sleep and sneak out. Too bad we are tired! We gave the kiddos to bath and then read books. Nicole has a new trick of jumping on one foot. And I wasn’t watching her as I was finishing putting away laundry. So she finally said “watch me, Melissa”, it as hilarious.

The kiddos woke up too much last night, ugh. I am so tired today. We walked to pre school this morning. The kiddos wanted to walk with their skateboard toys, kitty and dog. So we were a bit late for pre school but we had fun walking. Pre school was so much fun. The kiddos played in the sand a bit and on the play structure. Justin put gas in the car toys, so cute. The kids made tracks with trucks and paints, so cute. They also made fish bowls with stickers. Nicole was really into this craft. Justin was off playing with trucks and trains. He made a big train and put people in it and pushed them around. Circle time was great, the kids really participated. Nicole is really liking her teacher, Ms. Lana. She even asked Ms. Lana to go to the park with her, so sweet. The kids had snack and then it was time to go already. The hour and a half at mommy and me seems to go by so fast. The kids walked on the way home, who knew that the freeway over pass would be so exciting. The kids loved watching all the cars and trucks. They were waving at all the trucks, the trucks were beeping and the kids just loved it. I think we could have stayed up there for hours. It was great fun! We walked to Orchard Park on the way home. The kids had fun playing at the park. There was one kid though who was unwilling to share his sand toys. So hard to explain to my kids though. The kids made birthday cakes at the play house thing. Also loved going down the slide silly ways, on their backs, on their bellies. We had a great time. Justin took a short snooze on the way home. After lunch the kids went into their beds for quiet time. We read lots of books then they read them in their beds. After we watched some TV. I had to go to Target. The kids love Target. We started in the $ area. Nicole and Justin picked out socks, Hello Kitty and Spiderman. Justin came running up to me telling me he loved this one toy. It was a truck pulling a horse trailer. It was so cute I couldn’t help but buy it for him. At the store he was so excited about the toy he kept saying lets go check out. I finally found boots for Nicole, rubber pink kitty cats. She was so excited. She had been wanting boots like these since our Vegas trip. Justin got some car boots. We got home and I couldn’t open things fast enough. Justin wanting his new truck and Nicole wanting her boots. It was so cute listening to the two of them. Justin was so amused by the truck for a while. We got home to find that our fence was finally being worked on-yeah! Hopefully it will be complete soon. We went to Chili’s for dinner. The kids were nuts. Really crazy, jumping on the booths, wanting to wave to everyone, hang on me, etc. But they did eat really well. We came home and the kids are sound asleep 🙂

This morning we were off to music class. We had to go all the way to Newport for class. The kids had fun-they participated, sang, and danced. It was fun. Then I decided to take the kiddos to Fashion Island. We had lunch there and the kiddos played more than ate. We saw the fish. The kiddos had a great time looking at the fish and jumping over the cement stepping stones. I was worried one of my kids would fall in the water but they were safe. There is a circle on the ground so the kiddos ran around in circles. We took a little walk around Fashion Island and the kiddos looked at all the fountains. We went into Barnes N Noble. I read a ton of books to the kiddos (going to pre school books) and they played with the train table. We were kind of in a rush so we didn’t get to play too long. We met some friends at Jump N Jammin. This was our first time there. At first it was kind of crowded, I was a bit worried. It cleared out and the kiddos had a great time. They loved the ball area. At first I was in there with them playing with them then they headed for the crocodile bounce house. They were so cute bouncing so high. There were balls on the top of the bounce house and the kids were trying so hard to reach them. The toddler area had a huge castle that the kids loved and Nicole decided it was her castle. When they went back to the balls, Nicole wanted me to wait outside. They played so well in there and for a long time. Justin kept running out to say hi to me. They had a great time at this place-it was really cute. They didn’t really go on the climbing stuff too much. I ran out of water and snacks since we were out all day. So we ran to Bristol Farms and the kids ate their way through with all the snacks. We came home and the kids wanted to color with crayons and markers. Then they headed outside to play. The kids wanted me to push them on their swings. New trick though, holding hands while swinging. They were laughing and loved holding hands, so cute and I got a great picture.

You may have to click on the pic to see it better. Sized down, the kids got cut off a bit. After dinner the kids wanted to use the fishy sprinkler, so we had two naked kids in the back yard. They had so much fun together in the sprinkler. Justin was so excited to use the sprinkler. Then it was time for bath and reading books. Justin was pretty tired tonight.

It felt as though we were on the go all day but it was fun! This morning we walked to pre school. The kiddos were nuts this morning. It was a little cool out this morning, so the kids decided to run to pre school. They ran down the street giggling and having a great time. It was fun to watch. The kids had so much fun at mommy and me pre school. There was so much to do. The kids loved playing with the shaving cream in their hands. They liked it but then wanted to wash it off pretty quickly too. Then would go back to it then wash hands. They did handprints with paint! The kids played with play do. They loved making shapes with the play do-cookie cutter and cutting it. They only played outside for a short while today. They liked the watering can in the water table and played with bubbles. They were into the inside toys. They like the wooden trucks and filling them up with card board blocks. Justin also wanted to play trains. The kids are getting so interactive at story time, so cute to watch. I tried to stand back a bit during circle time to see how the kids do without me. They had a snack and the kids were starving. They loved the muffins, of course. We walked home and the kiddos just sat in the stroller and ate more snack. To my surprise Nicole fell asleep on the way home. And the cleaners were here, so we just headed to MV. We were going to the mall for a bit. It took Justin a long time to fall asleep but he finally did. Thank goodness Nicole transferred into the car and went right back to sleep. We went to the mall and had a blast. We ate lunch there. And then did the lights, went into a few stores. They really liked looking at the Halloween costumes. They loved trying on witches hats and wanted to wear fairy wings too. I got the kids from Build A Bear Workshop little stuffed animals on skateboards. The kids pull them with leashes. Nicole got a pink kitty and Justin got a huskly, they were so expensive but the kids loved them. They pulled them all around the mall with big smiles on their faces. As people walked by they had big smiles too watching the kiddos. We went into the play area for a bit as well. We then headed to meet some friends at the Ladera Water Park. The kids got right into the water and swam around. My friend brought some great toys so my kids had a blast, with a wagon in the water and watering can, etc. The kids loved watching all the water at the park, squirting, dumping, falling, etc. We came home and picked daddy up and just went to Carls Jr for dinner. Justin walked home with daddy and Nicole and I drove home. Nicole and I played at home for a bit then went to meet daddy and Justin. We played out front for a while and daddy tried to see what was wrong with our Mailbu lights. We came in and the kids were wild, jumping up and down in their cribs, climbing, etc. We read books, brushed teeth, got into jammies, etc. I am enjoying my clean house now….it had been a month since the cleaners were here.