Melissa’s Blog

This morning we started a new class, Messy, Muddy, Hands, and Toes. We are taking the class with lots of friends (Vena, Candice, Stacie, and a mom from pre school) which makes it more fun. The kiddos had a blast in the class. The first project was to decorate a bird house. I think the birds will be afraid to eat out of ours-ha ha ha. It was cute. Justin and Nicole loved squeezing out the glue, glue everywhere. Then they added sparkles, puffy paint, etc. The next project was painting. Justin and Nicole really like painting with these special brushes. The last project was gluing feathers to paper. Again with the glue. The kids were so excited about the feathers. Their projects were very cute and the kiddos had a lot of fun. They didn’t like their hands all gluey and sparkly, so they kept wanting to wipe them which I anticipated. After class we went to the park for a bit. Justin is getting so independent. I had to run to the car so Justin wanted to go to the park with his friends where Nicole wanted to come with me. It makes me sad to see him getting so independent but it is what kids do. The kiddos found water to play with in the park, walking in it and getting all sandy, dirty, and wet. That kept them occupied for a while. Heritage is an older park but the kiddos all had fun. We came home and had lunch and play time. The kids played in the back yard. Well the kiddos didn’t take a nap, no surprise there. I can’t believe they are not exhausted as I am so tired by the end of the day. Nicole got out of her bed a few times. Every time I caught her she was over at Justin’s bed having a conversation with him. I love when she calls him buddy, like I call him. I love yelling to the kids that they can get out of their beds, they came running downstairs as fast as they can. We watched TV for a little while. Then play time. We played in the futon room for a while. I read some books, we played with Lincoln Logs, the fire engine, the kitchen, etc. That room gets pretty crowded when all the toys are on the floor. Daddy came home a little early as he had to work this evening. The kiddos and I heard the garage so we waited in the laundry room and yelled boo at daddy. We continued to play in the futon room, then we were all starting to get bored. So we grabbed the doll strollers and went for a walk around the neighborhood. It was a nice relaxing walk. The kiddos played with mail boxes, rocks, etc. We came home and the kiddos helped me make dinner. They wanted to color with markers. After dinner, we cleaned up with the kiddos. Then daddy had to work. The kids took a bath. Justin was drinking in the tub and got water in his nose, so he took a pretty short bath. I think Nicole liked bath to herself. And Justin and I had fun playing outside of the tub. Justin gave me a haircut, got me Starbucks out of the closet, etc. Justin is doing ok with potty training. We put underwear on him again. The minute he starts to pee he notices and runs over to the potty. So he is getting there. After bath the kids took all the socks and underwear out of the drawer and put them in their beds. Luckily they enjoy cleaning it up as much as making the mess. Then we just read books. I think I read the Mickey Mouse book 5 times. They were pretty tired and all is quiet upstairs.

Bret was off to work early this morning, he left before the kiddos were even awake. The kiddos stayed in our bed for a while, slowly waking up. We had fun playing at home for a while. We made a huge mess playing but we had a lot of fun. We went to park day this morning for the mom’s club at Hick’s Canyon. I felt like I hadn’t been to a park day in a while. There weren’t a lot of people which was nice as I got to catch up with mom’s I haven’t seen in a while. The kids had a blast, swinging, climbing, walking on the wall and jumping down, etc. They weren’t really into the play structure. After the park we went to the grocery store. Wow it sure takes a while with two kids but they sure have fun pushing their carts. Everyone was looking at us, smiling and probably thinking they were glad they weren’t me 🙂 The kids love emptying their carts on the conveyer belt. If I even think about helping boy do they get mad. We came home and had lunch and played some more. It was all about changing babies diapers and trains. They played really well together for a short bit. So nap time came. I tried sitting on the stairs on telling them to lay down and be quiet. I think I am just way too fun. Every time I said shh they laughed hysterically. Then they would just jump up and down too. I gave up, so no nap. We watched TV for a little bit then went to My Gym. We made it for a little bit of the open gym. It was so nice hardly anyone was there, we basically had the place to ourselves. The kids had a blast playing there. They love going in this tube thing and having me roll them. They were into everything today. Then class began. The kiddos were so happy to see Neil, the instructor. They love circle time. I think today was the first time I didn’t have one of them sitting in my lap. I just love watching Nicole and Justin and following all the instructions. dancing, etc. The swings were the best today. Justin was sitting in a big kid swing (low to the ground) and I pushed him and showed him he could push off with his feet from this red pole thing and he loved it. Him and I were laughing hysterically. It was great. He kept on doing it then would laugh so hard. He loved it too when Neil or I would sit in front of him in the swing and he would kick us and we would fall down. Nicole liked it to but not as much as Justin. The kids just had a great time. Just when it couldn’t get much better as we were leaving the gym, Justin spotted a train. So we went over and watched it go again. We came home and had dinner. The kids were so happy to see daddy. After dinner the kids wanted to feel the breeze from the vent by the middle of the stairs. Then they just headed upstairs.Nicole brought me two shirts from my closet and asked me which one I wanted to wear tomorrow (thats what I do to her). It was funny. Justin started to do it with daddy’s pants-we were afraid what our closet was going to look like. We played in the play room up there for a while. Went in the tent. Then played ring around the rosie around the tent. The kids just loved it, so happy. We did our normal routine, brush teeth, pj’s on, books, etc and everyone is sound asleep.

This morning we met Vena, Candice, Stacie, and Victoria at Lowers Peter Canyon. The kids had a great time. Nicole wanted to swing then she was pushing Nikki’s (Stacie) baby doll stroller. Justin was really into the trucks pushing them and filling them up with the sand. They had a great time this morning. I just wanted to get them out of the house before everyone came over for play group. We hosted play group this morning. It was nice to catch up with the my friends and watch all the kids play. Nicole and Justin were outside almost the entire time. They were painting with water, and Justin used his Diego rescue pack. I heard my kids go upstairs and they were playing in the empty bedroom, just talking and hanging out. So cute Justin was carrying around big floppy dog and laying on him. All the moms and kids had lunch together here. It was a little crazy but nice. The kids helped me clean up a bit then upstairs for quiet time. Nap is killing me; I went up there a zillion times to try and quiet them down. I caught Justin standing on his bed rail-ugh. He was so upset he was in trouble but I didn’t want him to get hurt. We came down and watched TV. Justin fell asleep. We need to rethink nap. We may have to stay upstairs and help them quiet down or separate them. The thought of separating them breaks my heart; I love knowing they are together. Nicole and I had a great time playing while Justin slept. We read books, played dress up-more like Nicole dressed me up. After Justin woke up I got lots of great Justin time. We sat together, talked, and fished. After playing for a while, we went to open gym at My Gym. The kids had a great time. They were making baskets, running around, playing with puppets, playing in the play structure. I was shocked today they did not go in the ball pit or the trampoline. They ventured out. Grammy came over for dinner after the gym. The kids came home and played outside while we finished making dinner. We all had dinner together. Grammy made a fruit salad and all the kids wanted to eat was bananas. You would think they would be sick of bananas by now. After dinner, Grammy made truffles with the kids. It was pretty funny listening to Grammy try to give directions to the kids and they did the total opposite. Chocolate and sprinkles everywhere. Didn’t matter the kids had a great time. We didn’t even attempt to wash them up we just put them in the bath. They had a great time in bath, washing their hair, drawing, playing with the little slide and ferris wheel toy, etc. After bath they showed Grammy their big kid beds. The kiddos discovered to throw all their socks and underwear on the floor and make a mess. Luckily they did clean it back up without a problem. Nicole even said “don’t mess up my mess”. The kids went to bed pretty easily tonight, thank goodness as I am exhausted.

This morning we played at home for a while. The usual stuff I read a zillion books, the kids wanted me to feed them breakfast, we played with baby, and we spent most of the time in the living room waiting to see the trash truck. The kids just love watching it out the window. We went to story time at Hush Baby. It was a little crowded but the kids had a great time. I am hoping the kids will participate if I go there enough. Right now they just sit there and watch. Of course, they love the bunny. The bunny bopped them on the head and kissed them. They have the biggest smiles on their faces when the bunny comes over to them. The kids got lady bugs painted on their arms. After we ran into TJ Maxx. Justin found a basketball outfit he wanted. He will look so cute in it. After we went to Coscto. We got some hot dogs for lunch and then I shopped. The District Costco has a ton of snacks, so the kids ate there way through. We looked at all the books. I didn’t realize we were there for so long. We got home and the kids had quiet time in their beds. I caught Nicole out of her bed putting puppets (socks) on her hands. So she didn’t earn a special stamp. Justin was a good little boy and stayed in his bed, so he will get his stamps. Justin is such a good little boy. We are just amazed at how polite he is always saying please and thank you, helping clean up, etc. Nicole demands our attention more, I hope I always give Justin all the attention he needs. Well the kiddos fell asleep watching TV; a short nap. I love watching them sleep-it is so cute. We went to Orchard Park this afternoon. It was fun. We met some friends there (Jacole, Kristen, and some other mom’s from the mom’s club). The kids played in the sand, on the swing, the usual park activities. We came home and we made dinner. We have been having long family dinners lately. The kids move onto our laps and sit there forever. I think Justin ate an entire watermelon at dinner. After dinner, I decided to clean the couch, vacuum etc. The kids had a blast playing on all the cushions, jumping and falling on the cushions. They were amused which was nice. They have a love/hate relationship with the vacuum. At least I found Nicole’s princess spoon in the couch 🙂 We went upstairs and played a little. Read books and off to bed.

Bret had to work for a while today-ugh. He has a really busy month, so this is just the beginning. The kiddos and I played at home for a while. We made tracks and played trains, we read books, Justin used the sit and spin, dress up…we made a mess. Then we ran to Kohl’s to look for new tennis shoes for the kiddos. Nicole found Dora shoes that she had to have and Justin found Car tennis shoes. Then we dropped off my car at Danny’s so it could get washed. You wouldn’t believe how many toys I cleaned out of the car. We walked over to Toys R Us while the car was being washed. The kids were in the stroller so I ran into Linen N Things real quick, with a snack in the stroller the kids were happy. I haven’t used the stroller in so long so they were ok with it. At Toys R Us, the kids were great about helping me pick out gifts for a couple of their friends. Then I let the kids play. Justin went straight for the train table. He loves all the fancy things on that table. Then we went into a couple of the aisles and played. They both had fun playing with pretend electric guitars. Nicole found a Barney doll she loved. It sang the I love you , you love me song. I thought I would have to buy it but she gave him a hug goodbye and left it for someone else to play with. Of course we had to play on all the cars. Then we walked back to get my car. The kids recognized Home Depot as we walked by and for some silly reason wanted to go in. We came home and shortly after that daddy came home. So we were all able to have lunch together. Then we just played with the kiddos then off to have quiet time. We hope for a nap but don’t expect it any more. Nicole got out of her bed a few times. She was in the rocking chair and we can hear it banging on the wall so she got caught every time. She was so upset that she was in trouble, guess that is good. We got the kiddos out of their beds, and Justin got special stamps for staying in his bed. Nicole was upset she didn’t get stamps so now she knows if she stays in she may get something special. The kids watched Barney and Elmo’s World. After TV time, we decided to go to the Spectrum. It was crazy there, lots of people. We went straight for the fountains. There were lots of big kids there so Nicole was a little intimated. Justin went right in, he sure loves the water. He kept on coming over to us with a big smile on his face. Nicole finally went in and liked the spitting turtles. They had a great time. Then we walked around for a while and of course road the carousal. Nicole was so excited to ride the bunny and Justin went right for the ostrich. We played in the toy store as well with trains, balls, looked at the baby dolls, etc. After dinner, it was time for a bath. The kiddos just love their bath. They love soaping themselves up and putting bubbles in their hair. I let them wash my arms and they love it. Daddy was making the kids laugh so hard, etc. Nicole wanted him to eat her belly and he would say I am not hungry. He said wait I found room then he would get her belly. Justin was busy laughing at everything too. They were probably just over tired. Books and off to sleep, everyone sleeping by 8:45.

I woke up way before anyone else and ran out to my garden to garden. It needs a lot of attention. Well I was doing great until the sprinklers went on chased me to dif’t areas. Then Nicole woke up. Her and I got some time together; it was fun. We played with the dry erase books and drank water together, we clank the cups together and say cheers. After breakfast we played with stamps and play doh. Justin and Nicole both loved cutting the play doh. Then we headed to the mall. The kids got haircuts at First Cuts in the MV mall. This was Nicole’s first real haircut; she did great. Both kids sat on daddy’s lap while getting their haircut. The kids wore capes for the first time. They look so cute! I got teary eyed when Nicole got a haircut for some reason. The kids got lollipops at the end of their haircuts. Then we went to play in the mall. Nicole went to Victoria Secrets with me to shop for underwear. She is a good little helper. Daddy and Justin went to the lights. We met them at the lights and the kids played on them for a while, laughing and having a great time. We were hungry so we went and had an early lunch. The kids both wanted high chairs, silly kids. We even had time to go to the play area for a bit. Nicole and Justin would run back and forth from the blue car to the ball pretending to get gas or go to Starbucks. We came home and the kids fell asleep for a short bit on the way home. We took the opportunity to drive around Irvine a bit and look at neighborhoods. I still want to move into a newer house, but nothing seems to compare to the house in MV I love so much. After we played at home for a bit then decided to go for a bike ride to the park. The kids love the bike trailer so biking we went. Bret pulled the trailer today. We went to Blue Gum and had a great time. The kids were really into the swings. While Justin was pushing the swing he went under the swing just like we do. Anyway we had a nice time at the park. Biked home and the kids just played in the back yard for a long time, see sawing, scootering, biking, etc. They are such happy little munch kins. They helped me do some gardening in the backyard too, they pick up the leaves so well (sand not so well though). We came inside and Justin was reading Thomas, A Crack in the Track to us and Nicole was busy making spaghetti. She fed me some spaghetti and even wiped where she says I spilled. They are playing pretend so well these days-it is really fun.

We went to Tanaka Farms this morning. What a great time we had. My special moment was when Nicole said she had a really good time with me. Almost put a tears in my eyes and of course she got hugged and kissed to death. Anyway we went on a tractor ride through the farm. We stopped and got to taste veggies. The first thing we got was a Maui sweet onion. The kids smelled it but wouldn’t try it. They sure liked carrying it around though. The kids got to see the bananas growing on the trees. The next veggie was purple carrots. I had never seen a purple carrot. And if you think that was weird we got purple and yellow green beans. We also got some broccoli. Then it was time to get off the tractor and pick strawberries. It was funny to see what the kids would do. Nicole wanted to pick all the strawberries and loved filling up her and Justin’s baskets. Who knew she would like to pick them that much. Nicole had to fill up Justin’s basket as he was too busy eating them! It was a great morning, hot though. The kids were dirty and covered in red strawberry. The messier they are I guess that means the more fun they had! After we met daddy for lunch. It was nice. They showed him all their veggies. We had a nice lunch together outside. But we threw away the veggies as we thought they were done. Nicole wanted her onion. She kept on saying she lost it. We didn’t want her to think she lost it so we told her we were hungry and ate it.On the way home we stopped at Costco to get a pizza as we were having friends over for dinner. You would think after all this activity they would take a nap, nope. So they watched a little TV so I could get a break. After we played in the futon room for a while, strung beads. Then we set up the race car set in the living room. We played in the living room for a while then had a snack. We went upstairs and played up there as well. Then Paula and Krista came over with their kids. We played all over the house, living room, family room, futon room, outside. The kiddos had a great time. Nicole was a little screamy at dinner. We all had pizza and the kids had mochi balls for the first time (Japanese ice-cream dessert). Of course they loved it. We showed our friends the kids big kid beds, so the kiddos even had fun playing upstairs. It was a little crazy with all the kids but it was fun! Then we have the kiddos a bath and lots of books. Nicole was carrying around two of her baby dolls and said she had twins. Justin is looking taller than Nicole again, I think he grew more. Justin was so tired tonight that he almost fell asleep on me, so sweet.

Ok so Nicole took a nap yesterday but then we paid for it last night. She was awake until almost 11:00 last night. We were falling asleep before her. I finally threw the bed on the floor and laid down with her. I was too tired to do much more. She was so happy when I did that and said thank you mommy, She is so cute when she is being naughty. I got the best hugs and kisses. We played at home for a while this morning. We had fun playing. The kids were playing all over the house. They brought beads upstairs and were throwing them down the stairs. They were running up and down the hallway. We read books and we just played. I think it took the kiddos an hour to eat their breakfast, silly kids. We headed over to Heritage Park to play. We met up with Vena and Stacie. We had a great time. The kiddos played in the park, went up and down the stairs, went down slides, etc. I got some mom time too and got to talk to my friends. We went over to the water and saw the ducks too. It was just a nice morning. We went to the grocery store after the park, we were in need of milk. Of course getting milk with two kids takes an hour. Oh well they had fun pushing the carts. We came home a little late and had a late lunch. I thought the kiddos may nap boy was I crazy. Oh well they will go to bed more smoothly tonight. After nap we just took it easy. One of our friends came over. I brought the kiddos tricycles in the house and they were so happy. Justin was riding around the family room. We played outside for a long time too, water, bubbles, etc. After dinner, we played more. The kids got their chairs down and pretended to watch a movie, silly kids. We went upstairs a bit earlier and tried for an earlier bedtime. The house is nice and quiet, kiddos are sound asleep.

We played at home this morning for a while. I think I read a zillion books. They just love their books. We called to say hi to grandma/pa. The kids were so silly, pretending to go to sleep. They were cracking me up while on the phone. Then we headed to the Santa Ana Zoo. We met a bunch of people there (Becky’s play group). I don’t really know many of the mom’s but Paula was there. We had a great time. The kids immediately wanted to go over to the jeep and play on it. They love pretending to drive and shift. They were really good about waiting their turns too. We then went over to the farm area. We saw a bunny that weighs 20 something pounds, it was huge. The kids were pointing at it and smiling. As many times we have been to the zoo we have never seen the bunny. We saw all the chickens, roosters, turkeys, etc. Then we fed the goats. Nicole didn’t want to feed them but Justin did. But most of the kid’s attention was over to the water area. Then we went on the train and over to the monkeys. There was a baby monkey that was so cute. Anyway we had a great morning. Nicole was the hungriest little girl at the zoo. Finally at 11:15 I started feeding the kiddos lunch. Nicole is getting very upset these days if she does something wrong and you get mad at her. I guess that is a good thing as she is learning, but it is hard. The kiddos did take a nap today. When they got up, I heard them saying may I get out of bed. I said yes come on downstairs. I looked at them at the top of the stairs and they just had silly grins on their faces, happy to get out themselves. After nap we headed to the gym. We made it for a little of the open gym. I jumped with them on the trampoline, they were laughing so loud. Then I did puppets with them and they were all smiles. They were loving making baskets. Then class started. Nicole got to declare circle time. They just love circle time. We played at the gym. They did the monkey bars and stilts. They had so much fun at the gym; it is so cute to watch them. They love getting in this tube and having me roll them around. After gym, like always we looked for trains-no trains today. When we got home the kiddos sat on the family room floor and we did circle time again and again. Sang if you are happy and you know it…..After dinner, we play outside and then bath. We put the kiddos to bed a little late since they did take naps.

It was so sad this morning since dad had to go back to work. The kids hated to see him go. We met Candice, Vena, Victoria, and Stacie at the park this morning. It was fun! All the kiddos wanting the same toys is driving me crazy. I should have brought more snack for everyone but Nicole and Justin shared really well. The kiddos had fun playing. They were so happy to see Cole and Grant again. They were talking about them all the way home. We left a bit early to go to playgroup. Playgroup was at Janet’s (Evan and Alaina) and the kiddos had a blast. Nicole and Justin loved playing on Alaina’s big kid bed. We played in Alaina’s room for a while. The kids loved the play house too. I felt like we hadn’t been to play group in a while, it was really fun. We ate lunch there too. One of the kid’s there likes honey on their chicken so Nicole and Justin wanted it too. What a surprise they really liked it! The kids had fun eating and playing at Janet’s. I was trying to get the kiddos out of the house and then Elmo’s world was on-ugh. We hope we didn’t over stay our welcome. We came home and tried to have the kiddos nap. What a shocker the kids didn’t nap. They played. They told toddler jokes, all of a sudden I hear them screaming peanut butter and jelly and laughing hysterically. We watched Barney then we went off to Costco. The kiddos were really good at Costco, I am sure the snacks helped too. After we went to open gym at My Gym. The kiddos had a blast playing. It was a bit crowded but the kiddos had fun. They jumped in the ball pit and climbed up all the stairs and up and down the stairs. It was fun watching them play. They loved the big balls too. We came home and had dinner. The kiddos were a bit tired tonight, so it was just a mellow night. I put dates on the back of pictures and daddy read to the kids. We went upstairs and Nicole was really into reading to us. It was so cute! Justin started to as well. It was a nice mellow evening. Kids went right to bed.