Melissa’s Blog

This morning, we headed to the Spectrum. We had a blast! First and most importantly we rode the carousal. Nicole wanted a purple horse. They love the carousal. I took the stroller this morning and they were so happy to be riding in it again, probably since it has been a while. We went down to the fountains by Target and Carters. Justin was so excited. Bathing suit on and he was in the water, smiling, telling me he got wet! Nicole would pretend to get wet and put water on her hands but she wasn’t too into the water. Justin was silly, he would go in the water then get out and go up the stairs then go back in the water. Nicole and I just played on the bench together. But she was really happy to be wearing her bathing suit and pretty much will be wearing it all day, I think. She enjoyed watching Justin. She did try and sneak into Carters every once in a while to play with the lego table. So after water we ran into Carters for a bit to play. They seemed tired so we came home for lunch and read some books. We put them in the cribs earlier than normal (dad is home due to training), but it is 1:15 and they are just giggling and playing in their cribs. Well the kiddos never fell asleep for nap, so they watched some TV for a bit. We ran to Home Depot to get a few things. The kids liked riding in the race car cart and ringing all the doorbells that were on display. Then we gave the kiddos the choice to go to Chick-Fil-A and play on the play structure or the fountain. So Chick-Fil-A won out. We went over there and Nicole was having a blast but for some silly reason Justin wouldn’t slide down the yellow tunnel. We came home and played in the back yard for a while. We filled up the pool and the kids had a great time. We had dinner then played inside a bit more. Since the kiddos didn’t nap we were on a mission to get them to go to sleep earlier. Bath time then daddy did boat rides. Then the kids got to pick two books each they wanted to read. And off to bed. It is 8:45 and the kiddos are sleeping soundly!

We went to our last Paint, Pour, and Paste class this morning. The kids immediately went over to the play doh. They rolled it, stamped it, cut it, etc. Then we made caterpillars (kids call them snakes). The kids went a little crazy with the tape. Then we made caterpillars with glue. Glue everywhere. We then did some painting. Paint everywhere-on the paper, their hand, their clothes, etc. It was a messy class. After we played in bird seed. Nicole had to get into the bucket and step and sit in it. Silly girl. Justin was happy just touching and pouring it. After the kids ran around like crazy on the little dance floor and loved looking at themselves in the mirror. Nicole was fixing her hair in the mirror and didn’t seem to care she had paint on her face. On our way out we talked to the mail man and looked at his truck. Then we had to go over and see the yellow tractor. The kids got to touch the big tires. When they got home and told daddy about the tractor daddy said was it a Caterpillar and Justin says it was yellow. We stopped at Costco on our way home. The kiddos love the samples, oh in their words “snacks”. We came home and had lunch. The kiddos were playing so well with each other. They were rolling the ball back and forth. They were also chasing each other and luckily they were laughing about it. We read books and now we are just waiting to see if they nap. They are chatting away in their cribs. Justin said we can ask though and Nicole says mommy will say no. They have books in their cribs and they are both screaming “I turn the pages”. I think I hear books being thrown out of their cribs. Nicole is singing happy birthday to Justin and no more monkeys on the bed. Justin says I throw books and Nicole says don’t throw books. HA Well they didn’t nap and when I asked them what they were saying mommy would say no too, Nicole told me it was that there feet have to touch the ground in the crib. That is our rule, so they get climbing out of their cribs out of their minds. We watched Elmo’s World. And since it was such a nice day out we got out the water. Justin filled up the pool with the hose, naked they got and they played in their pool. They played bubbles. Justin helped daddy water the grass out front. Now that the neighbor’s grass is greener than ours, we must green ours up too! We just had a great time playing in the back yard. Daddy got out of training a little early and was able to play too. Before dinner we ran up to Wal-Mart. Nicole played on a jeep there and Justin rode a tricycle. So cute. Nicole and Justin picked out Dora and Diego hats, so hopefully they will wear them at the park now. We went to Soup Plantation for dinner. The kids just love it there and the food comes right away which helps. They ate so much, beets, olives, kidney beans, carrots, corn, etc. We came home and played with the cars outside for a bit. Justin drove it in the faster mode. You can set it to go 2.5 miles or 5 miles per hour and he was just grinning from ear to ear in the faster mode. Nicole had to give her baby a ride and had to take a picture of baby in the car. Then we went upstairs and got ready for bed. Grandma/pa dropped in as they needed to drop stuff off for the garage sale. The kids were so excited but luckily we calmed them down and got them to bed. They went to sleep so fast.

This morning the mom’s club had an event at Bears, Buddies, and Toys. It was a story time for the kids and election time for the positions, president, etc. My kiddos were so excited to go to that store, they love it. They played with everything. First it was all about the strollers then the dogs and cats that look real and breath. They are so cute! It was time for story time. Justin and Nicole were really into the story time. But the lady had a crocodile puppet and Nicole was terrified. Poor little girl. After we played some more then had pizza. The kids ate a little but were more into watching Nemo. After we played in the store a little more. We came home and ate a little more. Grandma/pa stopped by as they took grandma’s car in for service. The kids drove their new cars for grandma/pa. Nicole had to take her two babies and all her blankets into her car. Silly girl. She had to take them one by one into the car. Then we just played in the house a bit before nap time. We played with baby and balloons. The kiddos did take a nap today-yeah! After nap we headed to My Gym. I can’t get over how the kids love it there so much. We made it to the last 10 minutes of open play then had our class. It was a cute class. We did circle time, head, shoulders, knees, and toes, and the hokey pokey. After it was just open play. The kids walked across a mat with balls underneath it-earthquake. They loved it and wanted to do it again. They were jumping on the trampoline and the ball pit, so silly to watch. Then we did the swings, kind of hard with 2 kids. We played hide n seek. The mom’s hid-it was pretty funny. They love their stamps and we just had a great time.  We played outside in the front after dinner. Justin drove his car and Nicole just played. They pushed their doll strollers for a while and put them through the water. Then it was time for bath. They loved squirting the colored water with a spray bottle again. After bath they wanted to play in the shower for some silly reason. Then it was books and bed. It is 9:30 and Nik is still awake-ugh.

We stayed home for a while this morning and just had fun playing. Nicole called for circle time and Justin and her had circle time like at My Gym, too cute. Then the cleaners came, so off to the park we went. We met some friends (Vena, Candice, Stacie) at Settler’s Park. I brought the kid’s tricycles, so they had a blast biking around. They were so busy at the park, that is a great climbing park. They were so proud of themselves when they climbed up something on their own, so cute. Another person from the mom’s club showed up and she had a baby Nicole with her, so my Nicole was so excited. Nicole wanted to see and touch the baby. Then it was off to pre school. Before pre school we had a picnic lunch. It was fun eating with the kiddos but they weren’t too into eating, more into going to pre school. Nicole was a little shy when we first went in but then she adjusted well. First we played outside, Nicole went for the little car and Justin for the bubbles. There was so much to play with out there-it was really fun. They painted, played on the play structure, bubbles, played in the sand, etc. Then the teacher, Ms Lana, did a story about carrots growing, then each one of the kids got to pick a carrot. So cute on every one’s faces when they saw they picked the carrot. Big smile on Justin and Nicole’s face. We went in to wash the carrots then the kids ate them. Inside we did water colors on coffee filters and made butterflies, and did dot painting. Then it was story and snack time. We came home and we read a ton of books and it was evident nap wasn’t happening. So we ran a few errands. Then we went to open play at My Gym. Dad was able to come since he is in training this week. He is working earlier and getting off earlier. The kiddos had a blast playing. Nicole ran across the gym floor to get daddy’s attention, she wanted him to watch her. Both kids jumped and jumped into the ball pit. They showed daddy how they climb up on the bar and hang. They love My Gym and it is just amazing to watch them. We came home and had dinner. Then the kiddos went outside and drove the new cars grandma/pa bought them. They are really cute. Justin really got the hang of driving it, first on the green belt then in the cul de sac. The neighbors were our watching too. Suprisingly Nicole wasn’t too into the car, she wanted to put baby in the booster seat. Finallly, we suggested to give baby a ride in her car, so she got two babies and off she went. She is doing pretty well with it as well. They had a great time. The kiddos were pretty tired, Nicole was on the verge of tantrums so it was time for bed. With my lack of voice, they still wanted me to read and luckily they fell asleep pretty fast.

We just took it easy today since first of all since it was so gloomy (drizzling) outside plus we needed to get everything put away from our weekend away. We just played at home. The kids were excited to play with their toys again.  Bret was able to work from home since he is doing on line training. I decide to go to bunny story time at Hush Baby. The kids love this story lady. They keep talking how the bunny bopped them on the head then gave them a kiss. At the end of story time Justin got Thomas painted on his hand and Nicole got Shamu with sparkles. It was cute. I ran next door to Whole Foods, where the kids got to push carts. But it was too crowded so we just got a few things and left. We came home and had a late lunch. Surprisingly the kids took a nap even though it was at 2:45 by the time they fell asleep. After nap we played at home some more. By the time nap was over, daddy was able to play too. Bret took the kiddos for a little walk around the neighborhood. The kids were so silly and hyper. We had pizza for dinner and all the kids wanted to eat was the pineapple that was on the pizza. Then in bath, daddy was jokingly eating their feet and the kids said “you just ate dinner”. They were cracking us up. In bath tonight, I gave them a squirt bottle with colored water in it-they had a blast “painting”. The kids jumped in their cribs for a while and we read books. They also have discovered jumping off the rocking chair ottoman. We put them to bed a little late since they were so hyper.

Well this morning I still wasn’t feeling great. The kids were playing in the hotel room and having a blast. Bret went and got some breakfast. The kids were so excited to eat in the hotel room. They liked eating at the table and Bret upgraded our room so we had a marina view. It was beautiful and the kiddos loved looking at the boats. Bret took the kiddos for a walk around the marina so I could rest. On the way home, I felt terrible, so we opted to drop the kids off at grandma/pa’s so I could come home and rest. Hopefully no one will get sick. By the end of the day, I was feeling like myself again. Grandma/pa bought cars for the kids, so daddy put them together. The kiddos didn’t nap at grandma/pa’s but they stayed in their travel beds and read books while grandpa napped 🙂 Grandma polished Nicole’s nails (hands and toes). We really missed the kids today while they were gone. When they got home, they were all excited to sit in their cars. They were a little scared to make them go but Nicole was more than happy just sitting in it. She kept on saying she was going to Starbucks and that she needed gas. Justin was happy to be riding his tricycle over bumps. We went upstairs and read books, then bed time. The kiddos went right to sleep.

What a great day so far. We got up this morning and headed to Sea World again. We had so much fun! First we went to the sea ottors. Today it was ok to see sea lions, so we saw that show. It was cute. My highlight was feeding and touching the dolphins. Justin threw a fish to the dolphins but wouldn’t touch them. I could have stayed there all day! Then we headed over to the big bird beach party show. The kids saw all their favorite Sesame Street gang, Elmo, Zoe, Ernie, Bert, Big Bird, and Tully. Justin loved watching the water ride. We had lunch then headed over to the penguins, polar bears, and baluga whales. Nicole fell in love with a penguin stuffed animal, so we got it for her. We just took it easy and had a great time showing the kids as much as we were up for seeing. We came back to the hotel around 2:00. The kiddos were as hyper as can be. So I give them a nice bath. now 3:15 they are napping. After nap we headed to Balboa Park. Not too exciting there. We were able to run into the model train museum. Justin loved it. He wanted to see more and more trains. I felt terrible that we only had 15 minutes in the museum. After we went out for dinner, the kids did so well at dinner plus it was a late dinner. Then we went back to the hotel, the kids just loved the hotel. They were opening and closing the microwave oven and pretending to heat up pancakes, mostly for Nicole’s baby. Then I started feel awful, I just wanted to go to bed. Dad took care of the kiddos so well. He took them out to see the fireworks from Sea World, but the kiddos were a bit scared. We had to bribe the kids with m&m’s to see the fireworks.

Today was so gloomy and cold when we woke up. We were going to go the park but it was too gloomy, so off to the MV mall. Before we left though I had a blast playing pretend with the kids. I sat at their little table and they brought over plates and told me what was on them, spaghetti, meatballs, salad, etc. They even brought me a fork and a spoon and we pretended to eat. Their imaginations are amazing. Back to the mall, Vena (Grant and Cole) were there too. We first played on the lights, the kiddos love it. No stroller with us so we went up and down the escalators. Then we headed to the toy store and played with the train table. After we went in the play area. It was a bit crowded but the kids had fun. I decided to have lunch at the food court with my kiddos. It was so much fun. The kiddos had a blast at the mall, running around, etc. When we got home we played in the futon room and read books for a while. I don’t know what I was thinking when I put the kiddos down for a nap, they were wired. I went up there and the kiddos pants were off including diaper and underwear. Crazy kiddos. So finally gave up on nap and let the kids watch Barney for a bit. We played red light/green light. Although the kids version is just to keep running at you and not stop. They laugh the whole time, so it is cute. We started My Gym again. The kids were ecstatic to say the least to go. It was amazing to watch them since it had been a while since we were there. They are able to do everything almost themselves, climb in and out of the ball pit (I still enjoyed throwing them in). They climbed like monkeys onto the bar and were able to hang up their by themselves. Of course the trampoline was exciting. They were jumping so high. I was having as much fun as they were. We came home and had dinner. Then we made cupcakes with the kids. Every year for my b-day I ask Bret to make me yellow cake with chocolate frosting. This year the best present was to be able to make it with my kids. I put the bowl on their table and they put all the ingredients in the bowl for me. They loved putting the egg in. They mixed it. They helped put the liners in the cupcake pan and of course they wanted to try to put the batter in the liners, what a mess! They helped put frosting on their cupcakes then we ate them. It was a great time together. The kids were pretty tired and went to bed pretty easily, we love that!

Here we are in San Diego. Our first weekend away with the kids since they started walking. We drove down here on Friday. We left at nap time. Of course the kiddos stayed awake the entire time. We checked in the hotel and then went straight to Sea World. We walked over to the park and Justin just loved all the boats. We had so much fun. But for some silly reason the kiddos didn’t want to Sea Lions. We went to the aquarium area and the kiddos loved looking at the fish and turtles. The kids were so excited to see Shamu so we went to the Shamu show. They loved watching him splash, jump, etc. We saw sea stars and the kids actually touched them, they liked this exhibit. We saw manarays but the kids didn’t want to touch them. We were by the flamingos at feeding time, my goodness I didn’t know they made all that noise. The kids were so excited to ride back in the shuttle. We had dinner at the hotel and then came up to the room to play. The kiddos were so excited to sleep in the hotel. We got them blow up sleeping bags and they were so excited about them. Nicole couldn’t wait to get into her bed. They helped blow them up. Nicole had a princess bed and Justin’s had a crocodile on it. Surprisingly it only took them about 45 minutes to go to sleep and they actually stayed in their beds. Of course, I had trouble sleeping as the hotel was kind of loud.

Best birthday ever, since the kids understand. They sang to me all the time today-I loved it! We went to paint, pour, and paste class this morning. The kids got so messy. First, they ran over to the play doh-they liked cutting it. Then they were all over the hand stamping. Their hands are still covered in blue paint. They made me a little mom’s day card. Then we made faces, drew on the face, and used string for the hair. They both loved cutting the string with scissors and yes Nicole tried to put the scissors up to hair. Then we went over to the cornmeal-what a mess. I was wearing navy blue and had cornmeal hand prints all over me. Oh well I sure looked like a mom today. Then we played at home. We rode bikes, played with play doh, trains, etc. We had a great time. Lunch and then I was hoping for a nap, but no nap. They played in their cribs and I tried to get them down with no luck. So we watched Barney then off to the park. We met some friends (Vena and Candice) at Hick’s Canyon Park (AKA see saw park). We had a great time at the park. Playing on everything, riding tricycles, sliding, swinging, etc. Vena brought some cupcakes and other sweets to help celebrate my birthday, so sweet. The kids were so excited about the cupcakes. We came home and made dinner. Then the kids played a bit and back to play doh. We used plastic knives and scissors to cut play doh. Bath night and then we have to pack and get ready to go to San Diego this weekend. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday with my great family and friends.