Melissa’s Blog

Justin woke up and was playing quietly in his room. Just coloring with the water pens on the paper. Nicole however wanted us to play. We got ready for pre school. Dad worked from home today. I had to work at school today. I was red mom. It was fun but I am cranky from having a really long period. Getting pretty sick of it. Justin brought a car to share-I know what a shocker. Nicole brought her butterfly she colored and made yesterday. I will always love to watch them share, it is so cute. I played red/green light and duck duck goose with the kiddos. The kids cut out boxes and I taped them together. The saying on the boxes was I wish I may I wish I might…..and the kids put wishes in them. Nicole wished for:  to be able to touch a star and the moon, she loves Justin, for the chipmunks and chipettes to be real so she can play with them, and that she had a dog that could go into outer space. Justin’s wishes were: go to Disneyland, drive the autopia cars, paint at home, and to sit on the counters. We had a fun day at school. We came home and the kids got the mail. One of their friends sent them a letter and they were so excited; then we had lunch. The kids played and made a mess! I headed upstairs to start moving furniture around in Nikki’s room. Justin got into the bath. I think I am happy with Nikki’s room now. Just need to figure out the small details, painting, and decorating. Nicole took a bath after Justin. I needed a break after bath so the kids watched some TV. Justin is so crazy about the Wii (Mario game) thats all I hear him asking to play, ugh. Michael came over to play so Paula’s girls could go to a trial dance class. Nicole at first wanted to go to the dance class but decided to stay home. I thought I would get some alone time with Nikki but we just played with the boys. I put together Hot Wheel tracks then we all did Lego’s. We made a car with both Nikki and Justin’s Lego’s. The kids all played really well together. Nicole was excited when the girls came back. She gave them a few of her pictures she made. She loved showing her room to her friends. I was having cramps so dad took care of dinner, so nice. The kids couldn’t wait to play Wii again, so after dinner we let them for a bit. I skipped my photography class since I am feeling gross. In Mario Kart, Nikki calls the gorilla Konkey Dong-ha instead of Donkey Kong. We went upstairs and I just look at the kiddo’s rooms-they are big kids now. Justin says “when I poop my penis gets bigger and when I take a bath it gets smaller”. So funny! We read books, I cuddled in Nicole’s bed to read with her while Bret read with Justin. I love night cuddle time. Justin has been tickling us a lot lately. Oh and tonight my hair touched his face and he started laughing so hard.

Trying to make friends with my new laptop. Not so sure about this one yet. What is up with all this wide screen nonsense? HA Anyway Nicole is doing so well in her new bed and hasn’t fallen out yet. Dad is feeling better. We took it easy this morning and enjoyed being at home. Nicole discovered the Mario game for the Wii and the kids are hooked. They had so much fun playing it, it was really cute. Dad has created Wii monsters. Justin was really good at it, way better than me. Nicole drove just like me and was all over the place. Nicole and I went to play doll house for a while. She was so happy to be playing with me and I enjoyed it too. Doll house turned into playing baby which was fun too. We decided to take the kiddos to Jump N Jammin today. They kids had such a good time. We had fun playing with them as well. Dad got me by shooting balls at me. It was great Sanders family fun! We came home and the kids watched some TV. Then we just played. Nicole dressed up as a pirate, doctor, and finally decided on Tinkerbell. Justin put on his race car driver costume. I put the chairs in the family room for the kids to climb on but then decided to clean them. The kids got into cleaning. I let them squirt the windex and wipe. They thought it was great fun. I let them do it on the cabinets as well. Nicole even said her favorite part of the day was cleaning. Justin saw a snake made out of macaroni so we did that. He wasn’t that into making it though. The kids got their flashlights and played attic. Somehow all our shoes ended up in the washing machine and dryer, it was so funny when I discovered it. I had these little wood kits of a butterfly and a toucan. They are pretty lame but the kids thought they were the greatest thing ever. They colored them and we put them together. It was great the imagination it brought out, the toucan and butterfly were racing around the house. After dinner we played more. We played grocery store. I bought from the kids and the kids bought from me. I even got them grocery bags and that took it to the next level. Then they planned for  a party. We had to go up and we moved some furniture around in Nikki’s room. I think it looks better. Of course the kids wanted to sit on the furniture as we moved it. They found lots of ways to amuse them selves with furniture moving, jumping on beds, etc. We still need to move a little more tomorrow. After talking about bad things, pirates Nicole went to sleep. Justin just enjoyed a back scratch and a cuddle.

Dad has a cold, so we took it easy. I tried to let him stay in bed a bit. We tried to keep ourselves busy. We got the Geotrax out. We had fun playing trains. Dad stayed home and rested while I took the kids to the mall. We went early to the Santa Ana Mall so the kids could play in the play area. That play area always gets so crowded. The kids had it to themselves for a while. Both were busy climbing the kangaroo. Justin could hardly wait to go on the quarter rides. There was a car ride there that he just loves. Both kids went in it together and loved when it rocked back and forth. We walked around the mall for a bit. I found a Chip and Dale shirt for Nikki; needless to say she was ecstatic. It says BFF on it, so she learned what BFF stands for. Poor Justin he really wanted one too-he would have even worn the girls one if I let him. We couldn’t find a boy one for him but the minute I mentioned checking the Disney store, he decided he wanted a car instead named Darren Leadfoot! We came home and had lunch. Dad was feeling a bit better. We all went to Justin’s room to play cars on the street carpet thing. We had daddy come up to watch. Nikki brought up the picnic blanket and got Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Donald, and Mickey and Minnie and they all had a picnic. I think I made dad too cozy in Justin’s bed as he fell asleep even with all the noise. Downstairs the kids and I played Hi Ho Cheerio. Nicole put Huey, Dewey, and Louie on my Halloween cat. Then we got out all the puzzles and filled the floor with them. The kids got about 3 puzzles done each but then dad woke up. We decided it was kind of dreary out and with dad not feeling well we should watch a movie. We watched Ratouille but the kids did not really like it so we turned on George. While the kids watched TV we prepped dinner. I tried a new chicken pot pie recipe but it was very plain. Justin and dad went outside to use the squirty tool. Nicole did a show with Huey, Louie, and Dewey pretending they are Alvin and the Chipmunks. We just had a mellow evening. Nicole wanted the song Girls Just Want to Have Fun on the kiddos radio thing. The kiddos were dancing around and having fun. We read books in Nikki’s new bed and off to bed. We spent a little extra time cuddling with them. Justin was so excited when I said I would stay a little longer, little things that make them happy. Now to relax.

This morning Nikki decided to sleep in a bit. Of course she chooses to do this on a pre school morning. I don’t blame her though as it was dreary out. I dropped the kiddos off and then headed to the grocery store. I was surprised I only spent $165.00 cheaper than my last bill. It was kind of nice to shop in peace but I missed the kiddos. They were probably having way more fun at school than shopping. I read the kiddos a book before leaving them at school. I feel like we hadn’t been to school in a while as we missed Mon and Wed so I just didn’t want to dump them. They had fun though. Of course when I got there Justin was getting hit by a foam bat and Nicole was getting run over with a bike. But I was glad to be able to be there to comfort them. We played out front for a bit then headed to the library. The kids were a little loud and played on the computers but they did sit quietly as well to help me pick out books. We had lunch when we got home then the kiddos played. They did shows and packed up a pretend picnic to bring to pretend school. The kids wanted to play and play but I had to stop them to give them a bath. We were overdue for a bath. They took one together and got along for the most part. I love when they do things together but know they are two entirely different people. I always tell them how lucky they are to have each other. After we went outside and went for a bike ride. We biked to our neighbors to return snow clothes. The kids were so disappointed no one was home as they wanted to see their friends. It was getting cold out so we came inside. I prepped dinner then played with the kiddos. We played Memory and High Ho Cheerio. Dad came home and he opened my new laptop and played with that while the kids brought up pieces of Nikki’s new bed upstairs. So cute both of them wanting to help. After dinner dad put Nikki’s bed together. She was thrilled. As soon as it was put together she was in her bed with a big smile. We have to re-arrange the room to make it fit a bit. I hope it ends up working out, I am a little worried. We took the box spring and put it on Justin’s bed, so we had to do some swapping. Now his bed is higher and looks much better. We read all the library books tonight. It was fun laying in Nikki’s bed with her tonight. Hopefully she won’t fall out. She did hug her Dora bed goodbye.

Happy Birthday Tierney!

Justin woke up early this morning. I took advantage and went in to his room to get some cuddle time. We just laid in his bed and talked. Then he played cars while I showered. This morning I tried to get lots of things done. The kids played well together. I did feel bad telling them I couldn’t play. We went to a fine motor skills class. It was cute. Justin loved the snap blocks. Nicole loved the container of rice that had puzzle pieces in it, the kids kept their eyes closed and picked out the puzzle pieces. It was fun to play with them doing this different activities. After we went to Chick Fil A with some friends. They were having a free promotion. The kids were so excited. They actually ate and then played a bit. It got pretty crowded so we got out of there. We got to babysit Tierney today and on her birthday so that was pretty cool. We had fun with her and the kids shared their toys. They also picked out toys for her to play with and we rushed to pick up toys that weren’t appropriate for her. Grandma/pa came over as well. T was a busy little thing, walking with the stroller, crawling all over and up and down the stairs, throwing things at me and pulling my hair. She is lucky she is so cute 🙂 She had fun swinging in the swing and started to fall asleep. Nicole and Justin couldn’t wait to help her open her gifts and blow out her candles. Alan and Roberta came by and we had a little cake for Tierney. We ran out to the pizza place before I had to leave for a pre school meeting. The kids were so excited to play games, driving games for Justin. Nicole was interested in watching the karate studio, so we sat there for a bit and watched. I think she may want to try karate. After dinner I had to go to a pre school meeting. Bret put the kids to sleep again….I miss my cuddle time with the kids. Bret worked on setting up the Wii.

I have a lot of catching up to do on the blog. We spent Tuesday night in Big Bear. Getting ready for our adventure wasn’t too bad. I didn’t find myself stressing too much. I just over packed a bit but that was ok since we could throw it all in the back of the car. On the way to the mountains we stopped in Redlands. We got out and walked around a bit trying to show the kids were we went to college and met, etc. They didn’t really care but we weren’t surprised since they are kids and only had snow on the brain. We stopped for lunch before going up the mountain. The highlight for Bret he got his burrito. I felt a little car sick going up the mountains with all the turns, but thankfully it didn’t seem to bother the kiddos. So weird when we started to see snow. We got to the hotel and put our snow clothes on and off we went. We trudged around in the snow and tried sledding (little bumpy hill). The kids and us were loving it. The snow was a little icy, not so much the powdery stuff we had hoped for. Our friend let us borrow her time share and it was awesome. It was a two bedroom. The kids were thrilled to have their own room. They also slept in a twin bed without any rails. These munch kins are growing up! We were able to open our back door and the kids could be out there playing in the snow. We found a great hill to go sledding. It was only about 10 minutes away and we look back and Justin is sleeping. Luckily he is not a cranky kid when he wakes up. The kids were all smiles going down. Justin was a little more cautious and started halfway down the hill where Nicole and I were going up as far as we could walk. We got some great pics and had a great Sander’s family adventure. Here are a few pics:

After having so much fun sledding we headed back to the hotel. The kids wanted to stay in the hotel for the night. So we turned on a movie and I ran to the store to get some dinner. Such a small town feeling when going to the grocery store. I couldn’t believe all the stuff the store was out of.  The kids seemed so tired after the movie, so we headed to their room to read books. Of course Justin fell asleep so fast but Nicole was up for a while. In the morning the kids watched a little TV and we went to the other room and watched TV. We had a thought that this is how it will be in 10 years. The kids played some more in the snow in the back yard area. Such a great time but really really cold. The car had ice all over it. We decided to pack up and head home. I was so car sick on the way down the mountain. We stopped in Redlands for another burrito. It was nice to get away but at the same time so nice to come home. We came home to a clean house. But then the kids and I were off for a class called pint size picasso. The kids did a ton of cool crafts. They were just quickly going from table to table trying to do their crafts really fast. We came home and the kids wanted to play with us. Dad mowed the lawn with Nicole while Justin and I played hockey in the backyard. This consists of using golf clubs and a basketball. Then Justin and I cleaned out my car on the inside. We just took it easy and stayed at home. Nicole now has pirate sheets on her mattress on the floor. The kids got all hyper and jumped on the mattress. I went out to Bunco while dad put the kids to bed. It was so nice to get out but I was so tired.

Love winter time in CA. The weather was fantastic today. This morning Dad and Justin went and got daddy car an oil change and wash. Nicole and I took down Valentine decorations, did laundry, cleaned out mommy car, packed up a little for our trip, and gave Nikki’s babies check ups. Nicole pretended she was the doctor and I was the mommy. We had so much to do today so it took us a while to figure out how to do it. The good news is daddy had the day off. We went in two separate directions. Dad and Justin went to get sandwiches at our favorite place and meet us at Tewinkle Park. Nicole and I went to get the rest of her prescription then meet up to have a picnic in the park. We had a great time at the park. The kids were finding squirrels and loved climbing on the rocks. We played at the play structure for a bit then wandered around the park. The kids put their feet in the stream and showed daddy everything we did yesterday. We fed the ducks and there were some turtles sitting in the sun. It was great just being together and enjoying us as a family. We had to head over to Grammy’s as we left our video camera there. Grammy also needed Bret’s help with a few things around the house. The kids played. Justin rode the trike and we played frisbee outside. We needed to pick up Nicole’s new bed so Grammy babysat while we did that. Nikki was so excited. Grammy had some sheets for her and she had her choice and picked pirates. She said she liked them cause they were bad. Hopefully she will change to princess. The kids watched Arthur and Clifford then we headed to dinner. We went to Soupplantation for dinner. We had two cars since the bed was in mine and I couldn’t fit both kids in the car. Nicole and I got gas then needed to head to a friend’s house to get snow clothes. Nicole wanted her new bed in the house so badly. So sad that she no longer wants her cute Dora bed. I love that girly bed. We just put her mattress on the floor tonight as we want to paint the trim on the bed a bit. The kids went to bed a little late and Bret and I are getting ready for the mountains tomorrow.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Let me back up to yesterday (Sat). I don’t even remember what we did in the morning. I know we were busy running around. We headed over to Grammy’s and had lunch with her. She took care of the kids while Bret and I went out on a Zeppelin. I may have already mentioned Bret has made a list of things he wants to do, riding a blimp and going to the Grammy’s are on the list right now. The Zeppelin ride was incredible. I never ever thought I would ride in a blimp type thing before. It was much bigger than I thought. The owners were there and were so great talking about the airship. It costs $12 million dollars to buy and they have a mortgage on it. It was made in Germany and got it over here in a cargo ship. It went about 35-40mph around Long Beach to Pales Verdes, along the coast. It was so beautiful, we were even able to hang our heads out of the windows. We took lots of pictures and videos, just an amazing experience. So glad to share this with my hunny bunny. There are only so many pics I can upload so here is just a preview:

Nicole and Justin stayed with Grammy. They watched the Muppet Movie but Justin fell asleep during it. He woke up coughing and spit up a bunch of phlegm. Then went back to sleep. He was so unhappy and out of it when we got back to Grammy’s. He just wanted to be held, so cute and cuddly but I hated he was miserable too. All of a sudden he snapped out of it and was his happy little self again. Maybe he was just sluggy or just really wanted to be held. Nicole had a great time with Grammy. She helped Grammy make cookies and ice cream cookie sandwiches. She also helped Grammy whenever she could. We had dinner at Grammy’s and decided to spend the night. The kids were pretty hyper last night and I don’t even think they got into their “travel” beds until 9:00. The kids were so happy to run down and say goodnight to Sharon. Nicole came out just saying she wanted to hug us one more time. She knew what she was doing as she climbed onto Grammy to give her a hug-just stalling but it worked. The kids were so happy to go to bed late that tonight they mentioned they wanted to go to bed at 9:00. This morning we went to Denny’s for Valentine’s breakfast. Kind of cool as we rarely go out for breakfast. Grammy has been having so many issues with her internet that Bret decided to hard wire everything. So the kids and I played. They were so happy out in the front of Grammy’s house. They climbed her tree a bit:

The kids had fun putting little rocks all over the tree and using their shoes to get the rocks up on the tree. It was fun to watch. Nicole was wanting to help daddy do some ethernet wiring, she was helping for a bit but it was a beautiful day so I took the kiddos to Tewinkle Park. We had a great time; the kids played on the play structure, loved the swings there, etc. We also went walking around the park and saw squirrels and ducks. They were pretending the squirrels were chipmunks. There was a little stream I let them put their feet in and go across. They loved it. It was a little slippery and Nicole slipped but she just laughed it off, wet and all. When we got back to Grammy’s dad had finished. We went to the play room AKA the office and the kids played. Grammy has this board game thing that Justin just loves, so we played that over and over again. They played with all the Fisher Price little people play sets. The imagination is incredible, Nicole made an animal hospital and a park for the animals. I wanted to go outside so I grabbed some water and cups and let the kiddos dump water off the balcony into the front yard and back yard, pool. They loved it and they were so happy to fill up their cups on their own. On the way home from Grammy’s we stopped to look at a bed for Nicole. She seemed to really like it so we just need to empty the van and go get it. Glad we finally found something. It was nice to get home. We just ate dinner and played some more. Justin wanted to race cars and play Memory while Nikki and I played doll house. Now just catching up on things at home.

Last night wasn’t so bad in the Sanders’ household. Both kids only woke up once. We were off to pre school this morning and I was snack mom. The kiddos were so excited I was snack mom. I got to make Valentine cookies with the kids. It was pretty fun but a little stressful being yellow mom. I wanted to hurry with what I had to do so I could go watch the kiddos hand out Valentine’s cards. So cute Justin shared his doggie rattle stuffed animal. Nicole shared a little photo album I had with the kid’s baby pics. The kids put stickers on bags to hold their Valentine’s, so cute watching the kids pass them out. I thought Nikki and Justin would be more excited to look at their Valentines but they really weren’t. The kids didn’t get much time outside this morning though as it was a busy day at school. After school we played out front of the school for a while; it is such a beautiful day. We came home and I was starving. Nicole and Justin pretended to have a picnic with their pretend food. I made lunch. Poor Nikki the medicine she is on is making her poop really soft. She tried to hold it but couldn’t make it to the potty. She was so upset but it happens. I read her some books to her on the potty. I let the kiddos watch some Curious George before heading to the Spectrum. We stopped at our pre school friend’s house who is sick and dropped off a get well card from the class and his Valentine’s. Nicole wanted to go to the door by herself. She was so happy to give it to her friend. Then we met Carin, Sofi, and Mylee at the Spectrum. We had lots of fun. The kids wanted to go on the ferris wheel but it was closed. We stopped in the pet store and saw the cutest kittens ever. We headed to Target and the kids found a toy someone lost and they were just having a great time. Sofi and Nikki got along great today. They played by the fountain and ran around together. Justin joined in too but I felt bad for him being the only boy so we went to Dave and Busters to play games. Dad met us there. We all went on the carousal then headed to dinner. It was nice having dinner with some friends but still hard to have a conversation. We came home and the kids were pretty wired. We let them have a lollipop since Sofi got a ice cream for her birthday. When we got home Andree left us the coolest teddy bear bread ever. I had to take a picture:

We looked through the kids Valentines and headed upstairs. The kids wanted to play but I wanted them to go to bed. We read books and got ready to go to Grammy’s tomorrow.  Got to go finish laundry and relax.

Nicole was up a bit last night. We gave her motrin this morning and soon after she was back to her normal happy self-it was nice. We decided to go to the doctor today and she has an ear infection. She was very brave at the doctors. We were referred to an ear, nose, throat guy since her ear infections are re-occurring. Our peditrican said this is common though. After we went to the grocery store as I needed snack for pre school tomorrow plus to get Nikki’s prescription. I let the kiddos rest for a bit when we got home but then it was bath time. Both enjoyed their nice hot bath today. Poor kiddos when they got out they were so cold. I had to wrap them in blankets. Nikki was shivering. Her ear started bothering her again. I am hoping after getting the antibiotic into her twice today she will be better tomorrow. Justin wanted to race cars so much that he put a remote in each one of his hands and was racing by himself. I got the hint and raced a bit with him. We read books for a really long time this afternoon. So long in fact I was ready to fall asleep. The kiddos finished signing their Valentine cards for school tomorrow. Nikki’s is a little hard to read but thats ok. I made Nicole her favorite dinner mac and cheese. We took it easy tonight. She played her Leapster a bit while Justin and I played Memory. He kicked my butt. We went upstairs and the kids played soccer with a beach ball and then we read some more books. Both went to sleep pretty quickly.