Melissa’s Blog

We hadn’t been to the zoo for a while, so today was a great day to go! Off to the Santa Ana Zoo we went. We had a great time. I wanted to make sure the kids got to go on the train, so we hung out at the front of the zoo. First we went on the jeep, the kids took turns pretending to drive it. Nicole’s imagination is becoming do creative. In the jeep she pretended to put on her seat belt. We then went over to the farm area, we saw the geese, roosters, chickens, turkeys, etc. The kids loved watching the animals. Then we fed the goats. Justin was so excited to feed the goats; he was so cute. He was all smiles while feeding the goats. Nicole didn’t want to feed the goats. We then went over to the cows and horses. After we got in line for the train. The kids were so excited to go on the train. They were watching the over head train. They were all smiles on the train. After we ran into Neyha. Justin and Nicole were excited to see Baby Isha and Krish. Anyway we had such a good day at the zoo. We came home and had lunch. After lunch we played a bit then the kiddos took a nap. After nap we headed to My Gym for a little bit of open gym then our class. The kids were so excited to be there. The first thing they did was jump on the trampoline. Justin enjoyed making baskets. They jumped in and out of the ball pit. They just love the gym. Then class started. Nicole likes to declare circle time. We did some songs and play time. The kiddos noticed the train tracks and were so excited that they were going to bring out the train. The minute they said train Nicole and Justin ran over there. They were smiling and giving high fives while on the train. I think they rode it about 3 times each. It was also bubble day. Bubbles everywhere. The kids were going crazy. It was a fun gym class today. After class we headed over to Grammy’s. She just got back from New Zealand. The kids were excited to see her, it was like she never left. They had fun talking to Grammy and playing at her house. The kids got some new clothes and of course Nicole had to put them on right away. Every time a plane went over Grammy’s house the kids said plane and came running over to us, silly munch kins.

We met Vena, Candice, and Stacie for swimming this morning. Of course the weather wasn’t as nice as it has been. The kiddos had a great time. They loved the baby pool and all the toys Candice brought. It was so cute watching all the kids. Justin and Nicole even wandered over to the big pool and stayed on the stairs. Justin and Nicole loved walking in the pool and getting in and out themselves. They were busy splashing and reaching down for all the toys. Whoever knew the shower at the end would be the best part. I think it is time to give J & N a shower, they just loved it! All the kids had a pizza snack afterwards and we went over to the park after. The kids had so much fun, climbing and sliding. There was this huge slide and Justin went down. I went to catch him and my mouth hit his head, luckily it hurt me way more than him. We came home and ate lunch. Then it was off to pre school. This was the last pre school class until August. The kids had a blast! They painted, and played in corn starch and water (with food coloring). There was shaving cream, but I think my kiddos just liked it as they got to wash their hands after. Messy stuff to do everywhere. The kids did their hand prints in paint and drew with markers. All the kids helped make pudding too. Justin and Nicole poured the mix in, helped pour the milk, and mixed. Then they got to eat it! Then it was time for story time and songs. The kids did well sitting by themselves for snack but then Nikki came looking for me, so sweet. She wanted mommy to eat with her. Nicole finally sat on the potties there but didn’t go. Sitting on it was a big step though. So you would think after all this activity the kids would nap, but not mine. So they are watching Barney right now. We pulled out all the toys and played inside for a while. Then we headed out to the front yard. Within a half hour they rode tricycles, pushed baby stroller, and took a quick stroller ride in the Bob stroller. They had fun riding their trikes over the water and pushing their strollers over the water. When dad got home from work, we headed to the MV mall. A toy store in the mall had Thomas the train night. First we ate in the food court then of course played on the lights. The toy store wasn’t all that exciting. Just a bunch of track laid out on the floor. I thought Justin would be all over it but him and Nicole were just as happy playing with the train table. They rode on a couple of cars and a motorcycle thing. We then headed to Pottery Barn Kids. Nicole fell in love with a dolly there. The kids pushed strollers and played with the kitchen. Then of course it was time to go to the play area. They were wild. I was afraid they were going to get hurt-they were that wild. They were running, jumping, etc. Nicole wanted to do a summer sault down the slide. It was fun to watch them. We headed home. Of course with no nap we didn’t get them to bed any earlier and I am exhausted.

We hung out at home this morning for a while. We played in every room of the house. The kids were into their babies, the baby driving toy, putting tracks together, etc. It was very mellow and minimal fighting-it was really nice. We played outside for a while too. The kiddos kept putting their feet in their pool, plus their lawnmower, and broom. They were busy playing with the rescue pack and taking turns. I was tired of the turn taking so I let Justin play with the hose for a while. He was loving playing with the hose. Then we headed to Target. We needed lots of stuff. The kiddos were great and I let them play in the toy section for a while. We looked at clothes for the kiddos too. The kiddos loved picking out clothes. Nicole would go up to an item of clothing and would say oh I love this. I think we were at Target for about an hour and a half. After we came home and had lunch. The kiddos put their blankets on the kitchen floor and would stand on them and say slippery. Then they laid down on the floor and put their blankets on them and say goodnight. We went upstairs and read books for a while. Finally the kiddos took a nap. After nap I decided to give the kiddos a bath. We got bath out of the way so we could play outside after dinner since the weather was so nice. Dad came home to two very happy naked kids (bath just finished). We ate dinner outside and the kids loved it. After dinner, we went and played in the front. The kids drove their cars for a while. Justin wanted to drive over big leaves. They just go around in circles. Nicole was really into giving me her credit card and wanting to put gas in her car. I decided to do a little gardening while we were up front. Nicole was such a big help. She put all the weeds in the bucket for me. She was so happy to be helping me. I just loved it! Hopefully we will be gardening together for years to come. We came in and the kids got their Mickey/Minnie cups and pretended to drink coffee. We read some books and off to bed. I still hear Nicole upstairs but hopefully she will go to sleep soon.

We decided to beat the heat and go to the Spectrum early. We went over to the fountains by the food court. Both kids had a great time. Even Nicole was willing to go in and got wet. She would put her back to the turtle and lift up her shirt and get all wet. Justin was stepping on the fountains and smiling the entire time. They liked it when daddy picked them up and put them in the water. I think dad had as much fun as the kids. Dad was getting his hat all wet and Justin decided to copy him. Justin had a blast filling up his Diego hat with water. After we had a snack there and watched the kids playing. We went over to the Mac store and played video games (Dora). They had fun clicking the mouse and pressing all the keyboard buttons. Then the kiddos rode the train with daddy. We had lunch and got a few things from Target and came home. The kids took a little nap today. After nap we ran to Toys “R” Us as I saw a Diego rescue pack that was on sale and I knew Justin would love it. It is a backpack that holds water and you pump the water out. We got Nicole a Dora dolly where Nicole can brush her hair. So we went out and played with the rescue pack and Justin loved squirting things. It was so cute. But we soon realized we should have bought two. The kiddos did a great job sharing the toy. After we went to Old Spaghetti Factory to celebrate mom’s day and mine and my dad’s birthday. The kiddos did great. The kiddos tried and liked spumoni ice-cream. After dinner we went down to Balboa. We rode the ferry and rode it back to the fun zone. The kiddos like the ferry ride. They played in the arcade for a while, driving cars, ski ball, and just playing. We walked around a bit. We had a great time and time for me to go to bed.

Today was really hot! We started our day around 5:45 to get ready for a garage sale. My parents have so much stuff they need to get rid of so we offered our driveway plus we had a few things to sell too. I was impressed my ghetto signs actually brought people here. The kids slept in till about 7:30 which helped us to get ready for the sale. The kids were all excited about the garage sale. They kept on saying people here. They wanted to eat their breakfast in the garage. So we brought out their little table and off they went. But they were really distracted. They were busy playing in their cars, watching the people, playing in the garage, etc. They were so great during the garage sale. They just amused themselves in the garage and surprisingly stayed in the garage. At the end I brought out their trikes, so they were happy biking around the garage. Then I took the stroller out of the car and they climbed right in. I think they are liking their stroller these days. But of course whoever sits in the back (usually Nicole) kicks the person in front. Anyway I think we picked the hottest day of the year to have the garage sale-ugh. We cleaned up and had some lunch. Bret and I did a run to Goodwill. We came home and Bret got the kiddos to take a nap today. They took a great nap and so did I. After nap we went to Grammy’s. She is coming home this week so it was time to make sure her car was working and turn on the water heater. The kids played on the first step of the pool and had a blast kicking and splashing. It was cold! Dad went in but the kids weren’t too excited about going all the way in. Nicole slipped on the step and under the water she went. With my clothes on I pulled her out quickly and her first words out of her mouth were baby. So we rescued baby too. Nicole was a little nervous but we took her right back in the pool and she wasn’t scared. She was such a brave little trooper. When you talk to her about it with a big smile she says she went under the water. We got some food for dinner to go and ate at Grammy’s. We played with all the toys. Then we rode tricycles and went for a stroller walk. It was so nice out this evening. We came home and the kids were a bit wired, since they napped. We put them to bed a little late and it is around 9:30 and I still hear them. I am exhausted so I hope they go to sleep soon!

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.