Melissa’s Blog

This morning was music class. We walked over to it. The kids wanted to walk too. We were running a little late though so I had to put them in the stroller. On the walk over, Justin is so sweet to Nicole. There was only one flower, so he gave it to her. In music class she wanted the drum Justin had, so he just gave it to her. Of course I stepped in and let them take turns. But I am just amazed at how sweet and loving Justin can be. The kids had fun in music class as did I. I held the kiddos and swung them, they are almost getting to heavy for me to do this. They were so excited when Ms. Judy sang the frog song. We had a fun walk home, looking at everything, talking, etc. Justin enjoyed watching a truck and workers at the end of our street. The kiddos found Tigger and were so happy to see the cat. At home the kids rode their bikes and played outside. I hated to break it up but I needed to go to the grocery store. The kids had fun pushing carts, but near the end Nicole was getting a little screamy. The cashier was so impressed at how the kids helped they gave them balloons. Unfortunately Nicole’s popped in the car and since she reacted so well we went in and got her another one. We came home and made some lunch and played. The kids gave their crasher cars a car wash on their little table in the kitchen. Water everywhere. The kid’s imagination impresses me everyday. The kids brought all our pillows down to the empty room upstairs and put layed stuffed animals down and put them down for a nap. The kiddos gave them books and said have a good nap (just like me). And they keep checking on the animals to make sure they are ok. Nicole says if you need me, just call for me-HA. I feel like we have been so busy lately it was nice just to watch them play, even though the play time occurred at nap time. Nicole started to bully Justin and cry over everything he had-ugh. So I decided maybe they needed a change of scenery so we went to Costco. They love Costco, the samples and the toys coming in for Christmas already. We came home and did water balloons. The kiddos had a blast with them. Nicole laughed so hard when hers popped, thank goodness she laughed. But of course wanted to take off her wet shirt right away. Nicole was a bit tantrumy (is that a word tonight), I guess she was just tired. So we went out for a walk after dinner. We ran into a big german shephard and the kids laughed when the dog licked them. We ended up going to Yogurtland. Nicole wanted pink yogurt and Justin wanted chocolate. It was a fun family walk. The kiddos seemed so tired so we went upstairs and read a book and told stories. Nicole loved how Ms. Judy from music class said ribbit, she was still laughing at it tonight. The kiddos went right to bed.

Just a little clean up and it will be complete. The kids loved to ride their bikes in the backyard. There is so much room for them to ride. This morning we went to the Santa Ana Mall. I wanted to do some shopping for the NZ crew. The kids had a blast. We walked around the mall, played on the lights, played in the play area, etc. The kids were really good for me. Got some clothes for Nikki and Justin for next year and some shirts for Blake and Zach. Nicole had some poopy issues in the mall near the end, so we just came home. Nicole fell asleep the minute we got in the car and Justin followed shortly after. We had our sitter come tonight. It was nice to get away, I really needed it. I went and got a pedicure, so relaxing. Then I did a few errands. Bret and I met for dinner at Opah. We had a nice leisurely dinner and went to get some frozen yogurt after. It was nice being together. We came home and the kids got wild. We played in the yard for a while, rode bikes in the back yard. Finally we got them into the bathtub. They wanted to stay in the bathtub but it was past their bedtimes, so we tried to rush them. We read a few books and told stories then bedtime.

Justin woke up and was all better. He woke up once in the middle of the night. We just came down and watched Sesame Street. He was so happy while watching TV, it was nice to see him smile a bit. I am so glad he is all better now. I thought I would just take it easy today. So we played at home for a while. We did laundry, made beds, fun stuff like that. Then I decided to take the kiddos to Laguna Hills Mall. They love this mall for all the ride on toys. They did great, listened, so they got to go on a motorcycle ride and they had a blast playing in the lights. We had a great time at the mall. It was all fun until we were on the third floor of JCPenny and felt an earthquake. The kids got a little scared too. It ended up only being a 5.4 but it felt like a big earthquake. It was right around the time we were going to leave, so I just decided it was best to come home. The backyard should be done today-yeah! We can’t wait. I tried to get the kids to take a nap but it wasn’t going so well. So I gave in and they are watching TV right now. Then we are going to leave to meet Aunt Buffi and cousin Brittany at LAX. The kiddos took a little nap on the way to LAX. Nicole and Justin liked meeting their relatives. Nicole took a real liking to Brittany. Justin just was happy looking at the buses and really wanted to ride in one. Buffi gave the kids sheep stuffed animals and the kiddos are sleeping with them right now. Tori gave them NZ shirts that they had to change into. We all went to the Santa Monica Promenade. The kids had so much fun just looking around and exploring. They loved this dolphin statue. So much in fact they were pretend feeding it fish. It was cute. They would run to the railing and pretend to get fish, silly kids. The kiddos liked watching the street performers. Nicole was trying to mimic all the dancing, even tried her shot at break dancing. She would lay on the ground like the performers. She would have stayed there all night watching and dancing if we let her. Justin liked it too and was dancing a bit too. We also made it to the beach. The kids had so much fun running around on the beach, although it was a little cool there. They both hung and swung from the rings. They played on all the equipment that was there, balance beam. ropes, etc. We had a great time. Justin fell asleep on the way home and Nicole was awake the entire time, so it was a late night.

This morning we played at home for a bit, Justin played with trains and trash trucks. Nicole played with everything Justin wanted. The backyard is coming along, almost done. It looks so dif’t. We ran to Target this morning. The kiddos cups were all leaking, so they got to pick out new cups. Justin picked out a Diego one and Nicole a Dora one. Then we headed to story time at Hush Baby with the bunny. The kids love when the bunny bops them on the head. They were participating, singing the ABC song, etc. But at the end Justin wanted to sit on my lap. He felt warm, so we headed to the car. Nicole stayed with Paula and Stacie so she could get her hand painted, Justin just sat on my lap and drank some water. Nicole came out with a yellow doggie painted on her hand and she was so happy. We came home and I put Justin to sleep in our bed. Gave him some tylenol and he slept for a couple hours, poor guy. I tried my best to get Nicole to nap but it wasn’t happening. After nap the kiddos watched TV. Barney and Elmo’s World. We will just take it easy today so Justin can rest. Nicole was high maintenance today. I think she was a little jealous of the attention Justin got. He pretty much slept all day, poor guy. He would wake up for a while and he was ok, but then he would start to feel yucky again. I finally put him on big floppy dog to sleep on, so I could be with Nikki too. We just played at home and tried to keep Nicole occupied. We gave the kiddos a bath tonight as Justin threw up. He just threw up since he was crying so much. He always has done this. So he took a quick bath and then I put him to bed in our bed. Nicole had a blast in the tub by herself. Justin was so cute sleeping in our bed. We read lots of books with Nicole and then told Sally and Billy stories. She was pretty tired and fell fast asleep.

I was so tired this morning. Bret took the kids to the drive thru Starbucks and got coffee and the kiddos got some chocolate milk. WE decided to go on a big train ride to San Juan Capistrano then go to Zoomars. The kids, especially Justin loved the train ride. It was only about a 15 minute ride but it was fun. They liked sitting in the upstairs area. We went to Zoomars. Both kids had a blast feeding carrots to the bunnies and guinea pigs. They both talked to the animals saying do you want one, etc. It was cute. They both held guinea pigs and petted the animals.

We split up and daddy stayed with Nicole to finish feeding bunnies. Justin and I went to see the goats and sheep. He liked feeding the goats but got a little scared when a bunch came around him. Nicole was overwhelmed with the goats. Then Justin pretended to drive a jeep and Nicole on a pretend horse.

We went and saw the other animals and the kids rode these John Deere Tractor trikes. At the end we went and watched the pony/horse rides. Justin decided to ride one. It was so cute. Nicole and I waved as he went by.

We just walked around and waited for the train to come. The train was so crowded. Justin was so happy to be riding it. He was just looking out the window the entire time. On the way home in the car the kiddos were falling asleep. And right now they are napping in their beds. Ah, nap is good. They took a great nap. After nap we just played with trains for a while and had a snack. The kiddos were pretending to put their trains in the garage/tunnel for a nap. The garage was a book I propped up so they could put trains in it. It was great fun but I was so tired. After we went over to Victoria, Todd, and Penny’s for play and dinner. It was nice, we had a great time. The kiddos played so well. It was nice to hang out with friends. The kiddos loved being pulled around in Penny’s wagon and playing on the play structure. When we got home, we let the kiddos play in the mess from the paver’s. They climbed on dirt piles, etc. Good thing it was bath night. The kiddos had a bath and we read books and off to bed. They may not go to bed too easily since they had a good nap.

I got up this morning and went for a quick bike ride. I was supposed to walk with my neighbor but she flaked. The workers were here bright and early to work on the backyard. The good part is they are taking care of the few issues we had. They have to re-build our little wall. It is looking really nice though. I think they will finish up on Monday. We had to go and get Justin’s hair cut today. I had to stop to get gas and the kids have been asking to go through the car wash. So through the car wash we went. They both loved when the soap and water sprayed on the car. Then Nicole didn’t like the big brushes but Justin thought it was great. We went to MV mall to get his hair cut. We got there a bit early so we played in the play area. They had a blast jumping off of things. Justin did great getting his haircut and Nicole was so good while waiting for Justin. They both got lollipops at the end. Justin got a blue one and Nicole a purple one. After we walked around the mall for a bit and went into a few stores. They had fun playing in the toy store with the train table and I bought them these soaker toys. Then we played in the lights. They had so much fun. We went on the escalators/elevators, etc. We came home and Grammy came over. We had lunch with Grammy. We had to do a quick trip to Home Depot then the kids watched some TV. After we went on the greenbelt and played with their new soaker toys. They had so much fun squirting all over the place, it was cute. Daddy had a blast with the toy too. We decided to eat dinner at the park. So we went to Hicks Canyon park. The kiddos played on the see saw and the play structure. The kids were really into climbing and swinging. Justin was wanting to swing really high. Nicole seemed really tired, so we left. She was falling asleep on the way home. She has a little fever so we just put her to bed when we got home. Poor little girl, I hope she is better in the morning. I told Nikki her favorite story and she fell asleep really fast. We had a blast playing with Justin. We made a big track and played trains. He was so talky without Nicole. We even let him stay up late.

We love Fridays. We walked to Blue Gum this morning for our play group. Not a lot of people showed up but we still had fun. Nicole was really into riding one of our friends big girl bikes with training wheels. She loved it. Except she kept on going backwards which she came to find out were brakes. Justin followed with a tricycle. They had so much fun riding on other people’s bikes. It was cute. We were at the park for a while. Then we walked home to have lunch. The kiddos had fun playing at home, dress up and with mega blocks. I had to deal with some of the stuff in the backyard so the kiddos watched Barney and Elmo’s World. We had a nice fun relaxing afternoon. We walked with Maggie and Aliya over to the new yogurt place by our house. The kids loved the frozen yogurt then we walked to a park to let the kids play. We call this park, dark park as this is where we used to let Tracey run off leash since the park was dark. This kids had fun playing, going down the slides, running around in the grass. The kiddos had to help push the stroller home. It sounds very helpful but they push it crazily then fight over it. We came home and the kiddos were so dirty that we gave them a bath. A quick bath since we wanted to go have a picnic dinner and watch the trains. Daddy thought he left his wallet at work so we ran back to his work then got KFC and off to have a picnic. The kids were so excited to see trains. They were pretty mellow tonight but ran around a bit in the grass, Justin chased birds. The kids piled on daddy. We had a great family night. We came home and went right upstairs and read lots of books. Nicole’s favorite book right now is called, A Sitter for Baby Monster. Kiddos are sleeping.

This morning we woke up to the noisy backyard. By the time we got downstairs we were impressed at how much progress they had made getting rid of the concrete. Nicole keeps talking about the pig races from the fair. She really loved it, she even made a drawing and she said they were the pig races. We went to music class this morning. The kiddos had fun. Ms. Judy sang the frog song again and Nicole was so excited. The kiddos are doing so well following what the teacher does. Today we did the parachute and they loved it. After we ran to the Spectrum to meet some other girls from the mom’s group. Only one person showed up but we still had a great time. We went over to the fountains by the food court. The kiddos got all wet and had fun in the fountains. They both said the water was cold. After we had lunch. Justin loved watching the fountains while we ate. Then we ran into Stacie and Nikki. We ran into a few stores then the kiddos rode on the carousal again. Of course Justin got on the ostrich and Nicole the bunny. So great that a little carousal ride can make the kiddos so happy. We went into the pet store and looked at the dogs and birds. When the dogs were sleeping, Nicole and Justin wanted them to wake up. I just let the kiddos run around a bit but then I should have turned around before we got to the train. But I let them ride the train. They wanted the train to go faster. Justin fell asleep on the way home but woke up when we got home. They are watching TV right now. They are enjoying watching what is going on in the backyard. I was able to talk to a few friends (Neyha and Janet) on the phone while the kiddos were watching TV. Oh man, crankiness set in a bit when the TV went off. So we colored with markers for a bit, then tried to do play doh. Nicole just kept putting play do in her mouth. The kids wanted to play outside so we went out to the front yard. I set up their fishy sprinkler and they had so much fun. Justin loved the water and loved making the water go higher. Nicole was in the water a little bit then was busy going in and out of the house, running to the garage. I finally convinced her to pretend wash her hands in the sprinkler. That kept the kiddos amused for a bit. We played outside until daddy got home. Then we came inside and made dinner. It was safe enough now that the back yard is cleared of the concrete, so we let the kiddos in the back yard. They climbed up into what was the planters, threw some rocks, and got very dirty. I pushed them in a wheelbarrow. They liked that but that thing was heacy. They had a great time out there. Bret was busy starting to think about how he has to do sprinklers. Then it was bath time. The kids were tired, by 8:30 all was quiet upstairs.

Well this morning the destruction of the backyard began. Justin loved watching. This morning we went to La Habra Muesam with Stacie and Paula. What a great muesam for kids this age. My kids had a blast. They were busy from the minute we got there. First we found fossils in sand. Justin found the gas pump-he liked pretending putting gas in the car.

There was a grocery area, so the kiddos could shop. Nicole was really into this. She wanted to put everything in her cart and check out. This is her at the cash register area.

After we went into the critter room. The kids saw butterflies, learned about caccoons, played in a garden, walked the maze, saw spiders, ants, etc.

Then there was a train room. Justin loved watching the train. The train only runs 1 minute, every 10 minutes, so the kids were so excited when it started to go. Then we went into the animal room, real animals stuffed. Nicole made friends with a coyote and showed me she could open her mouth like the coyote. Both kids got to pet the “stuffed” animals, we saw bears, armadillos, and Justin found a liking to the warthog. Justin had enough of the animals and said I don’t like them.

After the animals, we went into the play room. The kids had so much fun playing. They slid down the slide on the castle play house. Nicole played with the baby. They both loved climbing up the ladder in the tree house. Justin said that was his favorite thing to do. Justin played with trains and trucks. This room was really cute. Then we went and painted for a bit. Justin was really enjoying painting with water colors and Nicole was liking to paint on the easels more. We went outside and ate lunch. The kids had so much fun playing out on the grass, just running around with their friend Nikki. They ran around the tree, played at the picnic table, followed each other around, etc. They did ring around the tree and the I love you song. It was fun watching them just be kids. Got a great picture of the two Nikki’s hugging.

After lunch we went and played a bit more. The kids just loved the play room so we went back there and up to the front again with the shopping area. The kids finally fell asleep on the way home but it wasn’t until I got off the freeway. So I let them sleep in the car for a bit in the garage. We came home to a torn up backyard, what a lot of work. We just had a quiet afternoon at home, mostly played in the futon room. The kiddos wanted to go out and play but they couldn’t. So after dinner we went to Woodbury and ran an errand at Ralphs then played in the grassy area. The kids had a great time running around in the grassy area and rolling around on the grass. They ran around the fountain a bit. It was fun watching them and we ran into some friends there. We came home and read lots of books and put the kiddos to sleep. Nicole had a hard time going to sleep. I went for a walk with Krista and now I am tired.

Family drama is still bugging me and it will take time to get over. In the meantime, I know I have the best husband and the best kids ever. The way that Bret loves me is so special and I am the luckiest girl in the world. He has been the best through all the drama.

This morning we had to get ready for the cleaners, our house was a mess! Vena and I went for our weekly walk. We walked with the kiddos in the Bob stroller from Vena’s to Hick’s Canyon Park. The kiddos were so great staying in the stroller. They had a great time at the park. Playing on the see saw is their favorite then we played catch for a while. Nicole wanted to swing and Justin jumped off the wall. Nicole and Justin loved Vena’s dogs. We walked back to Vena’s. Then I decided to meet some friends at the Spectrum. I thought I could get the kiddos to eat first, but the minute they saw the fountains they wanted to go in. Justin got really wet! After we ate lunch. Then we hiked it to Target to get a few things. I got the kiddos Dora/Diego electric tooth brushes. Maybe this will get them to stop playing with ours-HA. We ran into Carters to look around. The kiddos were really good for me today so of course I said yes when they asked so nicely to go on the carousal. Justin’s eyes lit up when he saw the ostrich and Nicole couldn’t wait to ride the bunny. Finally it was time to come home. I was hoping the kids would fall asleep on the way home from the Spectrum but no such luck. So we came home and watched Barney and Elmo’s World. One of our neighbor’s stopped by to play for a bit. Then I invited a few friends to come over and get messy since our backyard is being demoed tomorrow. But I realized I didn’t have enough paint so I ran to the store with the kiddos. We went to the teacher supply store at the old Von’s center. We then walked over to the Asian market and got some Mochi balls for dessert for tonight. Victoria, Todd, and Penny and Stacie, Rob, and Nikki came over. We made a spaghetti dinner and then let the kids get messy. We let them paint wherever they wanted to on the concrete. Justin and Nicole had a blast playing with glitter. Nicole kept asking for more. The kids got so messy then we made a mud pit. All the kids had fun and it was great to hang out with friends. When everyone left another mud put formed from washing all the toys, so the kids got more messy. We basically carried them up and threw them in the bath. It was fun watching the kids just be kids. Since they didn’t nap I wouldn’t to put them to bed early but that didn’t happen. They were great about getting out of bath cause I bribed them with new tooth brushes. We also played a game to get them dressed really quick and they loved it. The minute their heads hit the pillows they were asleep. I am soon to follow.