Melissa’s Blog

Last night I was way too tired to blog. Yesterday we left the house at 8:25 in the morning and did not return until 7:30 last night. First we went to pre school and I was working. We celebrated Ms. Donna’s birthday. The kids brought her a birthday card and said happy birthday a lot. The cake was the highlight for the kiddos. We got out of school and I changed the kiddos clothes. Then we headed to grandma/pa’s house. The kids got spoiled with their favorite foods, macaroni and cheese and corn dogs. They ate so much. We started to show the kids pics of me and Alan as kids. Nicole was really interested and Nicole thought a few of them were Meghan not me. The kids watched Tom and Jerry there, this was their first time seeing this cartoon. We have only read a book about them. They were really liking it. They also watched some super hero cartoon. We couldn’t stay long as we met my new photography group at Aliso Creek Beach. The kids had a great time. They ran around, played at the play structure, had good snacks, ran through the echoey tunnel laughing all the way through. On the play structure there was something like bike pedals and hand pedals. The kids really really liked this. I had to hold them up so they could do it again and again. I took some pics but I was disappointed with the lighting. I need to edit them in photo shop. We still need to load photoshop on the new laptop. After all the fun play at the beach, we headed over to California Pizza Kitchen for a pre school fundraiser and Ms. Donna’s birthday celebration. I didn’t even have time to come home and pick up Bret. Nicole had a great time at dinner. She sat next to one of her friends from pre school then saw some girls she hadn’t seen in a while. She was dancing, laughing, etc. Justin was a little tired so I got cuddle time with him. I am hoping it was just that he was tired since he wasn’t so social. We got home at 7:30 where Bret greeted me with an address, the GPS, money so I could go onto Bunco. The kids were so excited to see daddy. They played a few games on the Wii and went to bed around 8:30. Bret said the kids went right to bed and that did not surprise me. I had a great time at Bunco. It was really mellow and just what I needed. It took me a while to unwind and relax before going to sleep. I also spent some time prepping for registration for preschool.

We all got a full nights sleep last night. The kids played this morning and made a mess. We ran to the grocery store to get some snacks for play group. The kids were great at the store. Nicole wanted to carry my purse and Justin pushed a little cart. We got home and the kiddos rode scooters around the house and bounced on the hoppy ball. We got out the Cootie game and the kiddos played. Friends came over and the kids overall played really well together. I have no idea how messy the upstairs is though. The kids did dress up, swung in the swings, and played with all the toys. Nikki and Justin hid things they didn’t want their friends to play with in our bed. After everyone left we head lunch then the kids took little cars and played with them on the kitchen counters. Justin ended up in his cars bathing suit and Nikki is dressed as Abby Cadaby. But it is too cold out. I let the kids take a break and watch some TV. Then it was bath time. Justin went first. He wanted me to throw the ball with him while he pretended to be a dog in the tub. Also while Justin was in the tub I cleaned up the kid’s room from play group. We also talked to grandma/pa as well. We will be by their house tomorrow and wanted to see if they were available for a visit. Nikki took a really long bath. The kiddos got dressed, we grabbed a snack and headed to the sports store to get the kiddos cleats for soccer. The kids were so excited to get their new cleats. Of course they wanted to wear them right then and there. Nicole’s are pink but Justin’s are blue, he was a little sad they weren’t green. Dad got home. Nicole helped me make a pizza tonight then we played the Wii a bit. We had someone come over to quote our patio cover. Annoying sales guy. The kids overall were really well behaved. They made some pictures for their pre school teacher and grandma/pa. They were asking how to spell things. Justin was really doing well. Justin made a tricerotops too, so cute. The kids played with the wooden blocks then we read some books. We read in between the sales guy measuring and stuff. I shut off all the kids lights and read a book by flashlight. It was fun and the kids loved holding the flashlight. I went for a walk with a friend. Now time to relax.

Back to our routine. I dropped the kiddos off at school this morning. Dad worked from home. I spent the morning grocery shopping and doing errands while the kids were at school. The kids had a great time at school and made dinosaur sandwiches for snack. They are starting to do an enrichment program at school. Justin goes on Monday and Nikki goes on Wed. They sit with Ms. Tanya and do various things. This morning Justin drew a picture of himself with sun glasses. It was so cute.n Nikki played outside while Justin was with Ms. Tanya. Nice for the kiddos to be apart a bit. We came home and dad was home. The kids wanted to play with dad but did get he was working. We had lunch then I read a lot to the kiddos. The library books are due soon so I wanted to read them. The kiddos watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I did laundry and prepped dinner. We had to stay at home since the exterminating company was coming to do our annual termite inspection. He had to spot spray a tiny area outside. During this time I worked on a shadow box thing I have been wanting to do. I put the kiddos birth announcement in it plus the molded hands the kids did when they were 18  months. I love how it came out and it is easy to change at anytime.

Well our server went down so dad was on it. It seemed like a really stressful day at home for dad. He had to deal with the server, work, the kids, and me 🙂 The kids and I played lots of games, Cootie and Don’t Break the Ice. We also played the marble race. I couldn’t take the kids asking me to play anymore so I decided to take them outside. It was cold though and the kids insisted on wearing shorts. We played tennis on the greenbelt for a short time. The minute dad came home the kids were all over him to play the Wii. They played while I made dinner. After dinner dad was off to a welcome to kindergarten meeting. I hope he gets some useful info. The kids decided to play with tennis balls. First Justin was a dog chasing the balls then the balls became their babies. Who knows! Here is a pic of Nikki-she decided to pose so I snapped.

She is wearing her favorite shirt. We played cars upstairs then read a lot of books. I had fun spending cuddle time with the kids. They went right to sleep. Now I am just waiting for daddy to get home.

Our little munch kins are driving us a bit crazy. I can’t believe they can’t seem to play with each other at all on the weekends. This morning we took it easy, tried to read the paper, play Cariboo, and Memory. We played doggies in Nikki’s room. Finally dad and I needed too get out as being home was driving us crazy. We went to Whole Foods and had lunch. There was a really nice family who started to talk to the kiddos. When they asked Nicole her name she said Nikki but then she said she prefers Danielle.  We walked over to Target as we need to find the kiddos cleats for soccer starting next weekend. No such luck though as they were out. We also stopped to get seeds for the garden. We got cucumbers, carrots, watermelon, and green beans. It was nice walking over as we took our time sat by the fountains at the District and took it easy. We braved the lines at Costco to get gas. While waiting we let the kiddos unbuckle out of their car seats. They thought it was the greatest thing ever. Funny how the little things make a difference.  We came home and the kids were all over us again to play. Dad planted the seeds with the kiddos. I think daddy wanted to make sure they get into neat rows. The kids loved putting the seeds in. I hope things come up kind of quick for them as they were so excited. It stinks when it takes a while. We played the Wii with the kiddos for a bit. The kids did play doh for a short time, trying to get them to play on their own. Daddy set up the marble race thing for Justin and Nicole and I played on this magnet thing. Nicole also helped a lot in the kitchen today. I let her slice the bananas to put in the jello. She loved it! She also helped measure the rice for dinner and put the chicken on the pan. Also she loved cutting open the sauce and pouring it into a bowl. So great to have a little helper and giving her more confidence. During dinner Justin says “good dinner Nikki”. It was such a cute moment. Well things got crazy upstairs. At first we played limbo. My back will never be the same; the kids were laughing. Then we had this balloon toy and the kids would blow it up a little then run saying it was their baby chick. They were getting along so well and cracking us up. It reminded me of the time when they were little and would get naked at night. So I encouraged them to get naked which made them laugh even more. I can’t believe how big they are now! We played way too long then brushing teeth took a while. We let the kiddos brush and floss then we do it for them as well. But we have started teaching them to spit in the sick. So funny I started spitting in the sink when Nicole did-she was laughing like crazy. Of course we had to do it again. We read books and Justin was asleep when I left him. Nicole required a lot more time as usual before falling asleep.

I just wrote about most of our day and didn’t save it, ugh. So this will be a condensed version. It was all about daddy today. Dad and Nikki went to Starbucks this morning. Justin and I had fun playing Cootie Bugs and a new game Cariboo. The kids loved Cariboo. They played it for a really long time. I decided to start preparing the garden for planting the veggies. The kids helped me turn all the dirt and pull all the weeds. They also saw lots of worms. Dad mowed the lawn and Nikki followed with her lawn mower. We did back yard maintenance which included the jacuzzi. The kids took a bath-Justin went first. Justin and I had fun playing in the tub. Nikki took a bath next and took her Ariel and color changing water doll in the bath. She was having a great time. We stopped for lunch on the way to La Habra Children’s Museum. To our surprise Justin fell asleep on the way. We had a good time at the Museum but are starting to realize the kids might be getting too old for that museum. Their preference these days is Pretend City. They both did like the dress up area and the stage. They were on stage performing together but they didn’t have that many boy costumes. Nicole really liked digging for fossils while Justin of course loved the trains. The kiddos played in the play area for a while. They had some baby chicks there that were so cute; Nicole wanted the  brown one. It was a sluggy day today, maybe due to the weather. When we got home the kids couldn’t seem to play without us. We did some cutting crafts, making brown bag monkey puppets. Of course the kids wanted to play the Wii again so after dinner they each got two races. Justin is so psycho about this game. We went upstairs. We played cars. We got out the carpet and we drove the cars on the streets. Justin loved it when I pushed the little cars over to him and he bonked them with the big cars. We read books and the kiddos are sleeping now. I have such a love/hate relationship with weekends. I love being together as a family but the kiddos get so needy and fighty.

Dad was out of here at 7:30 this morning to sign the kiddos up for a kindergarten readiness class. We got in. I had a long discussion with our pre school teacher and she agreed our kiddos were ready for kinder. I can’t believe they may start kinder in Sept-my babies. I am going to cry my eyes out the first time I leave them at kinder. How did my babies get so big so fast. I am truly blessed. I didn’t have much time to do much while they were in school. I did a little shopping, way easier with no kids in tow. The kids had a great time in school and made dinosaur eggs out of clay. We just need to wait until the clay gets hard and then we can “hatch” them. The kids are so excited. After pre school we had a play date at a friend’s house from pre school. It was so nice. I am so jealous of their house-it was beautiful and a great backyard. The kids all played so nicely. It was so nice as I got to sit down and chat with other moms. Nicole and Justin loved Isa’s little skateboard until Nicole fell on the tile, ouch. I took the kiddos to the dentist today. They got their teeth cleaned and now we are watching two spots on Justin’s teeth-ugh. The kids were brave and did great. When we got home we played outside. I got their cars out and we went around the neighborhood. Nice to get out walking. Dad came home and the kiddos and him raced on the Wii. We ran out to get some dinner. Then dad and the kiddos played Cootie Bugs. I got the kiddos a birthday cake toy thing and they played with that for all 5 minutes, ugh. We went upstairs and dad blind folded the kids while they listened to his voice and found where he was. It was pretty funny. We brushed their teeth extra well and even flossed. Nikki seemed so wired tonight and I tried to sit with her for a bit. I felt like I missed cuddle time last night so I had to make up for it. Justin was so talky in bed. Some of Nicole’s animals (Dale and Thumper) are having a sleepover in our room.

Well I had a rough night sleeping. I am tired today. I was so annoyed because I felt like I was doing everything in the house-I know probably not true but thats how I felt. I implemented penny rewards. Every time the kiddos do something extra ordinary they get a penny. I put it in a jar and write down what they did. At the end of the week we will count them up and go over what they did. The kids can get something…don’t know what that something is. Maybe spending time with us, somewhere they love to go, more game time, etc. We ran to the grocery store this morning to get some snacks for play group and stuff for the pre school board meeting tonight.  The kids are loving getting pennies. They voluntarily helped put the groceries away, unload the dishwasher, and clean up their toys. I was shocked. They also vacuumed. I am sure it was just fun to vacuum. But I gave them another penny. The play date overall went really well. They were earning pennies until the end. Nicole started to get a little snotty with one of her friends, saying she didn’t want to play with her, etc. Hopefully this reward thing will work. After everyone left we cleaned up and had lunch. The kids played Leapsters a bit. They hadn’t played them for a while. We played the Big Bad Wolf, I was the wolf and they were the little pigs. I kept on growling at them while they tried to leave the futon room; we were all laughing. When they got out I chased them back to the futon room. I finished baking cheesecake for tonight then let the kiddos watch some TV. I needed some quiet time. Grandma/pa came over. Nicole pretended to be a baby with grandma. Justin and I played with the car carriers. The kids had fun with grandma/pa. I made dinner. Grandma/pa played memory with the kiddos. After dinner dad played with the kiddos. We had a board meeting for pre school. It lasted for a long time.

Justin came in our bed last night. I asked him if he wanted me to come to his bed. He said no so we slept with Justin. There was no more room for me in our bed so I just slept in his bed. Bret and I dropped the kiddos off at school this morning. After dropping them off we went to discuss whether to send the kiddos to kindergarten or not. I can’t believe here we go again. The person who helped us really took the time to help us decide what is right for our kids and try not to listen to anyone else. Bret and I have a lot of discussing to do to figure all this out. After I ran an errand then came home and relaxed a bit. Justin wanted his new bus to pick him up from school and Nicole already had Thumper with her. She did listen and left Thumper in her bucket. The kiddos played outside for a bit and we came home and had lunch. After lunch we just played. The kiddos wanted to fly the rockets that they made outside. We were outside for a while. I gardened a bit while the kiddos played. The kiddos had a great time playing on the greenbelt. I was wondering why they were getting along so well until I looked over and they had their stools and were throwing leaves and garden stuff over the neighbor’s fence. They were also pulling out all the bags I use for the on the go potty and they were all over the garage-ugh. Finally I got them in the bathtub. Daddy came home and Justin wanted to get out of the bath to race with the Wii. We had dinner then dad played Go Fish with the kiddos. I am so stressed out about this kindergarten decision, ugh. We went upstairs to get ready for bed and the kids decided they were still hungry. We read lots of library books. We spent some time cuddling and off to bed.

This morning I was just busy getting ready for the cleaners. The kids were playing Go Fish. I let them watch some George as well. I did more laundry. I washed Nikki’s sheets and I noticed I washed a few of her stuffed animals. I wasn’t sure how she would take it but luckily she thought it was funny. She said Dale had fun in there. Thank goodness it didn’t ruin any of her animals. They sure smell good though. We had a really busy day today but it was fun. We met some friends at the park. We went to a new park and the kids had a great time. They loved the see saw there-guess this is the new see saw park. Overall the girls played really nicely together. They started getting into water, sand, and just all around fun. We came home and packed up for Disney. We met a few friends there. It was a great time but I am so exhausted. We first went on the Autopia, of course. Justin just smiled the whole time while driving. Nicole drove after Justin. She drove a bit crazy but straightened out. We then walked right on It’s a small world after all. I love that the lines weren’t too bad. Nicole realized how different small world looked since Christmas. So cute watching them look all around on the ride. Justin wanted to go again. We went on the Dumbo ride. Justin and I went together while Nicole joined a friend and her two yr old. I realized Nicole chose this as she knew she would be able to drive the entire time rather than sharing with Justin. We went on the rocket ships then headed over to California Adventure for the parade. The kids loved the parade. Justin’s face lit up when he saw lightening McQueen and Tow Mater. Nicole kept on saying look at this person….We ate some dinner. Then their friends got ice cream. I told the kids they could get a sweet or a toy…to my amazement they both chose toys. Justin got a Disney bus and Nicole got a Thumper bunny stuffed animal. She really wanted one that had a blanket but it was too expensive. So we wrapped it up in her sheet when we got home and that made her happy. We managed to get on the caterpillar ride and bumper cars before CA Adventure closed. We came home and the kids were pretty hyper and talking to daddy. It was daddy…daddy…daddy. Justin and him played buses. They read books and the kiddos went right to sleep. Nicole wanted to talk about bad things. I distracted her with silly bad things like what happens if our fridge broke…she would have to drink warm milk, eat hot cheese, etc. It was pretty funny.

Nicole slept with her butterfly face painting on…for the most part it lasted today. The sparkles were the only things off. So I was off to work at pre school today while dad was working at home. The kids were crazy at school today, spring fever has set in or something. I was the blue “sand” mom. We got out the water table and everything. I love when all the kids come in all muddy and sandy and all the parents are in shock. Nicole shared her potato head and Justin shared his train whistle. It was funny when he told everyone what it was. Like I mentioned all the kids were crazy today, so it was a little difficult. No one seemed to want to be listening. When we got home we had lunch and played. I did more laundry. I gave the kiddos a bath. Justin started taking one himself. While I walked away for a minute Nicole jumped in. I pretended like I couldn’t find Nicole and she thought it was so funny. I couldn’t believe it but the kids took the longest bath ever. They always complain about getting in the bath but while they are in it they love it. I tried to clean up a bit to get ready for the cleaners tomorrow. After bath we headed outside. The weather was so nice. I decided to wash mommy car. It needed it so badly; it was so dirty from the snow. The kids wanted to help but used Justin’s pressure washer toy thing. It doesn’t work all that well but the kids love it. Friends stopped by to give Nicole and Justin Curious George masks they made. The kids loved them. But were a bit distracted since they had the pressure washer toy. Andree and Zoe the dog were out as well. We hadn’t seen them in so long. It was a nice mellow afternoon. Dad came home and played the Wii. We had an early dinner then Grammy came over. Grammy babysat while I went to my photography class and dad is at an informational meeting for soccer. When I left Grammy and the kiddos were playing go fish. So funny to watch someone teach the kiddos a new game. The kid’s start soccer on the 13th. The photography class was boring tonight. Dad said Nicole was talking about death tonight-trying to figure it all out. She asked how do I pee when I am dead? And if I am buried how do I get the dirt out of my eyes? She is so inquisitive.