Melissa’s Blog

Today is kind of a blah day for me. Just feeling a little moody or something. We got ready for the cleaners. Nicole was so cute in wanting to clean her own room. I showed her how to take off her sheets. She is so helpful. Justin played the Wii. He is so into games and that parking garage. Our downstairs toilet got clogged again. I worked on it for a bit but I am sure Bret will come home and unclog it right away. We finally got out of the house around 11:00 this morning. We took Marshmallow back to school. Ah nice not to have the responsibility of anything else. We also went to drop off a video at the library. I was surprised to find the DVD not in the case. Luckily it wasn’t out of our way to go there but what a pain. I read the kids lots of books and we headed to the Spectrum. I know we went yesterday but we didn’t get very far. We walked around a bit, had lunch, watched the ice skating, ran a few errands, played, went on the ferris wheel, etc. And before we knew it a couple hours passed. We came home to a clean house. The kids finished coloring their pics that they started when we dropped off the bunny at school then played parking garage. Nikki wanted to match her brother and is wearing one of his Lightening McQueen shirts, it is pretty cute. She can button and zip her jean shorts now. We played outside for a while. The kids rode their scooters. After dinner we just played. We were all in the futon room, Nikki and I mostly playing bugs with the princesses and all other people watching like Moxie dolls, Mr. Potato Head, etc. It was the girls cheering on the pink bug and boys cheering on the green bug. Dad and Justin were playing cars. Justin was racing the cars. Justin would line up the cars to watch the race and if you moved the cars Justin would let us know that was not the way to play. The kids were wild when we got upstairs. Nikki was wanting to wear a leotard and do ballet. I can’t believe both went to sleep just fine. There is barely any room in Justin’s bed with caterpillary, big floppy dog, blackie, little bear (from pre school), Pumpkin, etc. Time to go watch some shows.

The best part of MLK day is Bret is off. He still is feeling a little under the weather. We have been so lazy in the mornings these days. I was downstairs early this morning and at first Nikki came down and Justin followed. I was watching TV so I let the  kiddos watch TV for a bit. We let Marshmallow the bunny out in the backyard for a bit, he loved it. I had to guard one of my plants though. I did lots of gardening in the back. I need to work more in the front though. After lunch we decided to go to the Spectrum. We haven’t been there in so long and we didn’t get too far. The kids saw Dave and Busters and just wanted to play games. Justin is so psycho about games, he just cracks me up. He gets so excited. Dad rested in the bookstore and I took the kids to Target. I needed to return something and we felt bad they never get enough tickets to buy the junk at D&B. Justin came up with this huge monster remote control truck. Luckily he saw some Dinoco things he liked better. I let Nikki get a car so she could play with him. Nikki picked out a pink dog that she named Coconut. When we got home the kiddos played so well with the new toys. I wish the novelty didn’t wear off but I know it does. I did laundry and got organized around here. Then Nikki and I went outside. She pretended she was a girl from a new show she watched today. She pretended her scooter was a motorcycle like the girls on TV. I did a little gardening. And Justin has been as happy as can be playing with his new cars. Tonight we went to dinner with two other couples and their kids. It was so nice as the kids played so well. They ran around outside for almost an hour and a half while the parents chatted. The best part was it seems as though we all got along really well. I held our neighbors baby (5 1/2 months) to try and give them a break tonight too. The kids seemed so tired when we were leaving and we were not surprised-they played hard. Justin wanted to play cars so dad and him did for a bit. We finished laundry and read books. Then it was straight to bed.

We took a long time getting going this morning. We played outside. We let Marshmallow the bunny out in the backyard. He loved it. I did some gardening, dad checked the jacuzzi water and the sprinklers, and the kids were busy playing. Justin took a shower while Nikki took a bath. Then we headed out to grab some lunch and a quick grocery run. After we went to historic downtown Orange to meet my photography group. It was kind of cool in downtown but not my typical place where I take pics. I wish I thought about it more and dressed the kids a little differently. The kids still had a great time, Nikki was ready to model. Here are some pics:

I still had fun taking pictures too. We ended the photos with ice cream at an old fashion drug store ice cream soda fountain shop.

Someone in the group brought their kids as well so Nikki and Justin had some one to play with. Bret has a little cold so we came home and the kids wanted to go home as well. We let Marshmallow out of his cage for a bit. He pooped in the house so back in the cage he went. The kids played parking garage for a bit and watched TV for a bit. After dinner they played Trouble and we went upstairs. The kids had a great time playing together and didn’t want to stop to read books. But I picked out some cool books and they were excited to read. Dad and I watched Social Network while I edited pics.

The weekend is here. We were lazy this morning. We let Marshmallow out for a while. The kids are loving him and he is loving being here. Here is a pic of Justin with Marshmallow and Nikki with the little bear from pre school:

Since the kids sent grandma/pa pics in the mail I wanted the kids to talk to grandma/pa so they could mention they received them. Nikki invited herself over to their house. Justin was too busy playing parking garage but wanted to go too. Bret and I decided no problem. Before I dropped them off, we all walked to Chase bank. I needed to sign some forms. The kids got their lollipops so they were happy. When I dropped the kids off at grandma/pa’s there were kids playing outside. One of them was a 5 year old girl and Nikki and her hit it right off. Nikki was loving running back and forth to her house then grandma/pa’s. Justin was happy to be inside grandma/pa’s house. The kids had lunch and I helped arrange car seats and left. When I got home Bret was watching Piranha. I am so scarred for life now. It was horrifying. It is so funny how we know none of this is true but we still get frightened, I let out a few screams due to the sub woofer probably. Well since I am on a diet that puts Bret on one as well. We were going to go for a run but it was kind of warm. We decided to go for a hike type thing. A lot of the trails were closed due to the rains, so we ended up walking around Mission Veijo lake (3 miles). It was a good walk as there were some hills. Then we met grandma/pa, the kids and Tierney at Corky’s for dinner. I missed the kiddos so much. They seemed so tired and their bellies full. They had a good time. Justin watched CARS with grandpa and Nikki mostly played with the neighbor. Both are sleeping.

Beautiful day out, dad worked from home. I gave the kiddos a shower this morning. It took a while to get in the shower as the kids found every distraction. Then when the time to get out of the shower came, it was hard to get them out. I started to give myself a pedicure. Now that the weather is warmer I want to wear my cute sandals. Nikki wanted her toes done too, so cute. While the kiddos were at school I went to lunch with a friend. It was so nice just to hang out and eat slowly. We ended up staying at Lazy Dog Cafe the entire time the kids were in school. I attempted to make home made pizza dough. It tasted good but didn’t bubble up-I may have over kneaded it. I will try again. I ran out to my photoshop elements class. I think it will be a good class-I am glad I have a foundation though if not I would be lost.

Today I weighed myself. Not sure what I was thinking. Lets just say I am on a diet big time. This morning was full of adventures though. The kids and I had so much fun exploring. I needed to run over to the eye doctor to have my eye glasses fixed. So we walked. We stopped in a bank so the kids could see the inside of a bank. There was someone really nice working that gave the kiddos the tour of the safety deposit boxes and gave them lollipops. Nikki didn’t like her flavor of lollipop and Justin switched with her. Justin was really nice to his sister today-I love it. Then we headed over to the dog groomers and the vet. The kids were fascinated with someone trying to get their dog on the scale. Finally we made it over to the eye doctor. Kids wore their jammies as it was jammie day in school.

I did forget their stuffed animals so I ran home to get them. I felt like such a mom running home to get something for school. The kids had so much fun wearing their jammies to school. They had hot chocolate w/marshmallows and pancakes. The kids got to take home a bear stuffed animal for the weekend and Marshmallow the bunny. I hope this bunny isn’t too much work for me. While the kids were at school I went to the gym-the first time in a long time. It felt good and I hope I can keep doing it. After school we stopped at the library to return books and get new ones. We got a Scooby Doo DVD, so the kids were thrilled. Although Nikki used it as an excuse not to go to bed saying there were scary parts. Tonight it was so nice out. We visited a neighbor friend whose birthday it was. We let Marshmallow the bunny out of his cage to run around a bit. Justin would always run up to him so the bunny always ended up running back in his cage. Marshmallow is getting a little too comfortable here. He was laying on top of our carpet we folded over all comfy and cozy. Good for the little guy since he probably doesn’t get much loving. We read all our library books and Bret had to do a little work. And I started getting the Valentine decorations out.

Yesterday I was under the weather, my cold hit me hard. I had no energy-luckily today I am feeling much better. Yesterday we went to a class at Pretend City. It was ok. It was a pizza party. The kids got to make their own pizzas and then they read a Curious George book. The kids in the class were so young compared to N&J so they didn’t get to roll out the dough etc. Just as I was dragging and ready to go home, we met some friends there. The kids were so excited to have new people to play with. It was a whole new Pretend City with their friends. We spent lots of time in the Curious George exhibit and the restaurant. The kids pretended to make us lots of Italian food. When we got home I was basically useless and just wanted to rest. Dad ran out to get some dinner and he played with the kiddos.

Today I am feeling much better. I was snack mom at school today. I just grabbed a bunch of things and brought them in. I did a lot of cleaning at school today as the place was a mess. The kids had a great time in school and made some pretty pictures. Outside they were really into riding the bikes. We did a bean bag thrown and I was amazed at how far Justin threw the bean bag. When we got home we just played at home. The kids found some blankets from when they were babies and they played with them. I am not sure what they were doing but they were having a great time. And of course parking garage. We went outside and did some gardening. We gardened in the front and I can’t believe the size of the weeds that were growing. With all the rain we had I had been neglecting my garden. Hopefully the next few days I can really get out there. Also dad and I made a list of things to do in the house a while back…..I finally re-spray painted the bathroom toilet paper fixture. It is the little things. When dad got home they played Pac Man World. I am off to Bunco tonight. Woo hoo!

Justin woke up twice last night with his bed wet then Nikki woke up, ugh. I do love it when Justin comes in. He comes in our room and is so dam cute. Nikki yells mommy. When I go see her she is so cute too but it is hard to get out of bed to go down the hall. We played at home this morning. The kids played  Pac Man World on the Wii. I played a little too. Then I gave the kids showers. Don’t think I got all the conditioner out of Nikki’s hair but the kids are clean-thats all that matters. I finally had to do laundry (Justin’s sheets). I am kind of on strike on doing laundry. I was snack mom today. We had fun at school. We tried to play musical chairs but then it moved into a parade of instruments. It was cute. Nikki led the parade. And we played Legos and Play doh at school. On the way home we stopped at the store to get a few things for dinner. When we got home the kids played parking garage and had a snack. The jacuzzi is finally warm again so the kids were so excited to get in. Goggles and bathing suits they were ready. They had so much fun. Dad came home and jumped in with them. I thought I was going to go walking with a friend tonight so I didn’t go in, I did some gardening until it got too dark. Another successful dinner-I made mongolian beef, so yummy. I am really enjoying cooking and the kids really liked it too. We all played Sorry together then headed upstairs. We read books for a long time and hopefully both kiddos are sleeping now.

So glad it didn’t rain today. This morning we stayed home in the morning. The kids played so well. They played under doggie. I am not sure what exactly that is. It did involve leashes and bows on their stuffed animals. They were hanging out by the stairs. Dad and I drank our coffee and read the paper. We are trying to figure out what to do about our gym membership so we went to look at LA Fitness. Nice gym but I think we are going to stick with 24 hour at it is cheaper. Costco has a great special on 24 hour. So we headed to Costco. We ate lunch there then shopped for pre school snack. It felt like we were at Costco for hours. It was busy plus we kept stopping to play. The kids rode bikes and played in an little car like theirs. When we got home it was cool outside but nice. I just wanted to be outside. Nikki took her go go dog out for a little walk while Justin did rocket balloons. I decided to vacuum all the sand out of my car and Nikki started to help. Then it became all about my car. We washed it. Then I felt like I had been neglecting my car so got the wax out. So much work. The kids played in the car while I waxed. So everything is so clean but now I have fingerprints on all inside of my windows, oh well I knew it wouldn’t last long. My car looks so pretty now. I am sure I will see more spots tomorrow where I didn’t get all the wax off. We had dinner and the kids played Wii and on the Ipad (Angry Birds). We are all trying to get over colds so we were pretty tired tonight. We read books and I was almost asleep in Justin’s bed.

I love the weekends even though it wasn’t a very exciting day. This morning Bret went off to trombone practice and I headed to the park. One of my friends husband was away on business so we met at the park. The kids all had a great time together-it did take them a little while to reacquainted. All of a sudden the morning was over. We headed home. The kids wanted to walk up the path by the park where all the pine cones are. I have a huge amount of pine cones now. They had so much fun picking them up and filling up whatever they could. I took the Bob stroller and they are huge in it. We also had a nerf gun fight at our house. So much fun. It is good exercise. The kids watched TV, dad napped, and I gardened a bit. I am getting so annoyed though with the kids leaving crap all over the place. We are working on it. It is my fault as I always clean up after them. We played games, colored, played parking garage, etc. At dinner the kids asked us if we could go for ice cream. So off to yogurtland we went. It is fun to treat the kiddos once in a while but I need to take 5 lbs off, so that didn’t help me. Bret had to work a little tonight. The kids and I went upstairs and got some of their toys out. I think they forgot I brought them up there. The Gwotrax and little pet shop came out. We read books and off to bed they went.

I am so so tired so this will be quick. Tonight we went to Grammy’s to hang out and have dinner as she is leaving for Canada tomorrow. So dad and her went to go to the bank, the kids and I got out the bikes she bought for them. Justin rode by himself. He did so well. He went from Grammy’s house to the cul de sac until I had something to do with him crashing into a bush. Seriously I think he is almost riding a two wheeler. I took Nikki around as well. She will be there soon as well. She is a little afraid of the big bike but did really well. We had a good day. Bret worked from home today as he had some training. I just gave the kiddos a shower this morning then we walked to school. I still took the stroller so the kids could eat lunch on the way. Nikki picked some flowers on the way and gave them to her teacher. We had so much fun on the freeway overpass. The kids waved and waved and lots of trucks beeped at them. They were jumping up and down in excitement, so cute. I am off to get ready for bed.