Melissa’s Blog

I have a few days to catch up on but I am feeling better so that is the good news. Yesterday was a busy but really fun day. In the morning we went to the big wheel park for the trike a thon with pre school. It was so much fun but the thought of this being our last trike a thon with this school set in. It was sad but exciting all at the same time. My kids are definitely the big ones now. The minute we got to the park Justin and Nicole were on their bikes going around and around. I got them donuts there and they were so excited. They rode around with their class. Justin had a determination to come in first. He pedaled his little heart out and did come in first. He walked away with the knowledge he was first. The kids got their faces painted like dogs. The park was still wet from all that rain so we just ate lunch quickly. It was a great time. Here are some pics:

Dad took a half day off from work. So we packed up and we were off to Disney. We wanted to use our passes before they expire. We had a great time, but I still wasn’t feeling that great. Justin immediately wanted to go on Thunder Mountain with daddy. Nikki didn’t want to go on it so her and I went in the tiki room. That was fun as we hadn’t been in the tiki room for a while. We went on the usual rides, Buzz, Autopia, Small World, etc. The kids sat with dad on small world so I just laid down and took a nap. We went over to CA Adventure as well as Disney closed early for the Halloween thing. We went on Monsters Inc, the blimps, the bumper cars and the caterpillar, then we headed to the grizzly adventure area. We were surprised to find the kids had the best time there. They were on the rock wall for over 45 minutes, it was one of the ones that went sideways rather than up. The kids just loved it. They also ran around, went down slides, etc. I wish we could just get into the park and go into this area. I think next time we go we will spend more time in that area. Dad and I were exhausted but the weather was great and the crowds weren’t too bad.

Somehow I didn’t have time to blog yesterday. It wasn’t a very exciting day.The kids and I went to order their birthday cakes. We came out with ordering cakes completely different than what I expected. Nikki chose Care Bears but I have to look for a night time bear. Justin chose Transformers. He really liked the truck. Just another thing off of our birthday party list.  I worked at pre school. We had lots of fun. We built a huge marble thing and did a fashion show. Of course Nikki dressed up as Scooby Doo and Justin was a race car driver. We also danced around a bit. The kids were a bit wild. Nikki has really tried to become friends with the quiet girl. Could it be because Nikki is trying to get her out of her shell? Or is it because Nikki can boss her around and she doesn’t say anything? I think it is a little of both in this case. I am glad this little girl has latched on to Nikki and hope she comes out of her shell. Outside we played in the sand/swings/bikes, etc. We came home and played for a short bit. The kids were starving. Then we headed out to a neighbors to play. I was a bit nervous for two reasons. One is it was around Nikki’s cranky time and no boy toys for Justin. But the kids did great, had lots of fun and no fighting. Sometimes Nikki and this little girl, Olivia have trouble getting along. They have a love/hate relationship. We quickly made dinner then we just played. Dad ended up playing games with the kiddos while I went walking with a friend. I was glad I felt well enough to go for a walk but I was still stuffed up and tired. We read books while dad practiced his trombone for a bit. Then the kiddos went to sleep. I finished up some remaining pic stuff for preschool while watching TV with dad.

Playing in the rain. This morning we woke up to thunder/lightening and rain. Very very strange for around here. My cold is getting better, still just have the heavy feeling in the head. Luckily it goes away with drugs, I just have to keep remembering to take them. The kids got to take home the sharing box from school. So they pretended they were in school and pretended they were sharing. Nikki was sharing her Barbie dog that she renamed Bongo and Justin was sharing his motorcycle toy Nikki had given him. They colored a bit. I started moving my scrap book stuff upstairs, what a production. It lead to cleaning more stuff out then I moved into out closet. It started pouring out so we all went out to play in the rain. The kids had a blast. As I was cleaning a good will type truck pulled up. Perfect timing, I got all the bags I had out of the garage. Playing out in the rain lasted a long time. They used umbrellas, played with snails, rode bikes, used a pop up beach thing as a tent, etc. The pop up beach thing came in the garage and the kids used their scooters with it and it was a tunnel. They pretended that they were Care Bears for a bit too. I tried for the longest time to get the kiddos to take a bath. I don’t think I ended getting them into the bath until 3:00ish. The kids helped me organize our closet upstairs a bit and bring my scrapbook stuff up. Of course that led to playing. They cut up lots of paper with my squiggly scissors on our bed, paper everywhere. They colored and did stickers upstairs as well. They played cars….cars everywhere upstairs. Both kids rooms were a mess. We were home all day but it wasn’t so bad. Nikki wanted to wear a red hat like Alvin, so I found an A sticker and put it on it. I had been trying to get to the grocery store all day but it pretty much rained all day. Nikki got a little cranky before 5:00. She didn’t want Justin to sit on the step. So after crying a bit she came downstairs. I think she felt bad as she agreed to watch Thomas. She usually never lets Justin watch Thomas. Then they watched Martha speaks. We had dinner then just played games. We played Uno, Crazy 8’s and Go Fish. It was fun just hanging out as a family. Hopefully tonight is the end of the rain and my cold! Kiddos are sleeping.

This morning I was kind of blah-still have this darn cold. We played at home for a bit this morning. The kids wanted to do so many things this morning. We made Chuck E Cheese masks. I printed them online and the kids colored them, so cute. They were busy little munch kins playing. We headed out to story time at the library. It was kind of cool. The person told a story then did a little song, then story, etc….the kids got a book at the end too. I brought all our cd’s to the library. Love getting rid of things. The kids found a Scooby Doo book that they had to have. We came home and had a quick lunch then we were off to pre school. Of course seconds into school Nikki puts on the Scooby Doo costume. I stayed a bit and did some membership stuff. I gave the kiddos big hugs then did some errands. I came home to rest a bit then it was time to pick the kiddos up. Nikki made a haunted house. I wanted Justin to make one too as it was so cute. He was interested in it so I sat with him and he made one too. Now I have them up on the kitchen cabinet. They come home from school with cookie crisp cereal and were thrilled. I ran to the grocery store while they were at school. While I was checking out I found pumpkin shaped oreo like cookies. I bought them for the kiddos as I was missing them. We came home and just played out front. I tried to clean/vacuum out my car. Since Justin’s training wheels are on again they rode bikes. So cute to watch them ride bikes again. Somehow they pretended to be Alvin and the Chipmunks and brought out crayons and paper to make their Christmas lists. We had a great time outside. Dad came home and we made a homemade pizza. The kids watched a little TV. Dad played Memory with the kiddos then we headed upstairs. The kids did a parade for us. Justin was a dancer who wore green and Nikki was Boo. Nikki pretended it was Boo’s birthday. Dad let Justin place some race game on his ipod thing. Justin was hooked and could have played all night. The kids have been liking playing with my hair at night. I let Nikki brush it while Justin raced. Nikki pretended she was her hair dresser, Helena, and gave me a hair cut. Then the kids switched. Off to bed for the kids and I am following soon.

I think I may be coming down with another cold, crap crap crap! It was dreary and drizzly today. We stayed in most of the day. We worked on getting things done, getting rid of things, etc. The kids played. They pretended to trick or treat. We got the Lincoln Logs and handed them to the kids as candy. The kids loved it. We even took it one step further and pretended our dogs were barking. Then the kids played with the dog stuffed animals. They got Tracey’s old dog toys out, petted, brushed, and fed their dogs. We put stencils (kinda like a tattoo) on their pumpkins. Justin chose a Looney Tunes one and Nikki chose a funny face. The kids painted with water then we went out to the backyard. It was a little drizzly but we needed to get out. The kids played with the remote control jeep and car. That kept them amused for a while. After lunch we needed to run an errand. The kids finally got dressed (well kind of). Justin put on pants w/out underwear w/his jammie top and Nikki put on her Sleeping  Beauty dress. It fits her so well now, so cute. We had to get Justin new training wheels so he is all set for the trike a thon at school. Of course the kids wanted to buy something. I am not sure why but we gave into them. Justin got a truck with a boat trailer attached. He wanted it because he loved the trucks getting the boats out of the water at Dana Point. Nikki picked a Barbie that is potty training her puppies. Apparently these puppies pee. Not sure what I was thinking. The kids played with their new toys for a bit and I cleaned up the house. I feel like I have been cleaning up the house all day. We decided it was time to get say goodbye to the train table. The kids haven’t really been using it lately. Instead they have been building on the floor, huge tracks. So we got rid of the table itself but kept everything else. We needed some resty time. The kids had a hard time agreeing on what to watch on TV but agreed on Care Bears. Justin says he likes the green guy. They of course played Care Bears after it was all over. They ran around the downstairs of the house. And for some reason Nikki had to get into regular clothes (out of her Sleeping Beauty outfit) and Justin had to get naked. After dinner the kids were playing with Nikki’s dogs and Barbie. Water everywhere. Upstairs they had tea/coffee parties in the bathroom-more water. We read some books. Nikki is wanting to read about doctors, dentists, etc. all the bad stuff. The Halloween lights in/out of the house are looking so nice. I can’t believe Halloween is almost here.

We are having the craziest gloomiest weather. We are taking advantage of the weather though and cleaning out this house. I was working in the toy room a bit. Dad has been so good working in his office. I asked for some space for my scrap book. It is going to be a lengthy process though. So much computer stuff and crap to go through. This morning was the beginning of the kids Fun With Horses Class. It was really cute. Both kids seemed really interested and even Bret and I learned a thing or two about horses. I don’t know much about horses at all. The kids learned to put on the harness, groom/brush the horse, put the saddle on, get on and off the horse, and walk the horse. Luckily the kids weren’t too disappointed they didn’t get to ride the horse today. They took care of a horse named Benji. Now Benji is the kid’s favorite horse. I think it will be a great class and wonder if it will spark an interest in horses or not. At the end of the class the kids got to throw some carrots in for the horses. Here are some pics:

We grabbed some lunch on the way home. The kids had fun feeding the birds. When we got home we decided it was time to bob for apples. It was so funny. Nikki was so determined to get an apple. The kids went and got their goggles. Both kids were so wet and putting their heads in the water. They both went after the smallest apples. They had such a great time and we had a great time watching them. I got some silly pics:

The kids had a blast but I was worried they were wet and cold. So after they were done I had them get into a warm bath. Which worked out perfectly as it was bath day anyway. Justin stayed in the bath for the longest time. I think he just liked being warm. The kids have learned all about the paper shredder and think it is the greatest thing ever. Dad and I worked around the house a bit more and the kids played with whatever we were giving away. The kiddos watched some TV while we made some dinner. After dinner it was more play time and straightening up. Somehow in all this cleaning out we made a mess of the house. Dad and Nikki went to run an errand. Justin and I stayed home and played. We used the car carrier as a tow truck and loaded it up and made a chain like a tow truck. The chain was made with ribbon-had to get the girlyness in there. Upstairs the kids were playing amazingly well. Bret and I were in the office. The kids were giggling, lining up animals, and just having so much fun together. Of course they do this before bedtime. We let them play as much as possible but then we had to come in and brush/floss, etc. Both were tired and went to bed pretty quickly.

This morning we just took it easy at home. I started getting rid of things again. I can’t believe how hard it is to find things, it just completely frustrates me. So I guess I keep cleaning things out hoping it helps. The kids did a few projects this morning, cut and glued an owl and a pumpkin. I showed the kids a you tube video of the Smurfs and Casper the Friendly Ghost. Justin was busy using his remote control jeep in the garage and backyard.  We played a bit but then we realized it was getting late. So I fed the kiddos lunch and we were off to school. I took a few pics for some more kids at school so I didn’t get out of school until about 12:30. I ran some errands then headed home for a short bit. I dropped off the groceries, relaxed for a short bit and then it was time to pick up the kiddos. We raced over to a friends house for a  play date. My friend has two boys but Nikki managed to have fun too. Every once in a while she would say she was bored but then the next minute she would be playing and having fun. They had a cool garage toy Justin loved plus trains, that boy was in heaven. When we got home we played outside. I did some gardening. Justin and Nikki played with his remote control jeep. He was trying to drive it on the greenbelt then dad came home. We stayed outside for a while. Dad played vampire tag with the kiddos. So I think you tag the person and pretend to drink their blood, very nice Bret-HA. They had a great time, lots of laughing. Nikki and I came in to make dinner while Justin drove his car. I let Nikki cut up salad stuff. I was so paranoid she was going to cut herself but she did great. I never want my babies to get hurt. We had fun together in the kitchen. After dinner we just hung out. I am trying to get the kiddos to clean out the playroom a bit. I know they will get lots of new things for their birthday. Time to get one more group of pics posted for pre school then to watch TV.

I woke up a little early this morning for some odd reason. I woke up with a Disney hang over, is that possible? HA! We were out early for our Tanaka Farms field trip. The kids had a great time. The great time more so was had by seeing and playing with their friends. They were all holding hands and running around. Nikki and her friend Ella were tied at the hip, it was so cute. In a way it makes me so sad as friends come and go depending what part of life we are in. Her friend lives in Costa Mesa so they may not see each other much after pre school  but I guess thats what happens. First we got on the wagon and went to the petting zoo. Love the look on Justin’s face while petting the baby goat. Then we went on a wagon ride around the farm and did the corn maze. Somehow I lost my kids in the corn maze. They were way ahead of me but I knew they were with their friends so they were safe. We picked some veggies, radishes, carrots, onions, and green beans. Then the kids got to pick out a pumpkin each. Nikki really wanted to pick one of the vine but most were already off the vine. The ones on the vine were in sad shape. Justin ran all over looking for the perfect green pumpkin and we found it! I think we were the only one that left there with a green pumpkin but that is Justin’s favorite color and it is a great pumpkin. He did drop it a few times on the way out. When we got home we had lunch then we just played a bit. I gave the kiddos a bath-they were well over due. There just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day. Then we were off to soccer for Nikki. Nikki did so great at soccer. She made lots of goals today, so great. She even started to pass to her friends. It was so frustrating for me to watch as Nikki would get the ball and bring it all the way to the goal then give it to a friend and the ball would get stolen….but she had to share the ball. She couldn’t make all the goals. We brought Justin’s scooter, so he had a great time scootering around. The kids just wanted to play and have fun so we headed over to the play structure. I remember being at this park when the kiddos were small and it was so hard to watch them, so much easier now. It is still a huge play area though. Nikki brought a doll with her and wanted to push it on the swings and have it go down the slides. Justin rode his scooter through the entire play structure. He also made a friend there. It is so sad though as Justin had to go potty and by the time we got back his friend left the park. I hope we see him again at that park as Justin really took a liking to him. We got home and had a later than usual dinner. The kids played and fought. I was a bit frustrated as I wanted some computer time but somehow that couldn’t happen, so I just gave up. I played with the kiddos, got them ready for bed, and decided to read a ton of books. I almost put myself to sleep reading books. Now to catch up on the computer and TV time.

Here are pics from our day:

Disney day! We were doing so well getting ready to head out for Disney but then a friend called us for a play date. We hadn’t seen these friends for a while so we didn’t hesitate to re-arrange our schedule to play. I am so glad we did as it was great to catch up with my friends as well as the kids to see their friends. Nicole and Justin were so excited to play with the different toys. It was just a nice relaxing morning. Nikki didn’t want to leave. I left sun screen at home. So on the way to Disney we stopped at the store and to grab some sandwiches. Disney was great. Justin has been wanting to go on the double decker bus and some of the cars there. So when we first got there we rode the bus. It took us down Main St and dropped us off at the castle. We then picked up the horse carriage ride and took it back to the front where our stroller was. Nikki took her picture with Pluto and Minnie dressed as a witch. I don’t think we ate lunch until 1:45. We got our fast passes to Autopia then went on Nemo. Justin liked Nemo and Nikki liked most of it. There were a few scary parts. I am trying to get the kids to go on different things each time we are there. There is so much they like and we never have time to do it all. After the Autopia there was a Star Wars show going on. Both kids were interested in it. Nikki did get very scared of Darth Vader-but she couldn’t stop watching it. She did tell me later she discovered Star Wars was for boys. Justin wanted to stay and watch the show for a bit. We headed to CA Adventure. I think this park was more crowded than Disney. Just as we got there the Playhouse Disney show was starting so we ran in and saw that. The kids still love that show. We got our spot for the parade and tried to run over to Bug’s Land-I have never seen that area so busy. The kids loved the parade and we did get wet. Justin laughed and Nikki hid behind me. We headed to the Pier Plaza area and did the carousal and ferris wheel. We went on a new ride kind od like a rocket/blimp thing. I was nervous but thank goodness it wasn’t so bad. Nikki was dying to go on the Monster ride and luckily there was no line so we ran on that quickly then headed home. We got home at 8:00. I had no idea what to do for dinner, so we had breakfast-eggs, bacon, etc. We read a few books then off to bed. I need to go relax and unwind.

Not a very exciting day in the Sanders household. We hung out at home and got ready for the cleaners. It is amazing if you tell the kiddos they can watch TV if they help clean up how fast they move. They were so busy cleaning up I couldn’t keep up with them. They even ran up to clean their rooms. Nikki even made her bed but I had to take off her sheets. After cleaning their rooms we just played upstairs for a while. The kids surprisingly weren’t running down to watch TV. We had a great time upstairs together. I did turn on the TV after a while to avoid the house being messed up again. Then we went out and about with our day. We ran some errands. We went out for lunch and I was amazed at what Nikki ate. She must be going through a growth spurt. We did more errands and headed home. We were home for a short bit then off to soccer. They have soccer at a new field now. I remembered that but I couldn’t remember if it was the girls or boys day for soccer. I thought it was Nikki’s but it turned out to be Justin’s day. Luckily the kiddos share cleats. But I only had pink shin guards, but the coach had some blue ones Justin could wear. So fun to watch soccer. Nikki and I had fun playing together too. She was rolling down the hill and sliding on the blanket. She accidentally slid on the blanket while running down (like sliding on a base) and kept on doing it-it was so funny. I hope Justin is enjoying soccer. He says he is but it is so hard to tell while he is out there. He is definitely doing all the drills but seems a little intimated when it comes to playing in teams. Or maybe it was just today. It seemed chaotic when all the kids were bunched together. We ran into some friends on our way out and ended up staying for a bit so the kids could play together. They ran around and kicked the ball together. Maybe having a friend on the team would be more fun for the kids, who knows. After soccer we went over to the Market place where the kids played on the escalators at the movie theater. They went up and down them over and over and over again. Dad met us there and we had dinner. Then we went to the costume place and I finally decided on being a pirate this year. We bought Justin a horse on a stick thing so both kids now have one and can play together. They were both riding them tonight a bit. They tied up their horses and had a tea party in the bathroom. The tea party is with water and water is all over the vanity. But it is just water. The kids learned about the paper shredder tonight then we just read books in our bed.