Melissa’s Blog

We took our time this morning and stayed at home. The kids played on the Leapsters for a while and we played with toys. We ran to the Laguna Hills Mall for a bit. The kids had a great time, going on the riding toys. After we met some friends at Settler’s park. The kids had so much fun at the park. The kids all rolled down the hill, ran down the hill, played ring a round the rosie, duck duck goose, etc. It was really cute to watch all the kids playing. It was getting a little cool out so we came home. The kids watched Curious George while I caught up on things at home. After TV we played games. We played Don’t Break The Ice and Memory. Grandma/pa came over. We played hide and seek and the kids liked having grandma/pa here. Alan, Roberta, and Tierney came over as well. Got some great pics of Tierney. She is getting so big. Her personality is really shining through. We are all thinking her and Nikki are going to be trouble 🙂

Grandma brought dinner. Justin and daddy picked a huge carrot out of the garden. It was a double carrot and Justin pretty much ate the entire thing. We had dinner and Nicole wanted to sit next to T and help feed her. For desert we had ice cream sundays. Now the only reason why this is worth mentioning as we put a matza ball in a dish and put hot fudge, whip crem on it and gave it to Grandma as a joke. It was hilarous! She took it pretty well too. After dinner the kiddos just played and we got to see all the pics Alan and Roberta have taken. So cute! Nicole and Justin were starting to melt down as we put them to bed a little late. The minute their heads hit the pillow they were asleep. Bret and I just finished cleaning and got to be together.

Nicole woke up last night looking for the rest of her animals. This morning we were off to pre school. We dropped daddy off at work with his bike. There was traffic though so we were a little for pre school. I was working today. The kids decided to both bring in rocks for sharing. Silly thing to bring but who am I to judge. Pre school was fun. I was the outside blue mom. A lot of the kids got wet and sandy but we had fun. There was a little Easter egg hunt at school. So cute the kids were all so excited. We came home and had lunch. My old boss’s wife came over with their dog Pali. We are going to dogsit for them starting this weekend. I just wanted to make sure the kids weren’t afraid of the dog. She is a german shephard and so sweet. The kids played outside with water for a while. They were wet so I got them naked and put them in the bath. Bath was uneventful which is a good thing. The kids had fun. After bath the kiddos had so much fun running around naked. Jumping off their beds, etc. I finally got clothes on the kids and we ran some errands. I stopped at Carters to get the kids matching shirts for a family picture this weekend. They had a blast playing with the lego table and getting stickers. We came home and the kiddos and I did an Easter craft thing. Daddy came home. While we made dinner, the kids watched Curious George. The kids wanted their Leapster games after dinner. We told them we needed to exchange them. Well Jusitn took it to me we were going to go tonight, so we found him sitting in daddy car waiting for us. So funny. So we broke all rules and went to Toys R Us even though we should have begun our nighttime routine. The Leapster rather than the Leapster 2 seems to be working better. Plus it was cheaper so a good thing. They played on their Leapsters for a while. We got them ready for bed and red a few books. We didn’t think Nicole was going to sleep but she did. I couldn’t find her regular animals that she usually sleeps with but I brought her new ones and she was as happy as can be. Hopefully she won’t wake up tonight asking for her animals now.

Nicole greeted us in our bed around 6:30 this morning. Luckily we got her to go back to sleep. She was cuddled next to me snoring, so sweet to watch her sleep but there was no way I could go fall back to sleep. I was also afraid to make a move as I didn’t want to wake her up either. Justin slept in a bit this morning. I hired a sitter so I could run to a doctor’s app’t. So I left about 8:40. The kids love the sitter, Coach Stacie. I had an app’t with the endocronoligist. Everything is ok but one hormone is still a bit off so he altered medication a bit. I lost 10 pounds since my last visit there, I guess 3 months ago. It was so weird being off by myself this morning. I did a few errands and did some grocery shopping. The kids had a great time with the sitter. They went to the park and played. When I pulled up they were outside playing in the cul de sac with their Diego rescue pack/Dora backpacks and shovels. Nicole is wearing her ballet outfit today and looks adorable. When I got home we headed to our My Gym class. The kids had a great time in class. When asked what their favorite color is, Justin said green and Nicole said pink, red, yellow. We took daddy car today since dad rode his bike to work. The kids told everyone at My Gym we had daddy car. We came home and the kids played a bit then watched Curious George. We started an Easter craft but then looked at the time. We wanted to walk over to our friend’s dance class to check it out. We walked to Pacific Dance. Nicole was interested in the class but wanted me to go in with her. We just watched our friend, it was so cute. After the kids played outside the dance place. Nicole and Neela hid together while Justin hid then they switched. So cute watching them play together. We were there for so long that I just called daddy and had him meet us over there for dinner. We headed to the pizza place. The kids played games and now the place added motorcycle games which the kids enjoyed. They took a bite of pizza then played games, came back for a bite, more games and this went on for a while. We walked home. Dad had his bike so the kiddos wanted to ride on it a little bit. We came home and the kids picked out rocks to share with the class tomorrow. Yes I know rocks! They went upstairs and dad got them ready for bed and read books. Now to go relax!

I slept so well last night. I went running this morning, about 6 3/4 miles. It wasn’t as good of a run as yesterdays. I should have taken a day off in between. When I got home the kids were all dressed, fed breakfast, and playing with toys. It took us a while to figure out what to do today. We let the kids do some painting. The kids were so demanding, asking for pain, paper, etc Bret and I couldn’t get them things fast enough. We showed them the birds nest under our eves by the front door. We also brought a carpet outside and the kids were painting then went dancing on the carpet. They were having fun. The painting became messy and the kids started using their fingers. It was all good as they needed to take a bath anyway. Justin and daddy went out to get food for lunch while Nicole and I played at home. It was fun. We had a great time together playing babies. After lunch daddy filled up a million water balloons. The kids got their bathing suits on and they threw balloons at the fence and the street. They were having a great time and daddy couln’t fill balloons fast enough. After they played with their water table, then they moved onto the house. They were having a great time together, playing so well. I went inside and Justin had fun spraying me in the window. All of a sudden the day was half over and the kids watched The Tigger Movie. Dad and I cleaned some stuff out and listed things on Craigslist. There was one part of the movie the kids didn’t like. Poor Nicole she hasn’t found one movie that she loves. So far she has seen one at Sea World that sprayed water on her (4D), a little of Cars, and Tigger. She thought the cars were mean to each other and she didn’t like the snow storm in Tigger. Justin loves the TV and likes everything. After TV the kids played a little with their hot wheel cars and track. Then we decided to head to the Spectrum. The kids rode their usual animals on the carousal, bunny for Nicole, Ostrich for Justin. We went into the toy store and the pet store. Oh my goodness the puppies were so cute! Then Nicole and I ran off as I wanted to look for some new jeans while dad and Justin went into the Apple store. They tried to ride the ferris wheel but the wait was way too long as the seatbelts were broken. Nicole and I had fun, I gave her a piggy back ride, carried her a bit, and she went back and forth running from one of my arms to the other. We went into the Skechers store and both tried on shoes. So much fun, we walked around fountains. We met up with dad and Justin for dinner. I only got about 20 minutes with Nicole but it was precious. After dinner we headed home. The kids read books and off to bed.

I went for a quick run this morning while dad and the kids played games. After breakfast I took the kiddos to My Gym. So cute. The hot dog thing (mat) was half full, so the kiddos sat on it then I would sit and make them go flying. We were all laughing hysterically. While I was with the kiddos dad went and got a smog check for his car. The kiddos and I ran to Target for a few things. We came home and picked up daddy so we could go to Jane’s 4th birthday. It was at a bounce house place. So much fun bouncing with the kids. Dad and I had a great time with the kids, but I am feeling my age. The kids slid, bounced, played basketball in the bounce house, and air hockey. The party was great. After we had pizza, cake, and ice-cream. The kids were excited for their goody bags. A perfect day for a 3 yr old! We headed to Target again to get Leapsters for the kids. Earlier I couldn’t decide whether to buy them or not but we thought we would try for our trip to Canada. The kids are doing ok with them but they may be a little advanced for them but time will tell. The kiddos watched Curious George. After they wanted to play their Leapsters again but with the mention of water balloons, Justin ears perked up and outside on the greenbelt we went. We did water balloons, played catch and threw them at the wall. We didn’t have much time to be out there as we needed to cook dinner. The kids and I played grocery store while dad cooked dinner. They can play that game for hours. We had fun. After dinner we had family bingo night. The kids are loving this game. We played a bit in the futon room and cleaned out a few toys. Grandma/pa were up this way so they stopped by. The kiddos had fun playing. They went to bed a little lat but are sleeping now

This morning Nicole greeted us in our bed. So funny. She said she got up because she went pee 5 times, ha ha. The kiddos played while I cleaned up a bit. The kiddos played with puzzles, trains, etc. While waiting for our playdate I let the kids relax in front of the TV. My kiddos were a little distant during play group. They really just wanted to be by themselves upstairs. So thats where they went. Nicole wanted all her friends to go upstairs with her and a few did. When it got a little less chaotic the kids came down to play. One little girl Jenna stayed for a while longer while her mom did some work. The kids had fun playing with her. They all played grocery store together. After everyone left I needed to go to the foot doctor to fix my orthodics. It felt like there was no room for my foot in the shoe anymore. He fixed it a bit so hopefully it will work well when I run tomorrow morning. The kid watched the DVD but Nicole had a fit when I turned it off. Then we decided to go up to South Coast Plaza on the way home. The kids went into Rainforest to see the Curious George stuff but when they heard the gorilla they wanted to leave. We walked around a bit played in some stores. The kids rode the bunny carousal, so cute. I was hoping they would sit by the Easter bunny. It was a little animated stuffed bunny. He even said hi Nicole and Jusitn, the look on their face was priceless, they were like how does he know my name? So funny. We stopped at In N Out Burger for dinner on the way home. The kids were a bit annpying at dinner, I had to tell Nicole to sit down, it felt like a million times. It wasn’t until I threatened to go home did she listen. Justin was hanging all over me at dinner, laying on me, etc. I was just tired. We came home and we all cleaned the toys up. Dad re-built the track on the train table. We went upstairs and the kids played a bit then we read books. They were a bit hyper but finally settled down after 15 minutes.

I dropped the kiddos off at pre school. I decided to be a little selfish and have time for me. But I still went to the grocery store. I came home and got ready for the play date. Before I knew it, it was almost time to pick up the kiddos. I ran to Ann Taylor too as I need some new jeans. The kids were so excited to have their friends over. All the kids played really well together. The only thing is my house gets so messy. I am always cleaning up, oh well that is part of being a mom. So great that the kids enjoyed their friends and I had fun with my mommy friends. We have such a diverse pre school, it is really interesting learning about everyone’s culture. After everyone left I cleaned up. The kids played. It is so gloomy out today, it is making me blah! I gave the kids a bath. I am always so busy. The kids had fun in the bath, preteding to give each other swim lessons. Of course neither of them know how to swim. The kids were in the bath for such a long time. Neither of them wanted to get dressed. It was 5:30 Bret had to work a little late, I had naked kids….so all I could think to make for dinner is breakfast. The kids are always asking for pancakes for every meal anyhow. We built a track for Justin so he was playing trains with me and Nicole was getting daddy time. Then both kids played with trains. We headed upstairs and the kids were throwing things on their canapies and getting them down. They were also playing with the rocking chair and ottoman. We read books and Justin wore his cute dino jammies. I love when the kiddos go right to bed. Bret got a great review at his job and a nice bonus. We are very lucky in this economy.

We went to our first Easter egg hunt of the season. We went to Irvine Regional Park. They had so much going on there and the kids wanted to do everything-I think it would have been cheaper to go to Disney. We had a great time. First we did the egg hunt. They were allowed to get 8 eggs each. There were a lot of other kids that got to the eggs first. But they kept putting more out. Nicole is mad at the Easter bunny because one of her eggs was empty. The kids had fun opening their eggs and seeing all the stuff they got. Of course the candy was the highlight. They put all the stickers on their clothes. Justin wanted to keep everything in his pants pockets but I told him the things may fall out when he goes in the bounce house. I got some cute pics.

Then the kids bounced and bounced. The whole time I heard “mommy watch, watch me”. I didn’t mind at all. Of course we couldn’t go to this park without going on the train. But then we noticed the wagon ride. Nicole said she liked the bouncing and the egg hunt the best. Justin liked the wagon ride and the egg hunt the best. Before we left the park Nicole wanted to speak to the Easter bunny about the one egg being empty. We went over there I was hoping the kiddos would sit on the Easter bunny’s lap but they just watched. I explained to Nicole she got lots of other eggs. Just a nice time with the kids. On they way home we stopped at Costco. We needed lots of stuff and snacks for a play group tomorrow. The kiddos got to watch Curious George, still the all time favortie. After TV we were playing a bit and noticed we needed to leave for storytime. We met some friends at Katie Wheeler Library for story time and craft. The kids liked the stories about bunnies and made bunny masks out of paper plates, really cute. After we played outside for a little while, hide and seek. Justin was hiding and decided if he couldn’t see the seeker, then the seeker couldn’t see him. So he sat on a bench with his back to the seeker, so funny! Then Justin said his belly hurt so we left. It was just gas, he was much better after going to the bathroom. Daddy rode his bike home and I went out for a quick jog. After dinner the kids played in the backyard. They were in their jammies and getting all wet, ugh. But they were so proud of themselves washing my windows, using dirty brooms. We went upstairs and played hide and seek (rescuing). Somehow hides and yells help help and then they get rescued. So fun, the kids just love it. Daddy was busy using the comforter to throw the kids on the bed and the loved that. Daddy read some books and the kids were looking really tired. Nicole put her baby to bed and Justin had his dog.