Melissa’s Blog

Nicole woke up last night, crying and had a hard time settling down. She woke up again this morning in search of her blanket. The kids went to pre school this morning and I wasn’t working. I went for a jog around the park by their school. I figured if I came home then I wouldn’t work out. It was fun spying on the kids. I also ran and finally got a pedicure. It was so nice! We played outside for a while at school. The kids had fun. Nicole is really loving Rio, so cute to watch them talk together. Rio was telling me all about Shamu getting her all wet and Nicole was explaining if she sat up top she wouldn’t have gotten wet. The kids had fun playing outside. We came home and the fighting started again. Luckily they knew they had to be good to be able to watch TV, so they played really nicely. They played trains and had fun together. So I put on Mickey Mouse Club for them. They seem to love Little Einsteins, Curious George, and Mickey Mouse Club House. After I played with the kiddos on the couch. They both wanted to be on my lap, at first Nicole was not ok with this but then she got over it. We did the usual row row your boat, slide, jump on me, etc. It was fun. Then I had to run to the grocery store. The kids each added an animal on their skateboards, Nicole a dog with her cat and Justin another dog named fluffy. They took their skateboarda animals with them. We took daddy car since it was in the garage and easy to unload groceries. Nicole told me daddy was going to be mad since I was taking his car. It was funny. The kids were really good at the store and very helpful. Justin saw these crackers that were octagon shape and really wanted them. When we got home the kiddos played really well together; it was great. I was able to make dinner. I was trying to hurry since I was dropping off a meal to a friend who just had a baby. I was running late and was cutting into our dinner time but the kids really wanted to come drop the food off. It was such a pain unstrapping them for just a minute when we got to her house but they were just so excited. They just wanted to look at our friend’s toys. We came home and had dinner then the kiddos played with their leapsters. I cleaned up getting ready for a play group tomorrow. We went upstairs and we had fun throwing the kids on our bed and playing. They are so laughy and cute! We read books and the kiddos are sleeping.

The kids are loving playing music on daddy’s laptop with him. All the Disney songs, it’s a small world, tiki room, and little piggy song. Nicole is kinda scared of the piggie one but still likes it. Nicole wanted her hair in pig tails again, I just love it. We spent the first part of the morning at home, then went to the park. We went to Woodbury Park and met saw some friends there. The kids had so much fun. They discovered how to go down this spiral thing and had to do it again and again. They were in the swings for a bit, played with sand. Justin pee’d his pants though. He told me he had to go potty and then all of a sudden he said his penis couldn’t hold it anymore. Oh well, luckily I had other clothes in the car. Guess he was having too much fun to stop playing. After the park we came home and had lunch. Unfortunately the kids have been bugging each other all day. I am so tired of hearing mommy Nikki this and mommy Justin this, but some days are just like this I guess. The kiddos are so proud of their bean plants that are growing that they planted at pre school. Nicole is into changing her clothes a bunch of times. I guess I shouldn’t complain at least she is wearing clothes. The kids watched Thomas and Curious George today. We played a little more at home, My Little Pony, and magnets. I put magnets on a cookie sheet and the kids thought it was so great. It was going really well till the kids knew that cookie sheets belong in the oven, so they started to play with the oven. All of a sudden the kids say someone is here, so excited…it was Uncle Alan and he brought Tierney. That was the best surprise. T is doing just great, cute as anything. She is clapping now and it is adorable. Nicole, of course, wanted to help feed her. T is just a love bug. After their visit we decided to go have a picnic dinner by the train path. Dad met us there coming from work on his bike. We had a great time running and chasing the kiddos, spinning them. Justin brought his football and Nicole her princess ball. However, they both wanted to kick the princess ball and thus more fighting. We would have been better off not bringing toys. Then Nicole wanted to pretend we were pirates. So the kids hid the balls and we found the treasure. Justin kept telling us where he hid the ball, it was funny. Whenever a train went by the kids were so excited. We came home and the kids played in the tent room for a bit. The good old ball popper kept them occupied for a bit. They started to sing the popcorn song from pre school. We read lots of books and the kiddos went right to bed. Of course it is not that dark @ 8:00 so Justin keeps saying it is not dark yet.

Justin slept all night, fever free so hopefully he is all better. I decided not to let the kids go to pre school today. I couldn’t imagine Justin or Nicole feeling terrible at school, who would cuddle them until I got there? So we are playing it safe. This morning we just played at home. The kids don’t want to get out of their jammies. Then I got a call that I was supposed to work. Someone asked me to switch and some how it got all messed up. I was so angry at how the situation was handled. So I decided to take the kiddos to school and sorry if they get anyone sick. The kids had a fun time at school. Since I ran out of the house so fast I didn’t get anything for the kids to share. Instead Nicole told a story about Sunday going to the hotel and Justin getting sick. She was so cute. And Justin sang the ABC song to everyone, I was shocked he did that and it was adorable. I wish I brought the video camera. Anyway we played outside and made sand castles, pushed the kids in the swings, and the kids rode bikes. Inside the kids made pirate hats and patches. It was so cute watching them all wear their patches. I hid some treasure for all the pirates to find. Sine I was still mad after pre school we just came home. One of their friends from pre school stopped by to drop off party favors (my kids missed the party). It was very sweet and came at a great time. How could I be mad at anything after seeing the kids so excited to get their goodie bags and Neela so happy to give it to them. The kids loved all the stuff they got. I gave the kiddos a bath. And Neela gave Nicole pony tail holders, so she wanted to put her hair up. It was so cute in pony tails; she looked adorable. I have to take a picture. After bath I needed to go to the mall for a few things. The kids had a great time riding on the cars, motorcycle, etc. They were so disappointed that the lights were gone. We went up and down the escalators, up and down elevators, played in the Disney store…we had a really good time just taking our time. We came home and the kiddos were hungry, so we ate an early dinner. After dinner the kiddos rode their bikes on bunny path. We are so proud of the kids for stopping at the end of the path and waiting for us. I look at them on their bikes and think in no time at all we will be taking the training wheels off-time is just flying. I went out tonight for mom’s night out. I had a great tie and it was nice to get out. I missed my family but I needed some time out.

Justin woke up feeling a 100% better, thank goodness. He was as good as new which I figured that would happen. I would rather have this situation then him still sick in San Diego. Nicole was so nice to Justin when he was sick, wanting to rub his back, etc. This morning the kids took all the cushions off the couch and played on them. They did bubbles outside together and painted with water outside. We just took it easy today. I wanted to make sure Nicole didn’t catch it and keep the kids away from their friends for a few days. The kids liked spreading out their towels and laying on them. I played some games with the kiddos, Candyland, etc. I thought by playing with the kids for a bit then they would play on their own. Nope, I built tracks, played mommy with Nicole’s dogs, etc. Justin started to not feel well again. His fever came back but not too high. I let the kiddos watch TV and rest for a bit. All of a sudden Nicole says since Justin doesn’t feel good, he can pick the TV show. I am so amazed how sweet she is. Her thinking of others impresses me so much; I am so proud of her. Justin picked Little Einsteins. Justin felt better and wanted to eat lunch. We just played all afternoon. I took out whatever toys they hadn’t played with in a while, Crystal Climbers, ariel dolls, light sabers, I became a play structure…..Dad came home early as he had to go to the dentist. Just as he came home the kids wanted to go in the pool. They wanted to bring Ariel and barbie dolls in the pool. Justin was the first to get Ariel naked. We did the squirty tools and just had fun playing with the water. Nicole really wanted to watch Mickey Mouse Club House, so they watched one. Finally after playing with the water, the kiddos got dressed. They were in their jammies most of the day. After TV Justin started to feel yucky again, poor guy. Dad wanted to take Nicole for a walk so Justin could rest but he wanted to go too. I gave him some Tylenol and I was hoping he would fall asleep in the stroller. He lasted until bunny path then wanted to come home. I came home with him while dad and Nicole still played. Justin said he was hungry so I gave him a snack then we watched Curious George together. After dinner the kids went right upstairs and we read a lot of books. Justin was so excited to wear his new jammies; they are so cute on him. He finally fell asleep-I think I did too for a bit. Dad and Nicole were watching Utube videos of space shuttles blasting off and dogs swimming. Nicole really liked the dog one and acted it out too. She put her toys on me then pretended to be a dog and jumped in to get them. The funniest part was when she decided she needed to wear goggles. She pretended to be a dog for the rest of the night. She was doing tricks and gettting bones. What a cutie pie she is. We read some books and then we headed upstairs. I rocked her a bit and hung out with her. She was so great and not jealous about Justin getting my attention today. She doesn’t want to go to school without Justin and I am not going to make her just yet. So tomorrow we will have another day at home.

I went for a quick run then got ready for San Diego. The kids took a quick bath and then we were off. We picked up grandma, so the kiddos went into grandma/pa’s house for a bit to play. On the way to the hotel we stopped in Carlsbad. We had lunch then went over to the outlet mall for a bit. The parking lot was so incredibly busy-it was like Christmas. I think it took us about 20 minutes to get a space. We went into a couple kids stores. Justin found jammies that he just loved in Carters. He never asks for much so I hate saying no to him. The jammies are so cute and remind me of him as a baby. They are like the one piece footed sleepers but this is much cooler for the summer. The kids played on the little quarter rides and the toy store. In the toy store I found cards that sang happy birthday and used the kiddos names. Nicole loved it and played it over and over again. She wanted to buy it but I told her it wasn’t her birthday. She completely understood and said ya it is not my birthday. I got the kiddos some new shoes from Stride Rite and then we headed to the hotel. The hotel was like a hotel you would see in Hawaii. It was beautiful but the rooms were older. The kids could have stayed in the hotel room the entire day. We went over to the lagoon pool and ran into some friends from pre school. The kids had a great time in the water. Justin headed over to the jacuzzi for a bit then we all finally made it over. We got back to the room and the kids were having fun hiding under the covers in the bed. But all of a sudden Justin was acting like he was sick. He just wanted to sleep. He fell asleep on me but then spiked a fever. Luckily the hotel had a place to buy some Tylenol. Justin just slept for a while and Nicole was so good. She was just playing and having fun. She needed dinner so I got her yogurt and a nutri grain bar at the place that had Tylenol. She didn’t care that it was her dinner, she made the best out of the situation. Finally at 7:30 I decided it was best to drive home. I wanted to be on the safe side and just in case we needed to take him to the doctor or hospital. They both fell asleep on the way home. On the way home we heard there was an earthquake of 5.0. I slept in the kid’s room most of the night. Justin felt hot so I gave him more Tylenol and got him some water. He went back to sleep.

It was a busy night in the Sander’s household. Justin came into our bed last night, dad was working, and Nicole woke up really early this morning. Nicole and I were out and about this morning. We went to the Woodbury garage sale. Nicole was amazingly sweet and picked out a Diego toy. She said Justin will love this, so I had to get it. She wanted to go home and bring it to him right then, it was so sweet and cute. We got a couple things but mostly just had fun together. Later we went over to the Spectrum to go in the fountains. The kids had a blast. They were happy screaming and got soaked. Justin was acting a little tired so after lunch we left the Spectrum. We headed to Grammy’s. She needed some help with some things around the house. The kids love her house and we were glad to help her out. The kids played hide n seek with me once. But I guess they didn’t know Grammy’s house to well and had trouble finding me, so they didn’t want to play that anymore. Lets see we went on a “hike”, played on the office chairs (spinning), play doh, rode trikes, etc. We had a great time. We also went to a carnival at a local school. It was a little lame as far as carnivals go but the kids had fun. There wasn’t a lot for little kids, but they did a ring toss, and a couple ball games. They watched someone get dunked in the dunk tank. We ate dinner at Grammy’s. The kids helped Grammy set the table. Grammy was very brave and let the kids carry plates and glasses. The kids were so happy and proud of themselves. After dinner we came home and got the kiddos to bed. They were really tired. Now to go pack up for San Diego.

So glad it is Friday. This morning we just played at home. The kids got the picnic blanket out of the gara Joe things for Justin. He doesn’t know about GI Joe yet, but he like the army men and planes. He was so excited about them. We came home and played some more. The kids wanted their Minnie/Mickey mouse beach towels so after cleaning up the house the kids got their towels. They spread them out on the floor and pretended they were beds. I think I used the crockpot for the first time ever, I am making pulled pork. But really now that I have been smelling it all day I don’t want it for dinner. After lunch I let the kiddos watch Clifford and a Princess  DVD that I  bought this morning. I played and played with the kiddos, joked with them, made them giggle, etc. We had great quality time together and read some books. I needed to go to Costco and return some stuff so we headed over there. The kids were so excited about all the snacks. They love to help me shop there. For some reason they are loving jammies these days and wanted to buy all the jammies there. Nicole put her jammies on when we got home. Then we tried to use the fishy sprinkler from last yeat but it has a hole in it. So we brought the pool out front. The kids had a blast. They lied down in the pool and got their hair all wet, they loved making footprints on the concrete and loved watching their bathing suits drip on the ground. They were running around just having fun. Poor kids were getting cold but they didn’t want to stop. Dad came home and after shivering we came in and had dinner. After dinner the kids drove their cars for a while and did bubbles. Bret and I worked in the garage a bit. We went upstairs and read lots of books. Nicole called me upstairs since there was no room in her bed for her with all her animals. After fixing it I got a ton more hugs and kisses then I thought Justin was asleep so I kissed his cheek. He was awake and hugged me and gave me kisses but then he licked me-gross. Earlier today the kids were sticking out their tongues and wanted to lick each other’s tongues. And they probably won’t believe me even though they may read this someday.

It was a work day for me at the kiddos pre school. I was blue mom. I spent the morning in the sand and water. We had fun making a bunch of sand castles then the kids all smushed them, it was cute. Nicole brought her laptop to share and Justin brought his Thomas, Crack in the Track book. The teacher even read it. I think the kids are more excited about sharing than pre school. The kids had fun this morning. We have one kid in school that doesn’t sit during storytime and doesn’t listen, I am so glad my kiddos haven’t picked up his bad habits. It is nice to be able to be with the kids and observe their behavior. After school we met Grammy for lunch. The kids love seeing Grammy. Grammy brought them a Tigger and Big Bird figurine thing. Of course Nicole wanted Tigger but they shared (not happily though). I need to work on teaching Nicole just to say thank you. She really wanted Tigger and said she didn’t want Big Bird. After lunch Grammy came back to the house for a bit. She is going to help with decorate the kiddos play room, so we looked at murals online and got some great ideas. Thank goodness Grammy is creative. I am excited to get started on the room. The kiddos watched Little Einsteins. After Little Einsteins I gave the kiddos a bath. Justin goes right into the bath while Nicole plays for a long time. When we got home today Nicole wanted to put on her Dora nightgown. After bath she wanted to put it on again, oh well I guess I should just be happy she is dressed. After bath Nicole got dressed in jammies right away while Justin stayed naked. Dad came home and we played. We had to have an early dinner as I had a pre school meeting. It was a fun meeting being the last one of the year but really I would have rather been with my family.

It is only Wed. I am tired today. The kids want to wear bathing suits all the time. For Mother’s Day the kids made cards at pre school for me. On one side they drew a picture of me and the other side they answered questions about me. I think Nicole and Justin were prompted on some of their answers, so I re-asked the questions. This is what I got (Justin’s answers first then Nicole’s):

My mom is __4__ __6__ years old

My mom likes to eat __salad__ __salad__

My mom alwayars wears __pink__ __brown, white & pink__

Her favorite TV show is __mommy shows__mommy shows__

She cooks the best __chicken__ __pancakes__

These thing make my mom mad __sad things__ __mad things__

What I like to do with my mom __ride on planes__ __play__

These are the things my mom does __ play, dance, turn on music, get exercise __  __cook, clean, play__

What my mom likes best about me __my squeezes, hugs, kisses__ __my pictures I draw__

This was really cute and I just love it. The kids should have said what I like best is everything about them 🙂 Thanks kiddos for making this so special. We stayed home all morning and played. The kids also helped me clean up to get ready for a little play group. We were so happy to have our friends over. The kids had a great time and played really well. My friends even brought cupcakes for my birthday, so sweet. So we all had lunch together and it was just nice to hang out. Today I was determined to get some stuff done, laundry, gardening, clean the backyard, etc  I got a few things done. The kids played with Easter eggs and stickers. Then we went to garden. We did so much gardening in the front yard. The kids helped by digging and watering. The highlight for Justin was using the hose. So funny to hear him tell people that we call him Jose because he loves the hose. Nicole’s highlight was helping me use my clippers. So nice to look at our yard looking all nice (except where the big palm tree is). I don’t know what to do in that area. Uncle Alan stopped by to get his computer and the kids wanted his full attention. They read him books. He only stayed for a short time so we went back outside for a bit to clean up. We all went to a fundraiser at California Pizza Kitchen for pre school. We took our neighbor, Bernice as her husband is out of town. It was fun and the kids liked seeing their teachers. Then we did the frog fountain until the kids got too wet. We came home and read books and said goodnight.

I got the house all ready for the cleaners last night, so this morning wasn’t too stressful. I dropped the kids off at pre school. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with my time, but a couple mom’s were going for a walk, so I joined them. It was really nice talking with no kids around but I got nothing done. Oh well. The kids made me big mother’s day cards at school. The teachers asked the kids questions and they answered them about me-very cute, I will keep these forever. I think on some things the kids were prompted so I may have to ask the questions again. The kids played outside after pre school. I brought Reed and Neela’s presents for their birthday today. Nicole and Justin were so excited to give them to their friends, it was really sweet. We came home and the cleaners were still here. So I decided it was a good time to give the kiddos a bath. Nicole was a little reluctant to get in and she has been a bit moody lately, ugh. I hope she isn’t getting sick. After bath she seemed to have snapped out of it, but insisted on wearing a bathing suit. Oh well. Justin wanted his too. Then the kids watched their new favorite, Little Einsteins. After the kids were starving and asked for a bunch of snacks. I needed to get out of the house, so we decided to go for a walk on bunny path. Nicole pushed her stroller with Winnie The Pooh in it and Justin biked. We were on a search for bunnies but only saw one. But we saw Mr. Lizard and dogs. We sat in the shade together and just talked-Nicole put sunscreen on pooh and Justin said he was tired. On the way home we ran into daddy driving home, Justin abandoned his bike and happily jumped into daddy car and went for a ride on around the block. Nicole and I walked home and then hid in the house from daddy and Justin. After dinner dad had fun with the kids, he pushed them in the swings…but the kids got cold. Go figure that a bathing suit wouldn’t keep them warm. So the kids played games, Bingo and then duck duck goose. I left to go to Bunco. It was nice getting out. I never want to go but I am always glad when I do go. I had fun and won for the most babies ($65). But I am sure tired this morning.