Melissa’s Blog

We had a very mellow day today. I went running with a friend this morning. It wasn’t a very gret run as I was tired. I just wanted to stay in bed. Dad took Nicole to Starbucks and an errand while I got Justin time. We had fun together, built a track, played with a magnetic book, and just enjoyed being together. Dad and Nicole had fun too. At Starbucks Nicole asked for a churro which Bret figured was a crossaint. Nicole even saved some for Justin and I. We needed to run to the Laguna Hills Mall for a few things. Dad and Justin went off looking for tools while Nicole and I did some girly shopping. Nicole made me hold her leash the entire time, she loves it! We played in the mall for a bit, rode on the cars, etc. Then we went out for lunch. We came home and we went over to our neighbor’s. We are going to be dog sitting for them and they wanted us to see some furniture. This is the house that is just like ours but absolutely remodeled. I love being in there house, it is beautiful. Unfortunately some of the stuff they did is way out of our price range. It is still nice to dream. The kids loved being there and played with Zoe the dog. We went to Grammy’s this afternoon to help her with a few things. We also went to Sharon’s to help her with a few things as well. The kids had fun playing at Sharon’s. She has a really open family room so the kids just danced on the carpet and did lots of “tricks”. They really enjoyed playing with Sharon’s canes, the kids call them candy canes. We had dinner at Grammy’s and the kiddos watched Winnie The Pooh show. The kiddos were tired tonight it did take until about 8:30 to get them to sleep.

All of a sudden our day got crazy. We were playing at home for a bit this morning, then we went to Ralph’s. The kids are so helpful at the grocery store. We took Winne the Pooh with us as well. We got Justin a new floatie (he picked a crocodile) and I got the kids fun noodles as well. Justin green and Nicole pink, of course. We were supposed to have a swim lesson today but the instructor was sick, so we went over to a friend’s pool and played. There were lots of kids there from our pre school and the kiddos had a blast. Nicole was in the water the entire time. They loved it! Justin laid his head on the crocodile and was as cute as can be. We all had lunch together-it was a really nice afternoon. Then we hurried home and we ran into our neighbors with Zoe. The kids played with Zoe for a bit then we came in for the quickest bath ever. Then we headed over to Settler’s Park for Janet and Zach’s (Alaina and Evan) going away party. It was really fun and we saw lots of our friends. The kids were busy climbing on everything. They really liked this pedalling thing. We had dinner at the park. We have been going all day, it was finally nice to come home. The kids were pretty tired tonight. We went upstairs and we read a Pooh book over and over again. The kids were cute and sleepy tonight. They didn’t even want to pick out their outfits for tomorrow. At least I can finally get one on Nikki that she hasn’t worn in a while. The only things she wants to wear is her lady bug outfit, princess outfit, polka dot dress, or bathing suit. We got the kids down a little early tonight.

I should become a professional painter after all this painting. Well today was another mural day, it is coming along though. I played with the kids all morning hoping that would make them happy then I could paint. We had fun playing games, toys, reading, etc. Grammy came over again thus began the mural painting again. Without Grammy’s help it would have taken us months.  We babysat Neela, from pre school, for a few hours today. The kids played so well together. So cute to watch the kiddos to play. Neela helped Nicole and Justin with puzzles, so sweet. Neela is all girly so Nicole dressed up with her, played my little pony, etc. The girls dressed up as Cinderella and Justin put on a pirate outfit. Nicole wanted Neela all to her self and didn’t want Justin to play. We had a talk about that. The kids all played Hungry Hungry Hippos together. The kids took the placemats and used them as megaphones and were saying hello. It was loud so I told them to go upstairs and see if we can hear them. It was a nice afternoon of not hearing the kids say mommy mommy. When Neela left I let the kids watch TV. Grammy headed home and I continued painting. The kids and I drove cars around the house and dad came home. Justin and dad went out and drove J’s car. Dad had a stressful day at work, he caused an important sever to go down. Justin said he wanted to go to Chick Fil-A for dinner, so with nothing else in mind we said sure. The kids love the play area but we decided tonight it was kind of gross. So we encouraged them to come out and we chose to go to Woodbury Park instead. We had fun running around in the grass, playing tag, and red light, green light. It was a fun family night. The kids were tired tonight and went to bed easily. We have our first swim lesson tomorrow, so exciting but my babies are growing up.

Not a very exciting day today. We worked on the mural and played at home most of the day. Grammy came over to help with the mural. We are making great progress. The kids want me all day. I distracted them by giving them snacks that took a while to eat and they took it upstairs and ate on their froggy table. I also made a sign for father’s day for daddy. The kids loved decorating it with markers and stickers-it came out really cute. I also made paper chains for the first time with the kids. They liked taping them together. They both held an end and ran around the house. There is really not much to write about today except lots of painting and playing. We did get out and ran to the party store as they had a grass skirt thing that could go on the valance of our shade. The kids love that store, playing with everything from Lei’s to balls, etc. After dinner we went for a walk to get some frozen yogurt. On the way home the kids were so silly. They were playing in the grass, rolling and doing summersaults. It was great family time. We did our best to get the kiddos to bed on time finally.

I woke up bright and early and walked with some friends. Nicole decided to wake up bright and early too-ugh. It was nice walking before Bret went to work. Justin slept in a bit this morning. We just stayed home and played. Nicole liked throwing the ball on string (from t-ball) over the wall to the green belt then she would pull it back over. Justin was busy getting everything in the backyard wet. I set up the shake and go race car set so we played for that for a bit. Besides that a really nice morning at home. We had a play group here this morning. It was really nice and the kids played well. It was nice to hang out with the moms too. The kids all had lunch together. I am still looking forward to the day when the kids can play by themselves for more than 5 minutes. Nicole and Justin couldn’t wait to show me the mess upstairs. So then we got it all cleaned up and N&J made an even bigger mess that they were so proud of. It was amusing. They kept on calling me upstairs to see how much bigger their mess was. Well sitting playing grocery store with the kiddos all of a sudden Nicole gets kind of quiet and weird. She looks at me with teary eyes and tells me she swallowed money. She showed me a plastic dime and said thats what she swallowed. After reading on the internet what to do, we are just going to wait it out and watch her. Ugh. I gave the kiddos a bath, well Justin wanted a shower in the fishy bathroom but Nicole wanted a bath. I gave Justin a shower first and then went to give Nicole a bath. Justin got in the bath anyway, silly guy. We had snack and played for a bit. The kids were busy using the couch as a gymnastics thing, they were doing summer saults. Dad came home a little early. We decided to go get some pizza tonight, after we went to the park and had a great time. There was this, the only way to describe it is as a balance beam/see saw. The kids just loved it. They also learned to slide down poles. They were busy kids at the park, there was this twirly chair that went faster and faster. We had never been to this park. Dad and J walked down this little path, so cute when they got back up Justin was telling me so intensly about it and the office buildings (you had to be there). Of course we are paying for the fun as it is 8:30 and the kiddos aren’t sleeping yet. They are upstairs talking.

Last night I decided to take the kiddos to Disney one last time before we are blocked out for summer. We got out early this morning and got to Disney around 8:30. The rocket ships were open again so that was the first ride we went on, the kids were so excited. We got on lots of stuff but by about 10ish it was getting crowded. Justin wanted to do the Autopia and Nicole the Pooh ride, of course on two separate ends of the park but we did it. Nicole was kind of cranky the entire time, driving me crazy. We left the park/downtown Disney around 2:00. The kids actually fell asleep on the wya home. I was kind of glad as Nicole was so cranky it would have made for a terrible day. I didn’t let them sleep too long. Hopefully we won’t pay for it when they are up late tonight. Anyway we just played at home the rest of the afternoon. Th ekids played outside for a bit while I cleaned. It was a little too quiet and they were playing too well…they were starting to play with mud, luckily I got to them before it got too messy. The kids have been loving their t-ball set and playing it a lot. They came in and we played on the road carpet for a bit. After dinner, the kids wanted to swing. WE decided to go out front and play. Justin grabbed his bike and Nicole her scooter and we went around the neighborhood. So funny we asked the kiddos where we live and we got “here”, we were looking for our address, Irvine, or CA. HA. Anyway we put the kiddos to bed a little later than normal since they napped.

This morning I went for a quick run. We played with the kids and read the newspaper. Grammy came over earlier to work on the mural. I can’t believe how long it is going to take us to do this mural, oh well it will look really nice when it is all done. We traced the pattern on and just have a lot of blue taping to do. We did get out for a bit to go to Michaels to get more paint brushes. After lunch Grammy and I went to the grocery store. Unfortunately all the little carts were taken but Nicole had her doggie harness on and Justin just rode holding onto the cart. The kids helped me get things off the shelves and pick out fruits and veggies. We quit working on the mural and played with the kiddos. Also tried to clean up around here, what a mess! We went out for dinner and just headed upstairs. We played out the troll story…it started out as the kids giving me something of value like in the story but it progressed to doing something, like jumping, somersaults, etc. And after they did what I asked them to I let them go over the bridge and then they ran down the hall as fast as they could. It was pretty amusing and the kids loved it. We read books and now are waiting for the kiddos to be quiet-they are upstairs in bed talking to each other.

Well today was the day we started the mural in the kid’s playroom. It is beach themed but now I am thinking why didn’t we pay someone to do it. The kids played this morning, I can’t even remember what we did. We just played with the kiddos and cleaned up a bit. We set up the kid’s frog table upstairs in the playroom and the kids just loved it. They required a snack to bring up there though. Grammy came over and we started planning out the mural. Lots of thinking, and it is so hard when you are trying to work something out and the kids are saying mommy mommy. That was the hardest part today. We went to Lowe’s to buy all the paint. The kids were really patient as it took a while. After lunch the painting began. The only part we got done was the sky, I hope to go paint the ocean after I finish blogging. It was hard keeping the kids distracted while dad did some painting. Grammy bought Justin one of those carpets with the road on it, so he was playing with that for a while. But he really wanted me to play with him. It just seemed like a long day and our house is a mess. Grammy stayed for dinner then after dinner we went for a walk. Dad had to do some work so he stayed home. Nicole would get so mad if Justin took the lead walking, but he is faster than her. The kids did some running, thank goodness get some energy out. They held hands and ran, so cute. We played upstairs and the kids got all naked pretending to take a shower. We read lots of books and the kids went right to bed. Now to go clean up and paint.

I wasn’t sure what to do today but I finally decided I had better go to the foot doctor and let him check out my toe nail. It looks as though the toe nail will come off eventually and he put something on it so the nail doesn’t get caught on anything. The kids were great at the doctors with me. I read to them in the waiting room and then they played Leapsters while the doctor looked at my foot. After we wemt to the MV mall. We had a great time at the mall but I feel blah after being inside. We went to the play area, had lunch, and walked the mall. We went into Gymboree (AKA TV store) and then headed to the toy store but it isn’t there anymore. We went to a few stores for me then back to the play area. The kids were so great today-I let them get some gummy bears. When we got home we played a bit and then I gave the kiddos a bath. Dad came home and the kids were splashing and Nicole says “I thought you weren’t looking”. HA. After bath the kiddos played while I worked to clean out the closet in the empty room for Justin. He just loves having his clothes in there and being able to reach everything. I just needed to sort through it all. After we came down to make dinner, the kiddos watched some TV. We had dinner, Nicole wasn’t too hungry. After dinner we just played with the kiddos. We played Hungry Hungry Hippo, then with My Little Pony, Polly Pockets, tractors, and trucks. We went upstairs and the kiddos were sliding their animals down the roof on the doll house bookcase, thinking it was the greatest game ever. Then they got out the helicopter that shoots balls, one was shooting and the other was fetching like a dog. Justin naked the entire time-good thing we got it on video. Whoever was the dog was named Sharkey, like in Curious George. We read lots of books and the kids are sleeping.

I can not believe my babies finished their last day of pre school. I dropped the kids off for about an hour at school and came back for the festivities. Dad was also able to come too, the kids were so excited that their daddy was there. The kids sang Willabee Wabilly A Kangaroo Hopped on Me for all the parents. It was so cute. I got a bit teary eyed remembering the first time I left them. After singing the kids all got a little certificate. They also got their sticks with their names on it that Ms. Donna used to see who was there. The sticks were the most exciting. We all ate some food and we left.

Ater pre school we went to Eric, Ian, and Keyon’s combined birthday party. It was a pool party; the kids were so excited to go in the kiddie pool. They couldn’t put on their bathing suits fast enough. They had a blast in the pool and it got even better when they used someone’s floatie. It was a bit cool out and the kids were just shivering so they got out. We had pizza then the kids got to hit the pinata. They were so excited about the pinata. I was so proud of the kids for sharing their candy with someone who didn’t get any. We sang happy birthday and the kids got cupcakes, they ate lots of bad stuff today. Since we were over by Paula’s we called her and met her and her kiddos at the park. Justin and Nicole shared their lollipops with Katie, Mikey, and Sarah. They all had a great time at the park. They were busy making sand cakes and pouring the sand in the holes on the play structure. I have the most sandy kids ever. We were at the park for a long time, I didn’t even have water with me. I couldn’t believe we had been out since pre school this morning and didn’t get home until 4:30ish. I showed the kids their books from pre school and we talked about how it was the last day. I started dinner-dad got home and the kids watched some TV. The kids weren’t very hungry for dinner. Nicole was just focused on wanting her floatie so she sat at the dinner table for all of two minutes. We got the kiddos floaties down and blew them up. They were out on the greenbelt playing with them. They brought them in along with their hoolahoops and were jumping through the hoolahoops. Bret and I are so tired, dad played Bingo with the kids then we headed upstairs. We read lots of books and got the kids down a little early. I still hear Nicole talking up there.