Melissa’s Blog

We took it easy this morning. A plumber came to look at our leak, so hopefully that will be fixed in the next few days. The kids and I read lots of books this morning. I feel like I haven’t been reading to them too much lately. We played trains and built a new track. Then we headed outside. I did some gardening. The kids helped too. Then they got their brooms and decided to paint every paver with their brooms full of water. I could only step on the wet pavers. We came in and the kids pretend to be firefighters. They put on their boots and get their flashlights. Nicole adds her goggles and firehat. They added their watches too, fire watches.

I tell them where the fire is and they put it out. How great is that? We met some friends at Lower Peters Canyon park (aka monkey bar park). Nicole and Justin went right for the monkey bars. They had a great time playing around, climbing, hanging, sliding, etc. They played in the sand and kept filling up buckets with water from the fountains. It was nice to get out for a bit. We came home and the kiddos watched Sesame Street. After TV I gave the kiddos a bath. They wanted to take one alone with the sprayer. It was nice to spend some time with one while the other was in the bath. Nicole was pretending to be Biscuit and Justin and I were having fun throwing his clothes at each other. He was laughing. I started going through their clothes to see what still fits for the winter. They have outgrown the majority of their clothes from last year. The sleeves and pants are too short. Nice to get it all cleaned out though. We had fun playing upstairs for a bit with megablocks and Nicole was playing with the stuffed animals. We walked to our neighbors house to drop some stuff off. It was so close to daddy coming home so we just sat on the curb and talked. We waited for daddy so we could catch a ride home with him. After dinner we worked outside. Dad mowed the lawn, I did a ton of gardening. The kids played. They painted the wall with their brooms and water. We all went out front and the kids grabbed their scooters and umbrellas. They pretended it was raining. They went on the greenbelt and did their many shows. Dad and the kiddos washed the car together. And I still gardened. I really miss gardening. We stayed out front a little late so our nightime routine was shortened. We read some books. Then Nicole wanted to have a pretend picnic. Justin joined us when the word cake was said. They went right to bed, thank goodness.

Back to reality. I miss being away. We had a great day though. This morning we stayed home and got ready for the cleaners and did some laundry. The kids were pretty happy to be playing with their toys. They were pretending to throw money into a fountain. The hand chair became the fountain. We met Carin and gang at the Spectrum this morning. They were running a little late and the kids and I had a great time hanging out on the bench. The kiddos went into the fountains by the food court. Nicole and Sofi were getting along so well. They were both pretending to be Ariel and Justin was King Tritan. They were leaving Justin out a bit, it was hard to explain to them that Justin wanted to play too. Nicole and Sofi were doing everything each other were doing, getting out of the fountains at the same time, eating the same food, etc. After the fountains we walked around the Spectrum and just hung out. The kids all went on the train together, by themselves. They are getting too big! They were proud to go by themselves, but how did they get so big so fast? We went into Carters,Target, pet store,  and just had a great day.  Since the girls were having so much fun, we invited them to come back to our house. The kiddos had fun playing together. Grammy came over so she could watch Nicole ice skate. Nicole was a little grumpy at ice skating. They did a little recital and it was really cute. But I would have had them skating around, they spent so much time on the recital. We met daddy and went out to dinner. It was a great dinner and the kids ate so much. Nicole was in a much better mood after dinner. Her and I ran to the grocery store after to get a few things and dad took Justin and Grammy back home. We went upstairs and read some books and off to bed the kids went. It is nice to finally beon the computer and just relazing.

We are in Vegas, staying at the MGM. The ride here wasn’t too bad with the kiddos; they did really well. The kids had a rough time going to bed last night since they did nap a bit in the car. They love being in the hotel room. I think they would be very happy staying in the hotel room all day/night. Bret went to gamble a bit last night and won. Great job honey-he won $2500.00. Hopefully we won’t give it back to the casino. This morning we had breakfast in the room, which the kiddos loved. Then we went swimming. On the way to the pool, the kiddos walk down in their bathing suits and Nicole had on her goggles. Everyone is smiling at her, it was really sweet that she was making everyone smile. She even got a high 5 for her goggles and Justin got one for his cool suit. The kids had a great time in the pool. It was a perfect time to go to the pool. We came up and gave the kiddos a bath and had some lunch. The kids love looking at the window in the hotel room. They pretend the area is a stage and they do shows. They love to cuddle in their travel beds too. We are having a great family time. The kids could have stayed in the hotel room the entire room; they were actually bugged when we made them go out, well mostly Nicole. We shopped at the outlets a bit. We brought the kid’s Leapsters so they would be happy in the stroller. Justin got to drive on a blue car toy at the mall and loved it. We also went to the Excalibur hotel. Little did we know that there would be a go go dancer there and you guessed it Nicole wanted to watch. She innocently thought it was just a girl dancer and Nicole started to dance  around too. The kids played games at the Excalibur and had fun. They played whack a mole, throw balls in a trash can, many carnival games as well. The kids each won a few stuffed animals. Nicole did get a little jealous when Justin won and she didn’t. We played at Circus Circus too and again the kids had fun playing games. We also were able to see a juggler that was cool. When we were parking at Circus Circus we saw a car window that was broke, someone broke in. When the kids asked we talked to them about it. Nicole wanted us to tell her about it over and over and over again. We dragged the kids out to see the Bellagio Fountains. Justin loved it, he said I didn’t know fountains could dance. In the car Justin held up his hands and made a little hole and asked us what it was, I said a spec and all of a sudden he says no it’s Batman’s eyes. One of those you had to be there but it was so funny, totally random. We took the kids to the m&m store which they thought was cute. There was a yellow m&m dressed up outside of the store, so Nicole decided she was the yellow m&m. She started to dance around like the yellow m&m. The kiddos wouldn’t go up to the m&m though, they were scared. We wanted the kiddos to see the lights in Vegas at night. So we put their jammies on and put them in the stroller with no shoes on. Of course this is the time they decide they don’t want to be in the stroller. They were so hyper running around barefoot in the casino having the time of their life. They were outside on the bridge from MGM to NYNY walking barefoot. For some reason that was the greatest thing ever. Black feet and all but the smiles were well worth it. We decided to have a snowball fight in the hotel room. I took socks and rolled them into balls and we started throwing them at each other. It was so much fun, the kids were laughing hysterically. After the kids went to bed dad and I took turns going down to the casino. I played War and thought it was great. I won a little bit but had fun. We had a great trip and so nice not too worry about laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. The drive home seemed so long and boring. The kids did great-they are so good in the car, we are very lucky. We stopped in Baker and Barstow just to get out of the car. We let the kids play at the play area in Carl’s Jr. The kids watched some new shows on PBS, Super Why (I think) and Sid the Science Kid. So Nicole is calling herself Princess Presto and they are calling each other super readers from the show. So silly! When we got home the kids just wanted to play out front. It was great just to watch them. They rode their bikes, drove cars, did bubbles, did shows for us, etc. Back to reality with a million things to do going through my head-ugh. I am sure I will update the blog when I remember more things about the trip, I am too tired now. The kids went to bed on time tonight, so hopefully we can get back to our regular night time bedtime.

More trains. This morning we played and played. Anytime I tried to do something I heard mamma mamma mamma. Justin just loves having a train buddy whether it is me or Nikki. They also got their Diego and Dora rescue packs out and pretended to save baby jaguar. I hated to break up the fun but I needed to go out and do some errands. They were troupers and so good for me. We also grabbed lunch while we were out. I found some stuff for their walls of their rooms. They both love them too. They want daddy to hang it up! Nicole hurt her foot on the cart, poor little girl but it is amazing that a Hello Kitty bandaid made it much better. When we got home there were goodie bags from a birthday party we missed at our doorstep. Can’t tell you how much the kiddos love goodie bags. Then more trains! I gave the kiddos a bath and they acted like it was a swimming pool going under water. After bath the kids were still momma momma momma, so I needed some peace and let them watch TV. They watched Curious George while I got ready for the beach. Paula and kids and us are going down to Laguna Beach tonight to let the kiddos play and just have fun. The kids loved having all their friends in our car. The girls were in the front and the boys wanted to sit in the way back. Taking the trolley was a big highlight. The kids had a great time playing in the ocean. J&N chased the waves and birds. They loved watching the ball come back from the waves. The kids wanted to play at the play structure. We had such a hard time rounding them up for dinner. They were having so much fun. I don’t think we sat down for dinner until 6:45. The kids were so cute-5 kids sitting on one side of the table. Paula and I got lots of looks with 5 kids. They got balloons at the restaurant and someone actually thought it was a birthday party with all the kids, guess we make up our own party. It was a fun night. Justin let go of his balloon when he was hugging everyone goodbye. He was so sad, poor little guy. Here are a few pics from our night:

Justin is so into his new train. Right when he woke up this morning we came down to play trains. Nicole slept in until about 8:00 so I got to play trains for a bit with Justin. He tells me what to do, when to stop my train, backup, park it, etc. It is cute. Nicole woke up so upset that one of her teddies wasn’t in her bed, luckily we found it pretty quickly. Justin couldn’t wait for Nicole to play trains with him. Not too much fighting but Nicole has ended up with the new one. We ran to the grocery store this morning. I know I was just there but wanted to get some meat for tonight as Grammy is coming over for dinner. Nicole wanted to wear her doggie harness thing in the store. We ran home to bring groceries home then headed to the park for park day with the mom’s club. It has been so long that I have gone to park day. It was fun and a lot of new moms that I haven’t met. The kids had so much fun playing. They climbed, went down slides, and played in the sand. They were playing with Jane a lot (Erin’s child), so cute to watch N&J follow her around. On the way home we stopped at the library. We were there for a bit reading books. We got some kids books on cd for the trip to Vegas, we have never tried those before but I am sure the kids will love them. The kids wanted to watch a Mickey/Minnie DVD we got from the library but it wasn’t working. They watched Little Einsteins and I caught up on calls for pre school. I did laundry. I have been wanting to polish all our wood for a long time now-who knew the kids would want to help. It was great, little workers. I played trains after with them since they were so helpful. Justin has all these rules for playing trains with him, you have to stop when he tells you to and go when he wants you too. I backed up my train so I could be in front of him but he told me to wait until he got ahead of me. While J and I played trains, N and I played with her magnetic doll. I was so tired of trains I got the games out. We playe Hungry Hungry Hippos, etc. We had a fun afternoon together. Grammy came over and hung out a bit. Dad got home really late. So we had dinner then played trains again. The kids went to bed a little later than normal. We couldn’t find Justin’s teddy for a bit but we found it.

Bret was up and out of the house early this morning for training in LA. Nicole woke up a little early and cuddled in my bed with me. I just wanted to go back to sleep. For some reason I am so tired today. Maybe I got too much sleep last night? We stayed home this morning and hung out at home. I ended up giving the kids a bath. Justin did not want to get out of the bath. He stayed in for so long. He was playing with the fishy that stick to the bottom of the tub to make it non-slippery-he would catch them in his mouth. After Nicole got out she wanted to put on her bathing suit. Justin continued to play with trains, watching Spencer and James go around the track. Nicole played out back for a bit while Justin did trains. The kids pretended to ice skate around the kitchen with blue plastic bins on their feet. We all had to leave the kitchen as the zambonie was coming out. They are taking an ice skating class on our kitchen floor. While the kids watched some TV I took a nap and I rarely nap. I am just so tired today. The kids pretended to have a birthday party for Biscuit (Nicole as a dog). All toys went onto their little table in the kitchen, what a mess. They were pretending to wrap presents. Also they used me as a bridge and kept crawling and walking on me. Boy are they getting heavy. We ran to Toys R Us. Of course the kids had a blast playing around in the store. I ended up getting the kids another remote control train for the Geo Trax set. Justin chose between 4 trains and chose a cool silver train. After we headed to the ice skating rink for Nicole’s lessons. She did so great and got a little certificate. She was so proud of her certificate, it was cute. She is moving faster and faster on the ice. Grandma/pa met us there, so after skating we headed to In N Out Burger for dinner. The kids had fun with grandma/pa. They got some stickers and had fun sticking them on themselves. The kids were really hungry. I tried to get home pretty quickly as dad hadn’t seen the kids all day. Justin was so excited to show daddy his train, we couldn’t get batteries in it fast enough. Justin didn’t even take off his shoes, he just went to play trains. They fought a little over the new train. Here is a picture of the kids playing trains, the silver train is the new one.

Justin all of a sudden got a burst of energy when he went upstairs and wanted to run around. We read books and the kids went right to sleep.

We were out and about early this morning. We needed to go to the grocery store before play group. The kids were in such silly moods this morning. We had fun at the grocery store. The kids wanted to read books there, so I let them while I ran around gathering items. They had fun picking out fruit and putting it in their carts. We came home and got ready for play group. The kids were so happy when their friends started coming over. The boys were busy playing with trains, Justin has been so into his trains the last few days. Nicole was happy swinging then pushing kid in the swings. The kids all had fun and luckily the house didn’t get too messy. We had lunch and cleaned up a bit. All of a sudden though it was time to go to our swim lesson. The kids were so excited. Paula and gang went with us so her kiddos could jump off the diving board and they did it for the first time, so exciting. Justin went first for a lesson. Poor guy though he was so cold. He did great in his lesson but by the end he was shivering so bad. He went in the little kiddie pool which was warmer, so he was happy. Nicole is getting more and more daring in the water, have to really keep an eye on her. I thought she was going to go on the diving board and follow her friends. All the kids played in the little pool for a while and went back and forth to the big pool. Justin tried the big pool again but too cold. It was a nice time at the pool but now I am exhausted. After the pool I babysat for Paula while she did a quick errand. The kids and I had a great time. I had a hard time getting Nicole to leave, she really didn’t want to go. Dad was home when we got home. The kids watched a George while we made dinner. Even though dinner was ready the kids had to watch George until the end so dad and I started without them. After dinner Nicole said she was tired and wanted to go to bed. I later figured out she just wanted alone time with me. Dad and Justin played trains. We decided it was such a nice night to go for a walk and get some frozen yogurt. The kids have an adventure walking there, rolling down hills, picking leaves, doing 1, 2, 3 with us (hold each one of our hands and swing), etc. Now when you do 1, 2, 3 the kids want to flip. We gave the kiddos piggy back rides, they are getting too heavy though. We went upstairs and Justin was playing with his letter train. He made it into a parking garage for his yellow car and limo, what an imagination. Nicole was wanting to play baby. The kids along with us were so tired, no problems going to bed.

We managed to have a mellow day. This morning we just played at home. Daddy made french toast this morning, I think this is the first time the kids have had french toast. Nicole and daddy went to go get coffee together. Justin and I stayed home and played trains. We built a cool track on the train table. The kids have been loving having daddy home. We played in the backyard for a while. We filled up a bunch of water balloons. The kids had a blast throwing them out front, in the street and on the garage door. I can’t believe how long it takes to fill up the water balloons and how fast the kids go through them. We decided to go out to lunch, which was nice. The kids practically sat on daddy while eating. Everyone attacked his cornbread. Ha it is usually my food getting attacked. We stopped and did an errand on the way home to get some gifts for friends. Justin didn’t want to go in so dad and him stayed in the car for a bit. So fun shopping with Nicole, she loved helping me pick out gifts. We got home and we played with the Geo Trax set, I can’t tell you how many times I went around the track. I need a remote control train like Justin’s. Then we played games, don’t break the ice, candyland, and chutes and ladders. Chutes and Ladders lasted a long time so the kids got bored and abandoned the game. We got the pool out for the kiddos and they had a great time. They were marching in the pool and then laying down putting their faces in the water and laying on their backs. They had a great time and it was pretty silly to watch. After the kiddos got a bubble bath. They had fun washing their trains. Bath was a bit splashy today, according to the kids the trains were making waves. After bath dad played trains with the kiddos while I made dinner. The kids were starving and ate a ton at dinner. Both kids say to us “say you dont think I won’t eat this” so dad and I say I bet Nicole/Justin won’t eat it-then they eat it. It works well to get them to eat anything, we wonder how long this will last. After dinner we sold our glider and ottoman. It was a littl sad as I don’t have a rocker to rock my babies. But my babies aren’t babies anymore. We hardly use it anymore and we needed to make room for bedroom furniture. Then we went onto the greenbelt. Justin and dad played soccer and Nicole did chalk. I cleaned up a bit then joined Nicole doing chalk. We all kicked the ball back and forth, it was fun all playing together. Then we played duck duck goose. I think the kids could have played all night-they were loving it. When we came inside they were still wanting to run around. Justin was pretending to be a dog and fetching a pretend ball, and Nicole was doing the same as a cat. We read lots of books and the kiddos went right to sleep/

This morning the kiddos and I went to Orchard Park. We met some friends there. It was so nice out, perfect morning to go to the park. The kids played soccer for a bit then played in the sand. I don’t think they even got on the play structure. We came home and just hung out at home. We got the Geotrax out so the kids played with that for a bit. After lunch they did water colors. Dad and I worked on cleaning out a cabinet as we think the downstairs shower is leaking, ugh. I emptied the cabinet so the kiddos had fun playing with the stuff that came out, candles, etc. They were singing happy birthday to each other. We played troll toll. The kids had to pay a toll to me to be able to cross my bridge, then Justin was the troll. Nicole wanted us to come down and see her dance, she needed a hard floor. We played with trains for a bit. Dad built a cool track around the train table. The kids fought a bit over freight cars, fun stuff. The kids watched utube videos with daddy on his laptop. Justin cracks up when he hears a dog say I love you, they watched swimming dogs, etc. They watched a Curious George and we got ready to go to the beach. We were supposed to meet some friends in Dana Point. But I got the days wrong, it is actually tomorrow. When I called my friend to tell her I was here, she was like where?  Bret was getting so annoyed with traffic, finding parking spot, etc so when he heard I got the day wrong, all we could was laugh. We ended up having a great family time at the beach. Justin couldn’t wait to get in the water. Nicole was a littel hesitant at first, so I hung out with her on the sand and made sand castles. She did go in the water and the kids had a blast. I wish we would have brought dinner. So we couldn’t stay too long. We went to Hennesy’s for dinner and headed home. The kids were telling toddler jokes on the way home and cracking each other up. I love when they get so silly. They got the cones out and were running on the green belt. Finally we got them in but only had time to read 3 books. They are loving things hanging from their door knobs of their rooms. They are sleeping soundly and Bret and I are tired.

Oh Nicole got her picture in the oc register newspaper for ice skating. These are the two pics:

the caption said: Skaters keep cool on Aliso Viejo ice. Looking pretty in pink is Nicole Sanders, 3, at the Aliso Viejo Ice Palace.

This morning went by so fast, all of a sudden it was time for Monster Machine class for Justin. I dropped Nicole off at Paula’s to play with the girls and Micheal came with me. Dad was able to meet us there as well. It was at Waste Management. It ended up being a let down though. The class wasn’t that great at all but the kids did like looking at everything.

Nicole had fun playing with Katie and Sarah, when I got to Paula’s Nicole was dress up like a kitty.

We all had lunch together but Justin was too excited to play with the trains. It was so nice having someone make lunch so I didn’t have to think about it. The kids had fun playing at Paula’s house. We left to go to our swim lesson but found out it was canceled. I got the time wrong as well, oops. Nicole shared how upset she was she couldn’t go swimming. So we came home for a bit then headed to Meadowwood pool. My friend was nice enough to lend me her key. The kids had so much fun! I can’t believe how much they love the water. Justin got a bit cold so we ended up going in the kiddie pool as it was a little warmer. Nicole is getting more and more brave in the water. She was starting to do belly flops (dives) in the little pool. Then dad showed up. He got off work a little early as he is working tonight. Nicole and daddy went to the big pool and Justin and I stayed in the little pool. Justin was loving being on his back and using big arms and kicking his legs. He was so funny he told me it was like a dog paddle but backwards. I was giving Justin a shower and I looked up and Nicole was diving into the big pool. It was so amazing and cute. I wish I had the video camera. I am so proud of her. She was also wanting to dive down to get rings. Nicole’s eyes were so red from being under the water almost the entire time. We came home and the kids did some water color painting and we had dinner. Daddy had to do some work in Chino Hills, help someone with their firewall. The kids were playing grocery store but it was so nice out so I suggested the park. Tonight was unbelievable the kids had so much fun together. They played so well-no stress for me at all. The kids played soccer at the park and were running aound like crazy. Then threw the ball over the volleyball net. They kept on plopping in the sand on their bottom and they were just laughing hysterically. So great to see them play so well. They are very lucky to have each other. They were even still nice to one another when we got home, taking turns doing somersaults on the couch, getting each others waters, etc. I was getting ready to read them some books and I look up and they are carrying the little froggy table with umbrella down the hall. They worked together to carry it very carefully. Both their heads would be under the umbrella and then Nicole would lower it and the kids would just laugh as their heads were under the umbrella. We read lots of books and just had some cuddle time. The kids went right to bed and I am enjoying some peace and quiet. But the kids just amazed me how well behaved they were tonight.