Melissa’s Blog

Today was my day to work at pre school. The kids and I had fun. I love playing with them. They did a lot of cutting and pasting today. Justin still tried to hold the scissors in two hands. Nicole shared fluffy and Justin shared his hot wheels car. Unfortunately we left his car at school but hopefully we can find it next time we are there. The kids played duck duck goose. So cute Justin picked Nicole then she picked him. Nicole who now prefers Nikki was dressed up as Scooby Doo again. Justin and the teacher were pretending to take pictures of her. It was a fun morning at school. The kids don’t get jealous at all when other kids sit on my lap. The kids stayed for pre-k for a bit while I did some work. Nicole just wanted to come home after school so that is just what we did. After playing a bit we went to do some errands. I volunteered to get the bunny food for the pre school bunny. We never get to go to the pet store and the kids love it. They saw fish, birds, hamsters, lizards, etc. It was a great outing. We needed to do a couple more things then came home. I decided to get the Halloween decorations out. So fun with the kiddos. Justin loved the Halloween tree. The kids were pretending the tree was a Christmas tree so they wrapped presents in their blankets. They pretended to be Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. Can’t believe tomorrow is October already. When dad came home the kiddos wanted to go out front and drive their cars. So I made dinner then after dinner we all went back out again. I did some gardening. It was a nice quiet evening. The kids were all bummed that we didn’t watch TV today. So when we got upstairs we let them watch in our bed. Then it was time to go to bed. Justin is such a cuddler; he always wants me to stay in his room.

We have been so busy lately. We got up this morning and needed to get ready for the cleaners. So much to clean up! The kids helped so much. We were headed to a friends house for a play date this morning. On the way I needed to do a return at Wal-Mart. The kids weren’t too pleased as they wanted to play at their friends. The kids had a great time playing. Nicole and Lexie played so well together. Justin did really well for a while but he wanted some boys toys. He was much happier outside. We had to stop at Costco on the way home to get some pics. I let the kids help me pump gas and they loved it. I let them sit in the passenger seat to go from the gas station to the parking lot at Costco. What a treat for them, they loved it. I even got a huge thank you after. It was nice to be home. The kiddos watched some TV. During TV I got a lot done and then gave the kiddos a bath/shower. Justin took a shower and Nicole took a bath. They liked being alone in the shower/bath. We got all dried off just to get wet again. The kids helped me wash my car. So funny it actually sprinkled for about 2 minutes. By the time the rain stopped the kids had their umbrellas and boots on hoping for a big rain. We had a great time outside. The kids played while I waxed my car in the garage as I was afraid of more rain. The kids got their scooters out and went all around the house, through the gates, pretending to be in a parade. The bikes came out, the cars came out. I also worked in the garage a bit so put some sleeping bags on the driveway. That was a whole new entertainment value. The kids pretended to sleep on the driveway and dad hung out with them too. We had a late dinner since we were having so much fun outside. Such a great night. Nice and relaxing just what I needed. We went upstairs and the kids built towers with their Megablocks. Justin was so excited since he got to wear his warmer jammies. We read books and cuddled. Justin was really tired tonight. Nicole wanted to give him a hug goodnight but Justin was too tired. Time to catch up on my TV and start thinking more about the kiddos birthday party.

Everyone slept last night, finally! This morning the kids were off to pre school. Nicole was so excited to try on the Scooby Doo costume there. She looked so cute in it-I wish I had my camera. I had to get a blood test this morning so did that after I dropped off the kids. I came home for a bit and relaxed. Mostly enjoyed the house to myself. We had a play date after school today with our pre school friends. The kids had a great time. Nicole was so happy her new friend Sophia came. Justin played cars in his room but was sad when his friend wanted to come downstairs. Trying to get Justin so more boys to play with. It seems as though I always have girly play dates. Anyway the kids played so well together, made a mess, had lunch together, etc. I enjoyed some mom time with my friends too. We rushed to clean up and off to grandma/pa’s. I wanted to do some errands along the way. We went to grandma/pa’s for dinner to celebrate Yom Kippur. I decided to let Bret skip it, with the traffic etc he would have missed our early dinner. So he did some things at home. The kids wanted to take the tunnel for Tierney to be able to crawl in. The kids packed up some of their toys too mostly cars and stuffed animals. We all ate too much but had a nice time. I am just glad to be home today. I feel like I haven’t stopped all day. Now to go be with my hubby and watch some TV.

Turned into a busy day. And Bret and I were so tired. He had to work last night and when the phone rang it woke me up. I had trouble falling asleep and then had a visitor (Justin) again in our bed. He stayed in our bed until he started snoring then I carried him back to his room. We were lazy and slow this morning. We read the paper and hung out at home. We had a swim lesson. The kids are doing really well in swimming. Nicole has no fear and Justin is a little more cautious. We played at the pool for a bit. Justin got cold so spent time in the shower. After the kids got showers and we headed to lunch. We went to our favorite sandwich place. We had to go to Grammy’s too. She needed some help fixing some things plus we want to spend time with her before she goes to NZ. The kids played really well together. We stopped at Costco and it was so crowded. What was I thinking going on a Sunday? But now I have a packed fridge. We got home and we were tired and easily annoyed, so the kiddos watched TV and rested. Dad spray painted the blue on Nicole’s furniture to pink. It took me forever to put away all the food. After TV dad read to the kids and we had dinner. We played in the backyard for a bit. The kids pretended their play house was a drive thru so dad and I drove up and ordered food. Nicole even yelled out a number saying the food was ready. It was so nice out and nice to be at home. We were going to go to a festival tonight but we were just feeling wiped out. We went upstairs and the kids read books for a bit. But then they just wanted to play. Justin was busy finding shady places for his cars and Nicole was pretending to be Clifford the dog. We got the tunnel out-the first time in a while. And the kids put their sheets at the ends and pretended they were going through dog doors. Even though dad and I were stuck holding the sheets we had fun. The kiddos were really cute tonight. We are heading to bed soon too.

We love the weekend. Dad got home late last night but caught up with some friends from high school. This morning Nicole and I went to Target while dad and I played. I can’t believe how long we could have stayed in Target. Then we met dad and Justin at Lowe’s. The kids made a fire truck today.

Nicole loved pounding the nails. We put her Dewey stuffed animal in her apron and she loved it. Dewey kept falling asleep in the pouch. After Nicole and I stopped at Carters while dad and Justin headed home. All of a sudden Justin comes out of the bathroom telling us he is scared of a lizard. Yap we had a lizard in our house. Dad and I cornered it and I threw a tupperware container on it. Of course with the biggest scream ever. The kids were just looking at us. The kids looked at what they called Mr. Lizard then dad set it free outside. I am just glad we caught it. After lunch we played with the kiddos. We played crazy 8’s and the kids had such a great time. Dad took a nap while the kids watched the Bee Movie. I was working on my scrapbook and then heard the kiddos. Justin wanted to sit on my lap to watch it, so I sat down with them. After the movie the kiddos were grumpy and tired. Finally we decided to go to the lagoon in Irvine. We were bad and snuck in and out. The kids loved the slides there and it was great family time. Guess we all needed to get out of the house. We went for an early dinner as we were all hungry. The kids were playing games before our food arrived. Or course both wanting the driving game. Nicole was playing and we told Justin to go tell her one more minute. All of a sudden Nicole comes running over telling us Justin told her that her food was there. It was so funny. Justin was sneaky but later we think he said the food will be there in a minute. We stopped at Toys R Us to get some birthday gifts. The kids are getting in the stage of wanting to buy everything. Luckily no tantrums or anything. I just feel bad always saying no. The kids played in the toy store. When we got home it was upstairs. The kiddos played, we read books, and the two very tired kiddos went right to sleep.

We went to bed early last night. Justin ended up coming in our room again last night. I brought him back to his bed after a bit. He woke up saying he couldn’t find mommy to get hugs. I was on his floor sleeping for a bit and I bet he thought I was still there. The kids went to pre school this morning. Another morning to myself. I headed to the gym and had a bad run. I haven’t consistently been running and I felt it today. By the time I am done at the gym and home to shower it is time to pick the munch kins up. I had to carry so many of their toys in to school to help me pick them up! We played outside for a bit and had lunch then headed over to the library. I ran into a friend. The kids looked through books and we checked out a few. We came home and the kiddos played a bit. And since it is so hot out we headed to the pool. We had a great time. I will be sad when it is too cold to swim. The kids brought their kick boards and loved using them. They were pretty good with them-although ran into trouble every now and then. When we got home the kiddos played with their hamsters we got from Vegas and we read some books. We went outside and we saw Zoe and some neighbors. The kids wanted to chat with the next door neighbors then show them their rooms. So cute. The kids did chalk outside. We came in and had a quick dinner then headed to Blue Gum to meet some friends. Nicole and Penny played so well together. Laughing and throwing the ball. Unfortunately Nicole didn’t want any boys (Justin) but they included him. I need to work on getting his some boy play dates. We had a great time at the park. Penny brought a bouncy ball so we had a fun time throwing the ball over the volleyball court. When we got home Nicole wanted to stay downstairs while Justin headed up. Dad started reading to Justin. Justin was really tired tonight. I spent the night looking for Nicole’s pink bear, named Beary. We put the kiddos to bed and dad headed out. His 20th high school reunion is this weekend. Tonight they were meeting at some bar. I am just sitting watching TV.

This morning we were out and about to our class at Coastline. It was a rough start for Nicole. She was pretty cranky. She wasn’t very nice to Justin in the car on the way to class so she couldn’t participate in class right away. The kids had a great time in class. I got to play dollhouse with the little baby and grandma and Justin played cars. The usual things. We went to BK to play in the play area after. The kids ate a little but then really wanted to play. The kids had a great time. Nicole wanted Katie to come in our car. Nicole is worshiping Katie these days. Nicole said she wanted to marry Katie and when I asked Nicole what she wanted for lunch, the response I got was whatever Katie is having. We did a few errands then came home for a bit. We were off again to Nicole’s dance class. We walked over and it was so hot! I decided to take advantage of having Justin time and taught him how to play crazy 8’s while Nicole danced. We had so much fun together and I got so many I love you mommy’s, it was priceless. After we went to the pizza place to play games. So nice I just sat at a table while the kids played. I am so tired today. A friend met us over there and so did daddy after work. We had pizza and the kids convinced us to go to frozen yogurt too. So good. We came home and the kiddos just wanted to play. They are in bed but not asleep yet. I am heading to bed very shortly. I almost fell asleep in Justin’s bed while I was putting him to bed.

This morning I took a me morning. I brought the kids to pre school but had to stay for a short bit and also came back early to do some more work. Nicole wore her hair in pig tails and was so cute. I got her to do it by telling her that her animals wanted her to do it. I ran some errands this morning but also came home for a bit. I forgot what it was like to be in the house alone. The kids had a great time at school. Nicole wanted me to pick her up with her animals and Justin wanted me to bring his car. After school we played outside for a bit then headed to a friend’s house. The kids had a great time playing there. The only thing is Justin is discovering he prefers boy toys and there were only girly toys. He was happy when they went outside and drove the Dora jeep and play doh. It was a nice afternoon. Then we went to Wal-Mart for a bit on the way home. I needed a few things and Justin discovered he needed a new car. I got Nicole a cool Tinkerbell wand for Halloween. It was so  hot that when we got home we headed to the pool. We had a great time swimming. There were little chairs in the little pool and the kids decided that it was the three bears chairs, so cute. I think for the first time Justin opened his eyes under water. Once he did this he was pretty much under water the entire time. They used my legs as the bridge and did things to be able to go under it (like the troll story). When we got home we had dinner then headed out to play out front. The kids drove their cars and cuddled with us on the grass. I decided to vacuum out the cars and Nicole helped me. It is so nice to get the little things done. We hung out outside for a bit as it was so nice out. Upstairs the kids played megablocks and cars. We read books and the kiddos area asleep.  It was so nice as Justin was so cuddly, lately he is telling me so much that he loves me-comes up and says “I love you mommy”-I love every minute of it.

We took it easy this morning. I tried to race cars with Justin a bit as we will be returning Mikey’s race track set today. The kids practiced cutting with scissors while I worked on my scrapbooks a little. Then they wanted to use the cut paper as wrapping paper, so got a little tape out for them and they wrapped presents. We pretended it was their birthdays. One of their friends from pre school came over to play. Nicole was so excited. Mostly they played in her room. The girls brought up all the baby stuff and Justin carried one of the strollers saying this way each girl can have one. What a sweet amazing guy! The kids had fun together and I am afraid how messy Nicole’s room is. Justin hung out with the mom’s a bit, he used his Hot Wheels track and raced his cars. He was so excited when the cars started racing. I am not sure Nicole at first recognized Rio as she has grown up so much. We need to make sure the girls continue to play. After I made dinner and the kids watched TV. We then headed to the pool with some friends. The kiddos had a great time and I loved when they played in the little pool. We basically had the pool to ourselves, it was really nice. The kids had so much fun in the shower as well. Nice to have clean kiddos. Dad was home when we got home. The kiddos are always asking daddy if he is done working for the week yet. After dinner we decided to go for a walk to get frozen yogurt. With summer ending and it getting darker earlier, we are making the most of the next few weeks. It was just nice getting out too. Kiddos were pretty tired tonight-we read a lot of books and they fell asleep really quickly. Now to catch up on TV.

Pre school day and I worked. I had so much fun with the kiddos. I was the red mom so got all the toys out of the cabinet, bubbles, bean bags, parachutes, etc. I was also in charge of kids practicing writing their names. Nicole shared her pink teddy bear named Beary and Justin brought his Geo Trax train. Nicole has been talking so softly when she shares and Justin is nice and loud. The kids rode bikes and played in the sand. We came home for lunch. Apparently the kids were starving but barely ate. They had a big snack at school. I have been doing laundry all day. The kids have been playing nicely. They have their Diego and Dora packs pretending to be Dora and Diego all the while Nicole has on her tap shoes. They are in the process of following the animal foot prints. The kids watched some TV, Super Why and Curious George. Then of course the kids had to act like George. They liked getting a banana for snack. Well we tried to play in mud. Over by the veggies I let them get the area all muddy with the hose Unfortunately this attracted lots of bees. The kids loved putting their feet in the mud then putting them in a bucket to wash off. It was fun to watch. We came inside and the kiddos played. I worked on my scrapbook here and there. The kids played while I prepped dinner. Trying to get an early dinner on the table so we can go to the park tonight when it is a bit cooler out. Nicole had the little people helping me get dinner together. And she convinced Justin to play with her. We went outside to do mud again. What a mess but the kids had so much fun. We have mud on our block wall fence now, the kids were making trains on it. Luckily a hose should take care of the mess. After dinner we went to Blue Gum. The kids rode their bikes there. We had a great time at the park. Dad and Justin threw the ball over the volleyball net while I swung Nicole then went on the slides and play structure. Justin and dad came over and we raced down the slides then the kiddos played by themselves for a bit. Making cakes in the little playhouse, adding water and getting all sandy. When we got home Justin wanted to build train tracks in his room. With a basket in hand he got a bunch of tracks. He was so happy to have it in his room. We read some books but then the kiddos wanted to play. Justin and I played trains and dad and Nicole played baby. Tonight a lot of our shows are back on so off to watch TV.

some mud pics: