Melissa’s Blog

I couldn’t sleep last night, ugh. Justin came in our bed last night as he said he was cold. Nicole and I were off to the grocery store this morning while dad and Justin went to the park (pirate park). Nicole was so helpful and we had fun together. We went to Whole Foods for the first time in our search of better organic eating. It was tough shopping figuring everything out. When we got home we met dad and Justin at the park. A few of our friends were there too. We were there for a long time; the kids had fun. After lunch we let the kids watch TV, they watched a little of Alvin then Mickey Mouse Choo Choo Express. We figured they were bored of Alvin as they were trying to play their Leapsters at the same time. After TV we played and played. The kids went out in the back for a bit. But then headed out front. Dad worked on fixing our downstairs toilet, small leak. The kids rode bikes out front pretending to deliver papers like Alvin. They ran into Zoe the dog. I was upstairs and Nicole came running in so excited that Zoe was out there. The kids played with her for a bit. Then we got the easel out. The kids painted lots of pics and got their clothes all painted. More laundry for me. But they had a great time. They also used the dry erase board and chalk board. It was a great afternoon. We were able to get some stuff done and the kids played really well too. It makes such a difference when there is no fighting. While we made dinner the kids played Leapsters. After dinner it was bath time. The kids spent forever in the bath. I had to blow dry their hair as they would have had to go to bed with really wet hair. Both of them loved when I warmed their bodies up with the hair dryer. In the bath they asked for wash clothes. They were spreading them out as they were notes for Santa to see. Justin was exhausted tonight, the minute his head hit the pillow he was asleep. Nikki was talky talky, wanting to talk about bad things. She loves to try and figure things out. Both are sound asleep.

This morning I woke up and was so tired. I finally went back to sleep. Dad took the kids outside and played on the greenbelt. The kids had a great time outside. They were driving their cars, playing soccer, frisbees, etc. We just took it easy this morning and played at home. Dad and I hung outside with the kiddos. We ended up grabbing some sandwiches and going to Meadowwood park. The city had a snow day there. Dad and Nikki went sledding once. It was fun! Justin didn’t want to sled. The kids played in the “snow”-ice for a bit. But then they wanted to play at the park. They just redid the park so it was fun but got crowded. We ran into lots of people we knew. There were lots of play structures so we went from play structure to play structure. Nikki was in the swing pumping herself-Ms. Independent. We were getting ready to leave and the kids decided to go in the snow again. They were loving it. They were throwing lots of snowballs at us. We had a great time. We came home and the kiddos watched Alvin and we rested. So peaceful with them watching TV that we even let them watch a little of George. We played upstairs for a bit. Justin colored and Nicole played doll house. I got the pleasure of looking for their harmonica. It will turn up sometime. We came downstairs and got out the marble thing. It is difficult to make a configuration, mine kept falling down. After dinner we played hungry hungry hippos and the fishing game. Just good old fashioned family fun. I showed the kids their shin guards for soccer and of course they wanted to wear them and play soccer. They went in the garage and got their soccer balls and were playing upstairs. It was cute. The kids played in Nikki’s room for a bit, coloring with both of them sitting on her desk. She looked really tired tonight so we read books. Justin was a little naughty tonight-he pushed me away and he just wouldn’t listen. Getting on his jammies and brushing his teeth wasn’t easy tonight. Nicole was into playing nosey tonight when I went to visit her. She was laughing and pushing on my face and somehow I ended up with a wet face with her laughing. I gave Justin some extra cuddle time. I stayed in his bed until he fell asleep. He is so peaceful and cute while sleeping, reminded me of what I used to do with him as a baby. Nicole on my way out reminded me to keep looking for her harmonica. I hope she isn’t too disappointed tomorrow as I have no clue where it is.

I couldn’t remember what happened last night. I finally remembered that I put an extra pillow in his bed so there was the proof. The kids are getting up in the middle of the night saying they are cold. After Justin kicked daddy a few times dad brought him back to his bed. The kids slept in a bit but we had time to make it to pre school on time. I was the blue mom today. I got to swing the kiddos and play in the sand. We had a great time. Justin shared his race car and Nicole shared the bop it toy. Such a silly thing to share but she loved it. We had a snow ball fight out of toilet paper today at school. The kids loved it. Justin was busy unrolling the toilet paper.

We played outside for a bit. The kids had fun running around. Finally we came home and ate lunch. The kids started to play a bit but we had to take a shower. They didn’t want to take a shower but then they didn’t want to get out. We met a friend at see saw park. We haven’t been to that park in so long. Our kids are actually starting to out grow that park-that park was the first time I put the kiddos in park swings. We played soccer a bit. I had a hard time getting them to leave the park, so I mentioned a rest and TV. The mention of TV and we were off. So we had a babysitter come tonight. It is very rare Bret and I do this. The kids had a blast. It is one of their classmate’s older sister. Nikki and Justin wanted their friend to come too, so we said that was ok. Sounds like the kids all got along and had a great time. Nikki heard the garage when we got home so I got to hear what they did. They played race track, went on the greenbelt and played soccer, tag, duck duck goose, doll house, read books, etc. Can’t wait to hear what Justin says-he was sound asleep when we got home. Dad and I went to the district to one of our favorite places, Chaparosa Grill. It was nice just to relax and enjoy each others company. I secretly was happy Nikki was awake so I could cuddle a bit. I finally had to leave though as she was so busy talking and watching what I was doing that she wouldn’t go to sleep even though she wanted me to stay.

It was a day of not too much to do, which is nice for a change. We played at home all morning long. Dad was a dumb ass today and left his work computer at home. He came home for it then we get a call he forgot his badge. I played with the kids for a while then they headed upstairs and played. They played so nicely. I actually started getting out my scrapbook stuff again. However, I am afraid to go see what the upstairs looks like. We dropped dad’s badge off for him then headed to Target. When we got to Target though the kids decided they were starving. So we walked over to the food court and grabbed lunch. The kids were busy chasing the birds. It was so cute. I asked what they were going to do if they caught one and they both said they just want to hold one. There was some old lady that kept on giving me dirty looks while the kids chased the birds. What a grouch, the kids were laughing and loving it, most importantly running around. We went to Target and ran into so many people we know. The kids are hating shopping these days, but I try to make it fun. I let them pick out some snacks, etc. We came home and the kids did their sledding. Then they wanted to have a birthday party in the garage and waste my wrapping paper. Finally I convinced them to use frisbees. I got all of them out and the kids were throwing them. When they threw them they would say not bad. They would say “he got the perfect shot” and “another perfect shot”. It was cute. We ran out and I got my bangs cut finally. Then we headed to the park; we met a friend there. The kids had fun but Nicole clashed a little with the little girl. They all tried to play soccer together but it was difficult as they said Justin runs to fast and they don’t understand to pass the ball. Justin wore his sun glasses to the park, totally cute. Near the end of playing the kids all got along. When we got home we played soccer on the greenbelt while waiting for daddy to come home. The kids were pretty hungry so we made dinner and then let the kiddos watch TV. Of course they chose Alvin. We need to let our neighbors borrow the video as the little girl felt left out not knowing who the chipmunks are. Justin and Nicole at the park pretended to be Alvin and Simon. I was off to a pre school board meeting tonight. My job is going to start getting busier with registration coming up.

When I checked on the kids before going to bed last night, Justin was sleeping backwards in his bed. At first I couldn’t find him. I should have ran to get the camera-it was so cute! I slept in everyone’s room/bed last night. Justin came in sometime during the night. Dad got up for Nikki once. I moved to Justin’s bed for a bit then Nikki ‘s floor. I wonder why I am so tired all the time. After dropping the kiddos off at school I had to go to a doctor app’t with my endo. Some hormones are off again so hopefully he can fix me up. I picked up the kiddos and we went to Vena’s house. The kids were so excited to play, too excited and barely ate lunch. They pretended Vena’s landing on the stair case was a stage and did lots of shows for us. Also there was a big box all the kids were in pretending it was a boat. When we left Nicole was cranky. Finally I ate some more food and she was just hungry. We had eggs for a snack/lunch. The kids built with blocks, played nicely with each other. We searched the internet together then the kiddos watched the chipmunks. I tried to take a nap but every time I was about to fall asleep the kids would wake me up and say can we  watch another one. We went outside to play. It was such a nice day today. We tried to play soccer. It was fun for a while until N&J started fighting. So we moved onto reindeer reindeer, Christmas tree (duck duck goose). We decided to go for a walk to find daddy coming home from work, we haven’t done that in a while. The kids kept on saying hurry daddy we are hungry. They started patting their laps and dad showed up, so they think they had something to do with it. HA We went to red Robin for dinner. The kids basically played the games, Justin barely ate until the way home. When we got home, Nikki and I played while Justin and dad played. Nikki and I played dollhouse, read books, and had a tea party. We had lots of fun together. I  missed Justin though. When I went to say goodnight to him he told me lots of knock knock jokes and we looked for stars.

We got all ready for the cleaners this morning. Then we headed out to the dentist. The kids needed to get a tooth checked each. So far the potential cavity hasn’t gotten worse in either of their mouths. Hope we can keep it this way. He is going to keep watching month after month. He is hoping if it does need to be filled he can catch it before he has to numb the area. The kids were great. Justin had a hard time with the x-ray thing in his mouth-he kept wanting to move it and I don’t blame him. We then headed to play group at Blue Gum Park. The kids had fun playing together. I love that park it is so easy to watch the kiddos. We ended up staying there until about 12:30 and only left as Nicole had to go potty. We came home and had lunch. The kids looked at their library books and then grandma/pa came over. Grandpa slept while grandma played with the kiddos for a bit. The kids got all their dog stuffed animals and had a dog show. They are all lined up in Nicole’s room. After we went outside and the kids went down the driveway with the creeper and the furniture dolly. They were having a blast. They also got their soccer balls and were running around. I wanted to give them a bath but they kept playing so well. So they played and played. Finally at 4:30ish I got them in the bath. They played so well in the bath today, I haven’t seen that in a while. Nicole played with her Ariel doll pretending to look for trash or treasure in the ocean. Justin was playing with his trains and threatened to squirt the sharks. We had dinner then the kiddos watched Alvin and the Chipmunks. We went upstairs and the kids played with money. Coins everywhere. The kids wanted to read adult books, so they grabbed one of our books and pretended to read. Got snuggly time with Justin and Nicole loved it when she sat up in the bed and I pushed her back down.

Vacation over-it is back to our routine. The kids were happy to be going back to pre school. So weird to not have them around this morning since I am so used to them being home. While they were at school I went to the gym. I felt like I should at least make an effort since it is the beginning of the year. I wasn’t that into it and there were so many signs I shouldn’t go..battery dead in MP3 player, bought batteries then dropped my card and MP3 player and lost the new battery, etc. Oh well. On the way home I ran into a friend and her and I ran to get coffee and hung out at Starbucks. It was so nice but I felt so guilty for not getting things done. We came home and had lunch. The kiddos were busy cutting, coloring, and pretending to share things like at pre school. I got all ready to go to the grocery store but the kids found the creepers. They started pretending to be sledding down the driveway.

They were singing the chipmunks song and just having a blast. 2 bandaids and counting but Nicole is still smiling the entire time. She is such a trooper. Finally I got the kids in the car to go to the grocery store. The kids got their little carts and wanted to buy everything that I didn’t want them to have. They helped pick out all the fruit but it took forever. When we got home I put away laundry and the kids played. They played dollhouse together but Nicole says Justin doesn’t play right. So we made him a drive thru for his cars out of coins. After dinner the kids watched some of the Alvin and Chipmunks Christmas DVD and I was off to a photography class. I am excited about this class-I will hopefully learn a lot.

The kids slept in a little this morning. We decided to give the kids a shower while at the hotel. Of course anything at the hotel is more fun than home. So Justin went first and I think he was in there for about 30 minutes or so. He took the longest shower ever. Nicole took a quick one then we headed to breakfast. We went to Wilma’s down on Balboa. The kids had fun petting all the dogs down there. Everywhere we looked there was another dog. After lunch we went for a little walk around. We saw more dogs and the kids were running ahead. We watched them stop before the street and then they would hug, it was so cute. We headed to the bay. The kids saw their opportunity to put their feet in then their legs, their pants, their shirts, and then jumping in getting soaking wet. They were having so much fun. We just let them have fun for a while. They were soaked and sandy. We didn’t have a change of clothes for them. When we got to the car we just got them naked and gave them our sweatshirts. They looked so cute and they liked it as well.

Back to our hotel room and the kids started running down the halls again. We gave them another quick shower to wash off all the sand, etc. After check out we played shuffleboard and ping pong at the hotel. Justin loved shuffleboard. He is so into sports. We headed home. So nice to be away to not think about home stuff. Dad and the kids played soccer on the greenbelt for a while. Then Nicole and dad came in and watched some things on the computer while Justin and I played tennis. Dad and Justin watched things on the computer while Nicole and I went to the library. We were overdue on returning books. We got some new books and came home and read books while dad and Justin played checkers. The kids then colored and used their scissors. All that cutting somehow sparked a paper snow ball fight. It was so funny but what a mess. Then all the paper ended up in the huge box that the lion was in…along with the recycling and trains and toys, etc. The kids started to go through all their art. They were loving looking at everything and came out with the turkey hats they made. They pretended they were trick or treating, first were turkeys, then ghosts, then lay bugs, etc. Love to hear them play and have fun even though it was a mess. After dinner the kids colored some more. They entered a coloring contest-it would be so cool if they win. We showed them the trailer to Alvin and the Chipmunks. The kids love watch it over and over again. We went upstairs. Justin and dad colored while Nicole and I played doll house. I got the worst hiccups ever so I just wanted to lay down. Nicole and I started reading books. So since she went to bed so late last night, I tried to get them in bed by 7:45. So lights out, teeth brushed, potty, and then Nicole tells me she is hungry. Justin was hungry too. After eating carrots and stalling we finally got out of there at 8:30. It was really funny though. Nicole says I don’t mean to annoy you but can you brush my teeth. I also heard dad and her talk about bad things. She is such a curious kid and trying to figure things out so she always asks about the bad stuff. She asked what if a transformer shoots a police officer. Justin was so snuggly as always. He gave up some of his covers for sheepy and Chip.

Playing catch up on the blog. Friday night we decided to do something fun and start the new year off right. So we booked a hotel on Priceline for Sat night. We got a great deal at the Hyatt in Newport. Of course we had to pay for parking, ugh. Anyway Sat morning we went to the train expo in Anaheim. Justin loved it and Nicole did for a while. The kids were able to ride on a trackless train that was cute. I think Justin could have stayed there all day just watching trains. He also got to race slot cars. Nikki cheered for him.

We came home and packed up for the hotel. The kids couldn’t get us out of the house fast enough-they were so excited. The kids just wanted to stay in the hotel and play. We did go out and explore. We played with sand toys in the volleyball court and then kicked soccer balls in the golf area. That night we headed down to Balboa. We had a great time going across the ferry, playing games at the arcade, and Nicole doing the trampoline jump thing. Nicole watched this for about an hour and couldn’t decide whether to do it or not. Finally she decided to be brave and do it. While dad and Nikki were in line Justin and I went into the nautical museum. We did a puzzle and were able to touch some sea stars, etc. Nicole loved doing the trampoline thing. I may have to figure out how to get the cell phone video dad took on my blog. She was laughing and loving it. She wanted to do it again and again.

Nikki Jumping

It got later and later so we ended up just grabbing pizza for dinner and heading back to the ferry. We got back to the hotel and had wild crazy kids. They were having a blast running up and down the hallways. It was so funny. And more hyper they decided after brushing teeth they were hungry again.

Finally around 8:30ish we thought about bedtime. I told lots of stories since I forgot books. Right after the stories Justin went right to bed. Nicole on the hand is a while different story. She stayed up until 10:00. We couldn’t believe it and we just ended up going to bed as well.

First day of the new year. Bret and I stayed up too late last night but didn’t even make it till midnight. We were home for a bit this morning. We helped the kids paint their dog houses that Zoe’s family gave them. It was a lot of fun-Bret and I both enjoyed the painting part. They fought over whose dog was whose. Finally we looked at the broucher and realized the white one was the girly one and the brown one was the boy one. The kids wouldn’t play by themselves for a minute so Bret and I got nothing done. Finally we decided to run to Target to get a few things. The kids got their soccer balls. I bet you can guess what we did when we got home-played soccer on the greenbelt. Nicole liked playing goalie. It was fun messing around on the greenbelt plus we used the rocket launcher thing. Our friend Tom from Northern CA came to visit us. The kids definitely showed him how much they like their lion. We went to Ruby’s for lunch. It was really nice and the kids were really good. After we walked around the complex and went into the toy store. The kids played in the sand area and climbed all over the frogs. Tom couldn’t stay too long as he was heading back home today. The kids had fun with Tom and sang for him. They also hid and laughed every time he tried to take their picture. We played in the back yard for a bit-the kids swung. Dad needed a nap. The kids and I took their cars around the neighborhood. The kids pretended they were delivering newspapers like Curious George does. It was really cute. They drove for a bit around the cul de sac too then we did some gardening. The kids helped me. They did get all dirty and not sure if they got any roots out but it was fun having them out there. They also did chalk on the driveway and the garage. We put the kiddos in the Bob stroller with their Leapsters so dad and I could go for a walk. We walked down the path to a little park. We let the kids play for a bit and they had so much fun. We pushed them on the swings then they pushed us. They liked running down the slide. We headed home and made some french toast for dinner. The kids gobbled it up. We decided we needed some excitement so we looked on priceline and found a good deal. So we booked the Hyatt Newporter for tomorrow night. The kids are so excited. Dad played hide n seek with the kiddos then we headed upstairs. Justin and I ended up coming back down to play the race car set. Nicole brought her doll house people down to watch the race. We read some library books as we need to bring them back tomorrow. We asked the kids what animal they wanted to take to the hotel tomorrow and both said the huge lion. So silly.