Melissa’s Blog

Today was a simple day mostly spent at home. When Bret ran to get coffee this morning, he also grabbed some groceries too. The kids haven’t been listening all that well. I think we need to tell them things 5 or 6 times, it is getting pretty frustrating. Hope it is just a quick phase. We also ran out to do a quick errand. While out the Cox store had some grand opening w/characters. Angelica from Rugrats was there and some Digiman (Cox’s mascot). Nicole was so excited to meet the rugrat. Justin did high five her while daddy held him. Dad worked on smoking a chicken all day in the smoker. The kids were painting with water. It was some magical paper, when you painted with water new colors, etc appeared. They were loving it. I felt like most of the day was spent in the kitchen. I had to make a desert for tomorrow and just the side dishes for tonight. I liked being able to cook-just hate the mess. The kids played pretty well together. Upstairs they played with their letter trains and made a track. They also got all their dog stuffed animals out. The upstairs was a mess but they were having a great time. I tired to take a short nap on the couch. It was interrupted several times, but how can I complain when the kiddos kiss me on the head. Dad and I relaxed in the backyard today, so nice. I am still so glad we re-did our backyard. Dad and I held a rope and the kids were doing jump rope. The problem was they were so excited when they jumped once they forgot to jump again. Plus jumping in one spot was a little hard.  The kids went in the jacuzzi. I gave them their big cups they got at Vegas to drink out of. I don’t know if I ever took a picture before so I got one today.

We had an early dinner then decided to head to the park. The kids needed to get out for a bit. They had a great time. Both were sliding down the pole. Justin was a little reluctant at first. I think he was nervous to go from the spot to the pole but once on the pole he was fine. Tonight Nikki was doing dog shows for us with her animals. Justin was in the bathroom busy seeing what floated in the sink. We only had time to read a few books. I am still working on Nicole’s bed and bought the wrong size curtain, ugh.

Going on the ferry yesterday at Balboa Island definitely made an impact on Justin. He took his Hot Wheels track apart and made it into a ferry. He was taking cars/trains across it. It was so cute.

The kids pretended to be pirates. They took the cardboard roll from wrapping paper which was their telescope and they made maps too. Love it. The only complaint is I wanted to run some errands in the morning but they were having way too much fun, I couldn’t stop it. I think the kids finally ate breakfast about 9:30ish. I let them pour their own cereal and milk-they were so proud of themselves. Finally we were off. I went to someone’s house to buy some clothes for the kiddos. Nikki picked out a batman teddy bear that she adores and Justin got a few cars and a percy train. Then we headed over to a girl’s birthday party from pre school. It was at the lagoon. Again Nikki was hanging out with me and wouldn’t let me go. So weird as she usually loves the lagoon. She did want her teddy bear as I had her leave it in the car. Justin didn’t go swimming either, it wasn’t all that hot. I threw balls to the kids while they used a bat and did pretty well. We came home for a bit and the kids played. We also cleaned up the play room. The kids brought everything they could into their play room-stuff was everywhere. When dad got home we were off to the fair. A great time was had by all. We mostly did the rides since it was $1.00 ride/game day. The kids loved the big slide, Nikki did it twice. This was the first time the kids were off doing everything by themselves, they were so proud. Justin loved the bumper cars-he had a grin on his face the entire time. They did a few more rides but after the slide Justin came running over and pulling us over to the bumper boats. This was one of the kids favorites! Dad and Justin did the people mover thing while Nicole and I went into a petting zoo. Dad was terrified of the height and I was terrified of the big goat looking at me. We had dinner and got some ice cream cones. We were so cold by the time we were leaving. Kids went to bed a little late, now time for me to unwind.

Today was a great day! This morning we were off early to the Balboa library. We saw a great show there, one world rhythm. The kids loved playing with all the dif’t instruments, shakers, drums, sticks, etc. Hopefully this is encouraging musical genes, ha. They also turned in their summer reading and got 3 prizes, stickers, tattoo, and rubber ball. We went in the bathroom and put on the tattoo’s. They don’t even need prizes since they love to be read to.  Then we walked to the fun zone. Justin really wanted to go on the ferry, so on the ferry we went. We took it over then took it right back. Nikki wanted to do the jumpy trampoline thing, but we were unable to do it today. So off to the games we went. Of course the games were a ton of fun. They had enough tickets to get lollipops. Then we ate lunch by the jumpy thing so Nicole could watch it. We headed over to the beach. Oh Nicole walked all around with a bucket on her head pretending it was a hat. I heard people say she is starting a new trend but most just laughed. The kids played on the play structure on the beach for a bit. Then it was into bathing suits and in the ocean. The kids were jumping over the waves, running from them, laughing and laughing. I made them a big hole and they kept running to fill up buckets of water to put in the hole, AKA pool. We buried Nicole; she was pretending to be Ariel. Justin got in the hole and we buried him too. It was a great busy day. We came home and dad was working from home. I got the kiddos naked in the garage as they were full of sand. Then off to the shower. The kids played trains for a bit and then watched some TV. While they watched TV I made dinner. We had a nice dinner out on the patio. We took it easy tonight which isn’t surprising after our long day. Dad and J played cars while Nikki and I played in her room. We played with Heuy, Dewie, and Louie. We made a pool for them and acted out the animals. Tonight we read a lot of books and the kids were so tired. So funny after visiting Nikki I went to Justin…all of a sudden Bret says Nikki isn’t in her bed. She hid on him, it was so funny and she was really proud of herself.

This morning went by so fast. We played, we read….Then all of a sudden it was time to go to My Gym. The kids went to the My Gym camp from 10:30-1:30. The kids had a great time. At first they did a craft then played. Nikki wanted me to come back a little early so I did. It was great to see them laughing, playing, following directions, etc. I didn’t do too much while they were at My Gym. I ran to the toy store to get some birthday gifts then just came home. I played on the computer and watched a little TV. The kids made caterpillars at My Gym. I was so worried the kids would be starving but they were fine. They didn’t end up eating lunch until almost 2:00. We played out in the backyard for a while. Justin pushed cars on the picnic table. Nikki was into dressing her dolls and feeding her baby. I tried to give them both a little attention today. Finally we decided it was so nice out so we headed to Blue Gum Park. We were there for a long time. The kids loved sliding down the slides, putting a bunch of sand then sliding down. They also tried to climb up it with the slippery sand. Justin was busy making wet sand and throwing it down the slide w/water. They caught the ball as they slid down the slides. Also played in the sand a bit. Dad met us there and we walked to dinner. We walked on the path and the kids pretty much picked up every pine cone there was on the path. We have a stroller full of pine cones.

They were calling them their Easter eggs. It was such a nice walk and evening. When we got home the kids parked all their trains on each tile in the hallway. We went upstairs and read lots of books. The kiddos went right to sleep.

So this morning was nice. Bret had to be at work at 7:00. I ended up getting up when he left and enjoyed the house to myself. I did end up going to the grocery store to get some snacks for play group. Then I just took it easy and watched some TV, cleaned up inside and out, gardened. Before I knew it the kids were home and play group was starting. The kids had fun at my parent’s house. Nicole stayed up until 10:45 last night. She was up later than us! The kids had a great time at play group. The mess wasn’t too bad except for my closet. I need to shut my doors so the kids don’t play in there. We stayed home for a while and relaxed. The kids had fun playing together and being home. We did end up going to the library to see Buster the balloon. It was a great show, the kids loved it. The guy even put himself in a whoopie cushion. He made some really cool balloon animals. I am so glad we went to that show. We also bought a few books at the library book store. Nicole was a little cranky this afternoon, just tired. She was getting upset at little things. We got home and just played out front. I finally washed my car. The kids helped. They also did chalk. They lined up the chalk and pretended it was a monorail. We did bubbles, Justin loved chasing and popping the bubbles. Dad got home and Nikki pretended he was the jumping trampoline thing and just jumped. We ended up being out front until 6:40ish. I did some gardening (trimming) while the kids drove their cars. They pretended their cars were at the mechanics. Then the scooters, roller skates, and bikes came out. The kids are doing pretty well on the skates. After dinner I went for a walk. When I got home we went upstairs and got ready for bed. Both fell right to asleep. It was fun cuddling with them.

Last night was a rough night for me. I had trouble sleeping, my belly hurt, and a cramp in my leg, ugh. Nikki was happy I was sleeping on her floor. The kids did some puzzles this morning. So great to see them do them on their own and they are so proud of themselves. I was pretty sluggy this morning, coffee helped. It was kind of cloudy but we decided to meet some friends at the lagoon. Nikki was very needy. She sat on my lap and whined. She kept saying she was bored and hungry. Her whining was annoying me. It took her about an hour then she started to have fun. Justin was in the water playing. He got on a boogie board. It was pretty cool until the sun came out. By the time we left Nicole was in a good mood. The  kids were pretty sandy so I put them in the shower when we got home. They had a great time in the shower together. Then grandpa came over. Justin wanted to spend the night at their house. Nicole was unsure if she wanted to but finally decided to. I packed the kiddos up and they kept on adding things. She took her Build A Bear Rainbow bear, Snoopy, and her Rocky the horse. Justin took Easter the bunny and Blackie the dog. The kids were excited to go. I ran out and got a pedicure finally. Dad and I went to the spectrum tonight. We walked around a bit and had dinner. We just took it easy. It was a nice peaceful night.

Justin and I were the first ones up this morning. We had fun playing together. We played with the magnetic train book thing. Then it was all about games; Chutes and Ladders, Memory, etc. It was nice to have some alone time together. We were off to swim lessons this morning. It was cloudy and cooler, of course the sun came out when the lessons were over. Both kids did terrific. Bret and I opted not to go in the pool since it wasn’t that warm. We had a quick lunch then headed over to the Great Park for a frisbee dog show. It was really cute. The kids seemed to really enjoy it. All those psycho border collies. We played at the park for a bit. There was a new play structure the kids checked out then pretended to be dogs on the grass. At home again we just hung out. Dad tried to take a nap. Justin and I washed daddy’s car together. Or should I say Justin did the hose. Nikki was inside waking up daddy. We were busy then we headed to the mall. I wanted to use the Gymbucks and do a return. It was a fast trip to the mall then we went Grnadma/pa for dinner. The kids hadn’t seen them in a while so were so excited. We went to a place where the waiters/waitresses do line dancing. Nikki loved it and got up and tried to copy the dancers. The kids played outside with grandma/pa. The kids seemed pretty tired and we tried to get them to bed early. By the time we knew it was 9:00. Nikki got her second wind but finally went to bed.

We went to the Lowe’s clinic for kids today. The kids made UFO’s. They love banging away with the hammer. I helped Justin and dad helped Nikki. The light on the top of the UFO made it cool. We went to Carters after. I bought the kiddos clothes for the fall. After lunch I had some coupons that were expiring at Kohls so we headed over there. The kids pretended they were dogs. Nikki is Tracey and Justin is Cindy. Nikki put on her dog leash thing and Justin used a back pack with a flexi leash. It became a pain though for me. We bought more clothes and stuff for next summer too. The kids pretended the chairs outside on the patio were cages (the pound) and I had to adopt them and bring them home. It amazes how the kids can do things over and over and over again. We headed to Grammy’s too. Grammy is heading to Toronto on Tuesday so we wanted to see her before she left. The kids had a great time there. They played lots with the pirate ship and pretended to be cleaners. The kids picked up all the carpets in Grammy’s office and cleaned away. They also spent some time in the pool. It was too cold for me to go in. We ordered a pizza and just hung out with Grammy and Sharon for a while. The kids again were up late, oh well.

We had a pretty good day, so glad it is finally Friday. We tried to clean up a bit this morning, toys everywhere. I also took the zebra tent down. We headed out to a friend’s pool this morning. The water was freezing. The kids had fun. The kids spent more time in the jacuzzi and the sprinkler. We couldn’t stay too long as we were taking care of Tierney today. We were very excited to see T. We played with her here for awhile. She was into everything and just enjoyed playing with dif’t toys. I decided to brave 3 kids at the pool. It was work but it all went really well. The kids liked having T in the pool with them and T loved the water. No fear. Nicole and Justin swam around, dove for dive sticks, and played. Justin was practicing his strokes with the kick board. We played in the small baby pool for a little bit for T. We ran into some old friends at the pool. The kids showered and we headed out. We stopped at the grocery store and all 3 kids were great. We played with T until Roberta got here. I changed T’s diaper but Nicole wanted to put back on T’s shorts. That was a challenge but T was a little tired. Bret came home and we had an early dinner. The kids wanted to eat in the backyard and it was really nice. We ended up going to monkey bar park for a while tonight. Nikki went across the monkey bars and Justin is almost there. I was impressed at how far Justin got. The kids played at home tonight while dad and I were bums. I am just so tired. Kiddos are sleeping and I am soon to follow.

I was a grumpy mom yesterday! So much I didn’t even want to blog. I was just so tired from the night before, lack of sleep. We stayed home almost all day. I tried to work on the kid’s baby books. I can’t believe how far behind I am. The kids played all day. Nikki wanted alone time so I went upstairs and played Huey, Louie, and Dewey with her. We pretended her pillow was a pool and they jumped in. Justin came in with his bus to jump in too. I was so sleepy. I finally let the kiddos watch TV so I could take a nap. Even with the nap I was still grumpy. Nikki was so needy yesterday which I love but like I said I was grumpy so it was hard to deal with. In the late afternoon we went to a friend’s birthday party at the bounce house place. This was nice since it was the only time the kiddos got out to exercise. The kids had a great time. Nikki cried a few times at Micheal. Sometimes they get along so well and other times not so well. I really watched Justin to make sure he wasn’t getting too wild. Here are a few pics but I didn’t get too many of Justin for some reason:

After the party we ran over to the library. There was a really cool show of a Polynesian dancer. It was crowded though and hard to hold both kids in my lap until I finally got a chair. The kids enjoyed it. Nikki volunteered to go up there and danced around. The only problem was we weren’t sure if Nikki was picked or not. It didn’t matter Nikki went up there and danced like a star. Kiddos went to bed a little late but I keep telling myself it is ok as it is summer.