Melissa’s Blog

The sun is shining, no more gloomy weather. We took it easy today. We decided to check out a new farmer’s market by the RV place. It was a lousy farmer’s market but we did get a little bit of fruit. At the RV place there is a little lake with lots of ducks, roosters, and hens. There were little baby chicks that were so cute. The kids got to feed the ducks. I convinced dad to stop at Home Depot to look at smokers-happy birthday to daddy. He was surprised. I had no idea which one to buy him. He is still shopping for one as I type this. We did some errands as well. We hung out at home most of the afternoon. I did a ton of gardening. It was so nice having Zoe out front with me, no leash or anything. She was just so happy laying in the grass. The kids watched some new show called World Girl I think. So after Nicole pretended to be Super Girl and Justin was some cuddle monkey guy. I can’t remember the last time I gave the kiddos a bath. Tomorrow we will give them one at the pool, so we chose to let them go in the jacuzzi. That is just like a bath right? We played ball with Zoe on the greenbelt then headed out. We wanted to go to an event at the Great Park. Getting in there just to park was a nightmare then all the lines were so long….we ended up just leaving. We did see some vintage planes though flying around and doing tricks which was pretty cool. Justin really liked that. We grabbed some dinner and came home. Time to go take Zoe for a walk. I am getting so sad as Zoe is leaving tomorrow. It has been so great having her here and watching the kids interact with a dog. I can’t wait until someday we get a dog but for now we are so lucky to be able to borrow Zoe.

TGIF. We were busy today, lots of shopping. Nikki walked Zoe with me this morning, so fun to have her along with me. The kids played at home. They had fun with sticker books, trains, etc. We threw some balls for Zoe then headed out. The kids and I ran to Kohl’s. I was able to get them summer clothes on sale for next year. They were really great while we were shopping. Then we headed to the Mission Viejo mall. We met Buffi and gang there. We did lots of shopping and playing. The kids got spoiled….Grammy bought them light up balls and Buffi bought Nikki a doggy stuffed animal that looks like Zoe and Justin got a plane set. The balls were a huge bonus and kept them busy at the mall. The kiddos played in the play area and we went in the puppy store. There was a virtual game (Xbox thing) so the kids did virtual white water rafting. It was so cool and the kids loved it. We had a great afternoon with the relatives. The kids and I decided to go to Farrells for dinner. We had such a fun mom and kids dinner. The kids sat on the same side of the table and just enjoyed one another’s company. I let them get little clown sundeas. It was just a great day. I missed dad and Zoe though. It was nice to come home. Got to go walk the dog and get ready for bed.

I was too tired to blog last night. It started off a nice quiet day at home then just got really busy. Dad changed his working from home day to Thursdays. The kids and I just played in the morning. They are loving to read these days so they can color in the circles for the summer reading program, so we read and read. T came over after lunch. The kids were so excited to see her, especially Nikki. T was not so thrilled about having Zoe here. She seemed scared at first but then kept pointing at Zoe. N&J pushed T on the swing and we all played in the play room. T was into the blocks and trains. I went up and down the stairs with T. She likes to walk up and down now holding my hand.  The relatives came over too, Buffi, Brittany, Tori, and Grammy. T was loving having everyone around. It was a zoo here but fun. The kids had a great time with the family. Bret and I got a night out. We went out to Yard House and the Improv with some friends. It was nice but I was really tired. The comedian was mildly amusing. The kids and everyone went to Chick Fil A and played. The kids got spoiled with big ice cream cones. I was happy that their relatives could spoil them since they don’t get to see them very often. The kids had a great time. Justin went right to sleep. Nicole wanted me though. I cuddled both kiddos when I got home as I missed them. Justin woke up and I put a diaper on him. I woke up Nicole but she doesn’t remember. I finally got a good night’s sleep last night. And today is Friday 🙂

Yesterday was a busy but fun day. We are going to take it easy today. We stayed home for a while this morning. I was up early to walk Zoe. It is all dreary and drizzly again today, just makes me want to curl up and watch a movie. Justin pretended he was a dog, Marmaduke and Nikki walked him. I caught up a little bit at home, got organized, cleaned a little, and did laundry. We went to the library for a summer activity. It was a person playing the Blues. Justin seemed to really like the music and the kids were pretty excited when they recognized a song. I am glad we went just to expose them to other types of music. We went into the library and signed up for the summer reading program. The kids were so excited to get reading and coloring a circle for every 10 minutes they read. We read for 30 minutes and then I was too hungry for lunch to stay more. We came home and we played. We took Zoe out and played with her a bit. Then the kids decided they were going to a hotel. So they packed up their backpacks with all the necessities..sunglasses, stuffed animals, toothbrush, etc. It was really cute. I had a hard time convincing them to take a bath. Every time I mentioned it they would play together so well. We went out in the backyard and played. The kids helped pick some of the veggies. It was time to pick all the green beans. Finally I got Justin in the shower. So funny they say they want a really quick shower but then when you get them in they do not want to get out. Nikki played mommy to her babies while Justin showered. After Nikki’s shower she happily played in her room, some Boo game from Monsters Inc. She pretended one of her baby’s was a Boo and had to sit in some chair to get the laughs out. I needed to go meet Paula and kids to take pictures. When I called the kids to go Nikki said “but we are playing so nicely” and Justin said “but I am reading books”. We met our friends on Hicks Canyon path and took some great pics. Can’t wait to see what Paula and family think about them. So the kids were so good today, we let them watch TV while we made dinner. They are really into the Martha Speaks show. We all had some ice cream too. The kids got super silly in the backyard. Nikki would sit in the Tonka truck and push Justin into the play house. Then they would switch. They were cracking up and so were we. We all read books in our bed and cuddled/visited there. All of a sudden Zoe the dog jumps up and is silly as ever. We had a great time with Zoe cuddling in our bed. I hope she doesn’t jump in her parents bed when she is back home. Kids went to bed and I went for a walk.

Nice to be at  home for most of the day today. I was hoping the kiddos would sleep in a  bit but not so much. Justin was downstairs when I got back from a walk with Zoe. I played in the play room with him. We played with cars then Lego’s. We built a house then played with the Lego helicopter and car. It was nice hanging out with  my little guy. Justin and I took showers. Nikki and dad watched Muppet things on dad’s computer. Then we headed to pre school to help with summer school registration. The kids played and had a great time. We were there for a while, came home and picked up dad so we could grab some lunch. After getting home the kids pretended they were dogs, Nikki was Tracey and Justin was Cindy. We made dog beds outside and they played with balls. The “dogs” oh wait I mean kids jumped through the hula hoop like a dog. We had mushy old bananas so we made a banana bread together. It was fun to cook with the kiddos and luckily it wasn’t too messy or maybe Zoe licked up the floor. While the bread was cooking the kids watched Alvin and the Chipmunks. They love that movie so much. After the movie they did shows for us, Nicole was pretending to be Simon w/her sunglasses. Justin and her were dancing around. I gave Nicole a bath. Then we had dinner. We had a late dinner so we just read a ton of books downstairs. Justin was so cuddly while reading books (probably just tired). Upstairs the kids just put on jammies and brushed/flossed and off to bed. By 8:30 everyone was sleeping. I am glad that they weren’t too cranky from staying up late last night. Time to walk Zoe.

Happy 4th of July! The kids were having so much fun playing trains this morning but we had to get to the Woodbridge parade. The kids rode their bikes in it. They were so cute and had a great time riding. At the end we jumped out of the parade so we could watch the rest of it. The bikers went first. People were throwing out candy which the kids really liked. It was a small and cute parade. We came home for a short bit and headed to Grammy’s. Zoe the dog was not too happy being put in the car. Once in the car she was fine. Bret finally had to pick her up. We left the kids and dog at Grammy’s so we could go over to a friends party. It was sad leaving Zoe in a strange place but at least she  had Nikki and Justin. We didn’t stay too long at our friends but were glad we were able to stop by for a bit. I had guilt for leaving the kiddos (even though they picked staying with their cousins) so I played with them when we got back to Grammy’s. Justin was riding a trike pretending it was an RV. I sat at the check in place and Justin said he wanted spot #85 (same # we had when we went RVing). He did everything we did backed his bike into his spot, etc. It was really cute. Then we headed up to the library. All the toys were taken out so we played up there for a while. We had dinner and then we headed out. We got home and got the kids ready for bed, jammies, brush teeth, etc then walked to the park. We finally let the kiddos stay up and watch the fireworks. They were pretty tired but were glad they saw the fireworks. We went to a park, we couldn’t see the low fireworks but we got a pretty good view of the big ones. Both kiddos fell asleep in the stroller on the way home. Here are some pics from our day:

Another fun day with the cousins. They went to the OCC swap meet so we decided to meet up with them. But after about two hours we couldn’t find them so we left. Justin got a little train and Nicole got a stuffed animal dog. It looks like her pink one named Mocha, but is black so according to Nikki it is the brother. Then we headed to Grammy’s where we met up with everyone. The kids had an awesome time. Nicole is in love with Brittany. Nikki had so much fun in the pool with her:

Then a ghetto raft was made. They took Nikki’s round floatie and put this big piece of palm tree in it and the kids just used it to go around the pool.

The pool was really cold so Justin wasn’t in too long and I don’t blame him. We didn’t want to stay too long as we are dog sitting Zoe. I hate the thought of Zoe being home alone. When we got home Justin and I made a track for his new train and got a basket for Nicole’s dogs. The kids played trains for a long time and played well together. We got dinner together then took Zoe out on the greenbelt. We threw lots of  balls to calm her down so Nikki could walk her. Sometimes Zoe pulls on the leash. I just love watching the kids get to know their cousins, we are going to be sad when they leave. We let the kids watch some TV before bed. We weren’t sure if this would work but it did. Justin had a magic wand in bed and he was changing everything. Nikki pretended to be Tracey. She wrapped herself up for Christmas and I opened it to a puppy. She pretended to be a puppy. Now time to relax.

Today was a crazy but exciting and fun day. We met some friends at their pool this morning. The kids had a great time. They used our friends life vests and loved them. It was nice with them on as I wasn’t too worried about them in the water. This way I didn’t have to go in the water. We came home and met daddy at home. Dad only worked a half day today which was nice. We went over to Grammy’s. The kids met Aunt Buffi and Cousins Tori and Brittany. They were shy for about 1 minute then just wanted to play with their cousins. Nicole kept on coming outside and then when we looked at her she ran away. She was having a great time then Justin joined her. The kids played tag with their cousins and went swimming. The kids really wanted life vests. We decided to give in. We found a Tinkerbell and a Cars one which was perfect. The kids just had a great fun afternoon. I wish their cousins lived closer. I am beat from our busy day.

Last minute things sometimes end up being the best. This morning I took the kids to an animal show at the Balboa library. They saw a baby alligator, hedgehog, hissing cockroach, snake, millipedes, and a honey bear from the rain forest. It was a great show and really cool to see some of these animals up close. After we read lots of books then went on an adventure. We walked to the fun zone. Of course the kids wanted to play some games, watch the trampoline thing, pet dogs, look at boats, play in sand, etc. We ended up grabbing some pizza for lunch. So you would think that was enough of an adventure but we decided to head to the beach. We weren’t prepared to be at the beach (no towels/suits, etc)  but the kids still had fun playing on the play structure and climbing all these play things. I think they just loved hanging out down there and looking around, so much going on down in Newport. We came home and the kids seemed a little tired, so they watched some TV. We went out front and washed my car. Wait I washed my car…Justin played with the hose…and Nikki did play doh in the garage. Justin got into the moon sand and play doh-what a mess but it was good that it was in the garage. The kids decided to pretend they were camping. Check out this camp ground:

umbrellas, cones, blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, bags, bubbles, etc. They were having a blast. Dad and I actually came into make dinner and we let them play out there. After dinner the kids played more outside, I did some gardening, then dad and the kids played soccer. Now to unwind and enjoy a quiet house.