Melissa’s Blog

Got ready for the cleaners today. The kids played Mario Cart for a little bit. On our way out we had to stop at pre school to drop off desert for a lunch that was there today. I did a little work while I was there. The kids played so nicely. They filled the wooden trucks up with blocks and pushed them around. After we headed to the lagoon. Unfortunately they clean the lagoon on Tuesdays so we had to wait an hour. Our friends were there too so the kids just played. We had a picnic lunch too. Then when the lagoon opened the kids were able to go right in. However the water was cold. Nikki and Justin weren’t in too long. They were busy playing in the sand, having a great time but not swimming as much as I thought. All their friends got ice cream treats after so I gave in. Isn’t going to the lagoon a treat in itself? We stopped on the way home and I finally found Nikki flip flops that are comfortable for her. We unpacked from the lagoon and the kids played. The house is so clean, I am loving it. The kids played with trains for a bit then we headed outside to wash mommy car. The kids wanted to help-we had a good time outside. Then our neighbor came by with Cindy the dog. We are dog sitting for about 11 days. The kids are thrilled….Bret and I not so much. After dinner I showed the kids a Michael Buble DVD. At first they liked it but then they just wanted to watch their shows. I let them watch Martha Speaks. Then they played games with daddy. I went for a walk w/a  friend. Tried to take Cindy but Cindy wasn’t interested in walking. The kids and dad went for a walk too. We lit up glow sticks for the kiddos. We read a few books then off to bed. Cindy jumped into the kiddos beds and they thought that was pretty cool.

We played at home this morning, did some laundry. Then we headed out to the park to play with some friends. I brought the kids scooters and they had a great time with them. Justin was really into going around and around. They played on the play structure for a bit and played with their friends. Nikki really liked the cupcake sand toy. Made us lots of cupcakes and played well. We had lunch at the park. After the park we headed to pre school. Today began me trying to figure out where we stand with the membership role. It is really hard to clean up someone else’s stuff. The kids played so well at school and for a long time. It was nice. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have it all organized. On the way home I had to stop at the grocery store. When we got home dad had to do some work. The kids watched TV a bit. We had dinner then the kiddos played. They found a blow up lion and monkey that they hadn’t played with for a long time. My role was to keep hanging them from the ceiling fan in the family room. Then we managed to bring it outside and the monkey/lion climbed the peach tree. We had a nice night together. Justin made a cool track with his cars, it involved a pillow and Bret’s shoe. I read a bunch of books to the kiddos then we headed upstairs. Nicole put her baby to bed. I let her feed it water today. She loved it. She was so sweet to it and loved feeding and changing her. Kiddos were tired and fell asleep quickly. Now to go eat some ice cream.

I was so tired today. This morning we took it easy, read the paper and played in the backyard. I did some gardening as well. Dad got some things done on his car this morning. He fixed his fog light and added new black stuff that was peeling. I took the kiddos to their swim lesson. They are learning to do the crawl stroke with side breathing and no kick boards. It is amazing to watch them. We came home and had lunch. Then I was so tired so the kiddos watched a show and I took a nap. I don’t know why I have been so tired lately. After nap we took library books back and picked out some new books quickly. Then we went geo-caching. The kids loved it. They especially loved when they were able to leave something and take something. Nicole was loving the pin she got. It was fun and the kids enjoyed it but they also had a great time at the park. We found this little park by one of the geo-cache sites and the kids had a blast. Nicole pretended she was Tracey and Justin was her buddy Buckwheat. They had a great time at the park. We stopped at Woodbury for dinner then ran over to Home Depot. We got Nikki a new fan as the one in her room sucks. At home I read the library books and we went upstairs. The kids haven’t been listening to well today and kind of talking back a little. I am not liking this. Hoping it is just left over from being spoiled at grandma/pa’s. Justin and I played cars tonight while dad and Nikki played dollhouse. Then we switched. I told Nicole her baby alive doll pee’s and I think we will be testing it out tomorrow. Cuddle time was short tonight since we played so much.

On Friday morning I took the kiddos to pre school. There was a family picnic. The kids had a blast. I filled a ton of water balloons and met the new pre-k teacher. She was great and the kids enjoyed hanging out with her too. She had squirrel puppets N&J loved. The girl that took over my position as membership is leaving.  So I am back to membership. It is totally fine with me but I have a lot of work to do now. I spent the picnic in the office instead of playing. I have to go in next week as well. After dad and I dropped the kiddos off at grandma/pa’s for the night. Dad and I headed to San Diego for our night out. It was so nice to be with each other, I was so relaxed and wasn’t thinking of all the things I had to do. We checked in our hotel then headed for a great dinner on the bay. I even had a martini, blackberry martini. Then we headed to the Michael Buble concert. It was fantastic. I just smiled the entire time while he sang. I preferred when he sang his own songs. It was a great concert. I am so glad we went. We actually stayed up until after midnight. This morning we just took our time getting ready to leave the hotel. We ended up going to Seaport Village and got coffee and breakfast. We walked around and browsed the little shops. It was just nice taking our time but I did miss the kiddos a ton. On the way home I convinced Bret to stop at the outlets for a little bit. We were in and out of the car but it was so easy without having to strap kids in. Then we headed home for a bit. We went to pick the kiddos up. They seemed really happy and had a great time w/grandma/pa. The kids didn’t seem to care we were back at first. I guess that is a good thing. Then Nikki got all clingy. I loved cuddling with her. We all headed to Dana Point for dinner. I guess the kiddos went there on Friday as well w/grandma/pa. So the kids showed us the boats they wanted to buy and the seagulls. We walked over to where the boats come out of the water. Justin was fascinated with the boat going on the trailer and the truck pulling it. I think he could have stayed there for hours. We all walked around and ate dinner together. It was nice. The kids needed some outside crazy time. When we got home the kids were really tired. Nikki is all into me and really missed me. I hope to get some alone time with her tomorrow.

Bret ended up coming home at 6:00AM, poor guy. It was a rough night for me as I couldn’t sleep that well without Bret. Nikki came in our room around 11:30PM, I was still reading. It was weird as she usually just yells for me. This morning we played for a while at home. I put Hot Wheel tracks together and made a cool race thing. Dad ended up staying home from work since he was just beat. It was nice to have him home. Nicole took a shower with me this morning. She rarely does that but wanted some alone time. It was sweet. My dad came by for a visit. We counted all his cars and came up with approximately 175. We lined the cars up by color too. The kids did lots of shows for Grandpa and loved the attention they were getting from him. It was so hot and humid today. We decided to go to the pool. The kids liked showing grandpa how they could swim. Grandpa was busy pushing them in and they were laughing. I threw Justin up in the air and in the water for the first time, we did it again and again. I had a great time in the pool with the kiddos. After grandpa left Nikki and I went to the grocery store. I had no milk! We had fun together and it was nice being with her. She was whining for alone time. I love it but it is so hard sometimes. After dinner we all played in the futon room. Justin and dad set up a Geotrax track while Nikki and I played baby. I love playing with Nikki but she really wants you to play the way she does. We went upstairs and got ready for bed. Nikki wanted me to be the dentist while I brushed her teeth. We read lots of books and the kids were so tired. Justin yawned a lot. Poor guy he doesn’t want to wear diapers at night anymore. We will try to wake him up before we go to bed.

Not an extremely exciting day but it was nice. I enjoyed having a day at home. Bret and I went to bed way too late last night. I tried to get organized with my board position for pre school. Two speakers are scheduled, one more to go. So just got caught up on home stuff and made lots of phone calls. Today was supposed to be the kid’s assessment for kindergarten. We found out you don’t receive any feedback so we skipped it. We are planning to hold the kids but thought maybe they would have some more info so we can make a more informed decision. I let the kids watch TV today. I feel like they haven’t had TV time in a while. They watched an old favorite Little Einsteins. The kids did a ton of puzzles today. We needed to get out and since it was so hot our we decided to go to the mall. We had fun at the mall. The kids wanted to buy everything. They went on some of the quarter rides and I let them play in the Disney store. I did a little shopping as well. We were able to see dad for a little bit before he headed off to do some side work. The kids did some shows for me tonight. Then we headed outside in the backyard. The kids watered most of our plants. They watered them using their water cup. Then they pretended they had smoothies and all of a sudden it was their birthday. Justin was Dash Dash and Nikki was Violet from the Incredibles. I sang happy birthday over and over again. It was fun though we had a good time outside and I was able to get a little gardening done. We finally came inside and headed upstairs. We played cars for a while. Then we just cuddled in my bed and read lots of books, it was really nice. They went to bed so easily-I think all the reading made them tired. Now to relax but wish Bret was home with me.

Crap I have gained a few lbs. Ugh, time to get eating properly again-well I will start tomorrow 🙂 This morning we were off to go get a b-day gift for our friend’s party. We had to stop a few places and my kiddos were troopers. I guess they saw the light at the end of the tunnel of going to a party. We went to Micheal, Katie, and Sarah’s 6th birthday party. It was at a bounce house place. The kids had a great time and it was just so nice. Nikki and Katie wanted to be twins today and wore their Hello Kitty dresses together, so cute. Nikki got a little frustrated when Katie was busy playing with her other friends and not giving Nikki 100% of her attention. Good thing for Nikki to learn that Katie has other friends and it was Katie’s day. The kids loved bouncing.

Well Bret got a call regarding the Irvine raffle. The good news is we won $500.00 the bad news is we spent $700.00. At least we recovered a little bit of our money. Oh and minus taxes. The kids played with their dogs; Blues Clues and Magenta today. The put leashes and collars on them. The kids wanted collars around their necks but I said no. They were so sad. I suggested the leashes attached to backpacks.

This was a story Justin made up. He told me the name was Henry gets lost. The story is this “Henry gets lost and Molly finds him. He wanted to call daddy at work to tell him the story. We went to a friend’s pool this afternoon. The kids had a great time; I even got in the pool with them. The kids all loved jumping in and splashing me. When we got home the kids played with daddy while I had the board meeting for pre school here. Nikki wanted to show everyone her room, it was cute. Nikki was so sad I was downstairs-she even asked if daddy could be at the meeting.

This morning Nikki and I ran out to Kohl’s. She loved picking out things for me to try on. Dad and Justin went geo-caching. It was like a scavenger hunt and I am sure Justin had a great time. Then we went to the kids swim lessons. We played in the pool for a bit with them. We showered and went to the MV mall. We had lunch and I shopped a little bit. Dad and Justin played some virtual game then met us at the play area. Nikki came in a store with me, she was so funny pretending she was an adult and picking out clothes. Whatever I tried on in the fitting room she had to put it on as well. It was really cute. After the mall we went to some friends house in Mission Viejo. We haven’t seen them in a year or two. They had 7 yr old twins and a 14 month baby. Nikki loved the little girl. Justin and Nikki started on their trampoline playing. They have a trampoline in the ground, it is so cool. Then the kiddos went swimming. Justin got a hold of sprayers and sprayed all over. Dad went in and joined him. Justin was laughing every time he got squirted; he just loved it. It was nice watching him have so much fun and interact with the two dads. Nicole was able to swim to the deep end. She was so proud of herself. We all went to Islands for dinner and just had a great time together. On the way to Islands, we took the girls and Justin went with Jake in their car. After dinner we got frozen yogurt then headed home. I read the kids lots of books and they were tired, went right to sleep.

This morning I was off to get my hair cut finally! I met dad and the kiddos at the pool. Since summer is almost over we are doing both Sat and Sun for swim lessons. It was fun to be in the pool with the kiddos. Justin is really practicing his strokes and jumped in over and over again. Nikki is still a crazy fish in the water. She is more into playing then her strokes. Dad threw her up in the water so high, the look on her face was great-I wish I had my camera. So dad and I played with the kids in the pool for a while. Then we took showers. It was kind of a lazy day. I was so tired and took a short nap on the floor of the kids playroom. Nikki and I had some alone time playing in the play room. We played grocery store, had a birthday party w/baby, and played with animals. Dad and Justin played with the bristel blocks making planes, etc. We played outside in the backyard. Dad and Nikki went to go get some coffee together. He said Nikki was the sweetest thing out with him. Justin and I played here, we played shake n go racers and another race track. We finally decided we had better do something with our day. We ended up going to pirate park. The kiddos took their scooters and sand toys. We had fun playing with them and watching them play together. After dinner we let them watch a little TV. We read all our library books then headed upstairs. Nikki and I had a tea party with her dogs Zoe and Rusty while dad and Justin played cars. Justin was very wiggly in bed tonight.

I worked on painting the kiddos fire engine and bird house. I also did a huge load of laundry. The kiddos played for a while. We also played some games, Memory, High Ho Cherry-o, etc. Then we headed out to Fashion Island. The kids have been wanting to go there lately. We didn’t have too much time there but the kids played by the fish for a bit. It didn’t last as long as I had hoped. I am in the middle of a book and I was able to read while they played. We went and had lunch. I treated them to ice cream, it was a fun outing. We  headed over to Grammy’s for an afternoon of play. The kids played with the toys upstairs for a long time. We went swimming-it was cold. But we had a blast in the pool. Nikki was wild in the pool. Jumping into the floatie, jumping on me, pretending to be Shamu, etc. Justin was on the kick board practicing his strokes. He got cold though and got out. He was so cold and wanted to take a warm shower. So the kids took a bath at Grammy’s and had a great time. Unfortunately Justin was kind of showing Nikki his penis and it was a big discussion in the bath. I think it was just because there were no bath toys but may have to re-think this bathing together. After they were naked for a while. They were busy playing. Grammy showed me this dress for Nicole that has a matching dress for her dolls that she got for birthday or Christmas. I was worried about the size though. We told her Grammy bought it for Meghan (didn’t show her the doll dress) and could we try it on to see how it fits her. Nikki said she loved it and to keep this one for her and buy Meghan another one. Grammy is going to exchange it for a bigger size-I hope they have the same one as it was really cute. Dad came to Grammy’s, kids still naked. They were playing so well but around 6:30 we were all getting hungry. They were mostly playing with the fisher price people, the cars, and the swings. We went to Norms for a quick dinner then headed home. Justin drove with me which was nice to have Justin time. Nikki went with daddy. Kids were pretty tired-me too!