Melissa’s Blog

Thursday 12/16

Bret worked from home. I worked at pre school. We had a great time but I was tired. I was in charge of making gingerbread cookies, so much work with all the kids involved. We also prepped all the gingerbread houses for Friday. Since dad was working from home and the next few days seem like it will be raining we decided to head to the Balboa boat parade. I think everyone thought the same way as us. It was packed and parking was hard. We finally went across the ferry. The kids and I watched the parade while dad find a parking spot. It was hard to see the parade from where we were watching but we got the general idea. I was excited to see the lights but the kids had another idea. Instead of seeing the lights they decided it would be fun to play in the sand. Sand and more sand. They used the sand like snow, sand balls, sand angels, etc. They were having a great time and it was fun to watch. I did get to see a few houses. There was a lot of music going on down there, etc. One of the houses had fake snow (bubbles like Disney). The kids did play in that and did really like that. We had a great time but didn’t get the kids to bed until 10:00.

Friday

Justin slept in till 10:00 this morning. It was crazy. So weird with just Nikki awake-it always feels strange when there is only one kid with me. She woke up around 8:00. She played Mario Cart (practicing to get as good as Justin). I pretended to be a waitress and got her breakfast. We also played Trouble. Justin finally woke up and he had breakfast. The kids brought their scooters inside, rain today. I gave the kiddos a bath then we packed up lunch and off to pre school. I worked today. I played games at school with the kids and the kids made cute gingerbread houses. The kids also performed the Nutcracker for the parents. It was so cute. Nikki and Justin were both teddy bears. It was a fun day of school. Last day of school for 2010. Crazy how fast time is going. Here are some pics from today:

When we got home we just played. The kids wanted to play Wii together. I love when they play together so nicely. They have been wrestling with one another lately, so funny to watch. They also pretended they were characters from Mario Cart while on their scooters. We had a quiet evening at home tonight. Finally ordered business cards. Can’t wait until they come. We read books and the kiddos are sound asleep.

This morning we stayed home for a bit. The kids played, I played and somehow the morning was over quickly. We got our cookies and everything ready to bring to the kid’s teachers. Justin colored some pics for the teachers and Nikki colored pics for the family. The kids were excited to see their friends at school. I dropped the kiddos off and then headed off to the grocery store. I have some new recipes to try that I am excited about. Then I came home and relaxed a bit, ate lunch, then got organized with Christmas presents. I wanted to start wrapping but most of the presents are in Bret’s trunk. I picked the kiddos up and they played out front for a bit. Somehow we couldn’t find Nikki’s shoes. So we gave up and will find them tomorrow at school (I am working anyway). So she played outside with no shoes. I found out I was snack mom tomorrow so back to the grocery store. I carried Nikki (barefoot) to the cart and we got snack. When we got home we played with some dogs on the greenbelt. It got cold out so we came in. The kids remembered they received new play doh. So that came out. The kids made me lots of play doh  burgers and cakes. They had so much fun and it lasted for a while. Mario Cart Wii trumped Play doh for Justin but Nikki stayed playing with play doh for a long time. What a mess to clean up. After dinner we played Trouble then the kids colored a bit. Dad ran to Home Depot to try and come up with a system to keep an animal from eating the last few oranges that are left on his tree. In the dark Bret built up a fence to protect his orange trees. $18.00 later I believe-not sure it was worth protecting 5 oranges. HA! The kids and I read lots of books tonight. We have had these library books for so long and are now just getting to read them. The kids went outside and played in the dirt before bed. But they were over tired and weren’t listening to well. They did go right to bed. It is so cool to be getting Christmas cards of pics I have taken.

We had a simple nice day today. The kids played Trouble for a bit this morning. I finally got Nikki in the bath and Justin in the shower then we headed to the grocery store. We got lots of baking stuff. We had a play date with some pre school friends that included some holiday baking. The kids all had a good time. So nice as the kids all played so well together. Nikki and Justin were so happy to have some of their school friends over. It was nice to do some serious baking. It had been a long time. But I ate too much. It was nice to stay home all day. The kids watched Curious George Christmas special while I cleaned up the messy kitchen. After dinner we just played. The kids had daddy print out a bunch of coloring pages. I can’t believe how much they are into coloring these days. Nikki today mentioned she wanted to marry me, such a sweet little thing. Both kids are so loving and sweet-I am the luckiest mommy in the world.

This morning Bret stayed home from work to wait for the tree. I took the kiddos to their 5 year doctor’s appointment. We were there forever. The doctor was real quick. They were very thorough as they did a hearing/vision test, urine test, finger prick blood test, and shots. Of course no problem for Justin to pee in a cup-he thought it was great that I was catching his pee. Nikki on the other hand had trouble peeing. We tried 3 or 4 times before she was able to pee and I had to chase her pee. She thought it was so funny. The kids were so brave with their shots. I was so proud of them. Nikki went first and had to have 3 shots then Justin went. Nikki got a little teary eyed at the end. Justin did great as well. He went first for the finger pricking and apparently that hurt the worst for the kids. The nurse gave them some ring pops so that helped a bit. We were there for almost 2 hours so I was really glad to get out of there. It is amazing how the kids can amuse themselves and be happy anywhere. We ran home and the tree had arrived. The kids had lunch then we were off to school. I ran some errands while the kids were at school. It is so crazy out there these days, it will be nice when the holiday craziness is over. I picked up the kids from school and we played outside for a bit. We came home and I cleaned out my car. The kids colored in the back of my car and played for a bit. Dad came home and put on the Christmas lights so we decorated the tree. After dinner the kids did a foam craft train I got from the craft store. Then we just played. We did laundry and read books. Kiddos went to bed.

No time like the last minute to decorate for the holidays. This morning we went to Grammy’s. Bret had to fix a few things. The kids had fun and we stayed for lunch. It was so warm out today, so nice. After Grammy’s we went to Silverado Canyon to cut down our Christmas tree. Well we went through lots and lots of trees. It was so pretty there. We picked out about a 6 foot tree. We all agreed on the tree and we decided to have it delivered. It will be here tomorrow. So much easier to have someone else set it up. Bret and I always have such issues with the stand, etc. When we got home we played with Zoe a bit on the greenbelt. We also put up Christmas lights. We decided on colored icicle lights this year. We just put them over the garage real quick. The kids played with Zoe a bit then rose scooters. The kids watched some TV while we cleaned up around here and made dinner. After dinner the holiday decorations came out. It looks like the holidays exploded in the living room. Nikki loved a snoopy stuffed animal and Justin found a teddy bear he liked. They had fun looking at all the decorations and trying to help decorate. We decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to look at some decorations. We ran into some of the kids friends. The kids were wired and had fun running around together. It was so nice going for a walk and looking at the decorations. The kids went to bed a little late as they napped a little in the car.

Finally caught up on the blog and forgot to publish it, duh! We are dog sitting for Zoe. The kids are loving it. We played with her this morning. We also played Trouble. The kids are loving this game. The kids love bumping me. I dropped the kids off at school and did some errands. I tried to get some Christmas shopping done. I tried to go shopping for some clothes as well. I am loving needing new clothes but am having a hard time knowing what size and what looks good on me now. It was so hard to get errands done as the stores are getting crazy for the holidays. We came home and played with Zoe on the greenbelt. The kids played with one another as well and had fun outside. A neighbor came over with her daughter and dog. So we had a play date with the dogs and kids. It was so fun to watch the dogs play inside of the house, totally reminded me of Tracey and Buckwheat. After dinner I ran out to the toy store to get a gift for Tierney for Hanukkah. That place was crazy. Not a very exciting day but glad the weekend is here. Off to bed, I am tired.

Time to catch up on the much neglected blog. Editing pictures and taking care of kids has pretty much been taking up all of my time. I have neglected the house and hubby. I am going to try to re-cap what I can remember. Last Friday was our holiday celebration at pre school. I was one of the working moms, so much work on that day. But I was glad to be working as I would have been there anyway. The kids did a little skit for the parents-dad was able to come and watch. It was so cute. Nicole and Justin played turkeys. Justin was a turkey who hid behind a hay stack and Nikki played one who stole a hatchet. The kids were so happy to have daddy at school. Dad was able to take the rest of the day off since he had to do some work on Sat/Sun. On Sat I was supposed to take some pics but it rained. I was kind of glad as it gave me a chance to catch up on editing. Grandma/pa, Uncle Alan and gang came over for dinner and we celebrated an early Turkey Day together. Luckily grandma/pa are going to an Indian casino for Thanksgiving so we don’t have to worry about running to Bret’s moms and my parents house, make it a bit easier.

Now it is 12/8 and editing of pictures is almost complete. I am not even going to try to update the  blog because who can remember what I did yesterday. This morning we did as much as we could. I gave the kiddos a shower, ran to Costco, ate lunch, and even got to pre school on time. I was a working mom today. It was a nice mellow day at school which was nice. I got out the jump rope which we had never done at school before. The kids were all trying so hard to do it. After school we played outside with our friends for a bit the came home. We played outside at home. The kids drew maps and got into their little cars and pretended to drive places. I tried to get the garage a little organized. I have neglected lots of things since editing pictures. Tonight I am heading to Bunco. I am looking forward to going out my I am tired.

Here are some pics from the last week or so. We went to see Bret play trombone in a Christmas concert. So cool to see Bret play. The best part was when the kids yelled yeah daddy when it was silent. Hence the smiling picture of Bret. It was so cute. Also after we went to the pre school party. Nikki and Justin looked so cute in their matching outfits.

We also went to the Christmas train at Irvine Regional Park. We went with the mom’s club so the kids had lots of kids to play with. We saw Santa. It was so cool as the kids asked Santa what Santa wanted for X-mas. Here are a few pics: