Melissa’s Blog

Well I have officially joined the 40 year club now. Luckily I have the kids to keep me young. It is all about the kiddos as it should be. I had a nice birthday. I just wish I was in better shape, etc

The kids participated in the jog-a-thon at school. Nikki did 25 laps and Justin did 28. It was cute to watch and the kids had fun together. The kids don’t realize they need to pace themselves so they got tired pretty quickly. It was a fun event!

At school the kids did a cute Mother’s day performance. It was so very sweet and cute, brought lots of smiles to my face. Also made me realize how fast they are growing up. Nikki wanted to wear her Christmas dress-love it with the tennis shoes 🙂 The last picture is the little favor they gave to us moms.

Soccer has come to an end for this season. It was a great season. I had fun coaching Nikki’s (Hot Tamale team). I signed up to coach Justin’s next season. They both have improved so much in soccer. Justin still prefers the practice and skills rather than the games.

It was J week at school and Nikki shared Justin. I knew this would be special. It was so cute. Nikki was so excited to have Justin in her class. It started out with the kiddos getting matching shirts (it was red, white, blue spirit day). Nikki told her class how much she loved Justin and loved playing with him. But the best was Nikki said she is never lonely at home because she always has her brother. Twins are the best! I hope they remain close their entire lives.

We had some of the kid’s friends over and had a slip and slide day. The kiddos had a great day!

Nikki is wearing a boy’s bathing suit…..I think we have been hanging out with too many boys. Yesterday she wore J’s shorts and T-shirt. She picked out the skateboard T. Can you tell the kiddos want skateboards?? We are loving the long Memorial Day Weekend. Dad took a flying lesson for the remote control plane. The kiddos have been wanting to play lots of 4 square and handball. We went over to their school to play on the handball backboard then the play structure then we were off to Grammy’s for dinner.

So funny how I wanted to update daily and now I am hoping for once a month. So much has been going on.

We had a fun Easter. The kids decorated eggs with some friends and also at Grammy’s house. We had a little egg hunt here. It was so cute-I don’t want the kiddos to grow up.

I also took some pics of the kiddos by the bunny park. Unfortunately I didn’t get a great one of them together. Here is what I got:

It was twin day at school. This is where the kiddos dress the same as a friend. Nikki and Matthew matched in white angry birds shirt borrowed from Mason. Mason and Justin matched in their black bomb shirts. It was cute. Got some really silly pics of Matthew and Nikki:

Nikki and Justin both got reading medals (gold) at school. In addition Justin received a certificate for perfect attendance. During this week Nikki was finally star of the week. She couldn’t wait for this week to come. Unfortunately she got the letter X but we just made some X cookies as the treat at the end of the week. During the awards Nikki was picked to get up in front of everyone and do the pledge of allegiance. I was so sad that I missed it. But everyone said she did so well-I was proud.

As star of the week, Nikki got to bring home Freckles, the stuffed animal frog from the class. We put a picture of her and freckles in the book and wrote this:

Freckles and I had a great time together. When I first got him home, I took him on a tour of our house. He liked my room the best! I was lucky to have Freckles here while my aunt Buffi and cousin Brittany were visiting from New Zealand. I took my relatives and Freckles to watch me at Tae Kwon Do. They all had fun watching me and were really proud of me. He enjoyed watching soccer practice too. Freckles slept in a sleeping bag (his backpack) by my bed. Oh no, Freckles really wants an “X” cookie that we made as the treat for the week. Freckles can’t have one but I can! Hope Freckles can come stay with me again soon. Have fun on your next adventure Freckles. I will miss Freckles.

Lets see school and soccer have been going well. Buffi and Brittany were here visiting over our spring break. The kids had so much fun-it was great to see them with family. I wish they lived closer. We didn’t do too many exciting things with them..just hung out at home, went out for dinner, and they watched the kiddos with their Tae Kwon Do.

Bret has been into a new hobby of remote control planes. This pic is of the first plane since then Bret has moved to a bigger one. He is enjoying the hobby but he did crash his new plane. As I write this it is under repair.

Justin is really loving dads new hobby too!

The kids are amazing, growing, and getting bigger so fast. Both are turning into such great little people but I am bias. Tae Kwon Do is going great. By to the orange belt and hello to the yellow belt. The kids did their forms all on their own, it was amazing.

Nikki is a tough little girl….she was the only girl in Tae Kwon Do one day and she held her own. She was determined to out run a boy and she did it. And watching Justin be so nice to the new shy guy just did my heart good. I love the pic of the kiddos with their new yellow belts.

We have implemented a chore chart. The kids are wanting to buy things themselves. Justin bought a new Sonic game for the Wii and Nikki bought a pogo stick with her money. So the kids do simple chores, setting the table, taking out the trash, help cook dinner, vacuum and we pay $2.00 a week. It is still so new so they are wanting to do all their chores. I am sure it won’t last long.

Besides that we have just been busy playing. Spring soccer has started. Just call me Coach Melissa. I am coaching Nikki’s team, no one was stepping up so I decided to do it. This age is so fun but 7 girls can sometimes be challenging. Our team is the Hot Tamales. Luckily Justin practices on the field next to us so I can see him and I will be able to see him play all his games.

I took a photography class with a photographer I was excited to learn from. I learned a lot and have a new love for my camera. I have just been practicing lighting but have gotten a few good shots of the kiddos playing.

The other day before school I took Justin to get a donut and Nikki to get a bagel. It was a little crazy but I am trying to treasure these little moments as they are growing up way too fast. I feel like the luckiest mom as the kids have truly given me more joy than I ever imagined. I have an amazing husband too….life jst doesn’t get much better than this.

I think this post needs to begin by saying I suck these days as a blogger. I so haven’t made this blog a priority and I know I will regret it someday. So much happens with kids this age. Bret has been in Austin for the week. I miss him so much. I can not wait to hug him tomorrow. Nikki has missed him too. She has been acting out a little this week and I think it is because she misses her daddy. Justin has been star of the week at school. It is so fun to see him being the star. He brought Blackie to school on the first day. It is a lot of work to be the star of the week. He gets a special seat in the classroom, helps the teacher, dismisses rows, gets to wear a crown, goes in front of the line etc. does the weather, etc. Justin had to make a board to hang up in the classroom (pic down below). He had to bring in a snack to share with the class at the end of the week. We made bags of Kix cereal. On Tuesday the kids had a little Valentines party at school. It was cute, the kids got balloons, colored pictures, and decorated cupcakes. Justin got to take home, Kona the bear, the class mascot. We had to write a story about Kona. Here is what we wrote:

Kona enjoyed a special Valentine’s Day with me and my family. My sister, Nikki and I showed Kona all our Valentines that we got from our school friends. Kona met all our other stuffed animals, her favorite was big floppy dog. We took Kona on a little outing to Knotts Berry Farm. We took her on the mini roller coaster, the cars, and jumped with her in the snoopy bounce house. She was a little afraid of the person dressed up as Snoopy. She sat in my lap watching the stunt show. Mine and Kona’s favorite part was when the stunt show people fell in the water (we laughed). I also taught Kona all about the game “I Spy”. We even beat my mom in the game. So Kona and I made up our own I Spy and she decided to hide, can you find her? And Kona may have learned a few Tae Kwon Do moves after watching my sister and I in class.

We loved having Kona for the week.

Here are some pics from the week:

Every day seems to go so fast these days. I can’t believe it is October already. Yesterday we got out the Halloween decorations, so fun with kids. It has been all about school, soccer, and Tae Know Do these days. We set up the big tent in the backyard. The kids loved it! They played in the tent and got their pillows and stuffed animals. We cooked hotdogs on the grill and roasted marshmallows on the gas stove top. I was so uncomfortable and snuck in the house. But dad was a trooper and stayed out there all night. I hope it is something the kiddos always remember.

I got my new camera, Nikon D7000. I love it. Here are the pics I took today:

The kids are still really liking kindergarten. Justin has been waking up with no problems. Nikki on the other hand has been trying to sleep in. Thankfully every time I have gone in her room to wake her up she is tossing and turning. We have been walking to school. There is no way I could deal with the mess that is all the cars in the morning. Both kids are liking having their own classrooms. They mentioned they didn’t even see each other on the play ground. Justin had his sharing day today. There are supposed to say “boys and girls I have something to share” then say 2 things about the item. This week was something red or circle. He brought in his trick ketchup. Justin is becoming a little trickster lately. At soccer he is making others smile and definitely a team player-high fiving the team. Life has been busy, but we are getting used to our new schedule.

Lots of firsts…first day of school, first real soccer game. Today was game day. However we woke up to a gloomy day. We had about a half hour thunder/rain storm. So strange for southern CA. It was kind of nice for a change. The kids had a blast using their umbrellas and playing in puddles. They were soaking wet. The thunder was so loud, really scared the kids at first. So the rain came through quickly and soccer games were still scheduled. Justin’s team went first. His uniforms are gray and he is #2. His team name is the gray rockets. The team he played had a really competitive coach so it wasn’t as fun as I hoped it would be. Funny to watch the boys then the girls, how dif’t they play. The girls the ball gets stuck in the middle of the girls and the girls are just kicking. Nikki’s soccer team name is the angry birds. Nikki scored 2 goals. Both Nikki and Justin’s teams did great. I forgot my camera so I don’t have any girl pictures but my friend sent me a few of the boys.

Speaking of camera’s I have decided I dislike the Nikon D3100. I have been so disappointed in the pics lately. So starting to look for a new camera. It is very exciting! We went to Fashion Island today. The kids played by the Koi pond. Actually maybe I should say Justin decided to swim with the fish. He fell in head first trying to pet a fish. Poor guy, it was terrible. Got him a new outfit and he was good to go again. I remember when Justin was leaning out of his crib and he fell out-the heavy head of his. We had dinner and ice cream. It was showers and off to bed tonight.

Can’t believe the kiddos first day of kindergarten was today. Nikki had such a hard time going to bed last night. Both kids got their back to school haircuts yesterday. Nikki wanted to have a headband french braid for her first day so we did haircuts right before school. Yesterday we enjoyed a day together before school started. We went to the mall and had fun together. Then we went to get haircuts and off to the school to see what classes they are going to be in. I am really happy about their placement. Nikki has Ms. Shahabi and Justin has Mrs. Cook. We are on the early bird schedule, 8:15-11:35. I thought it would be difficult to get up this morning for the kiddos but all of a sudden it was 7:00AM and they were both up. I got up early to make blueberry muffins and decorate a bit. We were off at about 7:45. We met a neighbor and all walked to school together. The kids were great but me on the other hand not so good. It was much harder to let go then I thought it would be, I cried and cried. Dad had to be at jury duty today which was bad timing. So weird leaving the kiddos in separate classes but their classrooms are right next to one another. I had a bit of a hard time while they were at school plus it was really hot. I did go for a little walk but all I could think about was the kiddos. So I went and got them some balloons, Scooby Doo and Hot Wheels. Before I knew it-it was time to pick the kiddos up. They had a good morning. Here are some pics:

Things were back to normal when we got home, lots of playing, etc. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier for me. I am so proud of my little munch kins.

Time is going by way too fast-I can’t keep up with the blog anymore. It has been a great summer. I have loved not being on a schedule. We have seen lots of friends, gone swimming a lot, parks, lots of outdoor fun after dinner, etc. I am going to be sad when the kiddos go to school. I really do love having them home. Playing Cars (Disney) seems to be the kids favorite things to play together. Both are still loving Tae Kwon Do and now have their orange belts. Here are some cute pics of the kids. Nikki and her baby Jack Jack with matching frog jammies:

The next set of pics were back to school photos. I can’t remember the last time I dressed Justin up in a button down shirt-he looks so grown up. Every year I want the kids to write their names on the white board so I can see how much better their writing gets. Here are all the pics:

Not my favorite pics of the kids as I really like greenery as the background. I still need to edit these. I finally finished editing the wedding. I still need to burn the cd’s but am glad it is almost done. Last week Bret was busy taking a Linux certification. It was a rough one with a lot of info to learn and he was a bit nervous he didn’t pass. I had no doubt though and he passed. He is not a Red Hat Certified Engineer. This weekend we had some home time. Our air conditioning wasn’t working so Sat we stayed around until the repair man came. The air is working just in time for the heat. We got out the slip and slide, washed windows….came up with anything we could do with water. Sunday we went to Pretend City as they were doing an event with Martha Speaks. It was the normal Pretend City but with a visit from Martha. Justin didn’t want to take a picture with Martha but Nikki did. Here are some pics from Pretend City:

We hadn’t been to Pretend City in a while so it was nice to go. They kept on showing the Martha TV show though which we could have watched TV at home. After we headed to the Spectrum and just walked around. We listened to the kids say “can I buy this” can I have a sweet” “I want to play games”, etc. Later we went to San Juan Capistrano and met my photography group there to take pics. The countdown is on for school starting, 11 days. All our paperwork is complete, just need to get the kiddos haircuts. Today we are off to meet some friends at Zoomars, looking forward to a fun filled day.

Yesterday we had a beach cookout to celebrate Bret’s 40th birthday. It was a lot of work but well worth it. We had a great time. J&N were so bored until their friends arrived. We were at the beach for so long. The kids played in the ocean for a while-it was freezing. We dug a big hole for the kids to play in and built a sand castle. The kids played and played. The campfire and making hot dogs was a big hit for the kids. Smores was lots of fun and it definitely felt like summer. Too bad doing beach bbq’s isn’t easy as it would be fun to do again. We all got a little too much sun. The kids and I took showers-there was so much sand. Today I have been de-sanding everything.

Since yesterday was a full day we just took it easy today. Bret had to go back to work which sucked. It was so nice having him home. Hopefully in the next day or so I will get used to him working again. Today I practiced with my camera. Got to take pics of my favorite subjects-these are unedited but still cute.

Nikki is so used to the camera and she poses so easily for me. My cutie pies!