Hello

I don't have a lot to say today. I had class all day so both kids went to childcare at the crack of dawn. I took a few pictures at the park yesterday but none of them turned out great. It was very warm outside so the kids just weren't that into it. It has been a very mild summer though. I heard this morning on the news that we only had three 100 degree days in July. Not bad at all.

The kids and I didn't get home until about 5:30 and we spent most of the evening running cars and animals off the stairs. K has a shake and go pig that we were shaking and turning loose off the stairs. The farthest one wins. I'm a bad influence on them, I know.

Peek A Boo.

I got M this shirt the other day that he absolutely loves. He begged me to let him wear it to school today to show his friends. I'm such a push-over that I let him. What's the big deal? He only wore it for a few hours. Boy, was he happy. He's been jumping around saying "I'm Lightning Rod."

M already knows what he wants to be for Halloween. Captain Hook or Captain Skunkbeard (from the Pirate Scooby Doo movie). Yes, he watches too much TV. K says she wants to be a cow. She plays with M's costume from a few years ago.

Other than nightlights, tonight I found something else that scares K to death. Surge protectors!! I had one in my hand today and she freaked out and began crying "scary, mommy." Then she told me to put it away. Silly girl.

Happy Anniversary, Brian

Happy 6th Anniversary to my wonderful husband Brian. We've had 2 houses, 2 kids, 1 dog and so many good memories. I hope for 50 more years. Thank you so much for putting up with me. I know it's not easy sometimes.

We celebrated our anniversary yesterday because I work today. We went with Dyan and Monte to Coast Guard Day at McClellan AFB. We all had so much fun... it was very family oriented. They had 2 bounce houses, a 20 foot waterslide, tot-pool, water-gun fights with the Airport Fire Engine, a dunk tank, tug-of-war, cotton candy, snow-cones, delicious food and we were able to go inside the C-130 plane they had in the hanger. They had music playing in the hanger. What a fun time we all had. I couldn't believe how huge a C-130 was. The weather was beautiful, a little warm in the afternoon but the kids kept cooling us off. M came up to me with his watergun and said, "come here mom, I have a secret to tell you." Off course, he squirted me with water!!

We got home about 2:30, everyone was napping (including Brian and I) by 2:45. We were up by 4:30 and dropped the kids off at Kidspark at 5:30 for a Pirate Party. Dyan and Monte dropped their kids off too so we could all go out to dinner. We've never been able to do this before. They don't have any family here. We went to P.F. Changs for chinese food and then to the Fox and Goose for a cocktail. I know it seems like we drink a lot but when we go out we just have one or two!! We picked the kids up at 9:30 and boy are they pooped today. No more partying for them!

A family shot in front of the C-130

M the pilot.

K the co-pilot.

The 20 foot waterslide. K had zero hesitation about climbing up there and going down. She stopped for a little drink this time.

It looked so fun... if I were only 25 years younger (OK 30).

M looked scared to death each time he went down it.

Water fights against the airport fire engine. Do you see the only little tiny girl marching with the other kids? That would be K. She was right in there with the older kids playing water-guns against the fire engine. She's crazy.

Every time they sprayed the water, she'd try to run away.

Here she is again, the water must be so cold.

Cotton candy... yum!

K is boy crazy... already

Last night I met Dyan and Monte at The Club for our Friday Night Happy Hour. They had a live band, it was a beautiful night and we had a good time as usual. When I went in to pick the kids up there was a new girl working (which you could tell was excellent) and she said "boy, K sure does like the boys." Dyan and I had just been talking about that because her and D (Dyan's boy) are like little boyfriend and girlfriend (in a healthy, innocent, not weird way). They love each other and I was telling Dyan that when I went to Coalinga for the 4th of July, K loved Lacie's boyfriend too. She immediately wanted to swim and play with him and was really cute when he was around. My sister said I was the same way when she started dating Jim (but I was much older than 2). Anyways, I think we're going to have our hands full with that girl!!

We have a busy day today. Brian's coming home and we're going to Coast Guard Day with Dyan and Monte and the kids. They have waterslides, food, snacks and they will have their planes out so the kids can go inside them and see everything. I'm excited about that too. And tonight the 4 of us are going out to dinner. Our 6th wedding anniversary is tomorrow but I work so we'll celebrate it today.

More tomorrow, if I have time... have a great weekend.
Melissa

Park Play with K

This morning after we dropped M off at school we went to the park in Woodland. It was nice to enjoy some alone time with K and the park is so nice and shady there. The park reminds me a lot of Fort Natomas. I guess this park was burned down once also. Such a shame that people are so destructive. I had a hard time getting any cute pictures because of the patchy full sun and shade but here are a couple (plus my battery died).

I bought this handmade dress and headband from Etsy. Is she hamming it up there or what?

Will write more later. I have a very busy couple of days coming up.

Just a quick one.

This morning I had to get up super early... I had class at UC Davis Medical Center. I had to take both kids to daycare/preschool in Woodland. K was dropped off at 6:45 am and M at 7:00 am, the earliest they open. Then I had to race back to Sacramento (about 20 miles) and make it to class by 8:00 am. I made it, but I was a little rushed. I feel like in regards to my job I've been just kind of in a rut for the past few years. I've been so busy being pregnant or being a mommy that I felt like I didn't have time for anything else (and I still don't). I've been in ER for the last 15 years so I think I'm suffering a little burn-out. But, they have been having a lot of good classes and certifications at work because we received a designation as a trauma center and will start taking trauma patients at the beginning of the year. We're the first Kaiser facility to be a trauma center and they are building a huge new wing, new OR's, a new ICU and a helipad. They are also buying us many state of the art new toys. (Kaiser will spring for anything) We get some easier trauma cases now and get quite a bit of penetrating trauma from the home-boy ambulance (dropped off by their buddies). It's exciting to be part of something this big from the ground up and I really feel like they want out input and truly want to make this a success. I'm not necessarily super excited about the trauma patients... I've worked in a trauma center before. It's not that challenging as a nurse (truly sick medical patients are much more difficult), it's bloody and dirty, and the patients tend to be drunk or gang-bangers or all around not the best people to care for. I am excited for the change though and hopefully I'll learn a thing or too (I'm sure I will) because I think this will be a much better experience than I had in Santa Rosa. I'm sure I'll have some good stories to tell.

Some funnies. When I went in to wake M up this morning he said "mom, I can't get my eyes to open." He was so cute... of course K was already awake and in my bed.

Tonight before bed I asked M what makes him happy. He said, "you, daddy, Roscoe, choo-choo's and that's it." I said what about K? After a big long pause (and some thinking) he said, "her too." Stinker.

K and M had their last swim lesson tonight (for the summer). Yeah. I'm ready to have our evenings back again. They both got a certificate from their instructors and K was so proud or hers she insisted on holding it all evening. If she sat it down somewhere she'd say "where's my card?"

A couple of pictures taken with the self-timer of M and I with our craft projects. We made these yesterday.

See ya, Melissa

Our bike ride

Yesterday evening after dinner, Brian and I took the kids for a bike ride. M decided he didn't want to ride his bike, he wanted to ride in the seat on the back of Brian's bike. He was so tired yesterday. M is such a worrier. He really cracked us up. He kept looking back at K and I and telling me to be careful. Then he said "make sure you look both ways." We just had to ride by the fire station (against the head-wind) and luckily the engine was pulling in right as we were going by. That made his whole day. We have to drive bar the fire station anytime we go anywhere in our car. We were going down this hill to get to a pond with ducks, coasting pretty fast and he told Brian "slow down Dad and don't." K just enjoyed the entire ride, never worrying for a second. Neither of them wanted to go home... but my legs sure did!! Today I have a butt-ache.

Well, I better get back to work.
Melissa

My difficult morning

Today was one of those morning that where I just knew I was in trouble. Both kids, especially M seemed very cranky and tired. By 9:00 am I was ready to pull my hair out. The times Brian does 72 hour shifts really take a toll on me by day three.

0615 - We wake up ... this was late by K's standards. She is usually up around 5:30!

0630 - They are both yelling at me wanting milk. I'm half asleep trying to will them to stop. I refuse to get up and tell them they have to wait a little longer.

0700 - I go to get the milk. M has to be sure his is "much bigger and much warmer." I just go along and always say yes. Brian will always whisper to K "it really isn't."

0710 - I'm on the computer, trying to wake up. M wants to do the United States of America puzzle so I start it with him... after we're 3/4 of the way done K decided she wants to help which makes M mad and he starts screaming "no, K." Then she's crying "I want to help too." The fighting has begun. I try to mediate the situation by letting them take turns with the pieces but it didn't help much.

0715 - K cries for 5 minutes... "want my fie." She knows she only gets it in bed but she was a pill over that this morning.

0725 - We're downstairs now... I'm just trying to enjoy my first cup of coffee. The kids are having a big brawl because both of them want to sit on a certain couch cushion(up on the top of the couch where they're not supposed to be sitting anyways but whatever). Whichever one is on it is teasing the other one and the other one is pushing and yelling and whining. They aren't listening to me. At this point, I've only been awake for a little over an hour and want to go crawl back in bed and cover my head!!

0735 - M wants me to go upstairs and get his fire engine. I calmly ask him to because he left it up there and tell him that he's responsible for chasing down his toys. At least 20 times he asks me to go and get it. I refuse. Tell him he could have just done it himself and it would be done with.

0740 - M poops and wants me to help him wipe his bottom. He is such a grouch this morning. So tired. He has been wiping his own bottom for the last what... 9 months at least. I refuse... then he says he just wants me to count while he wipes. He wants to know what number he has to count to to know all the poop is gone. I tell him to just wipe until there's no more poop. Finally after 15 minutes, I go help him... yes he was screaming at me the whole time. He tells me when I get in there "we'll do teamwork, mom." I inform him this is the one and only time I'll help and I mean it.

0755 - Breakfast. I give K cereal. She pushes it away and tell me she wants an orange instead. Refuses to even try the new cereal. I give her an orange and a Dora yogurt and she eats the whole thing. You can't get her to try new things.

0830 - Both kids go outside to play in the sandbox and ride bikes.

They were pretty good the rest of the day. M was very tired at the pool. He didn't even want to swim, he just floated around in his ring and even sat on the side for a while. I made him take a nap today and I had to wake him up after 2 1/2 hours. We went out to dinner and both kids were very good.

I'm just too tired to write anymore.
Melissa