Nicole’s blog

Is over, but we had a great time.  7 days is a very long time to be away from your kids, so we were so excited to come home and be with them.  Now it's clean up time before I start my new job on Friday.  Our boat left Long Beach Sunday at 4pm with 2 days of cruising before we reached our first stop.

When on the boat we ate.  We slept a lot.  We played in the casino, explored the ship and just relaxed which was great.  We got a room with a balcony, so we hung out there and relaxed to.

So the theme of our boat was art.  Lots of naked people.  Crazy!  So I had to take my photos with them. But one the 2 days at sea, we saw whales and flying fish.  We enjoyed the shows, we saw ice carving and the hairy chest completition.  FUN, FUN!  We hung out in the casino and layed by the pool. Oh yeah the most important, we caught up on our sleep. We had our first formal night on Monday.  We got all dressed up and took photos then ate.  Lobster, and shrimp and steak.  Amazing food.

Then Wed was our first stop at Puerta Vallerta.  Humidity was about 100% and we went on an ATV ride in the mountains, through a riverbed, for about an hour and 45 mins.  Stopped at a little hut where we had a beer, then rode again for another hour and 45 back to the hacienda where we had a tradition mexican lunch of chicken and beef tacos followed by sampling of all the taquilas made there (6 of them, YIKES).  It was a great time.  While we were riding it started to down pour and it felt amazing.

The next day we were in Mazatlan, where we kayaked and hiked on deer island.  It was great fun!  We enjoyed a fruit bar and drinks when we got there and on the boat ride back to the pier we enjoyed complimentary beer.  It was a geat activity.

 Our last stop was Cabo San Lucas.  It was nicest there.  We snorkeled.  It wasn't as good as in Hawaii, but we had a great time.  We took an hour & 15 min catamaran ride to the snorkel site, snorkeled for about an hour and then had lunch, then took the catamaran back to the port.  On the ride back we once again indulged in some beverages.  It was a nice way to end our time in Mexico, but I was already missing the kids badly.  That night we enjoyed another formal night, followed by a show, then midnight buffet, (which we only took photos, we didn't eat, we were still so full, then an adult comedy show.  We had a great time.

 Then to end our trip on Saturday was another sea day and it was cold, so we slept. ate and realxed some more.  Then we went on a tour of the kitchen.  It was cool.  Then it was the last show on the boat and then to bed.  We had a great time.  We are so glad to be back with the kids.

Was a busy one.  First we started with our afternoon swim.  Every day when Mike and I get home from school we take the kids to the pool to swim.  They have such a great time.

Then one of our nightly routines is getting on the couch together and reading a book.  When doing this Brandon lays on whoever's closet (Normally Allyson) and gets a back rub.  It's so cute to see them together.  It makes me so thankful every night for all of my blessings.   These precious children we have are all gifts from God.

Tuesay I took the kids to the fair.  Me and my friend Jen loaded up the 3 kids and off we went.  It was a real nice day and the kids had a great time.  They saw the animals, watched dancing and singing, and looked in the exhibit halls.  Then we finished it off by getting a funnel cake with stawberries. After the fair we went to the local taco joint with about 15 others and their kids for dinner.  It was a great time and we were able to have some drinks in celebration of me passing my nursing test. 

Wed. we do concerts in the park.  It is right down the street at the Sports complex here in Fullerton.  6:30 - to 8pm every Wed. from July to the end of Aug.  So we have been taking the kids there and taking a picnic dinner.  We meet a few groups of friends down there and listen to music, our kids all play together, we eat and it's great inexpensive fun.

The kids are obviously growing fast.  Brandon is now getting his 3rd molar.  He has a tooth coming in on the bottom front, a molar coming in on the top right, for a total of 11 teeth.  Where did they come from.  He hasn't been too whiny about it, but he has the worst poop and diaper rash.  So bad that last week I had to get the medicated cream that CHOC puts on their kids, which you need a prescription for.  It works so great that in 2 days it was gone.  Then 2 days ago it was back.  I took a look in his mouth and that's when I found the molar coming in on the top right.

Brandon has been very interested in using utensils now while eating.  So of course had to get some photos of that.   He is talking so much.  He is all boy, but has lots of fun putting on his sisters shoes, purse and hats.  It's so funny how much he has changed in just the last couple of months.  He says, duck, quack, quack, he says GG for my grandma, he says Al for Allyson, he says dog, flower, thank you and he says please in sign language, but can't say it yet.  He knows where his nose, eyes, ears and head are too.  Of course he loves the nose thing, and walks around with his finger in his nose half the time. 

He is definatley a nice mix of both Mike and I.  His new thing this week is that he is tall enough to reach the door handles and can open all the doors.  Privacy???  What's that.  If you are using the restroom watch out.  His favorite thing to do is to get into the hall closet, bring out the little vaccum, turn it on and help me clean.  Praise the lord, both my kids love to help me clean.  I am so excited.

Allyson is growing big too.  She loves going to school.  Helping me with Brandon and is such a good girl.   She just attending vacation bible school last week and loved it.  She came home with a great CD they gave all the kids with about 8 songs they sang over the week and it's great.  She made crafts and met new kids and loved every second of it.  This year the charity of choice for the bible school was CHarity: Water.  Our goal was to earn at least $1000 last week, (for the whole school) and we earned a total of about $1500.  Ally was the 2nd top kid in Bible school to donate the most money.  I am so proud of her.  When I picked her up from school the first day she told me what were donating for and that she wanted to go home to her bank and put all the money she had in the bottle.  Needless to say, quarters would no fit through the opening in the bottle, but she gave all her other change in her bank.  Totaling $25.  What a great learning experience for the kids.  She was so proud of herself.  So we decided that when we take our daily walks if we find any money we are going to collect it and take it to the church when we get a lot in our can.  This is just great that she is learning to give to others.  Praise God and the wonderful things he does.  

We are now cleaning up today and packing all of our stuff and the kids stuff to go cruising tomorrow.  I am excited to get some time with Mike as we are always so busy we never get that, BUT am sad about leaving the kids for so long.   I have never been away from them for this long, and you all know how that is.  I feel like I am going to miss out on something with them when we are gone.  They will be staying with my mom, step dad and grandma so they will have a great time.  I am so ready for a vacation and to top off one of the most excellent week's of my life so far, I received my nursing license in the mail yesterday.  I am completley finished now.  I am packing away my nursing books in the garage now.  Now I can officially RELAX.  Hope you all have a great week.

Well I found out Tuesday am via the internet I passed my boards and officially am a Nurse!  What a relief.  I have finally accomplished something and it feels amazing.  Now I can go on vacation next week and truly relax.  I have never felt better.  Thank you all so much for your prayers and support and well wishes over the last 2 years.  It's finally over!  Now a new chapter begins.  Coming Aug. 8th.......   The RN Residency at CHOC.....Stay tuned for updates.

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Last week we took the kids to the Farmers Market here in Fullerton where they have a fountain that the kids fun in and this was the first time Brandon went in.  We met a few of our friends there with their kids and had a great time.

o Friday we went to our friends house for 4th of July Festivities.  It was a fun day in the sun and the kids got their faces painted, we had good food and some good times.

Saturday was another BBQ at a friends house.  We all went to the pool and hung out.  Ally and Brandon are definatley water bugs.  I can't get them out ever. 

Today we are just running some errands and getting things ready to go back to work tomorrow.  It's so hard after being with the family and friends for the weekend, having such a great time to have to go back to work tomorrow.

This am Mike and I booked our excursions for our cruise.  We haven't really done excursions before on any of the cruises before so we are really excited.  We are going ATV riding in Mazatlan, Kayaking and hiking in Puerta Vallerta and Sailing and snokeling in Cabo.  This just makes me even more excited to go.  Next weekend we will go out and get all the little things we need like, sunscreen, hats, underwater camera, etc.  I can't wait.

I have slacked the last 2 days on studying for my NCLEX test, so just finished taking another practice exam.  Yesterday at the BBQ there were 4 nurses and a doctor.  Pretty funny huh?  Me, antoher girl who will take her test next year, one who just got her LVN license this year and a nurse that works in the military.  They all told me just to do practice questions to study.  So that is what I have done.  Then when you complete the test it has all the rationals for the questions and to read over all of them right or wrong.  Hopefully this is enough.  I have 2 friends taking the test this week, one that took it at the end of June and most of us are taking it within the next couple of weeks.  We shall see how we do as a whole.

Mike has been out of work for a few days this past week with really bad neck pain. Being the man that he is doesn't want to go to the doctor because we have a PPO that is totally expensive and we haven't met our deductable for the year yet, and will have to pay a fortune.  I don't care about the money, I just want him to feel better.  He has been o the phone with a chiropractor this week and he has told him how to manage things in hopes that he will have to NOT have an office visit.  So this am he awoke feeling a bit less tight.  This is good, lets just hope that it is finally getting better.  It has been a week now so say a little prayer that things are on the up!

Brandon will be watching by Mike's mom for the next 2 weeks as my grandma is on a 2 week cruise with my aunt and her family in the CArribean.  I am so excited for her and hope she has so much fun. 

One of my friends at work just had her baby this weekend.  Their first baby and they named him Matthew Ryan.  How cute huh?  Hopefully will get to meet him this week.

Last weekend we let the kids play in the little pool and just took some random pictures. 

I decided last weekend that he was no longer going to have a bottle.  I really struggled with this because as soon as I took Allyson's bottle away, she stopped drinking milk.  I don't want him to do the same, but it was an absolute breeze.  He is drinking milk with his meals and doing well.  It was a very easy transition.  I am very pleased and thankful.  The kids have been swimming everynight so have some photos of that, so will be posting those soon.  We have 2 BBQ's to go to tomorrow and 1 on Sat. so will post all at the same time.

We also got our cruise tickets in the mail this week and are very excited.  This is the longest I have left the kids and am still a little apprehensive about it, but Mike and I are overdue for some time away.  It will be a nice vacation before starting the RN residency program at CHOC, which starts out like being in school full time again.  Starting Aug. 8th I will be in class all day the whole month, M-F from 8am - 4:30pm.  SCARY!!!  I I thought I was done with all that.  I know it will be well worth it.

On a sadder note, my sister left this week to move back with her mom back to North CArolina.  THere is an 18 year gap between us and we probably aren't as close as we could be, but it's just weird that she is not here anymore.  My dad is sad too.  So we are working through that too. 

I got my first paycheck after being back at work and it was nice, but I am tired and am finding that I am not having much motivation to go everyday.  It seems to be hard for me to keep the house up and work a full time job too.  There are tons of people in the world that do this, so I know that I can too, but when I get home, I really just want to play with the kids and not do anything around the house.  Ahhhh.

Happy Independence Day to all.  I hope you get to spend it relaxing, and cherishing the day.  Take a moment to say a prayer for all those still fighting for our country today and enjoy!

I got my interim license to work as an RN and I scheduled my test for Friday July 18th.  Since last Monday I have been answereing quesitons everynight on the computer after the kids go to bed.  At least 75 a night.  So just study, study, studying is in my future and will check in with you before I take my test.  Say a little prayer.

I finally got my internet back this past weekend, so am so excited.  Just a short recap since so much has taken place.  First Allyson and I were in a wedding in early May.  She looked so adorable in her little white dress and we practiced so many times with her walking down the isle (the wedding was at the golf course across the street from our house), but come time, she was a deer in headlights.  Thank goodness she looked cute, beacuse she had to be carried down the isle, by the grooms father, but believe me when it was done, she hitailed it out with the ring bearer.

Then I had my final that following Thurs.  Which I passed.  So after the final we all went to Dave and Busters for a fun night out. Then I worked nights for the rest of the Month of May.  Then It was graduation.  It went great!   It was actually on Brandon's first birthday.  My parents had a party for me after graduation at their house.  I got to see lots of friends and family it was a great day. The only thing was I had to give something to the class president and had to speak in front of everyone.  It was fine, but I stumbled over my words a bit due to nervousness.

The next day we rose early to prepare for Brandon's first birthday party.  It was construction themed and we had lots of friends and family there.  We bought a pool from Walmart and bought some sand.  We had construction hats for the kids (Yellow for the boys, and pink for the girls with their names on them.  We bought cones to cone off the yard and caution tape which we put everywhere.  He did pretty good with his cake and it was time for me to reflect on the fact that I don't have a baby anymore.  WOW, the time flys when you are super busy.

Then that following week I took a review course at School for my nursing boards test.  I still don't have a date for that, but it'll be posted as soon as I find out.  The Friday after Brandon's birthday I took him for his 1 year appointment.  He is 21 lbs and 31 inches long.  He is just a little over the 50% for both.  Right on track.  My goal this summer is to get him completely off the bottle.  He is now only drinking 2 a day, but he won't drink his milk out of his cup.  Ally did the same thing, so I keep giving it to him everyday in his cup hoping that he will drink it.

That Sunday was father's day.  We went to Mike's dad's house in the am for breakfast and then Mike, Allyson and my stepdad Ken went to the Angel game.  This was Ally's first Angel game and Mike was so excited to take her.  She had a great time.  She of course (like myself was more interested in people watching, then watching the game) but it was great.

Then I went back to work in Research (my old job) until July 25th.  That has been a little bit crazy, since now having to find someone to watch Brandon all day.  So I am taking Ally to school and Brandon to my grandma's house.  Then a couple days a week Mike takes Brandon to his moms.  It's been working out good. 

Allyson's school is having vacation bible school again this year and I am really excited because she gets to go this year.  Last year she wasn't 3 yet, so she couldn't attend.  It's free for the kids that attend school there so that's a bonus.  That starts July 14th.  We just booked a cruise to Mexico to leave on Sunday July 27th.  It's a 7 day cruise which is the longest I have been away from the kids and it's killing me thinking about it.  I know that I need this time to relax with just Mike and I.  Then we return back Monday August 3rd and I start my nursing job on Friday August 8th.

Today my sister Kaycee had her little graduation ceremony from 5th to 6th grade which is now middle school.  I didn't get to go because of work but look forward to seeing her this weekend as she will be moving with her mom to North Carolina on July 1st.  I may not see her until Christmas and that just seems weird.  She has been living with my dad since March since her mom moved back there with her boyfriend.  She decided she wanted to go live with her and try it out.  We will see how this works.  I just hope she is happy.

One more thing, while getting ready for work this am, I caught Brandon putting on my heels.  Hilarious!  Daddy was a little worried, but I think it is so adorable.

Things here have been a bit crazy.  So let me start at the beginning. 

I passed my final and my class and now am half way done with the 8 12hr shifts I need to do to complete the course.  I will graduate June 6th.  Which just happens to be Brandon's 1st birthday.  I have been doing my shifts at night which has been a little challenging, but I have learned a whole lot and now even feel more like a real nurse.

The kids are great.  Well not really these last 2 weeks as they both have been sick with fevers, cold, ear infections, but otherwise good.  Brandon is running now, he has 2 teeth on the top and 2 on the  bottom and has refused to eat baby food anymore and only wants to eat our food.  He is drinking milk now and we are trying to get him off the bottle which has proved so far to be much easier then it was with Ally.

Mike now has a cold which I am sure is from teh kids and being overly tired so we have all been trying to rest as much as possible.  I am getting things together for Graduation and Brandon's Party which has kept me busy on the days off that I have and can't believe my little baby is going to be 1 already.

That's it for now.  I haven't had internet service for a while and still don't so am having to blog at my mom's house or the computer lab at school.  So unable to attach any pictures.  Although I have quite a few.    Ally and I were in a wedding at the beginning of June so have some cute photos of that, and just the kids playing.  They are so much fun.  I get saddened to see how big they are already, but I love how they play together too. 

To say a little prayer for me.  Tomorrow is my final.  I will be done and an RN!!!  I can't believe it.  I only need a  57% on my final to pass the class with a 75%, but still feeling some nerves.  Will post my grade when I get it. Thanks for all your support.  

... Some long awaited photos of Brandon taking his first steps.  Let me just say now that he is walking everywhere.  I can't believe he will be 11 months next week and he is already walking.  Time really flys.  I am already starting to Plan his 1st Birthday party.