i am writing early today so you can see that it's not all doom and gloom over here. writing in the evening (you know, after anything that may have happened during the day so i can write about it) is not a good time right now, because i am so frazzled and sick of the screaming/hitting/scratching/biting/whining/kicking/bickering and what-ever-elsing. it's pretty rough over here. i think sasha is going through a stage (she's nearly four, so the six months 'good' - six months 'rough' cycle is going through the rough part i imagine) and it doesn't take long, maybe *maybe* 8a.m. before i want to punt her out the door and say, JUST PLAY OUTSIDE BY YOURSELF!! *sigh* this will pass, i will survive it and she will be sweet again!!

until then i make plans in my head (beach! mall! pool in the garden! meet friends!) which are promptly canceled when i see red. it's not that she argues with me so much (but she does!) but that she gets into fights with tommy and hiro. going anywhere in the car is torture! she sits next to tommy and it doesn't take long for there to be WWF going on in the back (minus the jumping off the ropes thing, they still have their buckles done). NIGHTMARE. so we may just be stuck at home except for only the most necessary excursions. like getting more gin.

it doesn't help that aunt flo came to visit this week. ugh.

but hey, this is supposed to be positive!

on sunday i went out for a few hours (don't complain, don't complain...) which was a lot of fun though i didn't get as much time as i needed. other obligations, you know. that evening was the kids' summer festival at the kindy, which was fun. i have no other plans for the rest of the week, though i was kind of hoping to go to the library because they recently received a lot of picture books in english. it's not far, but like i said, it doesn't take long for fighting to break out in the back of the car....

the kids are plugging through their abc books (well, hiro and sasha are. i may get one for tommy this month to start after the other two go back to school) and lots of coloring. of course, that means a few things are getting tagged as well. like the wall of the stairs. and the kids' room upstairs (we only color downstairs, but little hands like to carry little markers.) this is good except in the evening when i just want to go to bed at six! i should look into getting a reading program for hiro.

and last, the weather (because i know you're dying to know). the past few mornings have been so overcast and threatening rain. very weird. and difficult to judge (you know, as far as laundry goes). i actually went to the coin laundry yesterday and noticed the apartments above. i REALLY wanted to move in because hey! a one-minute walk to the laundromat? you can't pay too much for that! but the afternoons turn out fine (if deadly hot!) so anything that may have been prepared in the morning (the pool, for example, or the laundry) doesn't get done. just be sunny! or just be rainy! 'k? thanks.

only 29 days left....