wow, the time really got away from me there! this last week of winter vacation was particularly brutal. i'm not sure why. well, actually, i can name a few reasons, and added up maybe that's why. like tommy's new habit of pestering hiro and sasha. oh, that's annoying, for all of us (except tommy.) or sasha's epic meltdowns (never have they been this bad! and hiro really wasn't that bad at this age. *sigh*), which usually come when she's tired or hungry. or both. let's just say the drive home from the in-laws' house was less than pleasant. then there was hiro's lack of homework drive. i really tried to encourage (without nagging; that's hard!!) him the last week. please please please get as much done on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th, hiro! you have five days left, sweetie. but no, he was still sweating it out this morning, getting the rest of his homework done. and let me just say that the winter homework really wasn't as bad as the summer homework, mainly because there were bigger numbers to work with, and katakana and kanji are thrown into the mix so it really wasn't the same old problems over and over and over and over....and he was good in the beginning. in fact, i thought he was done with his homework right after christmas. i should have checked it better.

and one other factor: having yoshi around all the time. he had about five days off, plus there was the three day weekend to get through. it's all happy families for about three days and then i just need to do my own thing! what with the cold weather and the kids going stir-crazy, we really don't need to mix everything up with another opinion. i'm not saying i don't want my husband around (he worked miracles in the back garden, ya'll!) but he does have his own opinion on things, esp. in regards to the children, that don't exactly work for them (or for me). i just don't want the hassle of an argument when there's no where for anyone to escape to to work it out for themselves! (i hope that makes sense.)

anyway, we have survived it! i have more photos to upload, and hopefully videos, so here's to more blogging to come!

edit: video from mochi tsuki added here.

with a vengence! on sunday dark clouds rolled in, propelled by blasting winds. damn, it was like a typhoon around here! my laundry lines were knocked down. and gardening supplies are all washed up against the fence. the temperature has surely dropped. from lovely balmy weather last week to snow today. brrrr. needless to say, i haven't cleaned up the yard. haha. guess i better do that before the weekend or more people won't want to buy a house.

sasha is killing me. probably a growth spurt but she wants to nurse every hour all night long. yoshi has started sleeping in the living room. hiro sleeps through it, which is a good thing, but i'm just dying. and she won't eat rice cereal or apple sauce or even mashed bananas. so far the only thing she likes is baby senbei, and that's only because she can hold it. i am drained. and so tired. wish me luck to get through this.