April 30th

Sang at weddings today. My throat is not doing well, so I sucked! (Yes, blame it on the throat.)
Went home & cooked for the kids & Mac let me go out to Jess' house to see the new baby.
The baby is soo kyute!! Almost want to have another one. Toki & Sachi were talking about babies the whole time in Japanese so I had to be idiots with the guys in the corner listening to music. I think I get along well with guys.
Babies are cute but I'm kind of enjoying that my kids are growing up & starting school, Leila is still kind of babyish anyway, so I might have to enjoy being around friends babies for now.
Tomorrow Mac will go away for 5 days doing sound at 9 steps seminar http://www.jamesskinner.com. What should the kids & I do with ourselves? I want to diet during those 5 days but something tells me I will just eat & watch TV. hehehe!

I'm a ray of sunshine!!

Shadow -----I really hate my job!! I hate the way all those girls smoke. Don't they realize how gross & un-ladylike it is to be a chimney? I really am going to die if I continue working there but it's my only steady job & weddings have been totally sucking.
I bought all this expensive face care products but my face is not looking any less like the moon. (Full of craters)
I lost 3 work possibilities & I hate it when that happens. I feel like I am not handling my disappointments very well. I'm very tired & do not want to work tonight. I am so bored of singing the same songs all the time but I'm not about to buy more because they already broke their promise to pay for our music by saying they can't do that now & they also reduced our pay.

Carole Starts Elementary School

April 6th was the opening ceremony. --Another formal event.
It was long & boring for the little guys but frightening for me. How will I cope with being a school mom when everything is in Japanese & I still can't read it?
Carole loved her first day of school, but I've been running around like a CWIHCO for the last few weeks because I have to drop the girls off & pick them up at two different places & different times.
I am glad because Leila has finally showed interest in playing by herself with the doll house. This is perfect timing because she doesn't have her sisters around in the mornings to play with & I have to clean the house.
Carole loves her school lunches & it has been established that the food there tastes better than mom's cooking. --Kids have such tact!

Spring break & D&M's visit.

And now I have the lovely task of backtracking:

Dad & Mom were able to visit after all from March 23rd to April 5th. The kids had spring break, so no stress there with school in the mornings. It was a slow, sweet visit. Mom brought lots of nice clothes from the US. (Carole grew out of all her old clothes) When they first arrived I was all worried because D was supposed to call at the airport to let me know they arrived safely, but D was so worried they'd miss their bus into town so they called when they already were ready to be picked up. (Later D found out that the bus leaves every ten minutes. Hehehe)

We went to a few restaurants, had a sakura pick-nick, did some shopping, etc. But for the last few days of the visit mom & the kiddos got bad coughs. I think it was kind of cold for D & M, & mom's health is not that good these days. I went solo shopping when everyone was sick & got some presents for them to bring to J, S & A and the soon coming babies. We spent the last few days at home eating & spending time together. The kids enjoyed playing with grandpa & gave him a nick name "grandpa buddy". (Don't ask me why.)

After D & M left it was a major rush to get all of Carole's things ready for starting first grade. It was the very next day & I realized I had been so in vacation mode, I hardly cleaned the house the whole time they were here. Anyway, cleaning up took my mind off of the rainy weather & the fact that M and D had left & who knows when the next time I'll see them will be.

Niki Leaves

I said goodbye to Niki before her big move to the US. We sang together at karaoke. (Can you believe it?) After singing, we ate a little. (Well, she ate a little, but I sorta pigged out!)
I hope she likes it there & adjusts quickly to her new "life". I know I went crazy for the first bit when we moved out of Kenny's place, our home of 8 years.
Hope you do well, Niki. Love you!