it is a very good thing i enjoyed yesterday morning and sleeping in and the whole nine yards yesterday. today it has been one bickering fight after another, and all four of them have been getting into it. it's got to be the weather. yesterday was nice, and the kids were ok and i got to enjoy my morning. last night it rained and today it is overcast and chilly and the kids are out of their friggin minds. taz i can forgive and actually should expect such problems. he's off meds til monday (when we start him on ritalin) and his respite care person couldn't make it today (and, in fact, may not make it for a few months as he waits on his licensing renewal). he's very tied to routine, and his routine has been disrupted. next week promises to be worse - he's off track for 2 weeks.

it all started at 7 this morning...jewel and shebop started fighting over whether or not shebop could use jewel's brush. then kitten jumped in and almost became a war. big issue? no. worth fighting over? no. but they did. waking both me and m up. from there it just escalated..at least a half dozen times in the first few hours. add to that this is chore day and it is really interesting over here right now...NOT.

anyone want three girls ages stubborn, whiney and annoying (translated to 7, 10 and 13)? taz at the moment is relatively quiet, and usually is when he's separated from them. his thing is to get into their rooms and get into stuff, causing all kinds of trouble. their thing? just to annoy each other and him. parenting. gotta love it.

i have noticed weather changes seem to affect attitude changes in the kids before this. not gradual ones, but sudden ones. one day it is cool the next it is blazing hot, and tempers rise with the temperature. goes from nice to rainy, and they are all irritable and disagreeable in general. its bad enough to have to break up fights on a normal day. on a weather day? it is at least three times worse as they get into fights every 5 minutes, sometimes almost literally every 5 minutes.

now add this to the usual dragging of feet on chore day and i think you may have a small inkling of what it is like over here today. fight - break up fight - dawdle - remind them to do chores - another fight - break up fight - another fight - break up fight - remind to check their laundry. and so on and so on.

someone, anyone, save me.