i'm baaaaack

but then again, maybe you never noticed i was gone.  i sure didn't.  i can't believe it's been so long.

time is finally flying by.  it's a good thing.  it's like we've crested a big hill and i can finally feel the momentum pulling us down.  

captain j has what he says are definite dates for his R and R (army talk for vacation).  in less than a month i will have my beef cake back.  eh hem.  

age 4 for noah IS turning out to be truly magical.  let's talk about how much i LOVE impulse control.  people!  that was the problem the whole time.   

but then natty is turning up the heat, so it all evens out again.  she's the one refusing to sit for any meal or in any shopping cart/stroller/highchair.  she has discovered that SCREAMING for what she wants works with grandma and grandpa.  she says "no!" with all the authority she can muster with her little self.  and she's doing that thing where she purposely throws things when she doesn't want it.  it's ok when it's a plush toy.  not so ok when it's an open container of chocolate pudding.

as for me, the month of august has been the month of malls.  to beat the heat and for some variety, i've been touring the various malls of southern california and orange county.  i love the South Coast Plaza in costa mesa, but oh my, i visited The Grove yesterday in West LA, and let me tell you it's AMAZING.  besides huge elaborate fountains everywhere, it had every store i could think of, plus stores i'd never seen like a full on American Girl place.  i have no idea what that is all about yet, but i think with natty already carrying dolls around and trying to feed them her food, i will soon enough.  oh.  and i went into their barnes and nobles and my jaw dropped open.  it was three stories of wonderful bookness.  the selection made me salivate and wish i didn't have a toddler who didn't want to wait quietly in the stroller with me.  it's so sad that it was over an hour drive for me.  you people who live near there are very lucky.

other accomplishments this summer?  i've memorized the Wicked soundtrack.  i've made my way through my Netflix queue.  i've learned the mafia wars, bejeweled and scramble are WAY too addicting.  i've read all the books that was supposed to last me a whole year.  oops.  gosh, i sound like i totally neglect my kids and just watch movies, play on the computer and read the whole day.  but i promise you and my korean mother who always points out that i should be using my time more wisely that all this got done during natty's nap while noah was at school, or after they've gone to sleep for the night.  well, except the memorizing of Wicked.  that happened during car rides to the malls.  see?  i AM using my time wisely.

now that we're halfway through this deployment and pretty settled, i'm finally starting to look ahead.  three years in korea is still definitely on the table.  but so is getting out completely and setting up house back in honolulu.  there have been some intense discussions over skype that end with "well, we don't have to decide now.  let's think about it."  and you know, we don't have to decide now.  we're going to think about it.  then again, being in the military means that they take care of you, but you have less choice (probably what all those people against this health care reform thing are worried about, but that's a whole 'nother post.  and in case you're wondering, my parents don't have health care because they have preexisting conditions and it's too expensive, so i think you know where i stand on this issue.) so all this discussing might be actually over something moot because they might demand something entirely different.

we'll see.