some updates

On the hive front:

Still have them. They went away for a little while during the night but now they are back, just as strong. I'm hoping a few days of no work, some good vitamins, and some good-for-me food will knock the suckers out once and for all. . . . Well, at least for a couple days so I can get some relief. If these are anything like the last ones I had a few years ago, I don't look for them to permanently go away any time soon.

The good thing about that realization, is after awhile, I'll get used to them. Which is something to look forward to, I suppose.

With the in-laws:

I just want to thank all of you for all your wonderful advice. Especially you, Amber, thanks for taking the time to help me out, your post gave me so much to think about. You all have given me a lot to think about. So, Tim and I sat down this afternoon, before he went to work, and had a long conversation about everything. We've decided to do a combination of things.

First of all, I think we're going to use Thanksgiving as a test run. Basically, have them both over, see how things go, and then make some adjustments from there.

If they do act out towards each other (or more likely, my mother-in-law opens her big mouth), we are fully prepared to sit them down and talk with them. Give them an option. They either grow up, act like adults, and we all enjoy Christmas together, or they come at separate times, or not at all. Meaning one (or both) of them will miss out on the kids opening gifts in the morning. Which is something they'll have to work out among themselves.

Tim is fully standing behind me in this matter which is something I am beyond thankful for. Not that I doubted him in any way. Because I didn't. He's actually the one who came to me this afternoon and said that we needed to talk about a solution to this problem because HE didn't want his mom ruining another one of his holidays. Which meant more to me than he'll ever know.

Other things we're planning: making sure we have a jammed packed schedule on Christmas Eve and day so that time for fighting is limited, if they decide to show up together. And, what to tell the kids if they decide not to show up at all.

All in all I'm happy with our plan for now. We will see what Thanksgiving holds, and make our adjustments from there. More importantly, I'm just glad we have a plan made for this gigantic problem. And that in the end, Christmas will be awesome, regardless.

The disaster with the school:

Well, we sat, we talked. And in the end, they apologized and promised to never let something like that happen again. They understood our concerns, since this was the second time something like that had happened. They also assured us that it would be nearly impossible for any kind of predator to get a hold of one of my children. Not sure how I feel about the other kids who attend that school, but at least I'm a little more at ease. They understand that if they do not see either Tim nor I, they are not to release my children. Seems like a pretty simple plan, we'll see how well it works.

In other news:

I am so glad I talked Bumpo out of purchasing these with his found Halloween money. They were literally sitting in my cart, on the way to the check-out, while I tried desperately to talk Bumpo out of it. Luckily, we ran across a superhero set, where he got like six superheros for $20. So, the aqua dots were forgotten.

Sad thing is, you can rest assured that if we were to have purchased those damn toys, Bumpo would have put the things in his mouth. He puts everything in his mouth.

So, so glad I talked him out of it.