Everwhere is walking distance if you have the time

[ClingingToHope]

First week of summer vacation done with girls. Lots of fun. Some small incidents. I'm 95 percent happy with how the week went.

Here's the bad. D9 had small meltdowns every day but one, but I was able to handle them all before they became full meltdowns. I did make her cry though. She wanted to get something from XW's house. I said no. She asked why. I had a weak reason. So she persisted. So finally I said I do not want to go over to XW's house because I do not want to see XW and Uncle Fester (XW's boyfriend, although I did not call him that). Unless it's absolutely, absolutely necessary, if she forgets something at XW's then she'll have to do without.

Ugh. On Friday, when XW did pick them up for her weekend, D9 came downstairs to warn me XW was here.

D13 is about 50/50 from moving over to the full dark side of the teen years. Half the time she was the happy child I remember. The other half she was a moody loner who is going through troubles that "no one understands."

On Friday, I fell into lecture mold and it didn't do any good except to have her go downstairs and refuse to talk to me or D9 for two hours. Finally, an hour before XW showed up she came upstairs and she was fine.

I have to remember to "Talk so my kids will listen and to listen so my kids will talk."

The teen years are going to be very tiring.

The fun stuff more than overshadowed these incidents.

Friday night I started my umpiring marathon. I umped two games last night, two games today, then two games Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Then two games the Monday after, single games Tuesday and Thursday and two games on the Friday and Saturday after.

That's the extra money I'll need for the next week off with the girls in July.

Tonight I'm meeting a lady who runs another growth group at my church. I tried to interest people from my growth group to go to dinner at a new downtown restaurant. No one bit, bunch of excuses. I invited the leader of another group to see if any of her members wanted to go and two did. So it's me and three ladies.

That's a plus. Then I'm meeting friends later. Things came together. Tomorrow, I pick up the girls for church. D13 goes to her mom's at night because she has to go out of town for theater camp. I'm taking D9 to horse back riding camp so she stays with me.

Funny thing about the week, girls kept dropping in talks with XW and again I realized I don't miss her, I miss them. I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying to give them a different role model to counteract her new trailer trash lifestyle and idiotic family.