SS and SD found out last Thursday that SIL is pregnant. Apparently, DH's brother and wife thought it was a good idea to tell a 7 and 9 yr old that his wife was 6 weeks pregnant (even though she is high risk - 39 and has already had a Developmentally disabled child; BIL has MS)

MIL was present and made the statement "we need to make sure we keep this in the family" - by which both kids understood they were not to tell me about it, or DH since they are aware that MIL does not consider us part of the family.

In 5 days we leave town for our wedding/vacation. In 11 days we'll be married. So far, no big BM blow ups, in fact, she actually agreed to swap some time so we can get out of town early. Not sure why she's being so "nice".

I'm finally getting excited. Skids are so excited, I suspect both BM and in-laws are SICK and TIRED of hearing the kids go on and on and on about how they can't wait to leave town and have the wedding.

Here's my latest dilemma: BM told ss to "have XXXXX take some photos of you in your tux and send them to me"

Our court scheduled father's day time landed in such a way that we got an extra "weekend" - p/u at 6pm fri to sun at 6pm. Our normal custody time starts back mon 730 am through wed 730 am.

DH asked if we could just keep kids here sun evening since he would be picking them up at 730 mon. BM said no. Not such a big deal, although highly inconvenient, and we expected her to say no, she always does.

Dh and I have been working with the skids on responsibility and things they can do to show responsibility. We live near the downtown of a city in a historic neighborhood filled with small locally owned shops. About 3-4 blocks away, on our street is an artisan bread bakery and an upscale corner market. We shop at one or the other almost daily, frequently with the kids in tow. The owners and staff know us and the kids.