Two weeks ago on visitation weekend, DH and I took both Skids and one of their friends to the family cabin. At 7:30am on Sunday, one skid is banging on our bedroom door saying, “dad, we have to leave now. We have a flag football game at 10am!” BM had texted him that morning to tell him. The cabin is over 2 hours away, so I tell him, “we’re not going, we’re not going to make it.”  Of course, DH relents and we all rush around like idiots to get out to the car and race home.

My DH has always been a dog person. His family loves a breed of hunting dogs. When he and BM divorced, the dog they had lived with him. DH’s living situation was precarious after getting divorced and he needed to find a place for the dog to live for several months. He begged BM to take in the dog. He even offered her $1000 to take the dog. BM refused. This dog had lived in her house months before and had lived with her and DH for four years before the divorce. One SS was devastated that the dog would have to go and begged BM to take him. She still refused.

Last weekend - not a visitation weekend for us - BM's company had a no children ski trip. She went with her SO and left SSs (twins, almost 13) home alone with their 17 year old stepbrother. I'm the only one who thinks that's a tad too young to be staying home alone for an entire weekend. 

Mind you, the stepbrother has been staying home alone on weekends at least since he was 14. BM used to ask DH to take the stepbrother on his weekends on occasion and DH always declined. 

My SSs (both in middle school) are completely helpless. They have only recently learned to cut their own food (thanks to several lessons from me), but still need help more often than you’d expect. 

They also can’t keep track of anything...even things that are important to them.

For Christmas, they got new ski goggles and new ski gloves. They complained that their ski goggles fogged up, yet could not be expected to wipe them off. One has also already lost one of his new ski gloves.