Parenting Time

Since the beginning of this blog, I have written about my weekends back in Des Moines with the kids. Well, I am happy to say that at least for the most part, that is now a thing of the past. The judge ordered yesterday that I am now able to take the kids with me to Omaha.

This really is a wonderful thing. The first thing Carter said when he got in my car on Friday was "Are we going to your house?" Carter and Em have both been wanting to see where I live and to meet Lindsey. I know Andrew is also happy with this change. I'm not sure that Johnathan really gives the whole thing much thought. He will be 18 in three more weeks, so he will no longer be governed by anything that has been ordered by the court anyway. I really think he is to the point where he can leave for college and be done with all of it. I know things have been hard for him, and all I can do is to try to be there for him in any way that he might need.

The reason I stated that my weekends in Des Moines were done "for the most part" is the fact that the kids still live there. This means there will be times when they will have activities and such in Des Moines on my weekends. On these occasions, my weekend will more than likely be spent in Des Moines with them. However, it will be from a hotel rather than the house. Again, I think the kids will enjoy this fact and we will make the best of the situation by being able to use the swimming pool, hot tub, and any other amenities that we choose to.

November?

Well, my atttorney finally got back to me with an actual date for my divorce trial. It's not set until November!

I couldn't believe it when I read that. I still don't know what to say about it. I had to ask him what the reasoning was for it being set that far out in the future. His answer was simply, that is what the current backlog is in the Iowa court system right now. Wow! It really doesn't sound like I am going to be able to do anything about it other than continue to push for a deal so we can get things done without the need to wait for the trial date.

On another note, it sounds like visitation might be changing soon anyway. In fact, I think I won't be needing to make the trips to Des Moines anymore. The kids will be coming to Omaha to see me instead. This is still being discussed and there is nothing finalized yet, but at least tentatively, it sounds like that is what is going to happen. There is one small caveat with this though. In the event Johanathan is busy on any given weekend and can't do the driving, I will need to go to Des Moines to pick them up (tentatively anyway... hopefully, we can get to an agreement where she brings them half way).

Anyway, just thought I would share the bad news / good news. Now get off the computer and go enjoy some of this wonderful weather outside!

Ready for Spring?

Em was definitely feel a bit of spring fever this past weekend. She was loving the warm weather and wanting to be outside all the time. She picked out her outfit and I loved how she topped it off with the matching sunglasses. I thought it was adorable.

I also noticed something new this past weekend. Em had her pretty little ears pierced. She was so happy with them. She said she cried when it was done, but when I asked the boys, they both said that she did very well and has been great about letting them clean them for her and everything.

I did hear that she lost one of them while playing at the park, but they were actually able to find it and get it back in with no problems.

Anyway, it was a great weekend and I enjoyed being able to spend time with all four of them. Johnathan had to leave for work a little before it was time for me to go, but other than that, we were able to spend the entire weekend with all of us and no interruptions.

Happy Reading

Just a quick post to let people know that yes, I am smart enough to know that there are ways to read this blog without it being shown in the activity feeds displayed on the blog. I am also smart enough to know of other ways to know who is reading it.

Happy reading!

Even Supergirl gets tired

Hey, it takes a lot of energy to keep saving the world all the time.

... and after all that work, it's time for a nap!

Quiet, Calm, HAPPY

Things have been nice and quiet the last couple of weeks. It's been great. I haven't updated on here for awhile, so I thought it was about time.

On the Des Moines side of things, the ball is in her court. My attorney has typed everything up and presented it to her for consideration. Hopefully, I will hear back soon, and that chapter can be over, done with, and closed for good. However, I am not going to hold my breathe. The longer it takes, the more I get the feeling she is trying to come up with additional things to ask for. Oh well, I guess there is no point in worrying about it until I actually hear something.

The kids are all doing well and healthy. Yesterday was the first day back to school after spring break for them. I'm sure they were all sad to see it come to an end. Even Emmy. She loved having the boys home to play with for the week.

Johnathan is loving having his own car. Actually, I think all of them are enjoying it. They all have much more freedom now and no longer need to depend on their mom or their friends to get around. The addition of car also caused another change. With the addition of a car, creates the need to pay for gas money. Johnathan started his new job at KFC over spring break. Not exactly the best way to spend spring break, but he is acutally enjoying it. He is such a great responsible kid. I can only hope that the rest of them will turn out as well as Johnathan is. Not that I don't think they will or anything. I'm just not sure that I will be able to be quite that lucky.

Anyway, on the Omaha side of things, it has been relatively quiet. I have been working to get into the routine of the new job, which is not all that difficult. I just need to get used to the early morning hours. Lot's off coffee is always a help, but I think I need to start getting back into the habbit of regular workouts too. I'm hoping that will bring my energy level back to where it needs to be.

This past weekend was Lindsey's birthday. It was a fun day, ending with dinner and drinks with one of her friends from school. It was great being able to get out for an evening, and forget about all the stresses of every day life, at least for a few hours anyway.

Hopefully, I will be able to keep this updated a little more than I have been recently. Maybe I will have some good news to post about from the Des Moines side soon. One can only hope!

Smile

Okay. So maybe that's not the greatest smile I've ever seen on her, but she was in quite the silly mood and wanted me to take pictures.


This one is a little better reflection of the mood she was in.

It was a great weekend, and she never left my side. Anytime I would even start walking towards the door to get something out of the car, she would run to me and wrap herself around my leg telling me to stay.

I did manage to get out of the house for about an hour with Johnathan though. We went out to look at a car for him. I'm happy to say that he liked it, and we bought it on the spot. He went downtown the next day to get plates and everything taken care of.

The weekend was over far too quickly, and saying goodbye to everyone was a little difficult. After all, we were in the middle of a Monopoly game and I was doing pretty well!



Oh... and for those of you that have "moved on", it really is amazing how much traffic this site gets.