August 27, 2023 - Sunday

We decided to start our day by taking the kids out to eat at a breakfast spot. It was Ben's idea, and yet he complained constantly from the moment he woke up until we left the restaurant. The cost, the kids, the ordering, the indecision, the kids, the cost...it was all terrible for him. 🙄 And I've been told that I'm not allowed to tell him when he seems to be more negative than usual because "he's allowed to feel his feelings". Which he obviously is, but still. Does everything have to be the worst thing ever? Do the kids always have to be such a burden to him? He wants to take them out and then he complains that they're not perfect. It's the same thing as Friday night. All the kids were super well behaved, but he still thought they were being terrible. He's got this hyper-control thing happening right now, where if he's not the one who's absolutely in charge of everything, then it's going to go to shit. We're having a great time over here. 

CT was fine. All of the rooms went smoothly and I got to have a few good conversations with people. I have lots of good volunteers on this team. I'm so grateful to be surrounded by such selfless folks! It's always a good reminder for my selfish self. 

We came home from church and the dread started for dinner tonight. I spent some time playing Zelda and then started cooking. I have to say, my mac and cheese was amazing today. Clem and Ollie made some brownies for us to take and they really turned out perfectly! They did a great job. 

So. Dinner. It was obvious that Ashley and Kwin put a TON of effort into making dinner nice. They made lots of delicious food and had the whole back yard set up with toys and water things. Even if Ashley is wary about me still, I think she misses the comfortability our families had with one another before all of her drama. It was a little awkward at first. It kind of felt like one of the first times we've hung out all over again. Eventually, though, things got easier. I still feel like I don't know where she actually stands and don't know if I should be back to normal or if I should still give her space, but at least dinner went well. We did invite them to the HC camping trip in a couple of weeks. It's a kind of big deal, but it's also pretty low commitment, since it's only 30 min away and it's cheap. We'll see what they decide to do!