SS Graduation Over

The graduation is over. Now we wait until the 18th birthday and then the legal relationship with the ex ends. The child support bill stops.  Halle-fricken-lujah!

As usual when we have to deal with the stepkids and their mother, the hubby and I ended our "vacation" with me ready to smack him upside the head.  Made for a long 4-1/2 hours ride home.

Started out my stepdaughter showed up at my mom's house (where hubby, our kids, and I stayed) with little gifts for their siblings and dad. Nada for stepmom. OK, petty, whatever.  If you can hand out gifts to everybody else and ignore one person in the room, good for you. Glad your momma raised you so well. I will assume hubby was oblivious to the slight or else ignoring it and hoping I didn't notice.  I don't WANT gifts...it's the slight that irritated.

I didn't get any "family" picture with me and just my kids on the beach like I wanted. They always included my stepkids.  I have no issue with having family pictures with them.  I think we should have family pictures with them. I'd just like one of just my kids too.  My stepkids aren't MY kids. This was our only vacation this year. How the hell do you tell the stepkids to step out of the picture? I couldn't do that to my husband though I should have and let hubby deal with it. I end up dealing with the crap all the time...should have passed some of it onto him. I'll have to get one in our backyard or something.

There was the graduation picture with just my stepkids, my husband and the ex together. The fake family picture the ex wants at the graduations.  I'm sure she'll want one at baptisms and weddings too.  It makes for a discussion with our younger kids because they don't understand. They never see their half-siblings and the last time they saw the ex was two years ago and before that - several years. They don't know her. My younger ones wouldn't even recognize her. It confuses them to see their dad with another woman.  That's their dad and family and she is standing there with him posing for pictures instead of them and/or me. Doesn't give me warm fuzzies either though I understand my stepkids probably want pictures of their parents - and the other side of me (the one with the little devil on my shoulder) dislikes these pictures. They've NEVER been together as a four member family unit. We dealt with this two years ago with my stepdaughter's graduation here and here. It's uncomfortable and awkward.

Hubby thanks me afterwards for putting up with all the stress of the graduation weekend but ya know what? It doesn't have to be so damn stressful and it wouldn't be if he'd change HIS behavior a bit. I'm still ticked at him and we've been home for two days.

There was more...but I'm getting irritated.