A nice couple of hours

I took Rusty and Sally out to see Enchanted Saturday night at the Alamo Drafthouse. You can fold the armrests out of the way so that the kid on each side can snuggle happily up next to you. The movie is a delightfully cute little movie. The kids discovered that they really like both the Alamo's French fries and the stuffed potato skins. The milkshakes were outstanding. The only real drawback to the evening was when Rusty very politely offered me a sip of his milkshake and I took one, having momentarily forgotten that he had, upon being asked to select a flavor for his milkshake, chosen strawberry.

So the cool thing here is that earlier that evening I had been taking Kinya to therapy, and Anya and Natasha were as usual going with her, and there was only one seatbelt left -- and Rusty offered to stay home so that Sally could go, even though I know he badly wanted to go. I have been trying for a very long time to get the concept of being a gentleman across to him; so this was a very major deal and a cause for celebration.

Man, I do like my kids. There are parts of my life that kinda suck right now but my kids...don't know what I'd do without 'em. Even when they're mad at me.

Meanwhile I have hopes that I'll get to take some of them to West Virginia with me. Since that would make it feasible for me to have the rest of them spend the New Year's holiday at Duane's house, thus keeping Dessie from having to move out for that week, I think we might be able to establish a win-win scenario. (But of course if we can't work something out I'm fine with sticking to the temporary settlement; I did after all agree to it of my own free will.)

Thanks again for all the prayers for my kids.