First I guess I will start off with the update on custody court. It was on Friday, July 17th. I had my 5 witnesses and my ex had his 3. Both attorneys thought this all could be hashed out in one day, but they were both wrong.
It took MOST of the day (court started at 9 am) just for my ex husband and his 3 witnesses to say all that they had to say, which most of it didn't even make sense, but whatever. I knew he was going to get up on the stand and lie his butt off. That's what he does best! His grandmother is the same way and so is his mother, but that's beside the point. His grandmother testified on his behalf, but really did him more harm than good. He also had our sons 1st grade school teacher to testify too (surprise surprise, she is also related to my ex husband!) and her testimony was also a load of crap.
My attorney FINALLY got her turn to call all of my witnesses and they all did very well!! At around 4 pm, the judge decided that it was definitely going to take more time for our case than one day because I still had not testified. So they scheduled the next court date for the following Monday, July 20th. I was the only one left to testify so me and Drew stayed in Kentucky for the whole weekend while his parents left to go back to Arkansas. My attorney asked the judge if I could have some visitation with my kids over the weekend and he said YES!! I was SOOOO happy! We got to keep them pretty much ALL WEEKEND!!
We went to pick the kids up from my ex and the first thing we had to do was take my son to a baseball/birthday swimming party. I have to admit it was a litttle awkward for me and Drew because this was my son's baseball team and parents in which we knew NONE of because we were not there the entire ball season. Not because I didn't want to be there, it's just distance was an issue. But when we got there, everyone was staring at us like "Who are these people??" We just stood by ourselves for a while and felt really out of place. After an hour or so (I'm not really quick to warming up to people, I am VERY shy!) I FINALLY realized that the birthday boy's parents used to go to church with me!! So once I realized that, I started talking to them and things got better for me. I'm not sure Drew was ever comfortable as this is ALL very new to him. He has never really spent much time at all in Kentucky so therefore knows NO ONE! But we did talk and eat pizza and tried to be sociable. Around 8 pm, they decided to give the kids the birthday cake. AHEM, 8 pm, birthday cake!! Drew just looked at me like "Seriously? the kids are going to be bouncing off the walls!" HA! He was right. When we left the party we drove to my friends house where we were staying the night and the kids were pretty rowdy! I think they FINALLY fell asleep around 10 pm.
On Saturday, we got up, got cleaned up and took the kids bowling and to eat. We had to be at Braylee's t-ball trophy ceremony at 2 pm so we had to kind of hurry at the bowling alley. Her ceremony was short, but I was SOOOO glad to be there.
We had Awstyn's trophy ceremony at 10 pm the same night and it was SOOOO messy! After all the boys got their trophies, they were SUPPOSED to spray their COACH with shaving cream, but at the end of the night, I don't think there was a single parent that was clean. HA! I tried to stay clean since I was taking pictures and didn't want shaving cream all over my camera, but I still got creamed pretty good. With 3 kids covered in shaving cream, I should have KNOWN better! It was fun though. My ex and Drew even started playing around trying to get the other with the cream. LOL We were so late leaving the ball fields we decided to get a hotel room instead of driving the hour to my friends house. The kids fell asleep on the way there!
On Sunday, we went to the park and to the public pool. They had fun at the park on the playground but the pool wasn't a very big success as the girls couldn't leave the kiddie pool without an arm band that showed they could swim the width of the pool. They weren't impressed! LOL We stayed about an hour I guess and then decided to go back to the hotel to swim there with Drew's niece and nephew (pictured below on both ends), which he hasn't seen in a few years. It was fun and they all had a good time. Around 6 pm, it was time for the kids to go back to their dad's. It was tough to watch them leave once again, but I had SOO much fun with them that weekend!
Monday morning it was back to the courthouse to finish up the custody case. I was the only one left to testify so I was HOPING it wouldn't take all day. It took almost 4 HOURS for just my testimony. 4 HOURS!! I couldn't believe it. And even after all those hours, the judge STILL did not give us a ruling. He did however let me take the kids for 2 weeks back to Arkansas until August 3rd, which was when he was to give his final ruling. It is now August 15th, and we still haven't gotten a ruling. I'm getting a little upset about it as school is getting ready to start here and if they are going to be living with me during the school year, I need to be getting some things done! I am afraid he is going to wait too long and then my youngest will lose her spot in preschool that has been reserved for over a year! I don't guess there is really anything I can do about it though. All I can do is wait.
On another note, something else that has kept me busy for the last month, me and Drew got a new house!! Well, it's a mobile home, but it is still OUR home! We had to get something bigger that would accomodate both of us AND my 3 kids, so we upgraded from his 2 bedroom to a 3 bedroom!! It needed some work, but not a whole lot. So we have been working on that. More him than me because I am not good with a saw, but when it comes painting time, I will catch up! I will post pictures of it as we progress, but it will have to be in another post because this one is WAY too long! Sorry!!
