Tuesday, April13, 2010 Meeting Rui, Joey, Jill and Samira

Dear Noah and Dylan,

   I am playing hooky today!  Your old aunt could not get out of bed this morning!  I told Uncle Joe I felt like I could sleep three more hours and thats exactly what I did!  You kids wore me out on Sunday and all I did was sit on my deck and watch!  We had quite the gang here, all the Eastern coast T children and K kids.  We had pizza on the deck, played in the yard and driveway on the cars, went in the doggy tunnel, Rui did a puppet show, Jill opened presents- a good time had by all!  Your dad finally met Barry, Auntie Mary's husband and Joey-odd that they hadn't met after all this time!  Samira was the only child above the age of five.  She's now 13?  But even she had fun without her iPod.  Noah and Dylan got along great with Rui, Joey and Jill.  We hope we can do that more often.
     After everyone left you both stayed here for supper and I made hotdogs, beans carrots, Annie's Mac and Cheese-Noah wolfed it down, Dylan not as thrilled. (he did have a lot of cookies earlier.)  Then we sat on the deck stairs and programmed you to scream, "Auntie Kim!" while flinging both areas into the sky upon hearing various questions such as "Who makes the best beans?" "Who makes the best macaroni?"  "Who makes the best carrots?"  "Who's the most beautiful woman in all of New England?"  The ego boost was short-lived since your daddy brought you home and re-programmed you. He called the next morning and left a message with your new responses.  Hmm...at least I still make the best beans.
     Unfortunately, it looks as though your parents' divorce is imminent.  Your mom has been attending the mandatory training for parents preparing for divorce and your dad signed up once he heard you mom enrolled.  Her lawyer sent a letter to his lawyer moving forward, asking to agree on a settlement so as it turns out, your dad should hear what you mom's request is as far as division of property and assets, including child care.  Your dad thought she'd probably get one half equity of the house , her half being about 10k I think he said and she'd get 1/2 his retirement.  Any assets prior to marriage and inheritance form Grandma K can not be divided.  The big issue is the child care and that is my biggest concern.  Your dad would be beside himself if for some reason he was granted anything less than 50% custody.  The current established pattern of practice has been 50% and that has been ongoing since your mom moved out in October, six months now and according to you dad's lawyer, that is what the judge looks at.
    I am trying to keep lines of communication open with your mom and sending pictures of our weekend activities.  She sent me one funny picture of Noah in bed with a toy computer-takes after his Uncle Joe!