LET THE RANTING BEGIN!!

There always seems to be a problem going on.... if it is not my ex it is his, if it is not them it is the kids, and put on top of that the everyday challenges that marriage brings. Sometimes it just seems like TOO MUCH!!! This weekend was one of those times. (Having PMS certainly did not help either.) I hit my breaking point, I wanted to sit in a corner and cry. Let the story begin...
Last time we were suppose to have the kids, we were unable to take his kids for our weekend. The witch, who is really good at playing games and not following the rules. Played one of her tricks again. My husband picks up the kids on Friday at 4:00, that time has been in place for over 3 years, and was decided in mediation. (One time we tried to pick up the kids a little early (3:30) and she refused to let us, because it was not the right time.) Anyway we had movie tickets and planned to take all the kids to the movie, "Monster's VS Aliens". The show that started at 5:00 was about $20 cheaper than the next one which was after 7:00. We live over 30 minutes away from the witch's house. Taking 8 people to the movie is not cheap, so we do not get to do it very often. It had been planned for over a week, and we were excited to take them. It never seems to fail that whenever we make plans, even during our scheduled time, she has a way of screwing it up. So it was no surprise that on this particular weekend she wanted to make the change. She had the Informer send her dad a text "my mom has plans, you can pick us up at 6:00" He sent back, "we have plans too, we will be there to get you at 4:00" From there we know that the texts did not come from the informer but from the witch. "they will not be here at 4:00, I will compromise, you can get them at 5:00" He sent back " 4:00 is our set time, you cannot make last minute changes, we will not be able to get them after 4:00, we have plans" OK, for those of you that do not know her and have not seen what she has put us through over the last 7 years, this may seem like we should give in... but we did SO many times. She only wants changes when they benefit her. We were sticking to the scheduled time, we were following the rules that the court system has set. It is very frustrating to have to fight so hard for my husband to see his kids 4 nights and 6 days out of an average month. She has so much time with the kids, we don't understand why she cannot make plans any other time but the time we are suppose to pick them up. And she thinks she is so clever, she always turns it around. She did not tell the kids that we had plans and that we needed to pick them up at 4:00, she did not tell them that she made threats and that she refused to let us take them when we could pick them up. She let them believe that we did not want to pick them up. That we were not willing to make a simple change for them. And that we did it to spite her. She thinks that because she is stupid and immature that we are too. (I know stupid is not a nice word, but you have no idea how she is, she really is stupid)
There have been many times that my husband has gone out there and the kids were not there, or they were there and she would not let them go. She has yelled and threatened him in front of the kids. She has encouraged them to refuse to go with him, she has taught them that they have a choice and they do not have to go. Anyone that has been divorced and gone through stuff like this knows that in most cases you do not have the choice. And until the kids turn 18 they do not have the choice either. We have a good loving home, with a mom, dad and siblings that love them. The kids all have their own space with their own stuff, that is always respected even when they are not there. She does not know how lucky they are!!! (another time I will have to tell you about the situation my kids have at their other house, then you will understand why I think it is important)
So to avoid the conflict we did not pick them up, and we spent the weekend and month without them. It was hard, but we have tried everything we can so this doesn't happen. But she doesn't care who tells her she cannot do this, she doesn't think that rules apply to her.