another lisa

The past week has been very stressful and chaotic. While I generally thrive under these conditions, Eric, basically an introvert, does not enjoy this type of environment. Poor Eric is on "vacation" (for the past two weeks) and yet he has been having panic attacks because of his ex-wife being in town in a tizzy about Oliver's decision to live with us for the upcoming school year.

After much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, it was decided to invite her and her friend to attend a big birthday dinner for Oliver at a local restaurant (The Lone Star) for fahitas and ice cream cake. Oliver will be 14 tomorrow, but we will be away at a friends cottage by then so we decided to celebrate yesterday. His mom did show up eventually, which made 16 people. It went pretty well -- she basically didn't speak to me or Eric and we sat at the other end of the table. My kids and my dad sat in the middle section, then Eric's kids all sat with their mom at the other end. After the dinner, cake and presents, Oliver walked back to our house with his mom so they could have a talk and apparently it went ok. He was very happy to have the initial talk over with. It sounds like she will move back to Ottawa in the fall, so although Eric is not happy about having her around, at least it will cost less!

We did have some fun over the weekend - we saw friends for a bbq and games night on Sunday. Then on Monday, we went to Melanie's (my sister) for a belated family get together for Zoe's birthday (she is 15 now). I brought all the food because our house is not very child proof these days... and we had kebabs, salad, rice and a cheesecake for dessert. The food was a big success!

As well, we were babysitting Anouk, a chocolate lab who is 4 years old for the weekend. She did very well and gets along with both Suki and Oscar.

Today I am at the office and tonight we have to pack for the cottage as we leave tomorrow.