Left-Right-Center: a dice game that can be played with the chips that come with it or for money. Simple for all ages but still fun. Cheap to buy, easy to store because it is very small. Loaded Question: Player 1 asks question, everyone writes their answer, Player 2 reads answers so that P1 can't match answer to handwriting. We always play by just randomly picking cards & questions, we've never used the board and official rules. Some questions are fun, some seem fun until you realize you have to decide who each answer matches. For instance: if you could change any part of your body what would you change. Fun, until you realize someone wrote nose job. Now YOU have to say I think so&so said nose job. Well so&so might think why would you think I want a nose job? One of the silliest ones was a group of neighbor ladies. The question was what to do you wear to feel sexy. Lots of typical usual answers but someone wrote "white tube socks". Those type of answers is what makes it fun. And those type of questions can be skipped in a mixed age group.

It sounds like a difficult situation to get involved in. On the one hand, you say the kids are having a hard time with the divorce. You've been dating a year and a half but only started interacting with the kids recently. It's not a surprise that they are not ready to include you in some activities & given they are in therapy, having such a hard time adjusting... it would be sensitive for you to bow out & let him take just his kids to the game. You weren't going to go to begin with. If they were free tickets, why make an issue of it. Is if "fair"? Not really but it kinda comes with the territory of getting involved with someone that has kids. On the other hand, I would agree that the dad needs to maintain control as the adult to keep kids from manipulating... and I might even go as far as admitting it's possible that the anxiety attacks and crying or clingy behavior could be manipulation. BUT, this guy has been dating you for quite a while before including his kids and he may not have prepared them for this new situation, he may feel guilty & they may have been getting away with manipulating him for a long time. They are not going to welcome someone that might change things. I get it if you're feelings were hurt. A few years ago, I thought it would be nice to take SD and buy tickets for a fair on Father's day. It was to be a surprise for DH and I bought all the tickets (SD was with me). We got to the fair, rode rides together & played games but halfway through the day, she took her dad aside and started crying. He was astounded and asked what's wrong. She tells him (loud enough for me to hear) "I didn't know Ima was going to be here, I wanted it to be just you and me!". Of course I was hurt & angry. She was with me when I bought the tickets & when we made the plans to go & when we got in the car & when we spent the first half of the day there together, having fun or so I thought. Thinking back on it now... maybe I should have gone home & let them have the rest of the day. I don't think it would have made much difference in the way things have ultimately turned out, which is now having an almost 13 year old that ignores me like I don't exist. She never wanted her dad to be with anyone, she will probably never accept that he's with me & it's uncomfortable (at best) to live on a day to day basis with her. If you are already feeling it has disaster written all over it AND he has a crazy ex.... well, that's more insight than I had before I said "I do".

kkny - I agree that these things should be discussed beforehand. Too many people jump into remarriage without sorting out the details, and expensive tuition payments are one HUGE detail. Before I married DH, we talked about tuition and all expenses associated with his children. I do not mind contributing to his daughter's braces, education or enhanced lifestyle, and I know that my feelings stem from the fact that I had a choice in the matter. Not sure about CS... I think it varies depending on location, but where I am, the lifestyle of the children (and thus support) is based only on the income of the paying parent and not on household income. But there again, I knew how much CS he was paying before I married him; I knew he was planning to increase CS on a yearly basis (he is now paying much more than the order stipulates, there is no way his ex would want to involve the law -- she'll end up oweing him a lot), and again, because we discussed it beforehand, I felt like I had a choice.

Thanks for your comments TG, KMichaelson and Samarnn! Looks like I won this battle for a change of pace... Samarnn - I know how you feel about liking to see kids playing. I accidentally forgot to have kids, but I love to hear them playing and having fun and I don’t complain like those crotchety old folks... I’m going to pressure wash the court real nice and maybe paint it for all those activities TG mentioned....if I have time of course - I’ve spent three days already using a fabric softener solution to remove the layers and layers of wallpaper off the walls of almost every room in the house and I’m only on the 2nd one...wish me luck and have a nice week everyone!