I thought I'd do a quick update before Thanksgiving.

My dad and Rose arrived this weekend to help me prepare for the arrival of our two international students who came yesterday. Instead of helping though, I discovered (to my horror) that my dad's drinking has...intensified.....(WHY do holidays have to be like this? ) I'll spare you the gory details because...quite frankly, I'm too embarassed. All I can say is OMG. :thud:

Rose is helping me as best she can, but she is overwhelmed and depressed by the current situation. My saving grace is Thomas, who has really stepped up to help talk with Rose and try and help her as best he can, and he is helping to keep my dad in line. Yeah Thomas!

I picked up the two boys yesterday when I picked up Andrew. They are 16 and 19 and seem very nice and down to earth. One is from Costa Rica and he grew up in a large family. I was apologizing for the dinner time chaos....Zoe was crying, Aidan was talking them to death with his "I am 4. Can you see my beard? I had a birthday party and my best friend Ingrid came and we played the balloon game and she gave me a....", and everyone was talking as we set the table....madness was more like it and the boy from Costa Rica said "don't apologize, I feel like I'm home.".

The other boy is from South Vietnam and has one sibling....he has one sibling and is much quieter. He spent the evening helping Alex with his math.

We all got set up to watch a big family move and the two students really seemed like they were being polite but wanted to play on their laptops.....so...I handed them each a Coke and told them to play away...I showed them the refridgerator, the snack drawer and let them sit and do what they wanted. I think they were much happier doing that!

I am terrified that my dad is going to embarass us all. It is sad to feel that way about your own parent....hopefully my step mom can get him under control.....


Kris[/quote]