The thing is ..... you are always going to be in the middle and that is the hard part ... when he is angry or cricicises them you feel that protective mother urge to defend them, and when they are annoying and irritating you are trying to protect him from being annoyed. That is why you go round in circles. If you could just try and have a united approach, however difficult, that would be the way forward. I had a situation where I kept having the same argument week in week out, in fact there were two arguments, and one day I just suggested that instead of going over it we just called it 'Chat A' and 'Chat B' so then we didn't bother having it. All you can do is speak to your kids from the heart and explain how difficult it is and could they try and help you to get the family united, and the same with your hubby. The fact is they would probably be doing just the same things if they were his biological children, but of course they are not so he does not react in quite the same way. The time will soon be for them to be gone, and you know ............ he will probably miss them !!!