Birthday Parties and Bullying

Sorry I haven't blogged all week! I have felt so tired and just pooped every night! You know how sometimes you look around and there is just so much that needs to be done and so much you want to do, you just give up without doing any of it?  Well that is how I have felt all week! This past weekend wiped me out. We were going the entire weekend and I feel like I am just now getting some energy back. I wanted to go workout tonight but instead I did some much needed house work. 
So Olivia's 3rd birthday party was this weekend and I have to say that I think it was her best party yet. I felt like everything went smoothly, I wasn't a nervous or rushed mess and Olivia had a great time! Even though it was a little bit on the chilly side, many of our friends and family still made it and I think everyone had a great time.  I have to say the decorations turned out great. Once again,  I fought with the table cloths because of the wind, but after applying hundreds of pieces of duck tape, the table covers stayed on top of the  tables! Thanks Nicole and Jill for the help! Olivia had her polka dot Mickey dress on and her Minnie mouse ears. All i can say is ....ADORABLE! She got so many presents and I still have not been able to find a place for all of them. Aunt Kristen made the cutest Mickey and Minnie birthday cakes. they were by far the hit of the party!  Kristen needs to advertise because I don't think anyone could have done them better! Once the party was over, Jill and I cleaned everything up and headed back to my house with the kids. Kenny went to Travis's 30th birthday and Jill and I took all of Olivia's presents out and set up her doll house, then we sat back and had a few drinks and threw some darts in the basement.  Nice ending to a wonderful day.

The next day I cleaned the house, fed the kids and then we were off to my dad's house for another birthday party for Olivia. It was especially special because my Grandma Guerdan was there and we haven't seen her in a few years. My grandma is a special kind of person. She raised 6 boys and one girl and she has the personality and attitude to show for it!  Even though she is 85, she still has her spunk!  She lives in an assisted living apartment out by St Charles and she cant get around very well any more. She needs help getting up and moving around the house and all the different medication she is on makes her shake. At one point I was trying to get Olivia to use the potty and my grandma said she would go after Olivia if Olivia would go first. I guess Olivia thought it was a deal because it made her use the potty. We were watching the slide show that Sarah Blind made for me for my dad's 60 birthday and my grandma kept insisting that some of the pictures were not of my dad but of my other uncles! She was being crazy and boy can she put up a fight. When she believes she is right there is no proving her wrong. She kept insisting that we were looking at pictures of my uncles and not my dad. Oh geeze grandma, you had me in tears because I was laughing so hard!  Then she told me something really sad. She said that two of the other women that stay in the assisted living apartments were picking on her. She said that the one woman called her names all the time and when they played bingo she would tell other people not to sit next to my grandma because she smelt like urine and stunk. My grandma was really upset and said that these women kept picking on her and she felt like she was going to have a nervous breakdown.    I was just blown away by this!  How in the world are grown woman acting like childish, mean bullies?  Isn't it enough that you have to get older and your body starts shutting down on you, but then you have to deal with being picked on and bullied. My grandma said these are not her "golden" years they are her "shit" years!  She told me how horrible it is to be alone in her apartment and not being able to do the things she used to do and so many of her friends that she had have now passed away. I felt so sad listening to her describe her life now. I felt the same anger at these women for picking on my grandma as I did when Austin gets picked on at school.   It's just not fair. Here is this woman that has raised 7 kids,been there for all of her grandkids and lived to be 85 years old just to be alone, falling apart and made fun of. Where is the justice? She deserves so much better.   I could have sat there all night and talked with her but it got late and the kids needed to get home and ready for bed. We took a few pictures of her and the kids and told her how much we loved her about 20 times and then left. My visit made me realize that no matter how busy I think I am or how hectic my life gets, I need to make time for my loved ones. I have vowed to make time to visit my grandma at least once a month no matter what. I am always so focused on the kids growing up and getting bigger that I have forgotten that everyone else around me is getting older too. I need to make time to spend with them while I still have the opportunity.  If there is someone that you love and you have been meaning to make time to spend with them, do it!