Play dates are a good thing!

With only a few days left before school starts, I have come to a conclusion.  The only way I am going to get through them is to have many play dates.  Yesterday we had 2 of them.  One in the morning and one in the afternoon.  They had so much fun (and so did I).  They didn't fight with each other, whine, complain...nothing.  It was great!  We decided to extend the afternoon play and went over and cooked waffles together.  We got home late and the kids went to bed...and fell asleep instantly.  I love it!  Now we have a weekend with no friends, but that is okay, because they are going to learn about yard work.  LOL  We have been gone all summer and only came home long enough to do the bare minimum...so the yard looks really bad!  Gotta trim bushes, mow the lawn, pull weeds...all that fun stuff.

On Monday, we might have another time for playing with friends...hopefully we will last that long.  :)

A Family Torn Apart

Today I am thinking about family that is no longer in my life.  My grandmother died 8 years ago.  She never got to meet my children, she never even know I was pregnant with them.  Then my grandfather died 3 years ago.  While both deaths were devastating to me, my grandfathers death was the beginning of the end for my extended family.  After my grandfather died, my uncle sued my mother for 1/2 of the estate that my grandfather gave to my mother in his will.  My mother is permanently disabled and divorced.  She spent the previous 6 years living with my grandfather caring for him, doing everything he needed.  My mother doesn't work (she received disability income) and she can't work because of her disability so my grandfather wanted to make sure she would be financially set for the rest of her life.  My uncle is a CPA Partner in a major firm in a major city...therefore doesn't need any money from anyone else.

Anyway, he sued my mother, and because she was afraid she would lose EVERYTHING if she let it get to court, she decided to settle with him.  He walked away with more than 1/2 of the cash money that my mother was supposed to live on.  It makes me very angry that he could do that to his own sister.  What makes me even more mad is what it did to the family.

We all had to take sides right?  I my uncle has 3 children.  1 older than me, the other 2 are younger.  They are the only cousins I have.  I have not spoken to 2 of them since before my grandfather died.  The older one I spoke to right after we got served with the lawsuit.  I still send them Christmas cards, last year 2 of them were returned to me.  I just hate that one persons selfish act destroyed a family.  My Great Aunt died recently, and I was SHOCKED to actually get the phone call about it.  They were on "his side" you see, and we haven't spoken since my grandparents were buried.  We went to the funeral and Aunt and Uncle Scumbag were there and it was awful!  I wanted to cuss him out and tell him off...I do truly hate him.  But I was raised better than that, so I said nothing.  We avoided each other, stayed on opposite sides of the room the entire time.  I hate feeling uncomfortable like that!  It makes me mad!

I was on Face book today, and decided to look up one of my cousins.  I found her and she has a website for her business, so I went to check it out.  It was really cool.  It looks like her business is really taking off and sounds like she is happy with it.  I so wish I could send her a note and let her know I am proud of her.  I saw a picture of her son, who I have never seen, and he is adorable!  Looks just like his mommy.  My oldest cousin was pregnant with her 2nd child the last time I talked with her.  He should be 3 soon, and I don't even know his name.  It makes me sad to know that I know nothing about their lives.  I had hoped we could have friendships as adults because we were never very close as children, but I guess that is over!  I guess I am done rambling about this.  I just get really sad and mad about the fact that one person can destroy a family so completely.