the one about Quayd's 6th Birthday

I feel like the most terrible mother in the world because I haven't blogged about Quayd's Birthday yet. It was a great day, but I have just been super busy lately. Oh, who am I kidding. It was a terrible day, but we made the best of it. Quayd's Birthday happened to be the same day as my Great-Grandma's funeral. Luckily, I had planned his Birthday party for the day before. But unluckily, the party was a total fiasco! Allow me to explain...

So, I had made arrangements for Quayd's party to be a swimming party at the Rec. Center. He loves swimming there and that is what he wanted to do. I booked and paid for the thing clear back in June. Well about two weeks before the party, I was making the invitations (which turned out ADORABLE, by the way) and decided I better double check on the time and make sure everything was still good to go.


They assured me that everything was fine. I finished up the invites and we delivered them. Quayd and I worked so hard creating, finding addresses, delivering and spreading the word to all of his friends. So, as I mentioned before, my Great Grandma passed away the day before the party, and her funeral was the day after the party and on his actual Birthday. Not only that, but the day of the party was the one year anniversary of the passing of Brett's dad. I was working EXTRA hard to make his party be NORMAL and to focus only on Quayd! It wasn't hard, because he is such a great kid and he was SO UNDERSTANDING, considering the circumstances. Anyway, we got to the Rec. Center about 25 minutes early. Brayden, Brennen, Amelia, and Kasen rode with us. They were so excited! They helped me get everything inside and we got everything loaded in the party room. Kids were starting to arrive and I noticed that nobody was in the pool. I asked our "party consultant" if we got the pool to ourselves or what. She was like, "I'm not sure. I will go check." Well, I walked back outside, leaving the kids in the room, and the lady stopped me at the front desk. She said, "Ummmm.... You do know that the pool is closed, right?" I just stared at her. I said, "Well, no. This is a swimming party and I booked it months ago, so no. Obviously I was not aware that the pool was closed." Well, our conversation goes on and basically, they changed the hours of the pool and nobody noticed that I had a party booked at that time. I even brought up how irritating it was that I had double checked just about 2 weeks earlier. She was very apologetic and they offered to do this big inflatable obstacle course in the gym, free of charge. (Yah, no duh. Free of charge!) They ended up refunding part of the cost and they did what they could to make it right. Even as MAD as I was at the time, I have to admit now that they handled it all pretty well. It was sucky and frustrating, but oh well. The kids LOVED the obstacle course. I even asked Quayd later what he thought of his party, and he thought it was wonderful. My biggest gripe is that I worked so hard making the invitations, cupcakes and party favors, which were fish themed. So it seemed stupid that they didn't go with the party. Yes, I know. I am a freak. But this is the hell that I live in. If you know me at all, you know how freaked out I get when things don't go exactly as planned. I try to be accommodating and relaxed, but I am just not. I notice that I get better with age, but I am still not perfect. I have to say this though. Thank goodness for Holly. She decided to come with her boys to the party and she stayed with me the whole time. I couldn't have made it without her. She visited with me and it totally calmed my nerves so I didn't have a complete meltdown during the ordeal. Let me share a few pictures.







When the party was over, and the parents were picking the kids up, Brett challenged GJ to a race on the obstacle course. It was so funny, and the kids LOVED watching.


Ok, enough of the party. Moving on.... So of course, we had a funeral on the morning of Quayd's Birthday, but for that night, I had made arrangements with my boss for us to be able to stay at the hotel. I thought it would be cool for Quayd to be able to invite a friend to stay, and of course, he wanted Brennen. Well, Brayden felt bad, so I let him come too. I went to the room early and decorated it. I put Quayd's gift in there and bought tons of treats.

We ordered Pizza for dinner, swam in the pool and watched movies. Quayd and Brayd slept in one bed, Brett and I in the other, and we made Brennen a bed on the floor.

They have a yummy breakfast every morning so we ate, showered and came home. Quayd and Brennen showered together and they had so much fun!!! We could hear them giggling clear down the hall!



It was really a pretty good Birthday, all things considered. I just can't believe that my baby is 6. I usually get so emotional around his Birthday. It brings back so many memories of the whole event. Getting him here was so difficult and I am reminded of the miracle every August 30th. He is such an amazing kid and I love him so much. I often wonder why I was chosen to be his mother. I can see so much potential in him and I know he will grow up to be AMAZING! I just hope I don't totally screw him up before he reaches his goals. He told Brett and I just today that when he gets a little bigger, he would like to play soccer in the Olympics. I hope he can. And I hope he never quits dreaming about it. I love you my little Quayd-er-ade!! Happy Birthday!!!

the one about Grandma Karren

Wow..... What a crazy week/weekend. I wasn't sure where to start, so I will start with my Grandma Karren, then I will move on to Quayd and his Birthday.

I am sure I have mentioned this before, but I don't expect anyone to remember every tiny detail of my life, so I will give you a refresher. Grandma Karren is my Great-Grandmother. Quayd's Great-Great-Grandmother. Her Birthday is April 19th and she was born in 1910. Nearly a century old! When Quayd was just a tiny baby, Grandma was still living on her own in her house, which is now my house. In January of 2003, she fell in her house and broke her hip. She had to have surgery and ended up in the Care Center and has not been able to leave since. She had still been in excellent health, but over the last few years, her mind has started to slip as well as her health. It has been very sad to see her going downhill. My Great-Grandpa, Victor, passed away when I was in the 5th grade, and Grandma has wanted to be with him ever since. She has never been afraid of death and knew that when it was her time, she would go. Well, my Grandma called me on Wednesday morning to tell me that Grandmas had taken a turn for the worse and that they didn't think it would be long. My mom and I met my Grandma at the Care Center. She was totally non-responsive. We talked to her, held her hand and spent as much time with her as we could. At one point, I looked around the room and noticed that this would probably be the last time the Four generations of women would be together.

I was right. She passed away Thursday morning. I had just gotten Quayd off to school and I went to work. My Grandma had gotten ready for the day and headed to see Grandma Karren. They were alone in the room, and Grandma just stopped breathing. One of the nurses was nearby, so she stepped in and listened to her heart, and confirmed to my Grandma that Grandma Karren was gone.

It is such a blessing, for her. She was 98 years old and had really had a couple of rough years. But she lived such a full and active life and as silly as it may sound, I learned EVERYTHING from her. Either directly from her, through my Grandma, or through my mom. She was an amazing woman and I am so proud to call her "Grandma."

So while planning the funeral, it was decided that it would have to be on Saturday the 30th. Quayd's 6th Birthday. (Last year, Brett's dad died on August 29th. Sad huh!) Anyway, Quayd was such a good sport and he handled it all wonderfully. We already had his party planned for the 29th, and I will tell you all about it later. After the funeral, there was a meal planned for the family and everyone sang Happy Birthday to Quayd.


Anyway, it was a beautiful service and I am so glad that Grandma Karren can finally be with Grandpa again. She was such a great woman, and even though I could go on and on all day about all of the great memories, I will just tell a couple of quick stories. When I was younger, I played city-league softball. I wasn't any good, but I sure loved it. Grandma Karren loved it even more! Because my parents worked, Grandma took me to every game and every practice. She cheered louder than anyone there. I LOVED having her there. After the games, we would spend hours talking about every play, every error, and every last detail. She could still drive at that time, but probably shouldn't have! We seriously traveled either 9 MPH or 90. No in between! It was awesome, and I will treasure that time forever.

Another little story... I have often wondered why Grandma Karren lived so long. Don't get me wrong, I loved that she did and I am so grateful for her long life and wonderful legacy, but when she started forgetting everyone, I just ached to know. I wondered what her "Purpose" was. Obviously, her work on this Earth was not complete, but at 98 with a failing mind and body, what did she have to do? What COULD she do? Well, my mom spoke at the funeral yesterday and she said something that has really stuck with me. I think I may have gotten my answer.... Grandma was always so worried about the ditch (or "gulch" as she always called it!) in front of her (now MY) house. She just knew one of the kids would fall in. It upset her constantly!!! She worried about her kids, her kids' kids, their kids, and now our kids. Four generations of kids! That is a lot of worrying. If ever one child was not right where she thought they should be, she ran down to the gulch to make sure they weren't there. Well, as I have mentioned several times, the city came in this summer and covered that dang gulch. Now we have a beautiful yard with no gulch!! In my mom's talk, she mentioned this and she said that now, finally, Grandma can quit worrying about that darn gulch! Maybe that was her purpose. Who knows? But whatever reason, she is finally at rest and in peace, and with her partner that she has longed for for so many years.

I want to leave you with a few pictures of Grandma Stella Marie Karren.
(Poor quality, I know, sorry! It was from my scrapbook!) This is 5 generations! I know I look horrible. I was pretty sick, of course we didn't know HOW sick. Actually, this was right before I got REALLY sick. Anyway, my Grandma (Doris), Quayd, Grandma Karren (Stella), my mom (Julie) and me.
This is grandma Karren with the cutest most handsome baby boy in the whole world!!!
Another 5 generation picture. We all look AWFUL in this one, but there is no excuse. I don't know what was up with us! (Thank goodness I didn't look the worst, my mom had that one in the bag!!!) It was taken on Christmas Eve, 2002 at my Grandma's house.

I took several pictures at the after funeral dinner, but only of my favorite people. JUST KIDDING. I wish I would have been more diligent at taking pictures... so here are the few that I got.

This is my mom's cousin, Margie and her two beautiful daughters, (My second cousins) Lisa and Marcie. Marcie and I were pen-pals for years!! They live in California.
My mom's cousin Rick and his wife Virginia. (These guys are so funny!)
My Rock Star uncle Kim!
My one and only cousin, Brooke and her husband Steve, who I am sure I totally freaked out!!! There was a "nipple incident," and I am very very sorry Steve!

The night before the funeral (Friday) we had a big dinner at my Grandparent's house on their patio. It was so much fun and it turned into a "jam" session. My Grandpa plays several instruments and he had to practice a song he and his buddies were playing at the funeral. They all stayed and played music for hours. It was so cool! Brett even got involved by singing along.

Quayd wanted to get in on the action, so he got his fiddle, but he got to shy to play.


By the way, the picture at the very top of this post was taken at my wedding! That was also the dress she wanted to be buried in. She looked just as beautiful yesterday as she did in this picture. I love her so much and I can't wait to see her again!!!