What a Rip Off!!

What is it with the grandparents in my children's lives...wait....let me re-phrase that.....NOT in my children's lives???? I have the greatest kids ever. Granted they're a little crazy and loud but they're boys, cut them some slack!

We'll start with my parents. My mother comes once per year at Christmas. When they were little she would get so offended that they acted like they didn't know her. Ya think? Now that they can sustain a memory for longer than a week we no longer have that problem. The best part is that she only lives three hours away. THREE HOURS. Wow, I know that's some horrific trip to endure in the car all by yourself. Maybe I should cut HER the slack. Hmmpff. My father is not well and cannot really get around. He asks me all the time though why I don't let The Things come and stay the weekend. It's because of all the drinking and pain killers and your inability to walk very well and drive. PLUS if someone fell and needed stitches, who's going to drive them to the ER? I just continually make excuses. I don't have the heart to tell him the real reason why. The saddest part is that he'd be a really cool grandpa if he could actually do anything with them. Makes me sad.

Now to the inlaws. My MIL used to be awesome. She used to drive down once per month and bring all kinds of goodies. Then she married a man more than 20 years younger than her and now we never see her unless we all fly to Amarillo. Wooohoooo, can't wait to get to beautiful West Texas! Ugh. Hubs can't stand her new husband so you can imagine how often that actually happens. You guessed it!! Once a year at Christmas! My FIL, who would also be an amazing grandfather, lives in Tulsa. He's so fun and great with kids. Guess how many times they boys have seen him EVER? About 5 times total and The Things are 7 and a half. When he and his wife come down they stay for 1 day. Usually, they don't even spend the night. We can't figure it out. I hate it for hubs, too, because he really loves his father and doesn't understand why he puts so much distance between them.

There are no Great Grandparents for The Things on Hubs side, but I still have mine. They're awesome and probably the ones The Things most like to see. If my grandparents were younger I know they would take the boys on trips and have them down for the summer. But they're closing in on 80 and that's really not possible. They're actually here this weekend and the boys are so excited they can't stand it.

So that's my plight. It makes me sad. My favorite memories growing up were with my grandparents and my children won't have that. How did I get so ripped off??? Anyone out there with awesome parents that would welcome two entertaining little boys into they're life and adopt them as grandchildren? At least at Christmas I can pretend that they boys have Grandparents around them that love them and are excited to spend time with them. Too bad Christmas is only once per year.