Attitude of Gratitude

Grandpa Maxwell....

My beautiful Grandma, oh how I love this sweet woman... so did my Grandpa so dearly.  She has such a kind heart.  So dear and christ like.  She is such a humble daughter of God. 

My heart goes out to her, I can not even imagine how she feels.  My Grandpa was 85 years old and they where married for a LONG LONG TIME!

They were soul mates, eternal companions and you could see it.  There love made the room shine.

Wow, I really will miss my Grandpa!  Love you Grandma and Grandpa!


This is Anya and Grandma Maxwell!

 Pallbearers :
Ron McFaddin
Roger Maxwell
Steve White
Eli Nunez
Neil Blackwelder
Neil Maxwell
Paul Barattiero

 My Aunt Machele.... it was great to see her.  I love this lady!

 Each Family Member put a rose on the casket... it was a beautiful spread of flowers.

 Uncle Roger, Heather (my mom), Grandma and Uncle Neil.

 All the "Barattiero" Girls with there Uncles Neil and Roger. 

 Hot Momma Emily and our Daddy- O Tom!

 This picture is precious.... Grandma is held by 2 strong sons!  She is so short compared to them. . I LOVE IT!!!!

I hope my boys are much much taller than me.  :)

The kiddos where not sure what to think about the casket going into the ground.... and leave it to the "white boy Hunter"  to say..... Oh MY GOSH there are 2 spiders down there.... you can't put Grandpa down there!!!  That was during a quiet moment... ya gotta love kids... I'm sure Grandpa was laughing a little bit. 

Scored at Publix.....

This might be my best shopping trip so far.... 

spent $48.24, saved $87.35.

I used coupons with the BOGO deals at Publix!

I paid $1.69. for 2 bottles of Lysol!

Celery, Carrots and Salad are all  BOGO!

I also got to stock up on some items we will need for the upcoming holidays!

My hubby is going to be one happy man!

2 boxes of club crackers
6 bottles of Juice
4 Lysol cleaners
2 Little bites muffins... (for playgroup)
2 bags of salad
3 Tomatoes
6 boxes of Triscuit/ wheat thins ( Holiday food and Playgroup)
2 bags of cheese
2bags of carrots
bananas
2 boxes of cereal (to make Holiday food)
2bottles of A1
2 manayoise
2 cakes mixes
2 cans of tomatoes

Saturday...

As I laid in bed last night I was telling Steve about the plans for this weekend. I asked if he would be o.k. being a pallbearer at my Grandpa's funeral. Following that sentence, I remembered that not only was I going to see my Grandpa get buried this day, it was also the day 8 yrs ago that my sweet Haley's heart stopped beating inside of me. Then, our conversation continued with I wonder if Haley will be there? Will her spirit be there watching over the family? I was reminded of a talk that my dear friend Lauren Towers gave in church. That the spirits are adults.... even thou I had a baby die, Haley was in a adult spirit. So much to think about! Was she there in the list a family members waiting for him once he passed. Oh how does it all work? We talked about how my Grandpa would be reunited with so many family members. AND, a daughter that he never got to raise because she died a couple hours after she was born. I wonder if he has seen our Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father? As I thought about the time that my mom called and told us that he passed... I didn't cry, I just had peace, I did lots of crying the day I said goodbye when I went to visit him. I just thought oh man, I hope Grandma is o.k. I'm more sad for my Grandma, so thankful that my Grandpa is not in pain anymore. I know I will cry at his funeral, just the thought of not talking to him on the phone or seeing him when I go visit... but ya know... Really, this was not a sad day... this was a great day for my Grandfather! God be with you till we meet again! I hope my day will be as peaceful as I imagine......

Birthdays, Cousins and Cooking

My sweet Hubby turned 32 this year!  I TOTALLY surprised him with his brother coming into town and having a guys night out.  Between Joe Lowry and his brother Randy it was all set up.  Steve thought him and I where going out to dinner for his birthday and that we had a babysitter set up. 

Well the door bell rang and there stood 3 adorable red heads.. his nieces and nephew.

Surprise!!!! 

Instead of him and I going out I told him he was having a 

"brothers" night and when they got to Carrabba's

Joe had a table of buddies waiting to celebrate his birthday.   

I was soooo happy that it was a total surprise!!

Steve is such an amazing husband, father and friend.  

He is my life, my heart, and my bestfriend.  Happy Birthday Babe!

Randy, Joe Lowry, Steve, Jim Hill, Brett Valentine, Adam Towers and Walmir Da'Costa.

The last time we went to Ft. Myers we got to spend a couple of hours with my sister Emily and her family.  The cousins always have a great time.

These two are best buddies... Hunter adores Jocelyn, and would protect her against the world.  

There sweet smiles say a thousand words.

 Can you guess what they are talking about????  

One hint (Eli is holding it).  :)

 Happy Auntie/mommy!!

 I love my Emily!  

She is one amazing mother, sister and daughter of God! 

It is fall fun cooking time.... 

The boys and mommy made a pumpkin swirl cake. 

YUMMMY!!!!

Henry had more fun licking the bowl..... 

Hunter just wanted to eat the cinnamon.

Chair

 If momma doesn't move quick enough Henry takes matters into his own hands or should I say CHAIR.

Little man has discovered that he can move a chair around anywhere and get what he wants. 

Not cool that he found the vitamins... time to move them a little HIGHER.

 So busted!!!  Oh this sooooo reminds me of a little certain somebody., HUNTER!  We had to put this extra door lock because Hunter use to break out of the house... Henry is now at that stage.   He left it up to his trusty chair to get him up to the lock... REACH!!!

If all else fails.... go the garage!  Oh yes, he now knows how to open the big garage door with the cute red button and let me tell you... he has gotten out and I see jumping on the trampoline.  HELLO!!  This kid is quick and it is humorous when our neighbor sees me chasing after my kid because he has broken out... naked... since we are potty training.  Humorous I tell ya! 

Progress!

This is Mrs. Tracy,  she has been working with our little Henry boy for almost a year.  He was tested a year ago and they suggested he take speech.  We have seen a HUGE progress over the year.  Henry loves Mrs. Tracy and our family enjoys seeing her each week. 

Mrs. Tracy does activities, reads book, and gives mommy and daddy tips on how to help him learn more and use words. I have been up and down on the progress but since sitting down and really reviewing how much he has grown it is amazing and he is learning lots with the tips i'm getting.
This is a great program for toddlers.  It can only better Henry and teach me better skills to pass along.

Henry's Words - Star, outside, again, open, Hunter,up, book, no, bug, help, ball, hey, daddy
nana- banana, more, pop-popcorn, snack, yeah, right there, dog, duck, jump, Dora
wow, apple, hello, bubbles, down, on, yo-yo, rock, Oreo, moon, momma,bird, treat.
Ah-Man
Indian - FSU
Signs - More, Eat, All Done, Jump
Letter sounds/ animal sounds - Moo-cow,  "F", "U", zoom zoom for car.
Shapes/letters - He can point to all his shapes and do a puzzle with all of his letters... matching them up. 
Colors - He knows most colors... still gets some mixed up, but he is doing great!  Henry loves to color  and paint.  His favorite craft to do is anything that he can trace his hand.

The real life saver that gave us some kind of peace during all of this process was that Henry understood me.. he knew what we would say. It was going in his cute adorable head just not coming back out with words.  NOW THE WORDS ARE COMING...  Yippee!!!

boys boys boys....

Say CHEEEEEESE!!! Heny loves getting his picture taken!

Note to self:  Never leave a pen on the table and walk out of the room.  Henry WILL get creative!  :)

Hunter and Henry have discovered the water spout and they make puddles around the house.  Oh yes, the best is when Hunter jumps in his clothes and gets all muddy. 

Shoes, who needs shoes!  Those dark grey almost black things on his feet use to be his WHITE school socks!!!

They love pushing their monster trucks into the mud puddle they made.

Henry boy LOVES to be outside.  He would play outside for hours if he could.

Wrestle mania anyone?

Jumping, doing flips and wresting is the boys favorite afternoon activity.

Look at me mom!  I'm this strong!!!!