Tribute

My grandfather Maynard M Dye passed away last night. He had a long battle with prostate cancer which spread to his spine and other bones. He was 84 years old. He was a wonderful man who lived a long life and was blessed with 4 amazing sons, 16 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren. He and my grandmother were married for 63 years!! My grandma had several stokes over the last 8 years, and he took amazing care of her, never wanting her to end up in a nursing home. I think held on for so long because he was so worried about her and didn't want her to be alone. Last night, as he lay in the hospice bed, she was at his side and took his hands and told him it was okay to die. She told him that she would be well taken care of by her sons, (and daughter in-laws) and that she loved him. He passed away about an hour later. He was a great example of a giver to take such good care of her. He will be greatly missed.

This is what I found......

So I taught Matt a few days ago how to use the camera because he wanted to take some pictures of Aiden. Well, today I wanted to take a picture of Aiden eating, and turned the camera on, took some pictures and started going through old pictures. I came across these wonderful pictures of my son's bums. I called Matt into the room and he told me that he and Zachary had been taking pictures of each other. NICE!

Notice the gray tooth... Matt hit the tooth on my brother Jared's head a few weeks ago. We just noticed it started to change colors... has trauma to it. So tomorrow Matthew gets to have the tooth pulled out.

Oh My dear BOYS!!

Aiden 10 Months Strong

I feel like I don't post much about Aiden so I wanted to have a seperate post just for him. Yesterday he was 10 months old. The kid is a "chunk" as he is called by his brothers and dad. He is wearing size 18 month clothes, and a size 4 diaper. I just recently weighed him and he was almost 24 pounds. Zachary, who is 4, only weighs 35 pounds. He is a delightful baby, cries only when he is being ignored, hungry, or tired. He has started to stand up next to furniture and walks along the sides. He does the "army crawl", and moves around like a speed racer.

This was a Halloween costume that both Matt, and Zach wore. So, I thought well Aiden should wear for his first Halloween. It's a 12 month size costume, and when we put it on him, this is what he looked like.. Capris.

This is what we call his "ugly face". I love it!

Been Busy

I haven't posted in a while.. I do have pictures I want to post of both Matthew and Zachary on their first day's of school. Matthew started Kindergarten, and Zach is now in "Pre-K". We are all doing well.. I have been crazy busy with getting kids to and from school, working, keeping up on the house (for those of you that have been to my house and know how much tile I have, I scrubbed on my hands and knees, the grout last weekend on all the tile in the house) and I just started my first Biology class towards "maybe" going to nursing school. I have been a little discouraged about going back to school because I met with a school counselor and I have to take Speech 101, don't know WHY i need that, I was a teacher for crying out loud. I also need to take another Math class, and possible retake Psychology 101. I already took that class my very first semester of college, but got a C, so I might need to retake it for an A. Plus I have another THREE BIO classes to take before I can get into the program. Anyways, I just don't know now if I want to devote all this time, and money, towards nursing when I already have a degree, and could go back to teaching. The last week taking Matt to and from school has really made me miss being a teacher, and reminded my why I went into teaching to begin with.. not for the money, but for the kids. I figure I will finish this BIO class and see what I think after Christmas.

This one's for SUE

A few months ago my wonderful other mother, Aunt Susan Cox, was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was devastating news to our family, but we have all felt strongly that she would be okay and survive this horrible disease. She had a double radical mastectomy on July 7th, and started her first round of chemotherapy last Friday. In honor of her, Jared shaved his head! Yes, his head is that white... no tan with that dark of hair. This was the first time Jared has completely shaved his head, and did it out of love and respect for Sue. We love you Aunt Susan and our thoughts and prayers are with you to have a full recovery! I am not brave enough to shave my head, but will be making a donation to the Susan G Komen foundation in honor of Sue.

My future Pro-baseball player

Jared was the pitcher for most of the games....Aiden watching the game.

Zach wanted to play T ball but was not old enough to join the league this year. He would go to all the games with us, and watch his brother play. He can't wait to play next year.

Matt in his Cubs uniform

Matt and his best friend Garrett, who lives across the street, were both on the CUBS team this year. The league ended in May, but I just got the pictures finally. Thought they were super cute and wanted to share..

Nothing special..just my boys

Jared took these pictures of the boys last week and I thought they were cute.......

Jared has been slowly recovering from the "antelope" accident. Tomorrow it will be three weeks and he feels a little better everyday. He is hoping to go back to work on the 6th of August but we are just waiting to see how he feels by then. Since he has been home, his mom has been so kind to come over and help watch the kids and I have been working an extra day. The last 5 years I have only worked 3 days a week! It's crazy working this extra day how behind I have gotten on laundry and keeping the house clean. I just signed up today to take my first Biology class towards becoming an RN. I know I know, I am crazy to want to go back to school and get another degree at this point in my life, but I don't ever want to teach again, and I've really been thinking that being a nurse would be a great career. I have 4 Biology classes and one math to take, and then hopefully I will be accepted into the RN program. My grandfather, my father's dad, has been really sick the last few days. The doctors are thinking that he has Congestive Heart Failure, plus he has prostate cancer that has spread to his spine. It's sad to watch people you love suffer.. My dad is having such a hard time dealing with his parents aging, it breaks my heart. It's not something you ever want to face in life... what to do with your aging parents? I am so thankful for my parents, and Jared's parents. They are amazing grandparents, and parents..