House Blessing

A few weeks ago we had a house blessing for my mom's new house.  We invited her closest friends over to enjoy some refreshments and put their mark on the new place.  Here's a few pictures from the event:

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Even Gavin wrote something.  However, I'm not sure how sentimental it was.

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And of course, we had to put Georgie's mark on the place as well.

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Hippity Hoppity

Well, I don't know about y'all, but our Easter was full of food, fun, family, and friends!

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I kicked off Easter Friday in my classroom with some sweets.  My students and I made these birds nests cookies to enjoy!

Saturday, we traveled to Dothan to spend the day with some of Gavin's family.  I was especially excited to see these munchkins (even though Josh isn't really considered a munchkin anymore).

Gavin's cousin, Brandy, had Josh 12 years ago, right before we started dating.  Exactly 11 years later, Morgan came along!  She is adorable and a bit of a while one!

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And if that wasn't crazy enough... check out Gavin and her playing in the pool.  Notice anything?

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How about those eyes?  Gavin and her have the same eyes!  Those genes run thick!  If our kid doesn't have those big, brown eyes- something's wrong!

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After hanging in the pool all day, we played a game of horse shoes.  Apparently, it's a Graf tradition.

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And this girl here, got a ringer on the first throw.  Paul and I won!

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Sunday, after a powerful message at church, we headed over to Beth's parents for Sunday dinner.  Man, was there a spread!  I ate way too much!  After filling our bellies, we headed out to watch the kids hunt eggs.

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Deacon was hilarious.  He had no desire to hunt the pretty colorful eggs.  He only wanted the ones with footballs, baseballs, and soccer balls on them!  The rest were tossed to the side.  He is all boy!

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We spent the rest of the afternoon counting the "loot" and hanging out with friends.

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It was an enjoyable weekend.  How was your Easter?

6

It's hard to believe that Berkley turns 6 today.

It seems like just yesterday we were welcoming her into the world.  She is so special to us and we love her very much.

Happy Birthday Berkley Marie!

Just What I Needed

With all that had been going on the past few months, I was in desperate need of a vacation.  Yes, we traveled to Philadelphia before Christmas, but that wasn't really a vacation.  We did do some sight seeing, but the real reason we were there was for George's memorial.  Thankfully, my sweet hubby saw that a vacation was in need and made it happen.  We planned a trip north to visit my cousin, Allison, and do some skiing.  It was just what I needed!  Lots of laughs and fun with people I love.  I was especially excited to get Gavin on the slopes, since he had never been before.  I was a little nervous when he decided to snowboard, instead of ski, but he caught on quickly and even rode a black at the end of the day.

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The plan was to wake up early and make it to a lesson at 10, since neither Gavin or Allison's boyfriend, Cory, had ever been skiing/snowboarding before.  But we ended up sleeping late and not making the lesson.  Good thing the boys picked it up so easily!  Of course, before we started we had to take some pics.

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We started out on the bunny slopes to play it safe.
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We quickly realized the bunny slope lift was more trouble than it was worth and decided to take it to the blues.
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The boys ended up being more successful on the blues and were pretty excited to have a good run.  We headed back to the lifts...
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Where humiliation ensued for me.
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I was the idiot that they had to stop the lift for.  As the lifts got more crowded, they started making us ride triple.  My skis got caught under the guy sitting on the other side of me's board and I didn't make it off the lift.  All that coaching I gave Gavin to help him off the lifts, and I was the one that got stuck!

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Thankfully, I recovered from my embarrassment!
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By the end of the day, we were hungry and exhausted.
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After showering, we headed out to dinner and went to bed early.  The next day we checked out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  It was so nice to get away, even if only for a weekend.  I'm already planning our next trip!

Christmas

Christmas was done a little differently this year.  Unfortunately, Gavin and I were unable to make our usual trip to my dad's before Christmas due to our trip to Philadelphia.  I hate that we missed Christmas at my aunt and uncle's, as well as a visit with my cousin Allison.  Instead, we celebrated Christmas with my mom at our house on Christmas Eve and later that night with my dad.  On Christmas day, we headed over to Gavin's mom's to eat and open presents.  This was the first time that all of Gavin's uncles (5 of them) and most of Gavin's cousins have been together for Christmas in over 10 years!  Gavin was happy to see them all.

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We both really enjoyed visiting with his cousins.

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And siblings alike.  Lindsey, Ashley, and I all work together, but rarely see each other since we all teach different grades.  It was nice to catch up with both of them away from work.

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And it's always fun to play with our neices.  Abigail wasn't feeling well, but was still all smiles.  And talking so much now!

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We got Berkley a digital camera for Christmas.  She loved taking pictures of the day's events.

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After spending time with our families, we headed to spend time with some of our "extended family."  Beth and Brett invited us over for Christmas dinner.  As soon as we pulled up, it started to snow!

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We were all pretty excited.  After all, this is the first white Christmas any of us have ever had!

We gathered inside to eat, chat, and play with the kids.  Deacon definitely has a new obsession with his Fred Flinstone car.  He loved for people to push him in it.

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After the crowd thinned out and the kids went to bed, we made some drinks...

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And played with all of the new toys!

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So, how was your Christmas?  Did you get everything you asked for?  Did you give anything great?  Did you spend time with family and friends?  I hope it was wonderful!

Philly

Well, I've definitely been missing a while, but now I'm back.  It's a new year, and I'm hoping it's better than the last.  I haven't posted about it yet, but On December 8th George, my step dad, passed away.  It's been rough, but we are getting through our grief.  We held a memorial for him here, as well as one in New Jersey, where the rest of his family resides.  So, the first part of my Christmas Vacation was spent in Philadelphia (his family lives right across the river from Philly).  We flew up Thursday for the memorial on Friday and decided to make a short vacation out of our trip and stay until Sunday.

As soon as we landed Thursday afternoon, it started snowing.  And not the kind of snow we see in the south.  Within an hours time there was about 2 inches of snow on the ground!  I was excited to see the snow, but soon found out it wasn't fun to be in.  It was cold!  And our rental car slid all over the roads.  Not to mention the umpteen times I almost busted my butt walking around the city!

We stayed right in the middle of the historic district.  When we woke up Friday, we headed downtown to find a bite to eat.  We ended up at a little place called Delicatessen.  It was delish!  I had some sort of french toast with bananas on it- yum!  After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the memorial.  I made Gavin snap the following picture before we left since I have no recent pictures of me and my mom.

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After the memorial and a banquet dinner in George's honor (things are done a little different up north), as well as feeling like we were on the Sopranos many times, we headed to Macy's to check out the light show and do a little shopping.  Gavin was excited to see the giant "War Eagle" in the middle of Macy's!

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Saturday we headed out for some more exploring.  First stop- Geno's!  George loved Geno's, so it was a must to stop and have a "steak wit" in his honor.  And now we understand what he was talking about.  It was by far the best Philly cheese steak I've ever had!

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After lunch, we headed to the Franklin Museum.

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Gavin had a great time playing with all of the stuff inside.  He was like a big kid (but then again, what's new?)

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After the museum, we walked around some of the more historic sights.  Betsy Ross' house was right around the corner from our hotel.  There was also a fabulous bakery across the street from the house called Tart.  They had the best lemon bars I have ever tasted!

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We also got to check out something new.  The President's House had just opened the previous Wednesday.  The story is that in the process of clearing land for a new mall, construction workers happened upon the original foundation of George Washington's house.  Instead of continuing with the mall, they built a memorial around the foundation.  The story is a little longer and more controversial, but you get the idea.  I thought it was pretty cool.

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Then, we headed over the the Liberty Bell.  They have completely encased the bell now, so it was heavily guarded.  But, George said that when he was a kid they used to climb all over the thing.  Guess things change!

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So our trip turned out to be nice.  Only two complaints: 1. It was too cold!  I'd love to go back in the spring or fall to see the sights.  Most of the time we hauled butt to our destinations because of the cold weather and didn't get to take in all the sights.  We seriously walked right by The President's House twice without even noticing it!  2. I didn't take enough pictures.  This is seriously all I have.  And I really wish I'd taken pictures at the banquet with all of George's family.  Especially my stepsister, stepbrother, and their 8 kids.