2009
*In January, on the 5th to be exact, Baby Chase Daniel Graff entered the world at 12:21pm weighing in at a whopping 9lbs 2 oz with lots of dark hair. He was cute and as chubby as one could be. We also had 2 more birthdays in our family in January. One was Don's and one was my mom's.
*By February our family of 5 was well adjusted to one another. Chase was full of smiles and fat rolls. He was a total roly poly baby and I couldn't have enjoyed him more! Brady was happy to be a big brother most of the time, and Kendall loved being a big sister. Our blocks Biggest Loser contest also started. I entered the contest and started getting back into shape as soon as Chasey was 6 weeks old. I sure was out of shape. If I had no shame I would post some pics of me when I first started working out.....but lucky for you all I do have shame so no pictures of that will be shown! My brother in law, Raw B G(Uncle Rawb) celebrated his birthday this month but he lives in San Diego so we celebrated in spirit with him.
*March arrived and we headed over to Aunties Kindra and Celine's house to plant our annual garden. It always seems we pick one of the hottest days to start the garden! We planted lots of fruit and veggies. Kendall wore gloves that were 10 sizes too big and loved digging in the dirt where as Brady didn't like the dirt so much. He actually got so hot he decided to strip the bottom half of his clothes off and go play with the hose. I have those pics somewhere....must find them!! It was also my dads birthday as well as Auntie Celine's.
*April, one of my favorite months because it's my birthday month! Dan jokes that I celebrate all month long. I believe at one point in my life that was true but now I just try to celebrate the entire week of my birthday! We also colored Easter Eggs with the kids and celebrated Easter. It was a mellow Easter this year. This was also the month we found out that my mother in laws cancer(she was diagnosed with Oral Cancer back in 2007) was back. Although we knew that it was most likely going to come back at some point we wanted it not to be true.
*Next up was May. Spring arrived and we celebrated a lot of birthdays. My most favorite blonde boy in the entire world, Brady, turned 2 on the 16th. We had a big party which was a lot of fun. Dans mom turned 60 on the 25th and finally we celebrated Dans birthday on the 28th. I forgot to mention our blocks Biggest Loser contest ended in May as well. I came in 4th out of 15 people or so. I should have had 3rd but the person who placed 3rd beat me by 2/10ths of a pound and totally cheated(well dieted the unhealthy way, you know only eating like 500 calories a day and getting HCG hormone injections). I ended up losing about 24lbs and did it the healthy way. Eating well and exercising my bootie off!! By now Chase was rolling and laughing and still full of lots of rolls to squeeze and kiss! I believe Chase also started on rice cereal and some other solids in May as well.
*In June, we started seeing the fruits(and veggies) of our labor in the garden. The kids(and actually I think Dan loved this part even more) loved running down the street to Aunties house and checking the garden to see what had grown. Lots of squash and zuchinni, some tomatoes and other goodies. Kendall also finished Kindergarten and was officially going to be a 1st grader. Wow, time sure flies and I wish it would slow down already! Our block also starts our TGIFs or "Freaky Fridays" in June. It's so nice to catch up with neighbors(friends really) at the end of the week and eat yummy food while the kids play til it's dark.
* July is one of the most fun months on our street. Our street hosts a HUGE 4th of July block party. Every time I say that I think of Howard Stern who always makes such fun of block parties, but ours is a blast. A lot of work goes into it but it's a good time to be had by all. My favorite part is end of the day when we go to Celine and Kindra's, sit around the fire pit, make s'mores and watch fireworks! We spent a lot of July outside while the kids run through the sprinklers or slide down slip n slides. Adults have been known to go down the slip n slides too. Baby Chase loved the kiddie pool and so did Kendall and Brady. I might add, many margaritas are had during the month of July around our neck of the woods! Baby Chase also turned 6 months old in July on the 5th! My oh my how he has grown.....I am so in love!
* With August, came back to school for little Miss Kendall. She started back so early this year! She entered 1st grade and absolutely loves it. She has the best teacher, we are so lucky! My father in law also celebrated his birthday in August.
* September is not only a busy month for us but it's one of my favorite months! Dan and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary on the 15th. I'm lucky to be married to such a fun, funny and super involved guy! School was back in full force for Kendall and it was her birthday month! She was turning 6 and we packed up the car and headed to the Happiest Place on Earth, DISNEYLAND!!!!! Seriously, this was one of the most fun trips we have ever taken. All the kids, mommy and daddy loved it. Brady's favorite ride was Dumbo. Chase giggled all the way through Alice in Wonderland and Kendall loved everything! Kendall wore her Snow White dress for at least 3 straight days. She loved that when she wore it everyone referred to her as Snow White. I must say, watching her meet Snow White for the first time was just priceless. The expression on her face said it all. Chase also started crawling in September right after our Disney trip at the ripe ol' age of 9 months!!
*October.....ahhhhh fall was finally here. Fall is my favorite season. I love when the days are crisp and sunny but the nights are nice and cool. I love squeezing baby Chase into cozy clothes and snuggling with him. I love warm PJs on Kendall and Brady and snuggling with them before bed! The best part of October is Halloween. Kendall bought a Cinderella dress when we were in Disneyland which she grew to love(not quite as much as Snow White though). Brady as Peter Pan and had a great time dressing up. Chase was a pumpkin. He wasn't happy about it. We went and watched the parade at Kendalls school and then we also had a Halloween parade/party at Bradys school. We carved pumpkins and toasted pumpkin seeds! YUMMY! Chase also started pulling up and cruising all around. He also really started paying attention to his brother and sister and wanted to be doing what they were doing. So fun to watch them all play together! We went out to celebrate Auntie Kindra's birthday this month as well. Went to the Huki and had lots of fun and some good food!! Good food and good peeps, nothin' better than that! Oh, how could I forget? I also started riding again after a 7-8 year break in October. I love it as much as I ever had. I am riding the nicest horse in the barn and it just makes me happy. Riding is my therapy. I will ride until I am too old to climb on a horse anymore. Really, as I have said before, other than my family nothing makes me happier then riding!
*November arrived and brought Ashi's birthday(my step dad). Dans mom(LG as I call her) wasn't doing so well. The cancer was spreading pretty rapidly now and she took a major turn for the worse. It was very sad especially because the holidays were coming right up. LG always hosted Thanksgiving and did it in grand style with lots of food. Her big thing was forcing...errrr letting...people go around the table to say what they were thankful for. This year she was too sick to host. So I took over. It was a lot of work but it turned out great. Unfortunately Dans dad and LG missed it because LG wasn't doing well at all by this point. We missed them at dinner but we shared lots of stories about Thanksgiving past. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving was Linda and Garys 37th wedding anniversary and Dan and I went up to celebrate with them. This is when it was clear to us that my mother in law wasn't well anymore. The day after Thanksgiving we took the kids to see her. They always made her so happy and this time was no different. They made her smile and she used all her energy to be at her strongest that day for them. I think Dan and I went to Alameda every other day into early December after this to spend time with LG.
*December started off rough. Dans mom got even worse and passed away on December 3rd. She died in her sleep and it was very peaceful. We had just been there 3 hours before and had said everything we needed to say to her. I whispered that I would always make sure all the boys were fed and had food. If you knew her, you knew she wanted and liked to feed people. She wanted to feed them all the time and LOTS of food. She didn't like to take no for an answer when it came to eating! Dan also had a little talk with her and the entire family had done so as well. I think she finally knew all of us would be ok and it was ok for her to let go. December 12 was her funeral. We celebrated the life of Linda Graff and it was a beautiful day despite the rain. About a week after that my other brother in law, Tim, celebrated his birthday. About 2 weeks after the funeral Christmas was just about here. The tree was up and decorated, stockings were hung on our hutch with care(we don't have a fireplace) and the kids were excited to say the least. I think this was one of my most favorite Christmas's yet. Brady got it for the first time this year. He loved to hear and talk about Santa. He believes and the look on his and Kendalls face on Christmas morning when they saw all the gifts was a look of shock, like WOW SANTA REALLY DID COME! Too cute! Chase will be into it next year and I can't wait. Our Christmas vacation has been wonderful. It's been full of lounging around, snuggling with our babies in our bed, watching movies and playing games with the kids. We've had a good amount of PJ days and have had a chance to catch up on SOME sleep but not all. I don't think we can ever catch up on it all. 2009 was a wonderful year and I look forward to what 2010 may bring!!!
In Memory of Linda Marie Graff May 25, 1949-December 3, 2009
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