Thanksgiving 2012

Forgot I had a few from Thanksgiving to share too.  We went to The DeLand Stockyard with Gramps, Uncle Todd, Landon, and Uncle Matty this year.  It was not the traditional dinner, but I have to say their buffet was pretty yum and the atmosphere was cozy...Kennedy loved the rolls just like her Uncle Matty!  It was a nice family dinner, just missing a few people!

We do attempt family pictures, Kennedy just doesn't get it yet :)

 

 Kennedy and Landon watching Nemo while the adults eat...yes we are those parents.

 

 Eating her rolls!

 The girls :)

 

 Showing his Daddy the fireplace!

 

 Just eating and watching a little tube :)

 

 What are you doing Nemo?!!

 

 Thanksgiving Photoshoot before dinner :)

 

 Daddy's hungry for some ribs!  She loves this!

 Just a funny face!

 Giving Mommy some kisses...she is even better at it now and closes her lips, love it!

 This turkey is done!

 Playing with Mommy!

 I think she is worn out!

I had to post this one...Kennedy weighing in after her Thanksgiving Feast, haha!



Annual Christmas Tree Picking!

We pre-ordered our tree from the Orlando YMCA again this year and on December 1st, went to pick it out as a family.  We had just moved into our new house 2 days prior and Kennedy was beginning to come down with a cold, but she still made the best of it and loved running among all the trees.  Rusty is so good at choosing just the right one so it didn't take long.  I am kind of embarrassed to say that it is now December 16th and our tree is still sitting in the stand in our garage waiting for us to make room for it in our new house.  Next year I will get it together...well maybe!  Maw Maw gets here Tuesday and Nini on Thursday so I think we will have some help decorating then :) 

Lovin' on Momma!

 Showing off her Santa shirt from Nini!

 And her cute boots :)

 

 Loves picking up rocks and THROWING them, along with anything else she comes across. 

 

 Which one should we pick Kennedy?

 

Our friendly helper holding up our 2 choices.

 

Not the best family picture but this is the Graf Family Christmas Tree 2012!  Can't wait to get it decorated!

 

 

Festival of Trees at the Orlando Museum of Arts

We have been recruiting anyone and everyone to help us pack and also get our new house ready to move in to next week...my friend Lonnie was nice enough to volunteer his time to help paint the ceilings (so fun) along with Uncle Matty who has been slaving over there with Rusty on many occasions these days!  Since I am NO help in the construction zone and neither is Kennedy, we took Lonnie's wife Zandra and his daughter Avery with us to the Festival of Trees in Orlando for the day.  We weren't prepared for the beautiful "art" everywhere that was off limits to touch so it was hard work keeping the little ones away from all the temptation!  We still had fun though...and even got to see a special someone with a white beard and a red suit :)

 Wish I could have gotten more pictures of the beautiful decorated trees inside but I was too busy running after Kennedy so she wouldn't force me to BUY something!  All the themed trees were donated to the museum by local companies or artists and the public were open to purchase them.  All proceeds went back to the museum. This was a really neat event.

 

Standing by the angel tree looking out in awe!

 Kennedy is going in for kisses and Avery is not interested!  She was so excited!

 

 Taking a moment to listen to the children's orchestra playing.

 

 

 They were very good!

 

 Now on to SANTA! 

 

I want your glasses, haha!  He kept asking her what she wanted for Christmas :)

And she is done!  She wasn't scared of him, she just wanted down!

After I picked her up, Santa wanted me to sit on his lap, haha!  Thanks Zandra for taking the pictures.

 

 It's Avery's turn next!

 

 She wasn't so sure about this man!

 

 But she did give him a hug good-bye....look at her cute boots!

 

 Onto the kids area to play in the gingerbread house...everyone was stomping in it and Kennedy didn't know what to think of it!

 

 They had fun going IN and OUT!

 

 Watch out Avery, Kennedy is getting crazy with the blocks!

 

 I had to include this picture since clearly Zandra and I are the only ones who got the memo to smile...well besides the cute little boy on the right who is not with us :)

 

We decided to take our fun outside next....

 

 Kennedy is telling Avery that she likes her boots!  And Avery is telling Kennedy that she likes her pretty dress that used to be her cousin Audreys :)

 

They loved this big tree!  The girls look so small.  We had fun on our girls day out!

The HapPieSt place on Earth!

One of the perks of running the Disney Half Marathon for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society was a FREE ticket to the Magic Kingdom!  Since my family was in town for the race we all headed there on Veteran's Day.  It was Kennedy's first trip to Disney and I wasn't sure what she would think of all the fun BUT she ended up loving it!  It was the perfect place for our little active and curious baby.  She was amazed by all the characters running around, mezmorized by It's a Small World and The Little Mermaid Rides, and even enjoyed watching all the Country Bears sing.  Rusty and I are thinking that season tickets may be in this family's near future :)  The best part about Disney is that every time you go back, you can see and do something new!  Unfortunately our day was cut short due to another kidney stone situation with Rusty :( (this happened last time we were in the Disney area!). We still had a great day though and can't wait to go back!

We are here!  Caught the first parade right away and Kennedy watched in amazement. I took this picture because she loves Alvin and the Chipmunks, haha!

On "It's a Small World"  I love her face. 

 

Watching another parade with Auntie Missy...so much to SEE!

I think I liked this ride more than Kennedy did because of the Little Mermaid music that I know all the words to :)  This ride is part of the new Fantasy Land they are working on. 

And this was the end of the day, can you tell she had a good time??!! 

Oh and can you believe that is ALL the pictures I have of this big day??!!  Rusty wasn't with us to be my favorite photographer and I had my hands full :) My cell phone was all I had!

 

And a couple days later...another surgery it is for Rusty.  This time on his right kidney :(  Happy to say that he is stone free now and we hope it stays that way...or at least until we make another trip to Disney, haha! 

The Wine and Dine Disney Half Marathon November 10, 2012

Minus the WINE for me, haha!  This was a family affair and I am so proud of Matt, Missy, and Eric for completing their first half marathon.  It was such an awesome experience overall.  Eric even got to start the whole race on his bike before all the runners.  As we all stood WAY back in our corrals...we listened to the crowd countdown and cheer him on as he begun, so cool.  Then as Matt and I were running along on a divided road, we passed Eric going strong (so far ahead of us!)!  We couldn't stop smiling and it gave us more motivation to finish!  Speaking of finishing, I definitely believe in the power of the mind!  I did not get to train for this half like I needed to and on top of that I was 20 weeks pregnant.  It was hard on my body for sure but Matt stayed by my side (bathroom breaks and all!) and we finished in about 2 hours and 45 minutes!  Whoo hoo!  We only walked mile 10 too.  Missy came in right after us and she ran the whole time.  We were all proud and happy to be done!  Matt and I headed straight for the infimary to get ice and tylenol for our aching bodies, haha!  Soooooo....who is up for a race next year??  Not 13.1 miles though, I think I checked that off my bucket list!  :)  Oh and THANK YOU again to everyone who donated to LLS and supported my run.  I exceeded my goal of $1500 and it felt great to be running for such an awesome cause! WE DID IT!

 Rusty and I have this message board in the bathroom and this is what I woke up to race day, I love him :)  We have been so busy at the new house that he was unable to come to the race.  It was at 10 at night so he stayed with our little angel Kennedy and they cheered me on in their sleep, haha!

 

 Gearing up for the big race...this was after we fueled up on Olive Garden carbs!

 

The purple line is the race route...OMG!  But the fun part was running through the parks!

 

Landon and Todd came by to see us off...and try out Eric's sweet bike!

Eric is giving Baby G2 some love before the race :)

Not the best pic of Eric but I was trying to get a good shot of his bike.

Met up with my friend Jamie at the race...we were sportin' our LLS shirts!

 

Eric is all ready!

Missy and Eric before the race...there were no pictures taken after the race, you aren't missing anything great, haha!

We are ready! Kinda :)

 

This is just a shot that they took during the race.  It was cool because Matt and I were by eachother the whole time, such a great brother...looks like Matt is doing better than me at this point too!

 

Fuzzy because I was running while taking the picture but this was Hollywood Studios, my favorite part of the 13.1 run!  All lit up for Christmas!  Disney runs are definitely fun :)