Jenna

 Jenna arrived on September 18th, 2012 at 2:37 am. She weighed 9 pounds 15 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long. She is precious and Lucas is very gentle with her. It is so cute. At the moments she sleeps, eats, gets diapered, sleeps, eats, gets diapered, sleeps, eats, gets diapered, sleeps, eats, gets diapered, sleeps, eats, gets diapered, sleeps, eats, gets diapered, sleeps, eats, gets diapered, sleeps, eats, gets diapered, sleeps, eats, gets diapered, sleeps, eats, gets diapered, sleeps, eats, gets diapered, sleeps, eats, gets diapered, sleeps, eats, gets diapered, sleeps, eats, gets diapered, sleeps, eats, gets diapered, and I think she smiled at me the other day!!!!! The "girls" (her mom and Aunt JB) are having even more fun taking pictures of her and dressing her up!
I had a horrible moment in Babies R Us right after she was born...

...we were in the little girl section of clothes and Jess was looking at all of the fancy Christmas dresses, etc. I LOVED sewing for my children, especially the girls. I always made these matching dresses for them. It was one of the joys of having girls. I saved all the patterns with the hopes of someday making darling things for my grandchildren...now that time is here...and all of my sewing things are in storage...I got caught up in my frustrations of life and emotions started to flow from my heart to my eyes...and out. I am still not over it, and can't wait to have a home where I can create once again.
So, this is our Jenna...the new little princess in our kingdom. She will have many princess dresses, and might carry a sword. I am hoping that she and Lucas will have cousins one of these days...months...years..

Lucas

I just realized when I was checking out my blog, I have missed writing about some very important events. ONE was becoming a grandmother for the first time.
The anticipation was indescribable! THEN when it finally happened, well...words can not express...or at least I haven't found words great enough to express my feelings...except to say, I am blessed!

Lucas was born on May 15th, 2011 at 2:27 am. He weighed 9 pounds 6 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. I knew when we all found out that Jess was pregnant, that this child would change ALL of our lives, and he has. When he was a baby, we tried taking turns holding him at family events, BUT we could usually find him in the arms of his uncles...Mike and Bobby. It was a rare occasion that someone else had him. He is so loved!
Because he has so many grandparents, the distinguishing of grandma/pa this and grandma/pa that was doled out to the various grandparents...I became Meemaw. I love the Big Bang Theory and it just sort of stemmed from that.
He is now 17 months and not only is one of my biggest joys, but he is a big brother to Jenna...another blog coming up.

The happy Graf family!!!

Uncle Mike

Aunt Katie 

 

 

                                

Uncle Bobby

Aunt JB

The girls, Lucas' mom Jess and his Aunt JB saw this Viking hat and since I am the one who crochets, I was elected to make it. It is cute, we had fun with it!

So, these are some pretty random photos of Lucas from the past year. If I knew what I was doing on here, I would have some type of order. Maybe with Jenna I will figure it out!!!

 

Aunt JB has taken most of these photos...it was hard to find one with her in it. BUT she and Jess have an incredible amount of fun dressing Lucas up for his monthly photo shoot. The Superman and the phone booth was his 1 year old photo! It's one of my favorites!
I am fortunate to live so close to them. I get to see him frequently! AND he comes to visit me. When we part, there are big tears...first his, then mine. I love him so much! He is an incredible part of our family!

The dreaded house hunting!

I really thought when my home in St. Jo, MO FINALLY sold in late January of this year, that I would be in my new home by my birthday! NOT!!!! Here it is almost October and I am still, basically, homeless. Most all of my things have been in storage since June of 2008! The rest of it since March of this year! I have moved from St. Jo, to Utah...then back to Vegas; I've moved four times since moving back to Vegas. Twice with Jessica and Jason, once in a rental home and now at Jenny's.
When I finally was qualified to buy a home, I found that most of the homes had been snarfed up by investors! They would buy them, put in carpet and paint, then flip them for twice what they paid! There is a group of investors who do their homes the same way...I have seen literally dozens of their homes...the sad things is they paint the kitchen and bathroom cabinets black...which isn't a bad thing, but they paint them black inside and out...drawers too!!! THEN they painter guy/gal shuts them...and when someone comes to look at the home and tries to open the drawers/cabinets they are painted shut! Yep!!! Someone even pulled off the drawer front trying to open it! GEEZE!!! Are you serious! I just can't believe it. THEN there are the homes which are highest and best. Fifty people will put a bid on a home. I tried to look at one home where there was a tenant. Never did get to see it. You could only see if between three and four on Tuesday or Wednesday. WOW! THEN there are the homes where the people destroyed the home before being foreclosed on. NO cabinets, appliances, sinks, toilets, water heater, outlets, ceiling lights, closet doors, inside doors, plumbing ripped out, etc...one even had holes in the walls from the outside to the inside...so the cute little desert chipmunks could come in...probably scorpions and tarantulas as well! Holy cow! There are also some home...quite a few in fact...owned by Bank of America...and they will only let you bid on them if you bank with them. Dorks!
About a month ago, I was at a party HP group party. One of my friends told me that there were about 75,000 homes in a "shadow inventory"; they were going to release them after the election! Hmmmm...I thought I would check this out. So, the following Monday I asked my realtor (I need to write a blog about realtors), about this so called "shadow inventory" I heard about. SURE enough! BUT there aren't just 75,000 homes in this shadow inventory...the realtors have been told there are between 100,000 and 200,000 homes in this shadow inventory!!! WHAT THE HECK!?!?!?!!?!? Now I feel that since it's taken this long to find nothing, I might as well wait 10 more days until after the election just to see what's in this shadow inventory! I was told by my realtor today that they may start releasing them soon...which won't be too soon for me.
Needless to say, the house hunting has been frustrating, discouraging and a downright pain!

Hmmmm....

People are updating their blogs...well, sort of. I LOVE to write, but never think to do this, until someone posts something and I go to read theirs. Not only do I not remember the last thing I posted or wrote about, it took me several minutes to figure out how to post a new writing. GEEZE!!! I need to get with the program.
So, let's see...
I am living at Jenny's home in the, somewhat, middle of Vegas. Bobby is here...he makes life interesting. I'll explain...I have a dog and cat I brought with me from St. Jo, MO. Jade, the dog, is a Chow/Neufie mix, so she is big, black, hairy, and getting pretty old; Archimedes is a Bombay cat, black/sable with white feet, weighs about 20 pounds and rules the roost. He isn't afraid of much. By that I mean, when I babysit Mike's American Pit "Lucy", Archimedes doesn't think twice about snuggling up against her. hehehe...it's pretty funny. Lucy is an incredible dog. ANYWAY, the other animals in our home are: Colby, who is Karin's dog. He is part poodle and I'm not sure what else; not as big as Jade, but bigger than Archimedes...who rubs up against him and just keeps going. Then there is "Spike", the bearded dragon. I think I have a photo I could insert here...if I can figure out how...

Anyway, this is Spike...he's pretty cool and provides entertainment on the "Lizard Channel". Bobby will sit in his chair and the dogs will be somewhere in the house...and all of the sudden, Bobby will say, in a relatively normal voice, "Hey, what's on the Lizard Channel?" Where ever Jade is, she will come running and look inside the aquarium, like Spike is going to do some kind of trick. It's the funniest thing! I thought I had a photo, but alas...NOT! I will have to take one. OR a video. It's a riot.
Then we have the, uhumm... "pets", and I use the term loosely, which I do NOT have pictures of. They are in medium size plastic tubs. IF anyone would like me to post photos of them, I will, but until someone makes a request, I am NOT going to. I DO NOT take the lids off. Two of the tubs have...OH!!! these pets do not have names...or if they do, I don't know what they are. Anyway, two of the tubs have...are you ready...scorpions. Yep...and when you shine a black light on them, they are the most incredible florescent green color...they glow-in-the-dark! It's awesome, BUT please leave the lid on...keep all hands and arms inside the bus and DO NOT TOUCH them...DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME!!! The other tub has a very nice tarantula. I'm not sure what type of amusement or entertainment these "pets" provide, but nevertheless, they are a part of the household. So...sadly, our interesting little home life will be coming to an end in the next few weeks...Bobby is leaving and going to a condo on a golf course...I am STILL househunting, ANOTHER   L  O  N  G, sordid story for yet another blog. When I find a home, I will be moving. It will be my sixth move in four years! I'm so over it!
I'm sure Jenny will LOVE having everyone's things gone. I know there are a few of my things here, a few of Bobby's things...Karin's things...Jess' things...and possibly things belonging to a couple of other people. SO, she will have her home back and it might be normal...for her. She has some awesome chairs she is collecting. She uses them in her photography business. A couple of them I might like...but she would know if they were missing.
So...on to another blog...