HOLY MOLY!!!

Can anyone believe that the Graf Quads are 2 years old? That's right. 730 days have flown by since they were born and our lives are so much more rich, blessed and satisfying because of them. They are so big and smart......and incredibly good looking, of course. They were born 9 weeks early with a combined weight of 11 pounds, 2 ounces. We marvel at how they have grown and flourished since being released from the NICU.

We are so proud of them for everything they have learned and for all the things they do and WILL do in the future. We couldn't picture our lives without them and thank God everyday for giving us these four blessings (and for giving us the family and friends that have helped us survive these miracles). Our children challenge us, love us unconditionally, learn from us, teach us, and make us better people each and every day. The world is a better place because our quads are in it.

Pius James @ 2. Hamming it up!

Forrest Michael @ 2. Big grin from a big boy!

Danna Lynn @ 2. Daddy you're so funny!


Laine Ryan @ 2. Isn't it amazing?

Happy Birthday Graf Quads!

Love,

Momma and Daddy

GOOD LAUW-RD!!!

Funny how I always thought "Good Lord" was a quick, 2 syllable phrase. Well, that is NOT the case down South. Billy and I realized recently that just about every word in the English/Cajun dictionary can, in fact, be drawn out 2-3 times longer than I ever thought possible. Blasted southerners! Secretly, just between you and me, I LOVE me some southern twang.....it took Billy a good 2 weeks back home to rid me of my acquired southern drawwwwwwl. But it never fails......get me on the phone with Ms. Swamp Thing herself, Jaclyn Tubre or the Queen of the South Sandra Deeeeeee Cochran for more than a minute, and Billy has his bar of ivory soap out, ready to wash my mouth of that accent. I cay-n't hey-yelp mah-sey-elf!

If you can't already tell, Billy and I were FINALLY able to make the trip down to Louisiana to see our very best buddies, Jac and Torey Tubre. I had gone since May without seeing my Baton Rouge Beauty and since December of 2007 (while we were still in Phoenix) without laying eyes on her handsome hubby! Far too long in either case. If you can recall (any faithful Graf Quad Followers out there?!?), this is the trip we were scheduled to go on LAST November 2008. The Louisiana trip got postponed, however, due to being on the exact same weekend that America's Funniest Home Videos wanted us in Los Angeles with the kids to be finalists on the show with our "Quads for Cash" video. It was a tough call, but money talks. And it only took about 10 hours on the phone with Priceline/Delta/Northwest Airlines to get our reservations re-booked for this trip. I can't complain too much......I ended up getting the two $150 ticket exchange fees waived AND the 14-day advance ticket price. Sheesh. What I won't do to save a few hundred dollars.

We flew into town on a Friday and thankfully, we had every child care hour covered until we got home on Tuesday afternoon. Have I ever mentioned how wonderful our family and friends are? They're freakin-A AWESOME! We didn't have to scramble and make any last minute frenzied phone calls, Billy and I never worried about the kiddos' well-being (although we did worry about the mental health of our helpers at times), we had a fantastic time away, and it's ALL thanks to our wonderful helpers. Grams and Grampy Stubby stayed every night with the kids at our house (and throughout each day too) and we had so many other VERY LOYAL Graf Quad-lovers to fill in every hour of every day we were away. Budda and Papa Rog, Bucko, Aunt Lainie, great uncle Slammer and great aunties Renee, Rosie, Donna and Gayla, cousins Sarah, Megan, Zach, AJ, Melissa, Taylor, neighbor Carolyn and "Aunt" Melody, just to name a few. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO!

Just a snapshot view of the bare minimum "helper" coverage. It really DOES take a village to raise quads!

We spent Friday night in "New Awww-lenz" (that's New Orleans for those who don't speak/read well in Cajun). Another quad mama and papa, Sandra and Matt Cochran, drove in from Mississippi so we could all have some much needed free time away from our litters. My cousin, Becky Brady, also met up with us (remember back when we were living with her in Phoenix?). She's been in NOLA since then. Hot Dog!

Cousins Becky and Moni hanging out and watching the Carroll/Kapaun game. It was fun reminiscing about the old Phoenix days. We would have met up earlier but the street car she was riding in got into an accident and she had to walk forever in the rain to get to our sports bar.

We suckered Jac and Torey into watching our high school football team, Bishop Carroll, play our rival "Brothers in Christ" school, Kapun Mount Carmel (boooooo!) on the nationally televised ESPNU channel in a sports bar. It was fun watching our Carroll Golden Eagles beat those Kapaun Crusaders on national television from a thousand miles away. Way to go BCCHS! On another good note, I got my first-ever authentic New Orleans beads at that sports bar! I found them hanging on the mirror in the bathroom. And FYI.....I felt obligated to flash myself in the mirror just so I could say I flashed someone to get them!

Hot diggity! My very own New Orleans beads!

After the game we met up with the Cochrans, who were just rolling into town. We got to experience the infamous Bourbon Street for the first time with our seasoned southern cohorts. Billy wasn't a big fan because it basically reminded him of Old Town in Wichita (except with more puke and beads in the streets) and he doesn't like to be so crowded. However, I was so proud of him when he morphed into an LSU fan (gasp!) after some drunk Florida Gator fans (possibly Ry and J-Walker, reincarnated for the night) started talking smack to Torey. Bill to the rescue. I'm sure the LSU-supporting words were cutting his tongue like razor blades on their way out of his mouth, but you do whatcha gotta do for good friends. It was all good hearted jesting and no punches were thrown. That's just not the way we roll.

Billy trying to intervene. Those tactless Florida fans started running their jaws without provocation (unless you call a flaming purple shirt provocative)! Something had to be done before Jac was taken to jail for "Murder in the 1st". We couldn't bear to see our innocent Tubre Cupcakes left motherless for 25 yrs to life.

Getting ready to hit Bourb-Street, Quad Mama style: Becky, Moni, Sandra, Jac

Jac had to separate Sandra and me....pink and black/red plaid tend to clash. LOVE these fine ladies! We picked up right where we left off in Orlando. Scary thought, I know.

Our Bourbon-ly bunch minus Billy....he decided to take the pic instead of risking asking some random party-goer to and getting our camera stolen. Way to take one for the team, Billy Joe.

No, that is NOT an abnormally large beer. Matt is just a wee-little man! Just kidding.....but picture it and laugh. I did. Does that surprise you?

What did people do before digital cameras? My guess is that there were many heads cut off in pictures while people tried taking self-portraits. Love those self-portraits.

We bid farewell to Becky when her fiancee, John, came by to pick her up that night. Then we scurried on up to our gorgeous Westin Hotel rooms that we got hooked up with by none other than the Triple-D Threat.......DeeDee and Dano Aucoin (Jac's 'rents)! Thank you guys for ALWAYS taking care of us on our travels (they were the ones responsible for the rockin' condos we rented while on our Orlando QuadMommas 2009 trip, too)!

Yep. This was the only pic I had of the two of them. It was taken 2 years ago in Phoenix and it does not do them justice. There's no mistaking that Jac came from good stock.

.....So I ripped this pic from Jaclyn. DeeDee is SMOKIN'!

On Saturday (game day), we dragged our tired butts out of bed and walked down the streets of New Orleans to experience some fine cuisine before loading up and driving to Baton Rouge. Anyone ever hear of a place called Cafe du Monde? The Louisianans taught us how to spot out the tourists.....they are the ones that wait in line for HOURS when the folks who "know" just bypass the lines and go seat themselves. Seriously. Cafe du Monde doesn't seat people so you just go jump in to the first open table! And while I'll say the menu options left something to be desired (they serve only beignets and coffee/drinks), the "ben-gays", as Billy so eloquently called them, were to die for! Literally.....I could almost hear my arteries clogging as I downed one.

Sure, we had to clear and clean our own table....but the important thing was that we didn't have to WAIT on a table. And try not to gag and vomit when you look at all that LSU apparel. Geaux=Goo in my vocab.

I don't think I've ever been on as big a sugar high as I was after eating one of these "ben-gay's". Good Lauw-rd that's sugar-coated heart attack!

Toe and Jac absolutely HATE these things. They think they are completely disgusting and only ate 5 of them to help us not feel so bad.....and the Pope is not Catholic.

After reaching maximum sugar high capacity, we drove to Baton Rouge for some tailgating. Now for those of you who think you've been to a tailgate...trust us, you have NOT, unless it was in Death Valley. People in the SEC know how to do it up right. Jac and Torey had 3 parties to hit and all three of them were a blast. There was food, there were TVs set up to watch other games (so Billy was able to see Bama's destruction of Ole Miss), there was food, there was music, there was food, and there was a lot of partying going on. Did I mention there was FOOD? And to say these fans start early is the understatement of the year. The diehards start at 0600 in the morning! Keep in mind that the game didn't even kickoff until 7:00 pm that evening.

The 3 Stooges/Amigos/Musketeers watching the Bama/Ole Miss game at one of the tailgate parties. L to R is Bill-boy, Coach Cochran the Croc Hunter, and Mr. T......

.......And their better halves.

Of course, Billy and I showed up wearing our Alabama Crimson Red. We mixed right in to the sea of Tiger purple/gold and Gator blue/orange about as well as cats mix with water. Billy and I are alot of things......but one thing we are NOT, is naive. We definitely were expecting to receive SOME ribbing about our choice of clothing. We kept smiles on our faces through the comments and laughed along as the butt of passers-by jokes. But after we got our five hundred sixty four thousandth, six hundred twenty second comment that went something along the lines of, "BAMA?!?! You must be confused, sweetheart!", I'm pretty sure Billy started sweating bullets and thinking he was gonna be fighting a bunch of frat boys soon when I opened my big mouth and responded,

"Well Hell! Despite popular belief, I guess LSU fans CAN read! Good for you, sugar!"

Of course I kept a smile on my face the whole time, but quickened my step after blurting that one out. In fact, I think all 6 of us hurried our pace after that for fear of being spat upon or drenched in alcoholic beverages.....it was too early in the day to have to walk around in damp clothing.


Sometime between our 1st and 3rd pregame parties, we met up with ANOTHER quad couple, Nick and Kami Lambe. They, along with the Tubre's, the Cochran's and Misty Urech, have the unfortunate curse of being LSU fans. But that didn't hamper the good times. I am continually amazed at how I feel like I've been friends for life with my fellow quad parents....even if we've never met in person before. I don't know what it is, but I can't even describe the comraderie that is felt. Not only are our children the biggest blessings of my life, but how having them has given me the greatest friendships too. It's a double whammy blessing! I don't know how I'd survive without my fellow partners in crime.....errr.....quadmamas, I mean. Okay, enough of that mushy stuff.

Jac, Sandra Deeeee, Kami and me

Mr & Mrs Tubre, Mr & Mrs Cochran, Mr & Mrs Lambe and Mr & Mrs Graf. Let's see....that's 17 children among us (not counting the hubbies).

Guess what?! The kid count will soon be increasing! Billy didn't get the memo that drinking alcohol while pregnant is not good for the baby(ies).

Tailgating.....Jac-style. I wonder how many flies she caught. Guarantee you that it wasn't even close to the number of pictures that were taken of her in this position. I'm just happy that the 30 60 minute nap was just what she needed to make it to the end of the night.

Rested up and ready to smack-talk. And do you see that knee in the background?

Here's a closer look. It was nice to commiserate with a fellow Osgood-Schlatter sufferer. I've had the same problem with my knees since grade school. That would be Coach Cochran's knee next to mine. And yes....I really am that pasty white, which is almost as disgusting as the alienhead-shaped form protruding from below our kneecaps.

This pic is just for Gen! Remember that hair clip you let me borrow in Orlando when it started raining? The torch has been passed and your clip now resides with Sandra in Mississippi. Sidenote: never knew it was customary to bring your own T.P. to port-a-potties. Good thing everyone else was on the ball and lended a sista a hand! Not actually a "hand"...that would be gross. They brought extra paper for me.

I've gotta get to the end of the game so I can post what I have so far. I'm feeling the pressure from all sides so our trip will have to be posted in increments. Dang life....it always gets in the way of blogging!

Where was I? Oh yeah...STILL tailgating. Unbelievable tailgating. Due to some communication errors, we only had access to two game tickets. We all set out to see if we could find any extras among the masses. It was a big game and the scalpers knew that. They were asking ridiculous amounts so we kept searching and searching until gametime. Jac and I headed to our seats in the stadium and left the boys to fend for themselves. Matt and Sandra hadn't planned to go to the game so they stuck with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum after we left. They never did end up finding tickets and went to a big building on campus to watch the game on a big screen. P-Nut Hall? P-Mac Hall? Something like that.

Jac and I found our seats and settled in. I must say, LSU puts on a good show. But Dow Chemicals put on a better one. Sometime during the 1st, 2nd or 3rd quarter (I had no concept of time), we saw a BIG flame in the distance. Jac's eyes got wide and she immediately got on the horn calling work. Like usual, I thought I missed something and she told me that the flame was coming from one of the Dow Plants that she works at. Fortunately, it was not from HER specific Plant and things were being taken care of, so we got back to our game-watching.

See the bright orange fire in the distance? Maybe it was just a premonition of how the Tigers would be going down in flames by the end of the game. Cruel, I know. I couldn't help myself.

That's ONE DEDICATED EMPLOYEE! Talk about putting your gameface on.

The game didn't go as well as the Tigers were hoping and the Gators won. I realized just how much of the game I overlooked when I realized about 10 minutes into the FOURTH quarter that the quarterback, Tebow, did NOT play for the Tigers. I was shocked. All day I'd been hearing disputes about whether or not this Tebow dude would play that night. Billy and Jac kept bickering back and forth about it so naturally, I assumed Tebow played for LSU. Well you know what happens when people ass-u-me. I must have sounded like the hugest moron when I turned to Jac in the 4th quarter and with disbelief in my voice said,

"You mean TEEEE-BOW (visual me making the hand-to-elbow gesture that goes with his name) plays for Florida?!?!"

Jac looked at me and stared for a second just to make sure I wasn't joking. When she saw that I was serious, the jokes started....and they haven't stopped yet. Pretty sure I'll never live that one down. We'll be 90 years old and getting our diapers changed by our 8 kids and she'll STILL bring up "that time back in 2009 when it took a full day of tailgating in Death Valley and most of the game for Moni to realize that she was cheering for the wrong quarterback". Oh well. It makes for a good (slightly embarrassing) story.

The rain didn't dampen our good time....but Tebow sure did.

After the big defeat, we muddled our way out of the stadium and met up with the rest of our group at the 'burb. Torey drove our partied-out hineys back to their home and we unloaded our bags and hit the sack. We had to get rested up for the Cupcakes' arrival in the morning so we could give them the proper Kansas lovin' they are due.

I'm gonna go ahead and stop right here. This post is beyond "too long" and I want to be sure to give the rest of our Louisiana Trip the credit it deserves. Too many memories I want to preserve to squeeze it all in one post.

Until next time......

Moni

Birthday Boy!

Just a little shout out to the greatest Quad-Daddy, husband, friend, brother, uncle, son, grandson, nephew, coach and MAN of all time (at least in my books)! Happy, happy birthday Bill-boy! Hope your 29th year is just as blessed and happy as your previous 28 (except maybe 2006.....that year started out pretty rough for you with the whole car vs semi accident and traumatic brain injury thing. We can do without a repeat of that.)

Papa Goose and his 4 adoring goslings in the greatest city in the world (AKA Denver).....Let's hear it for those 6-0 Broncos! Pretty sure Billy would have Kyle Orton's baby.

I love you and you KNOW how much our children love you (anybody who has spent more than half a second watching you in daddy-mode can see that). Thank you for being so good to us. You have always had the ability to make people feel special and I truly treasure that attribute of yours. A person like you is ENTITLED to a "birthday week", as you so aptly bestow upon yourself. Better put your party pants on cause we're goin' to THE SIZZLER tonight!







WE LOVE YOU!
Moni, Pi-Pi, Fo, Beaner, Train


P.S. A MASSIVE post to follow soon about our recent quad-less trip down to the swamp. Stayed tuned.....it's gonna be a doozie!

Denver Trip 2009

"You should have seen that play that B-Marsh made. He made the Cowboys look like the Keystone Cops."

We made our annual visit to Denver for the Broncos home game against the Dallas Cowboys. When the 2009 schedule came out, Ryno and I picked this one to attend. For those of you who don't know, Ryno is ALMOST as passionate about his Cowboys as I am about my Broncos.

The Graf Quad Squad left Friday morning around 8, and made our first scheduled pit stop in Grainfield to visit Aunt Laverna and her son Roger. Laverna got us lunch from the Pizza Shack in town. The kids managed to destroy her house in the hour and a half that we spent there. We had a good time visiting with her. She gave each of the kids a beanie-baby animal for the ride. They love making the sounds each of their animals makes.

Aunt Laverna watching Forrest play with the most coveted "toy" that she had. She was a lot more trusting of our kids than we were. She kept telling us, "They won't hurt anything." Trust us, Aunt Laverna, they can and they will hurt EVERYTHING! Apologies for the limited photos we took here.....we were too busy trying to break up fights over toys, keeping the kids corraled as much as possible so they wouldn't pull on and send one of her many collectable-filled glass curios crashing to the ground! Ever tried to herd a bunch of rabid squirrels that ingested methamphetamines? Me either....but I can safely say I may be qualified now after our trip.

After we left Laverna's, we gave the kids their noon cup of milk, and they all fell asleep....except Laine. He managed to be quite LOUD for the 2nd half of the trip to Denver. It wasn't a cute, babbling LOUD. It was a screaming, pissed off at the world LOUD. We all survived though, and pulled into Uncle Bill and Aunt Armella's around 4 p.m. They bought us some pizza from Pizza Hut and we ate and managed to destroy their house in the hour and a half that we spent there.

We arrived at the Schwartz hotel (my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Billy's house) around 5:45 p.m. The kids were quite happy to be out of the car and be able to stay in one place for awhile. Debbie, of course, had a wonderful pot of chili for us to eat when we got there. The kids were ready for bed that evening and we put them to bed in their pea pods. Almost the rest of the Denver '09 crew (Ryno, Angela, Lainie, Adam, and Slim) got into town around 10 and we partied the night away.

Aunt Debbie made us all great food, and made some GREAT bubbles.

Saturday morning Moni and I realized that we were going to need to make different room arrangements. When I rolled over and Pius and I made eye contact (at 6:30 in the morning) it was over for us. The kids were awake and NOT going back to sleep. Well, when the kids woke up, that meant that the entire house woke up. It worked out alright, though, Ryno and Slim had a tee time, and the rest of us had all kinds of college football to watch. Aunt Debbie made us her famous biscuits and gravy for a brunch. Saturday day through the night was a pretty lazy day. The Denver '09 crew was complete when my friends, Randy and Lindsay, and my cousin Randy Kaiser and Aunt Marlene rolled into town Saturday evening. We had a great time hanging out and playing games Saturday. The kids were a little crabby because of getting up early and taking a crappy nap in the afternoon, but overall they were pretty good.

Sunday morning, gameday, started off with me on kid duty while Ryno, Lainie, Angela, Adam, Slim, and Moni met Randy and Marlene for breakfast. Moni went to breakfast because I was going to the game and she was staying with the kids. Randy Stanley and Lindsay went to get breakfast, and Debbie, Billy, the kids, and I had some bacon and eggs. While they were gone I taught our little monkey, Pius, the greatest trick yet. For those of you who don't know or really even care, Jay Cutler is a not very well liked person by us Bronco fans. Whenever I say to Pius, "What does Jay Cutler say?" He puts his fists up to his eyes and says, "Waaahhh." It is awesome. It was a hit with all the Bronco fans we showed it to.








The game went very well with the Broncos shutting down Tony Romo and the Cowboys and winning a very exciting game, 17-10. The defense made a goal line stand at the end of the game to preserve the victory. It was the best game I've ever seen live. We had a pretty low-key night since we had to leave early Monday morning. Moni said the kids may have been the best they've ever been Sunday while I was at the game. What should that tell me? Maybe they were happy to see me leave.

Monday, the 1st half of the ride went pretty well with the kids...except Laine. He gave us 22 minutes of LOUD hell, but other than that, he and all 4 of them were very good. We stopped in Grainfield, for an hour break, but because I had to tend bar Monday night we had to hurry home.

Overall grades for the trip:

Pius-"A" (Pius was the best behaved the entire trip, car ride and in Denver.)

"Touchdown Broncos!" Pius celebrating his "A".

Forrest-"B+" (Forrest had a rough few minutes on the ride, and him and Laine had to fight at least a couple times a day).

I know we've used this joke before, but I hope these are the only bars he is ever behind.

Danna-"C" (The Banana Princess was wonderful on the rides, but she had a couple princess worthy meltdowns a day).

I guess being a "mile-high" wore Danna down or something.

Laine-"D+" (Laine was quite the Laine. Probably 1 1/2 total hours of screaming on the rides to and from Denver, and he caused most of the problems at our various stops at our families' houses. He did have some very sweet Laine moments, though).

This picture, however, is after one of his tirades.

It was a great trip. Thank you to all of our family for the hospitality. We can't wait until next year. Hopefully the kids will be wiping their own butts by then.

B, M, P, F, D, and L

Sick of This

Yeah.....you know my whole "I Say Ketchup You Say Catch-up" series? Well, i'm over it. There were 3 to go but I just can't pull myself to do them. So instead, I'll just tell you what they WERE going to be about.

1) The kids' 19 month doctor check up (they are now almost 22 months....holy crap).

Forrest and Danna LOVIN' the fish tank in the doctor's office waiting room!

Fo-Fo and mama trying to kill some time while we wait for Dr Chavez to enter our LOUD room.

Laineman giving dad some lovies.

Pi-Pi checkin' out the wheels and seeing how much noise he could make with the metal tray. Fun stuff.

The future Dr. Forrest M. Graf, OB/Gyn.....

...forming a new partnership with brother, Dr. Laine R. Graf, OB/Gyn.

Laine and Forrest fighting over the pull-out stir-ups. These 2 have been like cats and dogs lately....always chumming it up or duking it out (usually the latter).

Mama and the pretty Dannie Banan-ee

2) Our Haag Family Reunion that was back in June at Big Hill Lake near Cherryville, KS. Can we say, "Holy disgusting lodge room?" Definitely accommodations meant only for dirty hunters that would just as soon sleep on dirt floors than beds! NOT meant for a family of 6 that includes 4 toddlers. All I can say is thank you Lord for the Peapods and antibacterial soap. I was quite certain they were going to catch gonorrhea or chlamydia from the bathtub but have yet to see any critters show up in their nether regions. I think we're in the clear now. I can't complain too much because the people at the Lodge ended up comp-ing our rooms after I asked them for ant spray to kill all the busy little workers that set up camp in the kitchen. The campgrounds at the lake were fun, though. LOTS of cousins, aunts and uncles to keep the quaddies occupied. And they had their first exposure to lake water....that's sure to boost their immunities for the upcoming cold season! Nerve-wracking to say the least, but they all had a blast.

Cramped quarters on the drive up with Billy driving, my mom (Budda) riding shotgun and me wedged in between Forrest and Laine. Thankfully it was only a couple of hours.

The kids were less than pleased that their parents wouldn't let them play on the floor in our room. We ended up moving both the beds together to create a bigger space for them to play on. You've gotta understand.....I'm really not that big of a germaphobe, but this place was beyond what my senses could handle. We contemplated sleeping in the van. Seriously. We actually ended up leaving early because of this lodge (well, that AND the blistering KS mid-summer heat and humidity).

The first of many times the kids got "down and dirty" at the campout.

The quads' 2nd cousin, Becca....such a HUGE help to us at the reunion. She's had lots of practice with kids, being the oldest of five. It was H-O-T....notice the flushed cheeks on Danna and Forrest.

Playtime at the lake with cousins. Me holding a delighted Forrest. I try not to think about how much lake water they swallowed despite my best efforts.

Pius, my lil sand crab. We were washing grit from every crack and crevice imagineable later that day!

Uh, yeah....that's me in the background.

Laine playing with his Kampling cousins, Rhonda and Todd, and their 2nd munchkin, Hunter.

Not quite sure what Forrest is reaching for here, but I hope he found what he was looking for! Hard to tell from the back, but I think that was cousin Whitney.

More lake chaos fun

Billy gets SO anxious around bodies of water...even before we had the quads. The Nervous Nelly kept pacing up and down the beach and this was the longest amount of time that he stood still. Just enough time for a picture!

Fortunately, Uncle Phil and Aunt Cathy and Uncle Bob and Aunt Bertie loaned us their air conditioned RV's for naptimes. Much needed naptimes, might I add. Pictured from left to right: Alexis, Aunt Cathy, Pius, Forrest and Taylor. P and F trying to make a synchronized escape.

What's the weight limit on this thing?! Pius, little buddy, I think you need to get out.

3) Father's Day came and went without mention (at least on the blog). But you all know what a stellar daddio that Billy is.....pretty much the best! Of course, he learned from the best....props to Grampa Stubby and Papa Rog, too. Where would we be without the dads in our lives? My guess is "not born", but I was saying that more figuratively and probably didn't need to spell that out for everyone.

Forrest and Papa Rog partaking in Father's Day togetherness.



Grandpa Stubby lovin on the Beaner while Frosty is preparing to steal her book....again.

Now, on to bigger and better things....as time permits, of course. I'm glad I can finally put all this "catch-up" nonsense behind me. Phew! That's a weight off my shoulders.

Love,

Moni

You Say Ketchup, I Say Catch-up...9th Anniversary

Monica and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on June 24, 2009. We were just wee-kids when we got married at the age of nineteen years. We began dating in November of 1997 and had quite the confrontational relationship in high school. We were the butt of many jokes about how we didn't belong together, but we have made it through everything. For many of you who know me I make a lot of jokes about my loving wife. But the people that know me the best know that I have an unending adoration for her. She is my best friend, and I love her more than anything in the world.

Now, enough of the sappy stuff. My sister, Lainie, gave us the best present in the world for our anniversay. She gave us an entire night and the next morning off of being parents. Aunt Lainie is one of only a few people that we would trust with the kids for that long by themself. Our kids love their Aunt Lainie, and she is the best babysitter we have. She is also the best priced. We got a hotel room and invited a couple of friends downtown for drinks to celebrate, and we couldn't have done any of it without Lainie.

Getting ready for a hot night on the town!

We went to Emmerson Bigguns for dinner and drinks. We were met there by: Snook and Donna, Maze and Sarah, Ryno and Angela, Teddy, and Sergio and Rachel. It was a great time. The food was good and the company was wonderful.

Donna and Chris Snook (FYI - Chris is actually looking down at Baby Snooklet who will be here in a few short months....at least that's the story I'm stickin' to.)

Ang and Ryno....yes, he is crazy and looks the part.

Sergio and Rach

Two of the five Haag sisters, Rachel and Moni

The Girls: Donna, Moni, Rachel, Angela and Sarah

And, of course....the mostly happy and always blessed couple!

And because it's been awhile since we've posted any pics of the kids, here's a few recent shots (since we all know THEY are the reasons anybody even looks at this blog).

Lainerzinski

The Beaner


Pi-Pi


Frosty

Quads of the Round Table (L-to-R): Forrest, Danna, Laine, Pius

The Princess found her wand

Can you tell who the most difficult one was on picture day?! Hint: Billy's holding "him".

The kids got chocolate towards the end of the picture-taking. Needless to say, they loved it. It was the only way we could bribe them into all sitting next to each other!

Prayer Request

Hey everyone,
A fellow quad mama, Jenn from OK, emailed me earlier today about sending some much needed prayers her way. She and her husband, Rick, have 3 boys and 1 girl quadruplets that are just a titch younger than the Graf Quads. They also have an older son, Parker. Three of the four babies are in the hospital right now with HUS (hemolytic-uremic syndrome) and are pretty sick lil pups. They would appreciate any and all prayers to help them kick this illness and for a full recovery. You can read more about this sweet family on their blog: www.lifeintheherd.blogspot.com.

Thank you for your prayers!

Love,
Moni