Valentine Open House

Been busy getting ready for this!

Email me@ kdegraff@gmail.com if you need directions!
It's going to be sooooo Awesome!!!

Love Thought #2

#2
Flashback!
I took these pictures four years ago on Valentines day morning. I remember this like it was yesterday! I had just fed and bathed the twins and they were getting ready for a nap. It was a cold yucky day and I remember that I was sad that I hadn't gotten around to getting Clay a Valentines present and I REALLY didn't want to leave the house (bundle up the babies, haul them and the gynormous diaper bag around town...no thanks) to get him one. I decided to make him a special card with a bunch of pictures of his two new, adorable valentines and I! Later that day he came home and put my Valentine roses in a vase and we sat down after putting the babies down to a yummy P.F. Changs take-out dinner. I gave him his card and apologized that I didn't get him anything else. Of course he didn't care one bit! He said that the card and his family was all he could ever want! I'm sure he bought me some kind of nice gift, but I don't even remember what it was. I just remember sitting across from him eating my lettuce wraps and honey shrimp loving the much needed quiet time, alone, with my sweet Valentine. This was a Valentines day that I will never forget! I've always been able to find such joy in my little family and look forward to the many more memories we will make together!

When the voices of Children are heard on the green
And laughing is heard on the hill,
My heart is at rest within my breast
And everything else is still.
~William Blake, "Nurse's Song"

Clay, Jack, Grace, Maxwell.... I don't need anything else either. I love you!

Love Thought #1

I'm celebrating
Valentines Week
with a daily
"Love Thought"!!!

#1
Everyone wants to love, and everyone wants to be loved. From our earliest years, we look for love. Some people travel far and wide in search of it, and others may not know love when they’ve found it.
In days past, children left little paper hearts or small boxes of candy on the doorsteps of friends. Sometimes the children would ring the doorbell and run. Usually they included a note that read, “I love you.”
Yet even at a young age, children seem to understand that “love is more than a paper heart. Love is of the very essence of life,” as a wise religious leader once taught. “Love is the security for which children weep, the yearning of youth, the adhesive that binds marriage, and the lubricant that prevents devastating friction in the home; it is the peace of old age, the sunlight of hope shining through death. . . . Love, like faith, is a gift of God.” -Gordon B Hinkley
But love has many counterfeits. If we’re not careful, we may mistake love for one of its
impersonators. True love is never manipulative, domineering, or selfish. It doesn’t require loyalty tests or paybacks.
Real love is freely given. It liberates and empowers. It enlarges the heart and makes room for others. Love withholds judgment and is patient. Love manifests itself in kindness, respect, and compassion. Love overlooks differences and extends mercy. Love is an abundant, generous feeling that changes the way we see the world, the way we live in the world.
Those who have received genuine love, and those who have given it, know that it is truly God’s greatest gift to His children.

-This is a message from "Music and the Spoken Word" (speaking of love... I love this program and hope it continues for another 80 years!)

I Heart the Sun!

What a Beautiful Day! I've missed my friend the sun as you
all know! He came today~ kissed me, and said hello!

Collective Soul

All that I know is that I'm

Loving
this song!

By Collective Soul

**We like it really loud!**

The kiddies and I have been dancing to it all day!
Get down to it... you know you want to!

Just had to share!

My New Favorite Shop!

Well, Anthropologie will always be my true favorite but..
I just discovered
this little beauty last week.
It has some major eye candy that I can't get enough of.
It's frilly, romantic and ALL GIRL!
Can I have one of EVERYTHING? Please?
Oh how I love this place!

You know it's January when....

The kiddies and I were running errands this morning and Gracie said " Mom, Look how pretty the sky looks over there!!" I looked around and saw nothing but gray. I said "where?" and she said "way over there!" Sure enough there was a little patch of bright blue sky to the west! I laughed and then the next little while we all were talking about how gorgeous that blue was and how we can't wait until the it warms up and the whole sky will be blue and when "the flowers will not be dead". January is sometimes a difficult time for me.. such a boring, icky month. I am starting to get tired of the cold. I even wore shorts today with my Uggs. I know, pathetic! I guess the good I got out of our little conversation today was that I truly take things for granted. I need this cold, yucky weather to appreciate the warmth and beauty to come in the next few months. There certainly is a reason for having opposition in all things and this January day I contemplated this truth.

So long January... I'm glad you have come and gone!
I'm putting up our Valentine decorations today to celebrate the coming month!

YAY!