The Graffagnino Homepage

2008-08-17T21:48:00.001-05:00

Oh lord.... get ready!

You can download the high-res version of the clip here.

2008-08-05T07:52:00.003-05:00

Thankfully, it looks like we won't get very bad weather from TS Eduard. The storm moved slightly to the north, putting us south and west of the center.

I'm sure we'll still get quite a bit of rain today though.

2008-07-13T18:42:00.003-05:00

Got some new pics up.

There are some new pics in Charlie's July 2008 folder showing him being cute, and even a few videos showing him racing around in his walker.

Also, there are some pics in Neo's July 2008 folder showing him with his new glasses. We think he looks pretty sharp!

There are also some pictures from the July 4th parade, and some from the day at the beach.

2008-07-06T19:18:00.006-05:00

I know I haven't posted an update in the while. Surprisingly, it's not because I don't have time, like you might think.

No, it's actually because we have set our machines to sleep/hibernate to save electricity. We have saved lots of power.

But one interesting side-effect is that since my machine is usually off, and I have to deliberately turn it on, I use it less. And since I use it less, I tend to get a few things done before I'm called away, and then it goes to sleep again.

So, I have had time to post, but just have been doing other things instead. Somehow, that feels like a good thing.

But, to get you up to date:

Charlie is in to everything. He is crawling, pulling himself up, and walking along as he holds on.

Neo went on vacation with Nanna and Poppa and a couple of other families. He had a really great time and came home with a pet hermit crab that he named, "Hermit".

Christian and I made a do-it-yourself Earthbox. An earthbox is a pretty neat little invention for growing produce that uses minimal water and fertilizer and requires a minimal amount of tending to. I'm really excited about it and how easy it is. We have started some cucumbers, tomatoes, and jalapenos. If you would like to learn about the earthbox, check the website here. For a version you can build youself, just search on google. We made one in about 30 minutes.

Neo and I have been playing Zelda on Wii. Neo is really good. We managed to work through the entire game/story. The game involves lots of reading, which was great summer reading practice for him. We just finished the game this morning with Neo beating Ganon. It was really exciting.

There are some new pictures in various folders. Just click around.

So, that's it in a nutshell. Things are really good around here.

2008-06-12T21:56:00.002-05:00

A few more family pictures are up.

Got some new Charlie pics in his June folder, and some new Neo pics in his May folder and his June folder.

Also, got the great new family photo:

2008-05-22T08:13:00.005-05:00

Lots of new pictures on the website. There was the concert in the park. Also the mom's group meeting where the babies played together. Other pictures are in Charlie's May 2008 folder and Neo's May folder.

2008-05-12T07:05:00.002-05:00

I'm a day late on the post, but I just wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's out there, and especially to Christian, Mrs. Pam, and my mom. The world is grateful to mothers like you!

2008-04-27T14:32:00.003-05:00

Just got back from a great camping trip with Neo. Since it was likely to rain, and was a pretty far drive, Christian and Charlie decided to take a rain check.

We had a great time. Neo was in charge of building the fires, and he did a great job. Before the trip I had been showing him a few things and he did very well, even managing to build a fire Saturday morning with wet wood.

Neo also swam in the lake, walked some trails, and got to pet a live baby alligator.

Pictures from the trip are here.

2008-04-20T12:55:00.002-05:00

There are some extremely cute new pictures of Caleb and Kam in Caleb's 2008 folder.

Also, your economic stimulus checks will be coming soon. Consider taking Frankie's pledge to put the money to good use.

2008-04-02T07:29:00.005-05:00

The rest of the Easter pictures are finally up now in the 2008 Easter folder. Sorry it took so long to get them there. There are some very cute pictures in there.

Also, we want to say thanks to Mrs. Pam for coming to visit and helping Christian with her new business. It was great to visit with her.

So what's going on these days? Well, we are pretty busy with work items, house items, taxes, jewelry stuff, kids, etc. Also, Christian and I started watching season 3 of Battlestar Galactica, which we have wanted to do for a long time. :)

2008-03-15T10:18:00.006-05:00

We are back from our trip and had a great time. The plane rides all seemed to work out well. The hotel stay was nice. The rental car worked out. We did have a few hiccups, but overall, it had to be considered a great success.

Our view of the shuttle launch was brief like I said in the previous post, but the night launch was truly spectacular. You can see our view in the video below:

After the launch, we did quite a few things. We swam at the hotel pool and made a brief trip to the beach.

We also went to a interactive science museum called "Wonder Works". Probably the coolest part about the place is that the building is built as if it is an upside down house that crashed into another building:

We also went to a dinner magic show there that we all really enjoyed.

The trip also included a few games of putt-putt, a father son go-cart race, plenty of time in the car, fun in the hotel room, and ice-cream.

These few pictures don't really do the trip much justice though. You should really check them all out here.

2008-03-11T15:23:00.002-05:00

What an amazing launch, even though it was short. The low cloud layer caused the rocket to disappear pretty quickly, but for that short moment, we watched what seemed like the sun coming up. The sky lit up like a hole in space expanding to let in a light behind it.

I have a small video from my camera that I can post when we get back.

Overall, even though it was short, and the wait was long. It was worth it.

Now we are just enjoying the time remaining: relaxing, swimming at the pool, and having a good time.

2008-02-25T10:57:00.003-06:00

This weekend was very nice.

Last week, Neo and I were going around looking for a new bike for him. He had significantly outgrown his first bike, so he needed a new one pretty bad. We almost bought one at Toys R Us, but they took so long to bring the bike out that we had to cancel. We looked at some bike shops, but the new bikes were just too expensive.

So, I took a gamble last week and found an old, beat up Huffy boys bike that someone was selling on craigslist. The entire drive home I was worried how Neo might react. When I got home, I told him that I had gotten him a bike, but it needed some work. Before I brought him outside, I told him that I wanted for him to look and see if he could spot the things that needed to be fixed.

Luckily, it went well. He pointed out the chain was off, the tires were flat, the handlebars were crooked and loose, the chain-guard was broken, and that the kickstand was loose and rusty. I told him we could work on it this weekend and fix each item.

He was excited to get started on it this Saturday. We got outside, and within a few hours, we had worked through all the problems except that it still needs a chain guard. Neo was very excited. He rode it around this weekemd and showed it off to some friends and neighbors. He thought it was very cool that one neighbor thought it was a brand new bike.

It was very rewarding for me. I felt like some of the mystery of how the bike worked was removed and that he might now be a little more motivated to adjust and fix it himself.

After that, we cleaned up his old bike, and listed it for sale online. He decided how much he wanted to list it for, and decided on a minimal amount below which he wouldn't go below if they decided to negotiate.

Sure enough, the bike sold the very next day at the price he had listed it at. He was very excited to get the money for it, and even more excited to know that the guy didn't get him to lower the price.

I'm very proud of that kid.

2008-02-14T01:53:00.005-06:00

To my Princess,

Since we have vowed to each other to show our love and affection on Valentine’s Day without spending any money, I have decided to write you this letter. I wish I could say that this letter was only to tell you about my unending love for you, but unfortunately, I must use it discuss some things in our relationship that have recently become troubling to me.

Christian, when I married you, I married a woman who I knew was smart, and capable. I knew that one day you would grow to be successful as a wife, mother, and in a career.

However, since your recent decision to stay home from work to raise our children, some developments have occurred and discoveries made that have me concerned and worried about our relationship.

When you decided to stay home and become a homemaker, you immediately fell into the role. You embraced it and have succeeded exactly like I would have expected you to. What a wonderful gift to our family. You raise our children. You have snacks for them when they get off the bus. You help them with homework. You take care of the baby. You clean the house. You are a good neighbor. Yadda… yadda… yadda… The point is… it’s a full time job, and you are very good at it. So why am I troubled?

Well, after you established yourself as this incredible homemaker to me, the kids, the neighbors, and the family… you didn’t stop. You then decided, that you were going to open your own business, and add “business owner” to your resume. And now, you are doing a great job at that too. You own your own business hosting jewelry parties. You manage the business. You pour your heart into it. You give it attention and nurturing to make it grow. You are obviously very good at this full-time job as well. But you still didn’t stop.

On top of that, you decided to add the title of “Chef”. You have started to cook the most delicious dishes and prepare the most amazing meals for our family and guests. Your spaghetti is awesome. The potato salad… my god… the potato salad. You find ways to hide vegetables into the foods you prepare! You even hid squash in some pancakes and had kids asking for seconds!! You constantly look for new recipes and ideas and are improving all the time. Wow. If you’re keeping count… that’s 3 full-time jobs.

So that’s enough right? Not really. On top of all that, you have started decorating the house. That’s right. Interior Decorator. You are coordinating colors, hanging things on walls, framing pictures… Not only that, but you rearrange. You clean. You organize.

So all of this has been weighing on my mind. I mean, I married a woman who I new would be successful at whatever she chose to do, but I had no idea that it would be 4 full time jobs! How can a woman of your caliber be with a man with only one job? How can I answer my kids when they ask me why I only work one job while mom works four?

But more importantly, how can I adequately describe my love for someone who gives so much to me and our family? How can I give you gifts that are appropriate for a woman of such strength, passion, and dedication?

I don’t think I can. And this is what is troubling me. It is becoming more and more obvious to me, every day, that you own my heart, and I am powerless to control it… more obvious that you have become the very foundation of our family… and more obvious that I would be completely lost and fragile without you by my side.

So, this is my insufficient attempt to explain to a woman of your caliber, that I love you. I love you so very much. Happy Valentine’s Day.

I love you princess.
Always, always.

2008-02-12T08:18:00.001-06:00

Just kind of chilled out this weekend. Neo is still recovering, getting a little better each day. Our neighbors across the street invited us over for BBQ and we had a great time there. They even had a couple of presents for Neo which he liked.

Also, there are some new, adorable pictures of Charlie in his February folder.

2008-02-07T20:07:00.000-06:00

Neo's tonsil surgery is over. He is recovering at home now. He is still in a lot of pain, but I think that will get better over the next few days.

Pictures from our trip to the hospital are here. He isn't excited about talking on the phone yet, but send him an eamil if you haven't already.

2008-02-05T11:06:00.000-06:00

Neo's tonsil surgery is today. From everything I've read, the surgery is easy but the recovery is hard. We are at the hospital now. Neo is calm and playing his games. Shoot him an email and wish him well and give him some advice for his recovery. I'm sure he would love to read a message from you all.

2008-01-30T08:25:00.000-06:00

My first few pictures of Caleb are in. You can find them here.

2008-01-29T09:31:00.000-06:00

Big news... Caleb is here! Congratulations to Brent, Emily, and Kam! I've heard that mom and baby are doing well. I will give more news as I get it.

Also, I want to apologize for not posting this earlier, but a very special thank you Christian's mom for coming in and helping us with the baby. It REALLY helped. Thanks to Mr. Troy as well for those long car trips. We appreciate it guys.

I will post some pictures of Brent and Emily's new addition when I get some. Also, there are a few more pictures of Charlie in his January 08 folder.

Congratulations again to Brent and Emily!

2008-01-08T06:54:00.000-06:00

I usually keep politics on my blog, but I felt like this was worth sharing here.

Most news people didn't really cover this, for some unknown reason, but FOX News decided not to allow Ron Paul into their New Hampshire debate. A presidential candidate, who is running third in New Hampshire, who beat Guiliani in Iowa, and who has raised way more money than the other candidates, is not allowed in a debate?!?! How can this be allowed by the American people?

Well, apparently Jay Leno was pretty mad about when he found out about it, and decided to try and get Ron Paul on his show to ask him how this could happen. Click the video below to watch it.

2008-01-06T21:22:00.001-06:00

Just wanted to say a special thank you to my mom for coming and helping with the boys this week. It was great having you over and it was a huge help! I know Neo enjoyed spending his time off of school with you as well.

Thanks again mom.

2007-12-29T12:18:00.001-06:00

What an amazing Christmas! We managed to get in some time with all sides of the family and had a great time. Neo really enjoyed himself. I think Charlie did too, although he is a little easier to please at this point. Thanks to everyone for all of the wonderful gifts.

All of our Christmas pictures are here, although I don't have some of the pictures that others took. If you took some on your camera, please send me a link to them or email them to me.

Also, congrats to Blake and Chelsea on the court date for their adoption! You can read about their adoption here. Also, they are still trying to raise money for travel to Ethiopia, so if you would like to donate to help them, see the note in the upper right of their website to send them a few dollars through PayPal.

Happy New Years! We are really looking forward to a wonderful 2008.

2007-12-17T21:59:00.000-06:00

"I can't put my arms down!"

2007-12-05T19:20:00.000-06:00

Neo had his CCD Christmas play tonight. Very cute. Neo did great.

Pictures and a couple of video clips are here.

2007-12-02T08:14:00.001-06:00

First, I'll apologize to Vince and Amy for stealing an idea from them, but they sent me a Christmas card that was so darn cute and funny, we just had to make one of our own.

So, here ya go. Merry Christmas from our family to yours.