Road trip!

This is the result of trying to get a picture of all four children together... 

Grayson and Henry talking on Skype to Henry and Ruby's daddy, Ben. What a great way to stay in touch when he's on the other side of the world! 

Emma Claire has suddenly gone from being terrified of dogs to absolutely LOVING them, and sweet Little Bear was kind enough to put up with EC following her around and saying, "hey dawg! HUG dawg!!" constantly. :)

best buds :)

I love this one...Henry didn't feel well and was not happy about me taking his picture! 

Grayson and Ruby played together a good bit since Henry wasn't feeling great

Call me crazy, but I was desperate to visit my friend Gretchen who lives up in Maryland so the children and I decided to take a road trip to see her and her kiddos for the weekend. A 10 hour drive while 6 months pregnant and two toddler tag-alongs actually wasn't that bad--we stopped several times for potty breaks, time to run around and use some energy, and to eat a few snacks, and besides a few little meltdowns here and there (them, not me!), the drive there honestly was pretty easy. We arrived late Thursday afternoon and spent Friday and Saturday playing and catching up with Gretchen, Henry, and Ruby (Ben is currently deployed overseas with the Navy). Unfortunately, fate had some unexpected plans for us---Henry woke up Friday morning sick with a double ear infection and strep throat, and Emma Claire woke up in the middle of the night Friday night sick as well. We decided to leave a day early (Sunday instead of Monday) just in case she had strep, because I didn't want to catch it and then not be able to drive home on Monday. The drive home was a little tougher because Emma Claire felt terrible and pretty much cried the entire way home (with a handful of less than 5 minute naps....just wonderful), but we made it home in one piece and it turns out she just had a virus and not strep. Anyway, even though it was a short trip, it was so great (as always) to see our wonderful friends and spend some quality time together. Thanks for having us, Hogans, and we can't wait to see you again soon! :)