July 25 = Moving Day!

We're on our way out!  First thing this morning, we got up, packed what was left in the apartment and I hit the road with Malia, Joey and Marley while Zachary stayed behind to do the final walk-through with the housing people and left with Liam, Kayleigh and Rosie about an hour later- who got the better deal?  Me.  Definitely me.

Who got the worst end of the deal?  Malia.

However, she did get back at me by finding a bag of pretzels and snacking on it and then emptying it.  Small price to pay for her being pretty happy for the whole ride to Rhode Island.

July 17 = Back Home Day

Saw this and it was quite appropriate because traveling with three kids in the car is something that requires being handled.

Oh... how could I forget about Rosie?  She wasn't too difficult.

Malia wasn't difficult the whole time...

Kayleigh didn't sleep very much on the way home but once we got home she was out.  Which may not seem great but it was pretty awesome because we were able to get some unpacking done.

Rosie just slept in the car and at home... my kind of girl!

July 14 = Travel Day

We headed to NC this weekend- it's our second to last weekend in Annapolis so we wanted to take advantage of being close-ish to NC for Malia's birthday and have one last trip before we make the move up to Rhode Island.  Zachary got some funny pictures of Rosie in the car on the way down:

Having a potty seat in the car is now a must... it was so nice to have a potty-trained child and not have to stop!

Pretty girl!

Zachary took this picture- he took quite a few- but this was his favorite because he captured Liam mid-sneeze.

May 11 = Travel Day

Before we left for NC, I grabbed a picture of Miss Rosie dragging the kitchen mat into the dining room... she's a busy girl.

And now for pictures on the road... Rosie definitely had the most space of any of us...

Malia can sleep anywhere...

As can Rosie.

Liam had taken the iPad away from Malia... she's giving him a death stare.

This picture is Zachary's dream come true:

We went to the Hollidays and my parents picked me up from there so I could go to Matthew's graduation festivities sans children.  Here's Mimi meeting Rosie:

March 16 = Travel Day

It's been nice just having Malia all to myself but I'm a bit bored at this point.  Also, some crazy person was knocking on my door at 11:30pm and I had to call the cops to make them go away and my dad's birthday is tomorrow so this morning I woke up and decided to drive to NC.  

It was a 6.5 hour drive.  Malia fell asleep literally five minutes before we got to my dad's office to surprise him.

One perk of going to NC- La Cocina!

December 24 = Christmas Eve

Alright guys... I'm 2 months behind now so these are for real going to be really short.  Sorry children reading this in the future but you kept me really busy.

Malia can't believe we're traveling again...

And it must have worn her out because this is rare but a picture that I will treasure forever... nothing like a girl and her Gramps.

November 3 = On the Road Day

We are heading south first to North Carolina to drop the kids off with my parents, and then even farther south, to Jacksonville, FL because Zachary is on the task force for the Navy vs. Notre Dame game at the Jaguars' stadium.  I'm coming along for the ride :)  We saw this on the ride and thought it was cool:

I love this:

And this:

October 9 = Pick up Kids Day

We drove to Smithfield today to pick up the kids and let Ms. Malia try on her Halloween costume- I think we picked a good one!

God bless sleeping babies on road trips- they're the best!

June 13 = Back to Maryland Day

I only have one picture from today- Malia fell asleep in the car for about 20 minutes.  But thankfully, there was very little traffic so it wasn't too bad of a ride!

April 19 = Go Back Home Day

We got good night's rest last night and woke up at a decent hour to go back home today!

... but we forgot one of our suitcases.  Stay tuned to see if we get it back!

March 12 = First Without Daddy Day

I only have one picture from today:

Zachary left yesterday for a trip with the Midshipmen Action Group to Biscayne Bay in Florida.  They drove to Smithfield, NC last night and are heading down to South Florida today.  He'll be gone until next Sunday so as I told the ladies at the kids' club at our gym, if you see the kids are wearing the same things two days in a row, don't judge me.  If you see me wearing the same thing two days in a row, don't judge me.

February 19 = Traveling Day

Around Christmas, my brother came up to Maryland to pick me and the kids up and bring us back to North Carolina.  I would FaceTime with Zachary every once in a while during that week when he was back home and I was kind of jealous that he had all this alone time- he could watch TV in peace, he could sleep through the night... he could eat in peace... notice a theme here?  So he had mentioned he would take the kids to NC one time and I could stay behind and just have some alone time.  We were planning on doing it this weekend but this training thing came up and he wouldn't have had enough sleep to make the drive himself so we decided this wouldn't be the weekend- rain check!  In hindsight- I'm really glad I went- the kids slept through the night both nights which hasn't happened out of state in a long time.  Although the nighttime sleeping was great- there was no sleeping in the car until five minutes before we got there.  I was flipping through facebook as Malia was screaming her head off (after I tried everything I knew to do to get her to calm down of course...) and I saw this.  That is exactly how I would have felt had she gone to sleep... alas.
 

December 26 = On the Road Again

Rare picture alert!  The kids sat long enough for this picture to be taken- this is my favorite place in the world.

Liam was so tired yesterday that he didn't even get to Uncle Matt's present!  My grandpa used to get my brother the annual Hess truck for Christmas each year and Uncle Matt got Liam one for his first Christmas and every Christmas since.  The first Christmas, I cried like a baby and now I can just appreciate it as a wonderful tradition.

We had planned on hanging around for a little while but since the kids have been sleeping so horribly, we decided to head back to Maryland today but before we do, I'm going to hit my last North Carolina favorite- The Village Grill in Burlington.  Gramps got some tickles in before we went.

After lunch, we came home, got packed up and headed out- both kids passed out- Liam was playing with his leappad in his sleep- he was fast asleep but kept pushing buttons.  And Malia snuggled up to her new teddy bear from her great aunt Deanie.

December 25 = Christmas!

On the road again!  We ate delicious cheddar and bacon biscuits for breakfast before packing the car and heading back to Graham.  Here are the three babies in the car:

Lots of people say that kids like the boxes their presents come in more than the boxes- it's true for this one:

My parents got Malia a baby doll with a little booster seat - Malia opened the booster seat before realizing she had a doll that was supposed to sit in it, so she tried to sit in it herself.

I guess I paid close attention to present exchanging because those are the only pictures I got!  Here's Liam with Daisy in the background:

And this meme I saw on facebook- I took a screen shot of it as my friend Alexandra was texting me but I thought this was so funny- people dream of a white Christmas but this is what we got:
 

After presents we resumed the putting the blanket over our head habit... he was so tired.

Alexandra came over!  We haven't seen each other in so long- way too long- she had never met Malia!

 It was time for Liam to wake up- Malia decided.

 These are the pajamas Grace got Liam for Christmas- glow in the dark snowmen.

Zachary snapped some pictures while I was getting a power nap in preparation for getting Liam down.

You may be able to see Liam's nice little toddler bed at the foot of our bed... we had to wait for him to rock himself to sleep on our bed before Zachary carefully moved him onto his bed.