hillsville, virginia

we made it! we're home & unpacked from our trip to visit my gramma- the girls' great gramma helen. it was a whirlwind of a trip & i couldn't be more please with its success! on friday, i traveled solo with the girls to charlotte, north carolina [which included a layover in atlanta]. we arrived at what would normally be their bedtime, found someone to help me push a cart with our suitcase & carseats loaded on & i pushed the stroller over to rent a car. we drove 2 hours in the pouring rain to my gramma's rural mountain home in hillsville, virginia & i got the girls to sleep. a couple of hours later [after midnight!], my mom, sister & nephews arrived [their carseats had initially been sent to phoenix!] we spent the weekend cozy at my gramma's & had another long travel day home yesterday. i will always look back on this trip, so grateful it happened, and in disbelief that it was a success with my 3 & 1 year olds, while 23 weeks pregnant dealing with gestational diabetes :)

last week was pretty low-key, just prepping for the trip mentally + packing-

23 weeks :)

one afternoon lucy made a sparkly spider web-

& refused to take off her new winter hat because she's obsessed with her "long elsa braid" :)

at the airport in kansas city, just beginning our first day of travel- these girls were absolute rockstars! i am SO proud of them!

great gramma helen with her great grandbabies-

meme reading bedtime stories- the 3 of them shared a bed the first night [a double...] quarters are pretty tight! saturday night after we'd gotten the kids to sleep, gramma piped up that she had a blow-up mattress [which we'd asked her about!] that would probably work for the kids! HAHAHA! my mom immediately blew it up, amy moved furniture out of the room to make space for the mattress & we dead-lifted tasman & lucy out of the bed & onto the floor. that same night, tasman rolled off of the mattress & into the antique chamber pot hiding under the bed...

rocking on gramma helen's porch-

24 weeks! the last time i was at gramma's, i was pregnant with eloise, and the time before that, i was pregnant with lucille :)

sunday night, we took a big trip to the mcdonald's for the kids to get out some energy. this is the same mcdonald's my sister's 3rd birthday party was in- the 1970's mcdonald's character paintings are still on the walls :) lucy had never been to a mcdonald's before, and asked me several times where old macdonald & his farm animals were :)

we arrived home last night from a long travel day to jon & charlie waiting with flowers, a welcome home sign & coffee. we woke up this morning to a clean house, full pantry & new entryway staircase.  i knew i married well :)

looking forward to a fun, fall week with my girls & family photos this weekend-

xoxo, 

-ivy