Avon Pregame

It's the weekend of the Avon Walk! Can you believe it's finally here? For us, the Walk is a family affair. So my family rallied in Charlotte, North Carolina to support us girls as we walked.

Mike and I roadtriped with the kids on Thursday. Let's all be honest. I can't say that either Mike or I were excited about 8.5 hours in the van with our children. Not that we don't love them. But a five-year-old, an almost three-year-old, and two desperate-to-move one-year-olds in their carseats for eight hours seemed like a recipe for disaster to us.

It wasn't. It was actually fun! We loaded up in the afternoon and drove until dinner. We ate yummy Chick-Fil-A and let all four kids get their wiggles out on the playground. Then we put all the kids in the jammies, put them to bed in their carseats, and drove on. In the wee hours of the morning, we arrived at the beautiful lake house we were all staying at. Even in the dark it was beautiful. My parents were already there, and they helped us transferred the kids to bed. That was then end of day one. Not too bad!

The next day, the crew started to roll in. My cousins Laura, Brad and Regina arrived the night before. My aunt Linda (their mom) and Grammy arrived in the afternoon, along with Aunt Ann and cousin Kirsten. My mom's cousins Deb, Colleen and John drove in during the evening. You heard right - 17 people in the same house! It was soooo fun!

Grammy was so excited to see Caleb!

Auntie Annie loving on Julie

Gracie and cousin Kirsten

You can imagine I was a little nervous about my four little kids in a new (beautiful) environment. They did so well! We brought little booster seats, and the babies would sit up at the counters and stuff their sweet faces. The big girls did puzzles and played with the cousins. The rest of us adults just enjoyed being together and catching up.

Regina teasing Caleb (on his new blankie from Aunt Linda)

Regina & Chloe do a puzzle.

Tootsie & Gracie do a puzzle.

In the evening, several of us went to Event Eve, which kicks off the Avon Walk weekend. It was so fun to see all the pink! Regina, Laura, and I are the walkers for our team, Bouquet of Rosies. We signed in and donated the remaining checks and cash donations we had received. Thanks to all of you, as a team we raised $7,392!! Isn't that amazing?!? We were so excited. Thank you all so much.

We finished up our Event Eve with taking a group photo and then shopping, of course! I mean, who doesn't need matching pink ribbon hair bows?

Ann, Katie, Linda, Regina, Laura and Kirsten

We headed home to a yummy dinner, rowdy kids, and lots of fellowship. Mike and I got the kids to bed - a small miracle - and then us girls packed up all our things for the morning. It was going to be an early start - 4:15 a.m - so everyone headed to bed.