A Trip to Raleigh

We spent Thursday in Raleigh visiting our friends. Jen and I have known each other now for eight years! We met while working at Bath and Body Works together in Florida. She was the assistant manager, working there while getting her master's degree, and I was working there in the evenings after teaching. I had finished my master's degree, and Edward was away a lot on medical school rotations, so it was a great combination. Shortly after we moved to North Carolina the first time, Jen and her family moved to Raleigh. Eight years ago, neither of us had any kids. Now, between the two of us, we have SIX kids. We went through a lot of our pregnancies together. Madison and Cassandra are two months apart; Luke and Julianne are five months apart, and this last set, well, not as close, but Alex and Annaliese are 23 months apart.

It was great to get together again. Jen and I talk everyday, so we hope our kids are good friends too. Luke was disappointed "there weren't boys to play with," but I told him we'd find some boys for him in other friends.

We met at the mall for Build A Bear. Madison and Cassandra remembered Build A Bear from three years ago. We went there right before we moved to Arizona, and they wanted to go back. Since both have summer birthdays, we coined it as part of a birthday treat. We had a nice lunch in the food court, and we even managed a little shopping with six kids! We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at Jen's house, and the kids had a lot of fun. We're looking forward to getting together more often.

I couldn't get all of the kids in a photo, but Cassandra, Madison, and Julianne. Cassandra and Madison were surprised they owned a lot of the same clothes :)