Birth memories

Each one of our children has a specific memory of the circumstances around their birthday. With Jay, the story goes like this.

Contractions started at 3:30 p.m. on December 20th. After going to the hospital on the 19th thinking my water broke, I was leery to head to the hospital with contractions until I knew it was the real thing. After 6 hours of contractions, Kris and I went to the hospital thinking we might be coming home again. But it was time.

They hooked me up to an epidural- my first- the girls all came natural with very quick labors. Jay decided to take his time. So as we waited, Kris and I watched the end of the Bears/Viking game and watched as Jay Cutler showed his talent. The game ended around midnight and Kris and I rested, awaiting 3:00 a.m. for my water to be broke. 3:00 came and 45 minutes later, Jay came.

Jay's first bat. What a sweet gift from Aunt Anita and Uncle Lee.

Jim Warren Mullis has arrived

On December 21st at 3:47 a.m. our little Jim Warren, aka Jay, entered this world. At 7 pounds 2 ounces and 20 inches long!  What a great Chrismtas gift we recieved this year!

Karoline is 4!

Our little Mississippi Hippie is four today!  It is hard to believe that four years ago this blog started with a move to Mississippi and the birth of Sweet Karoline. After four years with our little princess cowgirl, it is amazing how much you can learn from a child.

Karoline indeed lives up to her name. She is a sweet Karoline and is the first to quickly give hugs and tell you she loves you. She has reminded me daily to be quick to say I love you. As Karoline has began her transformation into little girlhood, she has picked up on all the proper etiquette any Southern belle should live by.  All tea parties come by invitation. You must know how to properly set a table. Welcoming all guest, either alive or stuffed, is of utmost importance. Oh, yes, and when all else fails when dealing with sisters, hit, bite or pull hair, whatever is necessary to get the job done. And then after being accused of a crime, run and hide under the nearest quilt and pretend to not be around. And a true Southern belle always, always, always, pulls the tears card.  She is the sweetest thing though. Sweet as a spring day, but watch out, she can get you if she has to!

We adore our little Karoline and can't wait to see how her personality will develop in the coming years. Not to make light of her not so perfect qualities, as mentioned above, she truly is loving and caring. She has amazed me at her ability to anticipate peoples needs and show such compassion when it is needed the most. She is such a blessing to all of us and we are so thankful God has given us 4 wonderful years with our Karoline Brooklyn.

Happy Birthday!

Here are links to past blogs on her birthday
Birth
Age 1
Age 2
Age 3

A look through November

To see what happened  in November check my blog at Prelude to Home.

Happy Reformation Day!

We had a wonderful time over at a friends house last night celebrating a friendly version of Halloween. Our friends had a warm fire, hot dogs and marshmallows for roasting, and a huge hay bale filled wagon for the kids to ride on for trick or treating. It was a really great time and I must say, I enjoyed the fire more than anyone since I didn't get to join the trick or treat parade.

Katy is a Medieval Princess, Karoline is The Little Mermaid, and Klaire is Minnie Mouse

Tonight we will be celebrating Reformation Day. This is a first for our family and a first of a bit of church history for our girls. We have been looking into Martin Luther's life this week during school time and discussed the Five Solas of the Reformation, and my husband ever so impressed me by remembering all of them- even in their Latin form! Needless to say, I forgot that very important piece of church history.

Happy Halloween and Reformation Day to all!

Autumn Fun

Our family spent the past few days in Blue Ridge, Ga. My dream of going apple picking finally came true. It is so nice to live so close to the mountains of north Georgia and be able to enjoy the changing season there. Here are a few pictures of our trip. It was short, but sweet, and gave us some good memories to store away.

Enjoying the flowers

 

  

Klaire- using her senses. Luckily she didn't use the sense of taste on these.

Flower picking

Our tiny little neighborhood is wonderful. We live in a subdivision with 5 houses on the street and not much room for many more. Just past our house is the cul-de-sac, where the girls go and ride their bikes, gather rocks, and pick wild flowers, or maybe they are weeds. Pretty all the same.

The school at our house

School has begun. It is in full swing and begins every morning at 8:30 and ends around 2:00. And it is all around our kitchen table. To see more on our first week of homeschool check out our other blog The Letter K (www.theletterkhomeschool.blogspot.com)

New news

Well, for anyone following this blog, you know we have moved a bit.

And we have moved again. But we have actually moved back to someplace. When I began our blog, almost 4 years ago we had just moved to Mississippi and Kris was beginning a new ministry as a chaplain with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. We moved from just south of Atlanta, a place we dearly dearly loved. Wonderful people, great friends, beautiful area. Well, the Lord opened a door for Kris to return to the Bureau at the ATL Penitentiary (but it is not a pen anymore, although they still call it that). We are living just 15 minutes away from the church he pastored when we began our blogging journey. Seems like we have come full circle, back to "home".

More news, and even more interesting than our move is that we found out what we will be having in Dec/Jan.

Hard to believe it- but yes- we are having a little boy.  We plan on naming him after our fathers and calling him Jay or J.W. not sure yet.  So we are breaking the "K" mold and probably need to change our blog name!  Any suggestions?

Klaire is 2!

Our tiny little Klaire is now 2. How she has grown and how far she has come since her rough start back in 2008.

We had a family party on the 4th with strawberry pudding as her "cake". Today we had a special dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, which she didn't eat any of, but she enjoyed the garlic bread.

To give a quick description of Klaire

- tiny but tough
- sweet yet stubborn
- independent and loving
- silly yet somber

You really have to know Klaire to get the full effect of her personality. She smiles never for a strangers or acquaintances, although she will give a wave.  To an outsider, you would think she is a mean little bulldog. But those of us who know her so well,  know how hilarious she is, how sweet hearted and loving she is, and what a blessing she is to our lives. She only shares the best of herself with those she loves and it is an honor when she loves you.

To our sweet, hard headed Klaire bear.  We love you :)

Our New K
Klaire is One

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Kris!

You are a wonderful father to our girls. I am so glad that you are my husband and so thankful that our girls has a Godly father to look up to!

A little funny

We were at a local restaurant this past week when Karoline needed to visit the restroom. Katy volunteered to take her and Kris monitored from outside. We did not know the unisex bathroom had a urinal. Kris overheard Katy tell Karoline, "Look Karoline it has a little sink for you!" He quickly knocked on the door and informed Katy that was not to be used as a sink.

Snow in LA (lower Alabama)

Can you believe it! I surely didn't until I saw it. It is beautiful and awesome. I told the girls, God sent you an early Valentine's gift. An amazing display the God's beautiful creation.

 

  

  

  

  

 

Hit the Ground Running!

Boy, January hasn't wasted anytime in keeping us busy. Our family has gotten our first taste of kids and sports. Katy joined Upward cheerleading and is having a blast. Pictured above is Katy and her friend Grace at their first game. They are all so cute!

Our good friends from Georgia came down to visit us this past weekend. And boy did we have a good time. They are always so fun! Not to mention we have the same number of children all within a few months of each other, so playmates work out perfectly.  Karoline has a new friend- Corrianne- although Karoline refuses to call her by her name and prefers to use "my new friend". They hit it off fabulously! They were even caught on Karoline's bed sharing Katy's sucker- how sweet of them to share :)

Katy had her old buddy Cade to hang out with. She misses him so much so any visit with Cade is like Christmas all over again. He is such a good sport, and plays her girly games even though I know he would rather be doing something else :)

Karoline has deveoloped quite an attachment to Frosty the Snowman this winter. He was a good enough sport to dress up like Sleeping Beaty. He might have been a better Snow White though.

And then a little fun with the two little sisters. They have found a way to get themselves into a lot of trouble together. Here they decided to see how fast they could rock the recliner. Not to mention their various climbing adventures them embark upon. These two keep us hopping!

A look at last year Part 2

Oh Christmas Tree! We had two this year, thanks to my generous and Christmas tree loving mother-in-law.

Katy was a stable animal in our Christmas play at church- guess which one :)

A lovely home for a gingerbread family

Nativity playtime

Hopefully baby Jesus won't suffocate.

Our first Christmas tea. My sweet niece Rachel joined us and we all dressed up- Katy had some help from Rachel to look like Hannah Montana. It was super fun!

So much fun that they all crashed afterward!

Then on Christmas Eve night, after our Christmas Eve service, we all enjoyed a spaghetti dinner. Needless to say, Klaire really enjoyed it

The first up on Christmas morning was Katy! She was so excited to see what Santa had left for her that she was up a 5:45!

I have no idea how Santa got that in his sleigh, or down the chimney for that matter! It will bring hours of fun to all the girls though, so it was well worth it.

As usual, the box is more fun

What a wonderful Christmas we had this year. We had all the grandparents and Kris' brother's family with us this Christmas! We had a great day and made lots of memories. Presents are always fun, but celebrating Jesus' birth and the reason we have for living makes it all worth while.

Have a very Happy and Blessed New Year!