Happy Birthday Esther

My beautiful Esther Hope turned 10 today! I cannot believe it has been 10 years since she was born. She was our "surprise" baby, arriving only 17 months after her brother. She has been such a joy and light to have in our home these past 10 years. She has such a sweet spirit and kind, pure heart. I love her laid back attitude and artsy style in life. She is funny and happy and just a great kid to be around. I am so blessed to be her mom.

We had a fashion show birthday party last night that she planned. From the activities to the menu and she even designed the cake and let me tell you, the party was a hit! I am working on a video montage of all the fun to post on here soon.So Happy Birthday to my beautiful, funny Esther Hope! I love you to the moon and back!

September

September has kept us pretty busy so far! Just this past weekend we were able to go up to Daniels, WV and Greg preached at their homecoming service. It was such a special time for us to see so many friends and they were all able to meet the newest Mullis kids. DMBC was Greg's first full time church and has such a sweet place in our hearts.

Abby has kept us busy with Volleyball for the FHE ( forsyth home educators) Hawks and she also has basketball tryouts. Bball will be right on the heels on volleyball season. Greg is her coach this year for basketball and they are both looking forward to the season starting.

Abby playing volleyball (#15)
And at basketballMicah had his first soccer game Saturday and his team won 6-4! He did really good out on the field and we all had fun watching him and cheering him on.

For school the past week, Micah and Esther have been reading The Raft and they learned about Rivers, Wisconsin, Animals and family trees and real trees!
Here they are trying a little Wisconsin cheese...

They made corn bread just like Grandma in the book did and just like the boy in the book, they got to try it with honey or maple syrup. Esther liked the honey and Micah, the maple syrup.

I also have a sweet online friend that lives in Wisconsin so the kids compiled a list of questions about living there and emailed them to her. The enjoyed getting her answers back and both thought we just go on a field trip to Wisconsin because it looked like a fun state.

We also had our 3 month post placement visit this week. I cannot believe we have been home 3 months. The kids have adjusted beautifully and we are so thankful for that and for them.

We are expecting cooler weather this weekend, which makes me sooooo happy. I love fall so much and am ready for jeans, sweatshirts and some pumpkin spice lattes! We have a home school picnic and soccer this weekend so it should be a great relief from the heat!

Lunch with Pawpaw and Grandma

Pawpaw's ( Greg's dad) birthday is this coming Monday and they are up at their cabin in western North Carolina this week. So we drove over to Asheville yesterday to meet them for lunch. It was a beautiful day and the leaves are just starting to change in the mountains. We had a good time with them even though it was short!Pawpaw let every one chose something from the cracker barrel country store. Please check out Esther's mask! Sarah Faith slept through most of lunch because she didn't get much of a nap on the way over. I did pick her up the CUTEST bumble bee costume for Halloween I cannot wait for her to wear!Micah and Nate love the checker game at CB . In fact Micah downloaded checkers on his Ipod to practice for next time there is a match!
Grandma and the girls.

Even though it was a short visit and we didn't get to go to the cabin, we had a good day. Cant wait to go back over to that side of the state next month and see all the beautiful leaves!

Happy Birthday Pawpaw! We love you!!

Family Photo Shoot

When my sister was in visiting from Colorado in July, we drove up to Virginia to see her and we also had a family photo shoot. It was in Riner, Va, where my family owns property where my great grandparents lived. I love the "Old Rock House" and the property and thought it would be a perfect location for pictures. It was so HOT...close to 100 degrees the afternoon we took pictures, but everyone did really well, no major meltdowns! Here are a few of my favorites:The Mullis 7
With Nana, Gramps and Jodi
With Gramps and Nana
Me and my sister Jodi
The kids with Aunt Jodi