Snowmen

While Ryan was at Duke, Peter and Emma made a snow man!
He unfortunately didn't make it through the day due to the down pouring of rain that came!

More snow...

There's only about two reasons why I was glad to see more snow when I looked out the window this morning. One reason is purple and the other is navy!
It may have been a bit of a hasty decision but I searched the Lands End website for snow boots four days ago. I happened upon a pair at a children's consignment shop about 3 years ago. They have been passed from Emma to Ryan and are still in great shape. I bit the bullet and bought her and Ryan a pair for this year and next and perhaps the next! They arrived in a huge box yesterday. Just in time for another snowy day. I am laughing at myself as I listen to the snow hit against the window. When it started snowy this morning, I told them, "It won't be as much snow as it was last week." Funny- I said that before and we ended up with 10 inches. It's been 1 hour since I said that and the roads are completely white. Maybe one day I'll learn! Roxboro is definitely snow country.

off to school

Today is Ryan's first and probably only day to go to school with Philip. What makes a little guy more excited than to finally have his turn going to school at Duke? Not much around here!

guess who

So it's Nathan again! I am thinking that 7 months is Nathan's time to shine. He seems to be full of new tricks every time I turn around. Maybe I should say, every time I get another video uploaded. This one is from last week.
It is so helpful when babies learn how to feed themselves Cheerios! It has taken Nathan about 3 weeks to get the hang of it. However, that also means that now he puts every dropped crumb, piece of dirt, Lego and whatever his little fingers can get a hold of into his mouth. I'm glad I captured a few more of those sweet kisses. He hasn't been doing them lately. However, he has learned yet another trick....stay tuned!

Nathan...again

So, I'll admit I've been on a bit of a Nathan kick lately. However, I've been meaning to try to capture him on video for a while now. He is beginning to spend some time on "all 4s". I have begun to warn the children that life will change very soon. In their world that means - no more legos on the floor...
About a week ago, we noticed that Nathan would make this "kissing sound". This is Ryan and I trying to entice him into making it. We worked hard to only get 1 little pucker( at about 13 seconds). Watch closely...

Last night, I heard Nathan crying at about 11:30pm. I went to check on him and he was sitting up. Poor guy; I don't think he knew what to do with himself.

Bubbles

The last few weeks have been rather full here at home. We are settling into a good routine with our school work. I'm sure that it will all change very soon. It always seems to work that way at least. I'm not sure why sitting in water is more exciting than sitting on the carpet (and chewing on toys) but Nathan loves the tub. When I bring him in to the bathroom and he sees the tub full of water he practically jumps out of my arms.
I don't particulary enjoy this age and the bath tub. I'm thankful that he has a few older siblings that can keep an eye on him in the tub.
I may be biased but he sure is a cutie!

My three amigos

I sometimes pause and realize that I have three boys. That makes me think of muddy clothes, lots of food, noise, wide open spaces, Star Wars, shooting each other and well the list could go on and on. I have 3 boys. Sometimes, I just need to say it again and again to let it slip into my mind. What is somebody like me, who had only a sister, going to do with 3 boys. I have no idea. I pray that we always live somewhere where we have a backyard with wide open spaces, a safe place for exploration and trees.
Forgive me if I've written about this before. There was a Dr. appt. I had sometime in February of last year. The scales showed that I had gained 6 lbs in 4 weeks. I was a tad upset (for a variety of reasons)! Honestly, one being that I knew that this meant I was having a boy. It was just one of those things that I just knew; I wasn't 100% sure. This happened to also be the day that Philip's car died by the way. I was quite upset when I got home- about the weight - about not having a girl. Philip lovingly told me, "Sweetheart, boys will always take good care of their mothers". I knew what he meant. He didn't mean that girls won't. I have seen from his life and his brother's that those boys DO take care of their mothers. I'm not exactly sure why I'm writing this but it was just on my mind and so here you have it!
Maybe it's because we've been looking through old photos lately. Oh my- do these boys look like they fell from the same apple tree. Maybe it's because of the long conversation I had with Peter this morning. He just couldn't understand why Ryan loves to play with his Star Wars Legos. Maybe it's because Emma's been sick for 4 days and somewhat "out of the picture" on the couch.

Boone vacation.

Well, I have neglected to post the rest of our vacation pictures. It shouldn't be too hard because we don't have many pictures. Other than the ski trip, we only really ventured out one other day. Thursday there was heat wave. The high that day was 32! We decided to take a walk on a greenway trail and then head to Mellow Mushroom. We found an icy hill along our walk and Philip showed them how to slide down. Needless to say, their "tired legs" were miraculously healed and we had to drag them away.


We had a terrific time on vacation building memories. In the words of Philip's dad, "this was truly the best skiing ever".

Ski bunnies

The crew left he cabin about this morning ready to hit the slopes. I sure hope they are able to stay warm in the frightfully cold weather. It has yet to stop snowing here at the cabin, so I really hope they can make it back home this afternoon. Nathan and I won't be venturing out to visit the skiers as I normally do. I will have to rely on their stories to fill me in.

Vacation 2010

I do believe that this trip will go down in the history books of the Chryst family vacations. We arrived to Boone Monday around 11am. The temperature was 16 degrees and it was already snowing. I don't believe the temp. has gotten much above 25 and it has barely stopped snowing. We weren't able to head towards our cabin until about 4pm on Monday. By then the roads had really collected snow and I was beginning to get a bit nervous about making it to our cabin. We were thankful to see that the road into our neighborhood had recently been plowed. Philip cautiously began our assent up the road. With our cabin in sight, we had one last tricky curve to get by. We made two attempts and realized we weren't going to make it. Philip got out of the car to look around. An angel appeared behind us in the form of a maintenance serviceman who was heading to our cabin to check on the hot tub. He gave Philip some great advice about how to climb the final curve. With increased confidence, Philip reversed down the hill to try again this time with more momentum. That's the key!
We made it to our neighbors drive way. Philip and Peter trudged back and forth hauling in all of our belongings and groceries. After the hauling was complete, Philip and the "angel " shoveled out a path for the van and laid as much salt as we could find. The angel helped Philip to get the van into our driveway. If our "angel" had not appeared at the exact time he did then I am not sure what we would have done. It was been a wonderful story for the kids to experience how God provides for us in the form of people!After all that hard work, the kids and Philip jumped into the (outdoor) hot tub. I wish you could see the ice that formed on their hair. Philip's towel was even frozen when he came inside!

New Year's Eve

Ryan is definitely in that stage of boyhood when he prefers to be at his dad's side. Even if it means being outside in a cold garage changing oil on the van. Ryan had a blast especially when he brought out "his" tools.
The Graduate school offered tickets to all students and their families for the Duke game on New Year's eve. Philip couldn't pass up this opportunity to take the kids to a men's basketball game. They had a great time. I opted to stay home with Nathan because Philip and I get to go to the game Sunday night.
We're in the final stages of packing for our 4th annual Boone family vacation. I think this year will set the record for the coldest temperatures!!

2009 in reveiw

Here's our pictorial year in review!
There's hardly a better way to start off the new year than a family vacation!
Boone in January

February trip to the beach

Birthday boys in March (Grandpa Hink turned 89 while Ryan turned 3.)

Duke Gardens in April

Emma's Birthday in May

June 13th: Nathan James Chryst was born!

July was big month for us! Nathan had lots of family to meet. Here he is with his Great Grandmother Hink (DeAnne's grandma)

Here are the cousins from DeAnne's side.
This is the Chryst grandchildren with Great Gram (Philip's grandma)

August with Mr. McFeely- (Not sure where Peter's Birthday pictures are.)

Septmeber in the Duke Gardens

October means NC State fair

November family photos by Kate Turner Pope

December in the snow