We're off

I realized that I have neglected my blog here in the last few weeks. I guess the change of routine and days filled with activity kept me busy. I do want to jot down some of our favorite happenings from this Christmas holiday.
1. Extended time with family.
2. Great food: ham and poppy seed rolls (Philip had never had them!), chocolate peanut butter balls, Moravian cake, fruit salad...need I add to the list-
3. Parties and dinner with friends.
4. Warm days with Carolina blue skies - I have no need for a white Christmas!

5. Getting to go on vacation!!!
Which is where our family will head tomorrow morning. We are going to spend a few more days in Charlotte and then head to Boone. We are looking forward to a wonderful time away with lots of hiking, skiing, hot chocolate and relaxing.

Sickness....

We had a wonderful visit to Charlotte this week. I love going to see Philip's family. There is always great conversations, great food, games to play, shopping to do, eating out and this time cookies to bake. We tried a new restaurant this time; Hawthorne's. It was great. The only bad thing is I'll have to drive to Charlotte to get those yummy sweet wings that I can't seem to get out of my mind. Upon arriving home and removing some very tired young people out of the car I noticed that Ryan was a bit warm. Sure enough- he awoke from his nap with a slight fever on Friday night. Without going into too many details, they seem to have all come down with something. Ryan is walking around saying, "I got a beaver". He means fever! So for the first time that I can ever remember, all 3 kids are sick and we are staying home from church.
I'm glad for Sunday morning cartoons and a little extra time to catch up on laundry. Soon I'll break out our Bible card games that the kids just got and we'll have a home church. Peter already offered to preach!

Applesauce Ornaments

I have some fond memories of making these ornaments at some point in my childhood. We made them a few years ago with the kids and I tackled the project last week. I was surprised at how well they all did and how easy they were.
It was really a fun project. One tip for those who might try it. You do need a lot of cinnamon so try to find it cheap. I found some at Walmart for $.50 a container.

Something to be jealous about

Now that's the kind of nap I want to take! That is Emma under that huge book!

A baby spotting

Well, the inevitable has finally happened; twice in one week. Earlier this week a friend was over in the evening and lovingly mentioned, "Oh, I can see the baby". Granted this was one of the nicest ways that I have experienced someone saying, "your belly is getting big!". I agreed that in the evenings the "baby" was good at making itself visible. However, somewhere between then and today the "baby" is making itself visible throughout the day. This morning at church, there was another sighting. So at 14 weeks, I am officially showing! I can't believe it has happened this early.
Although, my first trimester was hardly anything to complain about it is nice to have some energy back. However the indigestion has carried itself through and is helping me to not eat so much. At least, if I would listen to my body, I would know not to eat that second helping. I have yet to really experience any cravings. Well, there was a hot fudge sunday from McDonald's that I really wanted but that was only once! I am sure that even before I would have registered as pregnant, my coffee taste buds were turned off. I can now mildly enjoy a small half a cup of coffee if I really need a pick me up but it is nothing like before. Oh the joys of pregnancy!
I heard the heart beat on Thursday. It was 162! So I can't remember if that's fast or slow or if that means a boy or a girl....either way it's always reassuring to hear that lovely sound.

Bunk Beds

The kids have known for a while that once their dad got finished with this semester we would be bunking their beds. Well, as soon as we starting making congratulations posters they figured out that it was bunk bed time. No rest for the weary- Philip was a great sport. He'd been up since 2am but lovingly put together their beds with the help of a good friend. It wouldn't have been half as challenging if I hadn't thrown away the pieces a mere month ago. Who would have thought that the "broken wind chimes" in the junk drawer would have been the pieces needed to connect the bunk beds. Fortunately, I'm blessed with a very forgiving and creative husband who with the help of Mr. Branden rectified my error!

Needless to say- the kids have spent a lot of time in their rooms this week.

Confessions

I often get this question from friends or people I meet, "What does your day look like?". I think this question is mostly stemmed from the unknown of homeschooling but it also comes because we don't turn our tv on during the week (mostly). Well, I chuckled to myself yesterday when I found this happening under my nose! I just wanted to share what we do....

I'm not sure why but Ryan kept saying, "Gram will be proud of me". I have no idea why but he thought she'd be!

Marriage advice

One afternoon this week, Peter and I were sitting at the kitchen table working on school work. Out of the blue he says, "Do you know what's good about getting married?".
"No, what is good about it?"
Peter answers, " You can marry anybody you want to as long as they aren't sinners."

Isn't that great! I did contemplate whether to leave it as is or to correct his thought process. I chose to remind him that we are all sinners!

Thankskgiving Times

We spent the last few days at my parents house with my sister and her family. She and her husband also have 3 children. So we had 6 kids all under the age of 7 and 1/2 under one roof. We definitely spent as much time outdoors as we could. I was so thankful for the nice weather and the super find at the Salvation Army- 5 pairs of in line roller blades. It was also a bag sale and 50% off so we spent maybe 4 dollars on all 5 pairs!

This is the crew!

The even bigger crew on the steps of my parents house

We were finding fossils and shells!

Peter was listening intently for the "voice of the ocean" with my sister's guidance.

Although it had been since February that our families have been together, the kids let nothing stop them from where they left off. Emma and Charlotte took to each other like
"two peas in a pod".

I am thankful that we got to spend Thanksgiving together and my kids are truly developing wonderful relationships with their cousins.

Off to school....

Since our kids don't go to public school, they have yet (and probably won't) experience that "off to school" landmark. However, they do have an amazing opportunity because they are home schooled. Today, Emma left at 7:00am to go to Duke. Philip has started a tradition with the kids that each semester he will take one of them to school with him for the day. This was Emma's turn and today was Philip's last day of class. She has been so excited about this day since the beginning of his semester. She had her backpack packed in September (we did have to unpack it). She will sit in on all four Philip's classes; they'll attend chapel services together, go out for lunch, share an ice cream cone and have hot chocolate. She is so excited. In her backpack she has two new coloring books, her notebook, box of crayons and pencils, a snack and a drink. I'm hoping the new coloring books will keep her occupied through the long day of classes.
Maybe one of these semester's I'll get a chance to go to classes!

"Go and See"

Peter and his father started Cub Scouts this fall. It has been a great fit for Peter. He loves it. I have really seen him flourish and get excited about the activities, electives and assignments they have. I also love that it is something that he and his dad can do together but at the same time it is family friendly on days when the rest of us get to come along. This morning the Cub Scouts met at the Christian Help Center to turn in the food the boys had collected to stock their food pantry.

Second Snow

This is officially the second snow of November. We all awoke to the sight of snow on the ground. Everyone dressed quickly and we headed out to enjoy it before it melted!
Ryan was a bit in awe.
I guess you always have that need to just taste the snow! This happens to be part of a trailer that was in the church parking lot.
We have had hay bales in the church field for a while now. Peter and Emma were trying desperately to roll them. They tried this way....
then this way- No luck either way!
I suppose this is one of the occasions that it worked out for the early bird. Since we were back in side by 7:45 and the snow had all but melted within the next hour!

Playing in the leaves...

If you read Saturday's post, you read that my kids decided to live outside for the day. They couldn't have picked a better day because the temperatures hovered in the 60s and have since plummeted to the 40s! They really did stay outside for about the whole day. Everyone took about a 2 hour inside afternoon break but bounded back out when that was over. When Philip was done with work he set out to mow up some leaves. Unfortunately, the mower wasn't cooperating so we brought out the rakes. The kids were happy for the adult interaction and a little bit of leaf jumping fun!
Ryan was actually able to hang on to that boat until the very end. He did end up losing it but I'm not sure if he remembers!
That night, both boys attempted to sleep outside (under the watchful eye of their father). However, they quickly opted for their warm soft bed....maybe next time!

Shoe boxes

Here's a shot from our churches fellowship hall as some of us gathered to assembly boxes for Operation Christmas child.

Living outside

Last night at the dinner table, Peter asked me if he could sleep outside. Philip was not with us because he was helping a friend pack a moving truck. I am trying to be supportive of Peter's need for "adventure" and be a "good" mom for boys. So I said, hmm- you know it's cold, rainy and wet outside. Those obvious facts didn't seem to deter Peter's desire to camp outside. So my next strategy was delay until dad came home. I told the kids they could sleep in sleeping bags on their floors.
Philip got home in the nick of time- he granted Peter permission to sleep outside! Peter promptly went out to make himself a cozy bed in a pile of leaves. It's about 8:00, mind you. Not long after, Peter comes rushing in and declares he heard wolves howling and maybe he should hear a bed time story. After a few more tries outside, Peter decides it's a bit scary and he would rather sleep inside on his sleeping back.
This morning as Peter awoke and he headed directly outside to live. It has turned out to be a warmer day than usual. He managed to convince his sister and brother to go and live with him. He also managed to convince me that he needed some apples and bananas to eat since there wasn't any food outside to eat.

Calzones

I was inspired last week to try out homemade Calzones for dinner. My good friend, Michelle, gave me the idea and lead me through the steps (via email).
The were easy to make and very yummy. I started out with the frozen white bread loaves (from Walmart). After the loaves thawed out, Emma and I set to work rolling and stretching them out. That was surprisingly harder than I expected and I was truly tempted to try and toss them in the air! After filling them with pizza sauce, cheese and left over smoked sausage, they baked beautifully in the oven for 14 minutes. I definitely have some techniques to master as some of the calzones opened while baking! Philip declared them a definite "keeper" to my list of meals. I am very sure the kids liked them because there was little talking and mischief at the table.

Thanks Michelle!

And five becomes....

Six!

"The Chryst family is here and my mommy is having a baby" exclaims Peter. That is what Peter said to the very first person he saw after we entered the doors of the OB office last Friday afternoon.
Philip and I have kept the news quiet of my pregnancy in anticipation of this first visit. We sprang the news on the kids in the parking lot moments before my appt. The kids were excited to say the least. For every person they saw they all shared that "my mommy is having a baby". Ryan, however, was announcing to everyone, "I'm so excited. I'm having a baby.". Needless, to say they filled the waiting room with joy and excitement over the new idea of a baby brother or sister.

They were fascinated by the ultrasound and who couldn't be. Even though this was my 4th one, I am continued to be amazed by the wonder of pregnancy. Even after 10 short weeks of development, this baby has a distinguishable head, arms, legs, heart beat and ear.

It has been neat to absorb all the comments from the kids as the day has progressed.
Peter has been very practical. As I was getting my blood pressure taken just beside the waiting room, I hear Peter saying, "Oh- Where is the baby going to sleep?" Philip responds, "what do you think?". Peter thinks, " Oh, we still have Ryan's crib. It's in the attic. You'll have to get it down for the new baby.".

Emma has been quietly planning. She will keep to herself for a while and then comes out with," I know where the baby bottles are. We should get them down." " I have 3 blankets. I will give the baby one of mine.". "There are 4 of us now. Peter can take care of Ryan. Daddy will take care of mommy and I(Emma) will take of the baby." "Oh, you're going to get a really big tummy." She wants to know who is going to take care of them when we have to go to the hospital. She wants to know what will the baby's pj's look like. She knows where the baby toys are kept. Since the concept of time is basically irrelevant to her I have been telling her that the baby will not be born until after her birthday(May 27th) and we really don't need to get ready until she turns 5.

Ryan- well he's reacting like a typical 2 year old. "I'm excited. I'm going to have a baby."!

So I am indeed blessed to be pregnant for the 4th time. We are expecting this bundle of joy to come on June 11th. It happens to be my father's birthday but I wouldn't mind if the baby didn't quite make it that long.

I can't hear you

So yesterday afternoon, I was trying to sneak in a few minutes to read my book while the kids were playing by themselves. Soon enough, Emma found me on the couch and asked what I was doing. I told her, "I am reading a book".
She of course asked, "Will you read it to me?".
I replied, "No, this is just a book for Mommy to read to myself because I like to read."
She said, " I don't hear you reading."
I said, "I am reading silently; to myself."

She thought and then put her ear up to my ear and listened. Then she said, " I still can't hear you reading.".

I guess when your 4 and your total concept of reading for you is to have someone read aloud to you or to read aloud to yourself; it's a little confusing to see somebody reading silently!

Beach review

Our time at the beach was great. Everything was wonderful expect that Philip couldn't be with us. It definitely put a damper on things but we tried to stay positive. We headed to Wilmington first thing Thursday afternoon so we could play with old friends and meet a new brother.
We headed straight for the beach on Friday and spent most of the day there. It was truly such a blessing to be able to enjoy such a beautiful day at the beach. Peter spent most of the time like this...digging, digging and digging.
The skies stayed blue until Saturday afternoon. It was lots of fun to see all the fisherman that were lining the coast in hopes of a big bite. Ryan was with us but he wasn't being very photogenic!

Beach time

It's that time of year when Philip heads off with the youth to Pilgrimage. I joined the group last year but this year I offered my spot to other loving adults who desperately wanted to chaperon!
The kids and I are going to spend some quality time at the beach. I am so looking forward to a warm sun shiny day and a walk on the beach! The kids have lots planned themselves but their ideas mostly revolve around candy, tv and maybe Chinese food!

Halloween

It was about 30 minutes before we were going to leave for a Fall Festival on Halloween night and I decided to help the kids get dressed up. We have never worn costumes for evening events so the kids were a little confused about actually wearing them outside the house.

After spending a couple of hours at the Fall Festival eating hot dogs, bouncing in bouncy things, playing games, eating fresh Kettle corn,we headed to a friends' house to do some real trick or treating. Yet another first in our family- trick or treating to people we don't know. It was fun and now I'm ready for the candy to be gone!!

Carving Pumpkins

We reserved tonight for out night of carving pumpkins. Since it is so very cold we had to do it inside this year!
Ryan really enjoyed scooping out the gunk in the pumpkin. He continued to play with the pumpkin insides for at least an hour!
Don't let Emma's smile fool you. She was saying," gross, ewe, I don't like this, this feels yucky" the entire time! She finally empties her pumpkin with help from Daddy.

Peter was a champ this year. No complaints from him except we wouldn't let him carve. Maybe next year.
Finished products! Check out last year's post....my little babies are growing up

The Fair

We headed to the NC State fair last Friday. The day was cold but enjoyable none the less.
This was Ryan's first fair ride and he even did it on his own! He's such a big boy!
This is what Peter and Emma chose as their first ride.
Philip's favorite thing about the fair is fresh corn dogs. We spotted this booth at 10:30 and dug in. They were really good! Better than the ones I made this summer.
The big pumpkins are always fun to see!

It figures...

Well, it took me a while to order my "digital/analog converter" coupon for out TV. Yes, we still use an antenna! After waiting about 4 weeks for the coupon, it takes me another few weeks to actually remember to buy the thing. So last night, we buy the converter and bring it home to a TV that is now on the brink. While looking through a screen of a million lines, we can see lots of possibilities of new channels! We even found a weather channel at least that's what it looks like it might be once we get a new TV.

Emma's future

Just a few mornings ago, Emma sleepily walked out of her room and found herself a spot on my lap in the kitchen. We were just sitting there; waking up; warming up and talking to the boys. Out of the blue she tells me.I have decided that I will have 2 job when I grow up. My first job will be to "tell people about God". My second job will be to work at the post office.
The man that I am going to marry will have 4 jobs. He will drive a train. His second job will be to be a stamp collector. His third job will be to fix trains and his fourth job will be to tell people about God in China. So together we will have 6 jobs. She also added that her children will have jobs. They will have to make their beds. Her monologue got a bit side tracked when Peter corrected her and said that children don't have jobs they have chores. She did continue a bit to include that either I or my mother would be caring for her children while she's working!

Wow- she really has been thinking. The train conductor deal comes from a story that my grandfather just told the kids a few weeks ago. Grandpa was telling them that his father was a train conductor. The stamp collecting comes from Peter. He has started to collect stamps.
China comes from one of our very first lessons last year. For some reason it has stuck with her all this time.
Now that I think about it, Emma really does like to talk about the future and make lists. I wonder if this is a an inherited trait?

camping by pictures

Here are some of my favorites...maybe somebody who knows what's going on will add captions!
(This is the one who knows chiming in ---- I don't know all of it but I do know some of it). Here the siblings are hugging while overlooking the southern view from Pilot Mountain.
So this is a picture of all of us ---- that being (from Right) Daisy (puppy dog), Uncle Pete, Peter, Philip and Emma.
We had just been climbing some rock faces and that is what it looks like when you are showing your muscles. That is one tough fella. Peter and Emma both hiked about 8 miles in 2 days on trails that were described as strenuous. The first day we ascended about 1,200 feet in elevation and then descended that same amount. The second day we probably did that over again ---- give or take a few hundred feet.
I thought that their mother would really like to see them standing in front of this sign. They are so cute.
As you can see ---- all of that hiking really wore them out. We all definitely slept well.

The Hilton

I think that was how Philip described their camping site. They opted to pay the $15.00/ night fee instead of hiking 1 mile into the "primitive" free camping site. When I spoke to them last night they were getting ready to dig into some MREs (meals ready to eat) for dinner and relax after a 5 mile hike.

I just had to chime in and acknowledge that this is still our 9th anniversary even if my hubby is off camping with the fellas and Emma! It's hard to believe it has been 9 years. I truly don't feel old enough to have been married that long!

0 dark ...

Sorry about the subject line but I forgot how that little cliche' goes. However, sometime before the sun comes up Philip, Peter and Emma will begin their annual camping adventure. This is the first year in 5 (I think) that they will actually be going in a relatively normal time of year. This trip usually occurs in December! However, they are taking it easy this year and going in the fall due to scheduling conflicts. I think they have everything packed but I'm not really worried because Uncle Peter (and his dog Daisy) will be joining them upon Pilot Mt for the next two nights. Uncle Peter is the man when it comes to camping, wilderness survival, planning, preparing and well everything! He's a former Marine and an current Army man and very protective of his nephew and niece! I feel safe.

Ryan and I will manage our own survival camp here in Roxboro. I think he will be going through some major withdrawals. Our plans are to head to Burlington tomorrow and hopefully score some major sales for winter clothes. Other than that, we will keep the home fires burning and hopefully tackle my list of things to get done.

Pray for the campers!

a fun find

A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of an easy picture editing site. I tried it out tonight and it was fun! This is my first creation. You should try it too!

http://www.picnik.com

unexpected day

Our Saturday turned out to be nothing like I expected. My first treat was to discover that Philip was planning on taking the morning off!!! That was exciting news for me and the kids. However, Ryan woke up with a high fever. He stumbled from his bed to the couch and remained their until about 5pm this evening. He was a pitiful site for the majority of the day.
I realized shortly into the morning that Ryan would be out of the picture and I should take advantage of this relative calm. I decided we would make cut-out sugar cookies. We had a good time although it was a bit frustrating at times.After the cookies and after lunch I realized that again, I should be creative and find something for us to do that we don't do often because of little toddler hands! This is what I found.

Happy Birthday

We love you and wanted to wish you the happiest of birthdays. I know you are going to blow the water out of your mid terms!!!! We are so proud of you and thankful that you are who we call daddy, friend and sweetheart.

Potty update

For those not interested in hearing details of potty action, you may just want to move on to your next blog read for the day! I am encouraged and I feel the need to share! I had marked my calendar about a month ago for this week to be the potty training week. The only thing we had on the calendar were the revival services in the evening which made for a pleasant time at home.
Ryan had been showing signs of being "ready" to train for several months so I knew I just needed to do it.
Day 1- Monday- Extremely frustrating to say the least. I am not sure what my expectations were but Ryan didn't jump right into the game. I was cleaning up accidents all day with no success in the actually potty. I remembered clearly having a similar first day with Peter so I committed myself to 3 days before I would give up.
Day 2- Tuesday- Mildly frustrating. It is so amazing how quickly his bladder muscle responded to not having a diaper. I won't go into details! However, we only had one small success with the actually potty but there were far less accidents to clean up
Day 3- Wednesday- A breakthrough at last! This boy currently has the bladder of a camel. He woke up with a full diaper and then didn't potty again until 11:30- I followed him around like a hawk all morning; we read on the potty, played games on the potty but no action. I finally relented, we went outside and I turned my back and the accident happened! It wasn't until 6:30 that he finally pee peed in the potty. We were forced to use the office bathroom. With a stroke of divine leading, I thought realized the candles. Ryan loves candles. I told him, "if you go potty I'll let you blow out the candles". It worked or he had no choice or he would explode. We had one more success before bedtime so I am encouraged! I think we might make it.

Wedding weekend

Well here are some shots from our weekend in Charlotte. Philip's cousin Noelle got married on Saturday and we had a great time being there.Here's the bride on their way to the car.
It's not too often we are all together and somewhat dressed up with a 6th person available to take the picture.