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

Christmas Eve

It's nearly time for the Christmas Eve service to start. Philip has the oldest 3 over at church preparing for the service. Nathan and I are spending a little more time indoors before we make our way to the church.
I made the executive decision early this month that we would "draw names". For a variety of reasons ranging from intentionality, financial, and creative I thought this would be a good idea for us.
Here's the listing:
Nathan drew me.
Ryan drew Nathan.
Emma drew Philip.
Peter drew Ryan.
Philip drew Peter.

I have marveled at the conversations that have been going on around me for the last week as the kids have talked (secretly) about what they thought the other would like. My favorite has been Ryan's. Upon finding out that he drew Nathan's name immediately Ryan declared," I'll get Nathan a paci. He loves his paci.". He wasn't deterred either when he arrived at Walmart with the assignment of buying a gift for Nathan. It was a new paci that he picked out.
Actually, all the gifts that were picked out were thoughtful and sweet. I look forward to tomorrow when they are able to give to each other what they picked out.

Children's Choir

The kids sang during worship this Sunday. I remembered to bring my camera with me so I could record it. I must warn you that the quality is poor and you hear Nathan fussing throughout. Oh- and it's really long! Other than that- the kiddos are cuties!

Weights

Nathan had his 6 month check up today. He passed with flying colors and an ear infection. I had no idea that he might have an ear infection. He has been rather fussy since Sunday but I attributed it to "teeth". Poor guy...I'm thankful we caught it before he was completely miserable.
I dug out our files on the kids to compare their weights at 6 months.
Peter: 19 lbs 6 oz and 28 1/4 inches
Emma: 15 lbs 8 oz and 25 1/2 inches
Ryan: 17 lbs 6 oz and 27 3/4 inches
Nathan: 15 lbs and 15 oz and 26 1/4 inches

I remembered Peter being "big" but I had forgotten he was that big.

Snow news

The snow started falling as predicted this afternoon. Emma rushed outside to play in the snow. Philip had Peter and Ryan with him running errands and Nathan was asleep so I joined Emma outside. She was so excited about the snow. I mentioned to her not to get her hopes up because it would probably be a few hours before the snow stuck to the ground. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. A little less than thirty minutes later we had about an inch accumulation. What seemed like an eternity to Emma, her brothers and daddy finally got home. They eagerly dressed in their ski pants and boots and headed outside.
Nathan enjoyed his first experience out in the snow. He even braved a hike in the woods behind our house and remained wide eyed the entire time. Speaking of wide eyes, look at those blue eyes.

It tastes "Yum"

Ten years and two months I have been married to Philip and I can not recall him ever even mentioning that he likes a dill pickle with peanut butter. Well, for some reason, it was on this day that he remembered and stuck a pickle in the midst of his peanut butter sandwich. After that was done, it was straight to the pickle.

Emma and I were not impressed with this combination. Actually, it makes my teeth hurt just thinking about it. Ryan and Peter, however, LOVED it and have asked for it every day since.

1/2 year day

It still surprises me how quickly time does pass. Will the next 6 months pass even quicker than the first? I hope not. My baby is growing up! I know; I know. It's only been six months and he still has a lot of baby left in him.This little guy continues to amaze me at the amount of food he can put away. It wasn't until 6 months that I even began to think about starting cereal with the older three. Nathan, well he's had carrots, peas, apples, bananas, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, pears, sweet potatoes and green beans. The boy loves to eat.

Ode to Joy

Can you hear the music coming from our home? If I was clever enough I would attach this song to my post. Today is party day here in the Chryst home. We have made it through 7 out of 8 semesters. Well, I should clarify, at 5pm when all 40 pages have been turned in then Philip will have completed his semester. For us at home, we are already breathing easier just know that today is the day. I can remember this day 3 years ago when Philip completed his first semester. I remember him saying, "Sweetheart, I'm 1/8th of the way through.". Holy cow, we have come a long way. I think this semester comes in a very close second (in hardness) to that first one. I am so glad that things got easier before we got slammed with this semester. I mean I even thought it would be a good idea to have a 4th child! Thank God for his divine providence that Nathan was born over the summer and he has been a dream baby.
I remember the day that I wrote this post. I am not positive but I think I did succeed in cherishing this semester more than I begrudged it. I still take the time to rock Nathan a little bit longer than I know I "should" sometimes. I savor his baby sweetness and intentionally get down on the floor to play with him when I should have been preparing dinner. I am a bit teary eyed though when I read that post. It's tempting to think of all that I didn't accomplish but I will not. In fact, since it's 6:50am and the kids are still asleep, I think I have just decided that we will not crack open all our books today. We will celebrate; laugh together; read together; play together and wait for the door to open and Philip to walk through. Then we will continue to celebrate - at least until it's time to go to Cub Scouts!
I am proud of you , Philip. You have worked incredibly hard this semester. I am truly in awe of all you do for our family, the church and those around you. I may be a bit biased but you are an incredible man with a heavy load to carry that doesn't seem to dampen that smile of yours. We love you.

A new addition

Emma, Ryan and myself spent about an hour yesterday learning about Christmas symbols. We talked about why we have Christmas trees in our homes. We talked about the traditions that we carry on that have nothing to do with celebrating the Birth of Christ and we talked about those traditions that prepare our hearts for Jesus. We have this conversation yearly. I'm always curious what will be remembered and what will have been forgotten. Our family doesn't "do" Santa Claus. We read about St. Nicholas yesterday. We talked about how Americans have taken the person of St. Nicholas and created a tradition called Santa Claus. Emma and I even practiced how to respond to the questions she will get like, "What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?".
I'm excited that our family is participating in collecting money for Stop Hunger Now this month. We got a received a calendar at church with suggestions for donations. I was proud of Peter and Emma as they eagerly ran to their wallets. Tuesday's suggestion was to contribute $0.25 for every person in your family as you share a meal together. I hope that it's through these little opportunities to give and our many conversations that the hearts of our children will be shaped to reflect the true meaning of Christmas.As we were outside this morning, making our house ready for winter. We were surprised with a visit. Mr. Gene and Ms. Bobby made this snowman family for us! Aren't they just precious.

Llama llama

The library hosted Llama llama this week for story time. It was the first time this guy has been to see us. Emma was with our a friend delivering Meals on Wheels. She requested a photo!
Ryan was not at all interested in getting up close. As you can see from the picture, Llama llama was a bit TALL.
Peter got the chance to spend some time with my parents this week. It's quite different around here with out him. I'm not exactly sure how to describe it other than different! I sent along a backpack full of school work so we'll see if he gets any of it done.

Happy Thanksgiving

We traveled to Matthews for Thanksgiving this year. I forgot to bring my camera and our jackets! However, we had a great time with family and friends. Today we spent the day trying to get back in order. In the past few days Nathan has figured out that he can roll around to get places. This morning I found him playing in his toy basket!

Baby food business

Nathan has come a long way in his experience with food over the last two weeks. He started like this
After about 3 days of trying rice cereal, I relented to the fact that my baby boy may be interested in something with a little flavor. So I whipped up a leftover sweet potato. Nathan went to town (as they say). I realized quickly that our food budget will be going up!

We moved quickly from the sweet potato to mashed bananas to green beans and to butternut squash. After he devoured an entire banana with little interest in the rice cereal, I ground some oatmeal we had in the pantry.

Can you tell that he's a little more interested?

This morning Ryan fed Nathan, Emma restrained his hands and I smiled on the inside!
I toyed with the idea of actually purchasing baby food (as a supplement) this time around. After seeing how much this boy can already put away, I quickly did the math and realized that it would cost at least $1.50 per meal to fill him up. I'm way too much of a cheap skate to dish that out. So I'm in the baby food making business again.

Ryan

I often wonder how Ryan will "turn out" when he grows up. I was tickled when I found him the other day peacefully sleeping with books all around. I know that the time I spend with him is much different than the one on one time Peter got and for that matter the one on two time that Emma got. It's always encouraging to find any of the kids snuggled in with books.

5 months

It's hard to believe that Nathan has crossed into the 5 month stage. It seems like just yesterday he was
and now he's sitting up, laughing, drooling and
.

Family Friday

This week we decided to head to downtown Raleigh to visit the NC History museum. It's been a long time since we've visited and the kids have never been. I was glad we got there right when the museum opened. We were able to get through the majority of the exhibits before the hoards of school children arrived.

After we finished the museum we had a snack and then headed to Applebee's for lunch! Yes, I gave my kids a snack right before lunch. It was a beautiful day to spend in Raleigh and with the family.

After our lunch, we headed to Cary for a visit with my grandparents. It was a fun day.

Mondays

I have yet another confession to make: I like Mondays. I'm actually a bit tempted to say that I love Mondays. For me they bring a fresh beginning, a renewed vision and a return to structure and routine. I have found myself just really enjoying Mondays. We seem to really get a lot accomplished in the home on Monday. I'm excited (and not tired) about what's to come for the week. Here's a picture I snapped this morning.
People often ask how school is going since Nathan's been born. I typically respond that now it's a piece of cake compared to what it will be like when he becomes mobile!
Peter's collecting rocks.
Emma's cutting out pictures of unicorns for a book we're writing together.
Ryan's trying to stay out of trouble
Nathan's chewing on his toys! What could be better on a Monday morning.

Pumpkins

It's confession time. I have been totally unmotivated this last week. Let me clarify; unmotivated in some areas of life. I did accomplish some important tasks like grocery shopping for the week, fixing dinners, and even went to story time at the Library. However, I have been not been motivated to get pumpkins for the kids. Thankfully, we had some pumpkins delivered to us! They were a bit to small to carve and I was too unmotivated to let the kids paint them. So I had no other choice but to give them permanent markers. Thankfully, there were no clothing casualties. Had Philip been home more than just one night this week, I might have actually purchased a big pumpkin for us to carve. But that was definitely not something I was interested in doing solo! I will miss the roasted pumpkin seeds this year.

However, I think I may have gotten one of my best compliments ever this morning. Last night when I was at Walmart, I picked up a container of Perler beads. Two friends of mine told me about them yesterday and I thought the kids would really like them. Emma found them on the counter first this morning. She said to me, "Mommy you acted like Gram and Granny. You bought us something that you thought we would like.". OK- so I could be easily offended by this but I'm choosing to be complimented. She speaks volumes in that and I'm OK with it! She's true; I don't often buy them the extras that they would love to have. Oh, I highly recommend the Perler beads! I will be buying more and suggesting to the grandmas that they buy them too!!!

Here they are....

I'm sure you have all been as eager as I have been to see what pictures Kate took!
Here's a slide show she put together. We are so thrilled with what she got. It's so hard to pick my favorites so PLEASE leave a comment on which are yours!.

http://katepope.zenfolio.com/p1055932523

What is to come

So "I reconnected with a friend of mine from high school on facebook". How many times have I said that lately! Anyway, Kate and I went to youth group together. Both of our families moved away from Raleigh so I haven't seen her since I graduated. Although, she's and I are now back in the Triangle. She was gracious enough to photograph our family on Sunday. We met her on the grounds outside of Duke Chapel for our session. I have been hemming and hawing over clothes for the kids for about 2 weeks. I didn't want to spend a fortune but I wanted us to look coordinated. I will do things a lot differently next year. Let's just say, I'm thinking that Land's End may be my friend for coordinating infant through boys sizes along with a matching dress.

I digress, she posted two "teasers" on my facebook page. They are amazing. I can't wait to see the rest this week. I'll be sure to share when I get the album. I'm thinking that Christmas shopping is all wrapped up!

Family Fun day

Today's family day was spent at the Fair!!! This year we brought along reinforcements. I was so thankful that my Aunt Carolyn was able to join us. She was Nathan's personal assistant. He hardly knew what to do with himself having an adult all to himself. We like getting there early so we don't have to fight the crowds and can enjoy the exhibits without having to wade through gobs of onlookers.
One of Philip's favorite fair foods is a hand dipped corn dog. The day has to begin with one.
This year we bought advanced ride tickets. The kids had the chance to ride lots of rides, well at least lots from my perspective!
Nathan got to enjoy his first Fair with a free diaper from Huggies! We entered the drawing to win 6 months of free diapers. I think he liked it.

Here's pictures from Fair 2008 and 2007

Day 9

It's been 9 days since the first of 4 fevers came upon our home. Thankfully, we did get a few outings in between occurrences. Mostly, though we have been staying around here. Today, Philip offered to bring Peter to school with him. They will have a great time together staying late in the night. Philip wanted to stay for a lecture from one of his favorite professors. So, we've done a lot of...coloring, blowing noses, washing hands, coughing, eating whatever I could come up with, watching cartoons and reading a few books. We are heading to the fair tomorrow. It may not be the best idea but it's the fair. How could you miss it?

the crud

Well, I'm here writing in the midst of the crud! I'm so ever thankful that it's not the flu. We seem to be on wave #2 of the crud (with a low fever). Peter started us out last week just in time for Philip to head out of town on his Walk to Emmaus retreat! So not only was I going solo for about 4 days, I had one sick. In retrospect...having Peter on the couch for 2 days wasn't all that bad. Am I horrible for just saying that?
About two weeks ago, Nathan starting rolling over! I often forget to just let him lie on the floor so he doesn't get much practice. I'm kinda afraid he might get run over if I'm not sitting with him. I need to post a guard!
The morning that Philip was leaving for school and then Emmaus, he lovingly got the exercise saucer out of the attic. I am so glad he did because Nathan really likes it!
Nathan had the fever for about 12 hours but that's it! He still has a runny nose but who knows; it could be teeth!??
Emma and Ryan are now down on the couch. I'm hoping they recover as quickly as Peter did. We have plans to go to the Fair on Friday!

4 months

Where has the time gone?
Nathan is still such a delight. He has just recently figured out how to roll over both directions. He's figured out how to grasp things and reach for things like his pacifer. Nathan is one loved little brother. It is a constant discussion concerning who is going to talk to him, push him in the stroller, play with him, feed him an occasional bottle and the list goes on.