Happy Birthday Dad

We are excited about getting to be with my parents on my dad's birthday. This seems to be the year that everyone is understanding the fun that comes with Birthday's! My dad has requested a chocolate pecan pie for his big day!

Good times in Charlotte

When the Chryst family gets together it is a big group! It is so fun to be with everyone. This time the gathering was to honor Bob and Barb's 4oth wedding anniversary. It was a great reason to have a party!The family has gotten larger over the years so there are now 3 categories of tables. The little kids table, the big kids table and the grown ups! These are the little kids. It's always a toss up as to who gets to be at the big kids table. This time I was one of the lucky ones!
We were able to spend some time with Philip's grandmother on Monday morning. This is the first time that Gram has been able to see all of our kids at the same time. We had fun with Gram and I think her neighbors enjoyed our visit as well.

Friendly competetion

As I am raising two boys and in partnership with a great man, I am learning to understand the fine art of competetion. Until reading the book, The Wonder of Boys, I didn't appreciate or like for that matter the competitive spirit of my oldest son. It frankly got on my nerves that every little thing was a matter for competition. Who got up first, who got down first, who is the fastest, best, cutest, smartest.....it goes on and on. Now that I understand that boys are genetically wired to be competitive I am learning how to use it for my benefit rather than fight it.
So why am I writing about this. I'm glad you asked.

Philip and I added a "free counter" to our blogs about the same time. I think he added his about a two days before I added mine. I just checked out his blog and realized that I am only about 40 hits behind him. Not that I'm starting a competition or anything...really I am just amazed by my numbers. Who is really reading this thing anyway?

So if you are reading this and haven't posted a comment before could you please post a comment so I know who my audience is?

Who knows maybe I will break 1000 before he will.

cries from afar

I had just changed Ryan's diaper; had the complementary pep talk about using the potty instead of using his diaper and then went about whatever it was I was doing. I heard Ryan go into the bathroom, get out the little potty seat, place it on the potty, sit down (fully clothed) and say potty. I congratulated him on his efforts but reminded him that he just used the bathroom in his diaper and he is supposed to sit on the potty before. Again I carried on with my business and soon heard some crying. I didn't immediately investigate because I hear crying all the time! I completed my task and then found Ryan in the bathroom holding the potty seat, fully clothed but this time fallen into the potty. His bottom was soaking wet and he was saying, "fall potty". Peter mind you is in full view of this episode. I calmly ask him, "why didn't you tell me that Ryan was in the potty". Peter responded, " I was in shock. I didn't know what to say". I don't know if I truly believe that but it was quite a response!

Fortunately, it doesn't seem like Ryan experienced any Post-potty falling- in- trauma!

Near or Far

I was having a conversation with a friend this morning at our church's Father Day's breakfast. She said,"it must be great to have family at the beach and you can go whenever.". I have to admit that it is great to have family that live at the beach and have family that live in the big city of Charlotte. It's like the best of two worlds. We can go to the beach and do the beach thing. We can go to Charlotte and do the big city thing- where you are minutes away from all my favorite shopping, resturaunts, and sky scrappers!
However, I got to thinking later this morning as I was driving around with 3 kids in the 90 degree heat. I had 3 places to go and practically one item to do at each destination. Instead of being thankful for my family living in such great locations I was now envious of my friend who has both sets of her family within minutes of her. How nice it would have been to drop the kids off with their grandparents (or aunts and uncles or anyone I felt confident would be glad to help) so I could get my errands done without kids in tow. How nice it would be to call up a loving relative and say, "Hey, I'm having to fix dinner tonight for 6 adults plus our family tonight, could you come over and help me get ready???".
I'm not sure who has it better. I guess this is what learning to be content is all about. Although my family isn't just a phone call away, a 2.5- 3 hr drive is a lot more doable than another friend whose family live in Canada!

Who's tired???

I think these two were officially wore out! It was 7:36pm when we arrived home and I grabbed the camera.

It's pool time

One of the things that we are so thankful for and feel is a blessing from God is our pool membership! The church has a membership with one of the community pools and pays for all the fees for our family to participate. It is awesome. It opened last week and we have so far been there 3 times since Monday.I am really proud of the kids. The second day for them but first for me was Tuesday. Emma was a little skittish of jumping in the shallow section even with floaties on. By today, she was jumping in the deeper section with me just in the area and swimming to the ladder. She finished the day off with a jump off the diving board.
Peter is really swimming! He's jumping off the diving board and swimming to the ladder without any assistance from us. We're just there for moral support and my well being mostly. He can swim from one side of the deep end to the other as well. I am really excited about the both of them really doing some good swimming this summer. I told Peter my goal for him is dive in and swim a 25 yard lap.
The water is still a little chilly. When Ryan and I first entered the water he was saying," all done; home; no swimming; go home". We stayed in and he got used to the temperature. In no time he wanted to "jump" in off the sides like his siblings. Since he doesn't really jump yet it was more of a step in.

cool happening

Philip showed this to me this morning....check this out
Philip is hoping to connect with this other guy so they can talk about their experiences and ideas. The internet makes life a whole lot smaller sometimes.

Nothing exciting

I don't really have anything exciting to write about this afternoon but I just felt like making an entry. I did receive the first of 3 expected packages in the mail yesterday. I finally made a decision about a handwriting curriculum for the kids. I picked A Reason for Handwriting. I ordered everything used so they are all arriving separately. I got my handbook first. I realize that I will probably have a bit of reteaching to do with Peter but hopefully I'm early enough with Emma that she can begin with good strategies. I picked this curriculum because it is Biblically based so the kids will be using scripture verses as their "copy work" when they get there. I figured if there going to have to write it might as well be scripture! This curriculum uses the phrases "bubbles" and "sticks" to describe how to form your letters. Since we didn't have our books yet we spent some time outside blowing bubbles to get a good mental picture of what a good circle/bubble looks like. I read that in the manual; it wasn't my creative idea.

the buzz

Ryan's hair was getting pretty long and with the warmer weather he was really starting to get sweaty. So it was time for a hair cut. I left him with a head full of thick blonde hair and he returned with a buzz. Philip decided he really needed a "high and tight"! Philip was the barber by the way. Peter got the same hair cut . His doesn't look quite so short because of his dark coloring.

Begining steps

For the past month or so, Ryan has begun to tell us when he needs a new diaper. The logical next step is to introduce him to the potty. I have gotten the little potty out a few times and tried to have him sit on it. He would cry and scream when I tired to "encourage" him to just sit on it. However, recently I just put the potty next to the big potty and was able to entice him to sit on it. I told him if he sat on it I would give him another drink of juice. (I do not believe in bribing my children as a means of achieving obedience. Potty training is my only exception.) He actually took me up on my offer. Since his bottom is actually too big for this little potty, I got out our other potty seat that fits inside the big potty. Today he sat on the big potty twice. Nothing happened but he did sit on it and was excited about it. That is a big step for us!
As far as I can recall, I have had at least one child in diapers since August 6th, 2002.

Sunday visitor!

We were blessed to have a visitor on Sunday. Our good friend Mandy came to see us. She even volunteered to babysit so we could go out on a date. Since I don't get to see her often, I had a hard time agreeing to the plan. BUT we had plans set up with friends for a joint-belated birthday dinner pending a babysitter on our part. So we took her up on the offer.

I think she had fun! I know the kids did.