Kids in Costume

Our sweet friends, the Colemans, hosted a Halloween party for the kiddos from our church cell groups. I love to see them in their costumes! All of the girls were bugs, princesses, or cheerleaders, and the boys...well, let's just say that some props (a ninja sword) had to be hidden to prevent a riot. They were mostly "fighting" characters, with an occassional sweet costume like a farmer thrown in there. Notice one of my favorites, Beckham the rocker.

It seemed like most of the kids LOVED the thought of dressing up but didn't like for anyone to look at them when they have their costumes on. Kind of makes it hard to get a good picture, which explains some of the shots below. Thanks Leslie- enjoy the pics!

Little Kerrington as the monkey.

...and her brother Beckham- he's so hard core.

Zoe as a sweet pink butterfly

and the sweetest Ninja I've ever seen...Jackson.

The most outgoing farmer you'll ever meet- Cody.

Harper in her first Halloween costume and her sweet mommy, Erika

Aubrey was not impressed with me, or her costume.

The Hudsons. Kristen and Robbie win "funniest costume" hands-down making their dress-up debut as "A Pair of Blue Jeans." Notice the nametags.

Precious Kaelyn was wearing the same costume that Collin and Henry wore their first Halloween. Were they really ever that small??

Kamryn trying to figure out how to climb the rock wall with this princess get-up on.

Collin was content wearing his Batman costume which was a birthday present from July. Score for me!

Storm Trooper (Drew) and Iron Man (Henry)

Two beautiful princesses: Hannah (left) and Kaylea (right)
Edie rockin' out the pigtails as an ACU cheerleader. I know I'm her aunt, but she is seriously the most precious little girl!!

For Chase

Mark, Chelsea, Kendyll, Carlie, and Abby Kate-


You all have been on our hearts so much this week, and your story has touched people who don't even know you. The fact that you feel the Spirit lifting you up right now is lifiting us too. People you've never met are praying for you every day, and your faithfulness in the face of such a difficult situation is amazing and encouraging to them. God is good!



What a great idea that you had to celebrate your baby Chase with a balloon release! We were together this morning with some friends from church and we all wanted to participate. Even the little ones didn't mind letting their balloons go so that Chase could have them! We prayed for all of you. We asked God to be with you today as you remember Chase, and that the days to come would be filled with comfort and peace. We were all together this morning to have a garage sale to benefit a charity that we're working with. We waited for the right moment to gather for the balloon release, and seized the opportunity when things finally died down. When we gathered together to pray, I noticed that a shopper had acutally joined us in prayer. Someone in our group explained what we were doing and she felt compelled to join. What I didn't know at the time is the story behind her tears that she shared with me later. I'll try to quote her as best as I can.



We lost our son 24 years ago, when he was just two days old. The pain never goes away, but it does get better. It's so hard with things like this because they just don't make any sense. It just doesn't seem fair for something like this to happen to people who love God.

I know I'll see him again though, someday soon. And I know who is holding him now. (sound familiar, Chels?) I used to think that the first thing I'll do when I get to heaven is ask God "WHY?" But now, I think that it won't even matter. He'll be healthy and whole and I'll just be glad to be there with him and with the Lord.

Tell Mark and Chelsea and the girls that I'm praying for them.

We have been thinking about you so much this week. We asked the same questions that I'm sure all of the people who love you are asking, "Why would something like this happen?" During one of those conversations Angie, my sister, reminded me of the story of Jesus weeping at Lazarus' death. We know that in his humanity, the pain of losing someone He loved was difficult, but Angie also thinks that He wept because this is just not what He designed. He wanted more for us than the pain and sin of this world, so He came for us, died for us, and now waits for us.

So we prayed that in the midst of something that is so obviously NOT from God, His hands would be the presence that you WOULD feel. And I think that our visitor during the prayer today proved that God is working in this. That woman shared her grief and was strenghened by the fact that your family was glorifying God today, rather than turning away.

We love you!

Happy Birthday and Happy Birthday!

Two years ago on Collin's birthday I was in the antepartum unit of Medical City- lights off; no TV; no visitors; David and I sitting there staring at each other waiting patiently for the following day when we'd finally meet our little girl. I was sad to miss Collin's birthday that year, but more than anything, I was ready to finally deliver Sarah Kate. At the time I didn't care that their birthdays would be on consecutive days. In fact, I thought it'd be kind of cool.

I wasn't thinking about trying to have two birthday parties in one weekend. It's a little chaotic.

All kidding aside, it was a wonderful weekend full of fun and family! We are so thrilled to celebrate the gift of our two children and to be able to do it all together really is kind of fun.

Here's what we were up to on this weekend of celebrations for the Blackstock kiddos....

The fun started with a Batman party for Collin! We had David's family, my parents, and Henry and Jackson and their families there with us. How these kids get into superheros is kind a mystery to all of us, but Henry is Spiderman, Collin is Batman, and Jackson (probably upon strong suggestion) has assumed the role of Superman. Angie found some precious underoos for all of them in their assigned characters, which they wore proudly to their FIRST slumber party!!Having extra cousins spend the night has become a standard event since moving in with my parents this summer. Collin loves it, and just thought that it would be a great idea to have Henry and Jackson stay over for his birthday....why not, you're four and all. Definitely old enough for that! :)

Amazingly, there were no tears, no wet beds, and no arguing! The boys had so much fun! Here are some of the highlights.

Batman, Spiderman, and Superman (in their street clothes)

In uniform Underoos. A classic. The last homemade ice cream cake he'll ever get...
After church on Sunday, and a brief time of re-grouping, we celebrated SK's birthday with an alphabet party! She was really slow to start talking, but for some reason, she LOVES letters. We thought this would be a fun way to combine some of her favorite things and make it a special day for her. Every letter was represented by an activity or party item. Here are a few of my favorites..

A is for alphabet

(For those of you ACU Education grads, dont' tell Lucy Hatch about this banner. I did not trace before I cut, and I left the middles in my letters. I'm not a teacher anymore...I'm a busy mom. Don't judge me.)

M is for make-upB is for bubblesW is for watergun E is for eat H is for hula hoop...and hilariousC is for cakeI is for ice cream

P is for pool

K is for kickball S is for splashX is for xylophone (what else would you do for this one?) F is for fishingAnd my personal favorite...T is for TWO!

Thanks Mom and Dad, for letting us bring this craziness to your house! We had a blast!

Spring!

So it's June. I've completely missed all of my intended posts about Spring happenings around our house. Easter, beautiful weather, family, t-ball, new words, first haircuts, etc. No real good reasons, just distracted lately! It's been an eventful few months around our house! Collin played his first season of t-ball and LOVED it! David and our friend Andy coached the team. And for those of you who know David it will not come as a surprise that we were the Astros. Even though Andy is a Cubs fan. Apparently, team loyalty runs much, much deeper than friendship or even common courtesy! :) Collin had the chance to play on his first team with Henry and his friend Jackson, which made the season even more special. These three love being together doing anything- especially playing ball!We've loved watching all of them get their first hit-

This is one of my favorite pictures from the season. This is right after Henry's first hit- running to his Daddy who's coaching first base.

This Saturday is our last game and I know the boys are already anxious for next season. I must admit, it's pretty fun being a cheering mom in the stands, too! Here's to grass stains, torn cleats, team sports and busy weekends!

Sarah Kate is changing so quickly. She'll be two in just a few weeks and to be honest, I've always thought that she seemed so young for her age. She's done a lot of catching up over the last few months though. My shy, quiet little girl has turned into quite a talker! I'm finally able to understand most of her jabber (making life a little easier around here) and she's really enjoying being able to tell us what's on her mind.

She's the best "greeter" I've ever seen. We're forcasting a career in PR for her for sure! She loves her family and friends, and loves to tell everyone when someone new enters a room. She also loves to play with her babies, talk about letters, and do anything with her brother. SK whispers when she's excited, which is one of the funniest most endearing things that she does.

In the midst of our Spring activities, we put our house on the market, sold it, and are now bumming at my parents' house trying to figure out our next move. We'll probably build, but we're just not sure where yet. Pray for some clarity for us- we're having a hard time making a decision! While we're deciding though, I guess we'll hang out by the pool and let Mom spoil us! :)

Happy Summer!!

Catching up with the Joneses

A few weekends ago we packed up and headed to San Antonio to see Greg, Sarah and their precious boys. It was such a fun weekend and our kids had an absolute blast. Collin is still asking when we can go back!

We went to the lake and stayed at Greg's parents' house which is beautiful. Not so beautiful after we left, though. We broke a dining chair, the wall (yes, we broke the wall) and a decorative plate. Banner weekend for us in the accident department. It reminded me that we just need to wait a couple of years to buy good furniture.

Highlights from the weekend:

1) Taking the boys (and the dads) to a really neat bounce house/play area thing. It was so much fun! I really think that David and Greg enjoyed just as much as all of the kids.

2) Vanilla yogurt with fresh blueberries. Thanks for this Sarah! Sarah Kate and I eat this all the time now!

3) Discovering my allergy to mountain cedar. Yes, I looked like a beating victim all weekend because my eyes were red and swollen- but everyone loved me just the same!

4) Benadryl.

5) Hanging out with Sarah! I love this girl! We don't get to see each other enough, but I love it when we do...just one of those friends that you always pick right back up with.

6) Learning how much I have to learn about my new camera, and being reminded that I do in fact have a creative crush on Sarah. She showed me some of the basics about my new camera, which was awesome. I'm just not as cool as she is when it comes to being artistic, though. My camera sits on auto most of the time.

7) Collin's "are we there yet" phase beginning! We tried to remind ourselves that it was cute, not frustrating. After 5 1/2 hours, this got a little bit harder.
8) Seeing our famlies together. It still amazes me that I'm a parent and I am with my kids every day. So it's even more strange to see my friends with their kids, being moms and dads. Sarah and Greg are great parents and their boys are adorable! Our boys got along really, really well and had such a good time. And David and Greg had a lot of fun too (minus the time that David almost died mountain biking.)
9) Meeting precious Holden. He is such a sweet boy! He seriously doesn't cry or fuss...what a blessing!
10) Meeting baby Gracyn! Heather and Drew brought their sweet baby by on Saturday and we were able to meet her! She is a doll- she came complete with her prissy bow and all the accessories as you might imagine! :)

Enjoy the pics!

Sarah Kate thought we were crazy for making her play in such cold weather.

Playtime!!

We initially thought this would be fun for the kids...Greg and David liked it even better.

This was right before we left to head home. Pretty sure we wore him out.