Birthday Hangover!

Take yourselves back 7 months to the day after Christmas. Do you remember feeling a little gluttonous, sluggish, overwhelmed by clean-up, and actually ready to take down the tree? I've got that feeling. I've had too much cake, my kids have gotten too many gifts (although we're totally appreciative of all our sweet friends and family!) and it's not over yet. Collin had his little birthday party on his real birthday with his grandparents and a few cousins. His big birthday is yet to come. SK is done though, which is probably best. I had the thought as I was making her sit still in her cool chair (thanks Kay Kay) to open gifts that this was way too overwhelming for a one-year-old. She survived though- smothered herself in cake and went to bed completely happy.

Pictures to come...I'm too hungover to post them now!

Funny Collin comment on the way to church:
Collin: Hey Mom and Dad, do you want to talk? Cuz I'm not sleepin'!

Those are pretty much his only two options...sleeping or talking.

Birthdays!

It's Christmas in July around our house! My kids each have a birthday this week- Collin on Friday and SK on Saturday. I remember this time last year I was in my hospital bed worrying (because I was limited as to what I could do) about my kids having birthdays so close together. At that point I had no idea that they would only be one day apart. This year, I think I'm actually going to enjoy it. Sure, it's a little expensive. And while they're still wanting to have parties it's a little hectic. But all in all, it's kind of cool- at least that's the best way to look at it. So to my precious one-year-old and three-year-old, here is my first attempt at listing the reasons it's so cool to have birthdays so close together:
1) Collin will never forget Sarah Kate's birthday. At least I hope not...really.
2) Since your birthdays are in the summer, we'll take cool vacations to celebrate!
3) Lots of cake and ice cream over a 48-hour time span.
4) Mom only goes through the "I can't believe my kids are another year older" depression once a year.
5) At least your birthdays aren't this close AND in December... we're spreading things out.
6) You're almost as cool as twins.
Lots of fun to come!

On a more serious note,we are so blessed to have both of these babies in our lives! It amazes me that Sarah Kate is almost one. She is such a joy and it is so fun to watch her grow into her own distinct personality! She is active, yet quiet and cuddly. She loves to play hard with the rest of us, but also likes to put her baby on her shoulder and pat her on the back. She talks herself to sleep and wakes up laughing. Her daddy will give her anything and everything she wants, maybe because of her precious simple and big brown eyes. Her hair is starting to curl like crazy in the back like mine did when I was little, and she has her daddy's dimple on her right cheek! Knowing that there is only more fun to come makes me so excited to watch her grow!

And Collin is our constant entertainment. I seriously timed him today and he didn't stop talking from the minute he woke up at 7:30 this morning until swim lessons started at 10. He is curious, vivacious, and sweet. He has a sense of humor already, which thrills me to no end, and already is one of my favorite people to be around. He is all boy! His favorite thing right now is playing baseball in the living room (smart, I know) with David while watching it on TV. Decked out in all the appropriate gear, I can assure you. If he's not spending time with his cousins, he's asking about them for sure. He's extremely social and talkative. He's also a bit of an instigator, which I like to frame as "leadership potential." Spoken like a true mom! I'm definitely head over heels in love with this little boy and I can't wait to see how he grows in his fourth year.

Above all, I pray that the Lord holds on to these two little ones and helps us to raise them to know and love Him. The responsibility of being their parent is awesome, but the reward is greater than we ever expected! We sure do love you, Collin and Sarah Kate.

Happy 4th of July

We're enjoying an awesome 4th of July weekend at the Blackstock house! I'm a huge fan of the 4th being on a Friday-makes for a wonderful weekend! We started off on Thursday with Sarah Kate's tube surgery, which isn't all that fun for her I don't guess (although you can't tell in this picture) but it did give us a lot of one-on-one time with her. And she was back to her crazy self by lunchtime!



We spent the day yesterday at my parents' house with most of my family plus Mom's adopted kids, Ken and Shanta. We actually had a moment of nirvana when all the kids were sleeping at the same time and the adults were hanging out by the pool...greatness. We almost didn't know what to do with ourselves. Then came the real fun-

Can you blame a girl for wanting to be cool like her uncle?

Thanks for the sparklers, Chris! David has a burn to commemorate the occasion!

The three little divas: Sarah Kate, Campbell, and Edie. This was the best we could do before the two babies melted down completely and before Sarah Kate tried to eat them. The kid will put anything in her mouth.

I realize that Collin's eyes are almost closed and that his boy-fro is in full force in this picture, but it was too cute of Henry to not include in the post. I think this was after swimming session #2 and football, but before fireworks. That's why they look a little worn.

Collin and Eddy waiting to catch the football. He is the most wonderful uncle to my babies!

I really hope someone else with a camera got a better shot of this! Sorry guys, had to include it for posterity!

This is my attempt to utilize the grease from SK's sunscreen to stabilize her crazy bow. It worked I guess.

Time to chill in the jacuzzi sink and try to wash out the greasy sunscreen! What a day!

The picture that I didn't get was of all of the kids watching fireworks while sitting in Haleigh's convertible. It was hilarious and such a great memory for all of them. Happy 4th everyone!

End of School

Collin finished his first year of preschool last week, and ended with his first program. We were so excited! Collin and the other two-year-olds were bumble bees and we'd been practicing at home every night. We were obvious "first end-of-the-year program" parents...so obvoius! David and I grinned at each other a lot, tried to get Collin's attention as he was walking on stage, stood up a little bit too much to where we probably got in the way of the people behind us, and I was even the dorky parent that gets in the aisle to take pictures.

My sister, on the other hand, was enjoying her last preschool program. Lexi is headed off to kindergarten next year, and they were anxious to wrap things up. When Lexi finished, Chris looked at Karen and gave the invisible "check" in the air. He turned to me and said, "wrap that one up." Hilarious. What a difference 7 years of preschool makes!

One thing I was really impressed with was how much scripture these kids memorized for their program. I love hearing Collin quote a verse from the Psalms and it reminds me that I need to be in prayer about teaching him and being in the word more myself! Collin's verse to memorize was, "Let the light of your face shine upon us, oh Lord." Psalm 8:6. I should video him saying it and post that...who knew the word "Lord" was actually three syllables.

The last picture is of both of the kids right after waking up from a nap. They wanted to sit next to each other and wake up slowly-precious!

Sarah Kate is growing so fast. She is pulling up and loves to have us "chase" her as she's crawling across the floor at rocket speeds. My next post is going to be solely about her because she is such a character.

Doing the Honors

I wanted to post some pictures of my beautiful new neice since her mommy hasn't started a blog (subtle hint). They welcomed sweet Edie Elizabeth (named after our grandfather, E.D.) on April 24. She weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz and was 19 inches long. Big brother Henry, Angie, Jason and the baby are all doing well!! Check out what a cutie she is...

catching up with pictures

So I'm going to attempt to make up for my bad blogging with some pictures of our March. Nothing all that exciting going on. As you can see, some snow, some fun, a little Easter with the family, etc. I had a few really funny things happen to me that I thought would make great posts, but the moment passed before I ever got around to doing it. Aren't you all bummed?

This is the first snowman from our week of snow. It's totally lame compared to the one that David made when it really snowed, but he doesn't manage this blog, so his cooler snowman doesn't get any print attention.

Unbeliveable snow! We've never seen anything like this in Dallas, and probably won't again for a long time.Which is why we forced Collin to play in the snow, even though we knew that he didn't feel well. He looks happy, doesn't he? When we got inside, his temperature was over 103...oops!Fast forward to Easter... and the one decent picture we got this year. They're getting so big!Kay Kay and Papa with the grandkids!The three littlest cousins (at least for the next few days)! Henry welcomes his baby sister soon! We can't wait to meet you, Edie!!

The Pedicure

I love girls' weekends! And by the time I made it to Sarah's in-law's house in San Antonio... I was needing one badly! It was so great to catch up with my sweet friends, and to have an opportunity to breathe slowly, and thank God for my little family each time I realized how much I missed them. It was a lot harder leaving them than I thought it would be, but that made coming home a really great experience. Not like I was gone for all that long- it wasn't even 48 hours. And I called home several times, too. I guess I was a little sappy to begin with, and then calling home and having Collin cry into the phone saying, "You just leaved me here," didn't help much. All in all- wonderful experience for me. Lots of relaxation, talking, chex mix, meals without bibs, and laughter. Thanks girls! And we missed those of you who couldn't be there!

What is always typical of our girls' weekend is that something blog worthy happens. Last year, it was Sarah's fender-bender, in previous years Mal has wrecked her car, Sherry has had hilarious conversations with hotel employees, and we've wandered around the alleys in Boston at odd hours in the freezing cold. This year- it was the pedicure. Our one outing the entire weekend was a movie/pedicure run. I was so thrilled to be seeing a movie that didn't scare me to death (David got a Netflix subscription and his choices leave something to be desired) ...add a pedicure on top of that- this was an off-the-charts experience!

So we find our little nail place and are all pleased to see four recliners in a row. We settled in, noticed the big screen TV in front of us, and promptly began messing with our back massagers like we hadn't been our of the house in several years. This was going to be great. Conversation, a little TV, AND a massage...simultaneously. What bliss!

Should've known we were in for it when we saw the list of available movies: Die Hard with a Vengance, the War, Bourne Supremacy, etc. I was hoping for something starring someone from Dawson's Creek, a little Julia Stiles movie...something! Not so. We watched The War. Here's the basic plot: naked girls, gangsters, subtitles, more naked girls, shooting while naked girls run around, law enforcement, tattooed man and naked girl shoot more people, people die, something else about gangs...and that's just the first hour. Makes conversation a little awkward to say the least.

THEN, I had the good fortune of the screamin'-nazi-back-massager-lovin' pedicurist. I had just decided that I would turn off my entertaining yet not all that soothing chair when my manicurist walks over, commands that I put my feet in the water, smashes in the "percussion" button on my chair and screams "YEAH!." I chuckle, and turn it off a couple of seconds later, all the while looking awkwardly at the nail polish I had selected to avoid the gruesome/nude scene on the TV.

I had ordered the sea salt pedicure. I never saw any sea salt...just greenish, grainy stuff. It was okay, but it took off about three layers of skin from my legs. Still, I thought to myself, a little exfoliation is good for the blood flow. Oh no, she has noticed that my chair is off. She jumps up, hits "percussion" again, and screams "YEAH!" Seriously woman, I have equillibrium issues. The swirling of the water, banging on my back, and freaky movie are all making me a little nauseated. Plus, my legs are trying to regenerate some skin which is making me exhausted. No relief. She's hard core about this back massaging thing being on.

So, I relent and try to focus on a ceiling tile to avoid puking. Then comes my favorite feature of the pedicure. I'm not exactly sure what you would call the blue stuff she put on my legs but I'm pretty sure that the label would read: 1/4 Icy Hot; 1/4 antifreeze; 1/4 blue jello; and 1/4 coconut oil for that oh-so-touchable glow. My first question is why my legs, which are raw from the "sea salt that wasn't really sea salt" had to be exposed to this mess...wasn't this a pedicure after all? So, she slathers this stuff on Sarah and me at the same time. We kind of laugh..."what is this?"..."it's okay, it feels good." BUT IT DOESN'T FEEL GOOD AT ALL. Sarah and I start to giggle/cry a little bit, and then we both lose it completely. By the time the Icy Hot/antifreeze concoction is washed away, we're laughing so hard that we can't even see the TV behind our tears. My face is green, my eyes are watery, my legs are aglow with blue goo, and I'm noticing that I had too much Diet Coke at the theater with free refills.

My feet look great though. The weekend was great. Girl friends are great. Coming home to my precious family is even better!