Be Thankful!

Jack's "Feast" at his Preschool!

We are truly so blessed! The above pictures show our almost 5-year-old, Jack, at his last Thanksgiving "Feast" at his wonderful Preschool - with all of his friends and classmates. This is a wonderful event - and one that we've been hearing about from Jack for the entire month of November.

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Just as he was last year at his 3-year-old class "Feast," he was an Indian - complete with a head-dress and the very appropriate name "Swift Fox"! He had a wonderful time, even getting to make his own place mat and table decorations! His teachers were dressed as Pilgrims - completing the scene! The "Feast" consisted of popcorn, cheerios, cheese cubes and banana bars (which "Swift Fox" did not care for).

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We are truly blessed to have a Preschool that makes special holidays so perfect for our young ones! I can't wait for Baby Ryan's first official "Feast" next year!

How Precious Are These Little Guys????

This is how my little boys now go to bed each night - - - together!

After the past week, I am really worn down by my littlest (2 1/2 year old) boy! (See especially the "Paint" episode posted earlier).

Besides being just plain nutty and into everything he can get his hands on (tonight it was sprinkling Iams Cat Food all over the house and up the stairs), he has really struggled with the "excitement" of going to sleep in a big bed in the new room he and his almost 5-year-old brother now share. Well . . . it seems that we have finally come to some conclusion that is more do-able than having to fall asleep on his Daddy every night (see earlier post): Baby Ryan goes to sleep while his big brother "pets" him on his back or his arm or his forehead. It is truly one of the sweetest, most sensitive and thoughtful sights I have ever seen - especially from such rough and tumble boys!

This morning, Ryan came in to our room and told me "my brother petted me and he loves me so I went to sleep!" Thank God for the blessings of big brothers!!!!

Help Me Henry!!!!!!!

Some art materials used for my Baby's "masterpiece!

Boy - has this been a day or what???

My dear husband was off at 6:30 am to fly to Boston for business for a few days, my oldest (almost 5) son escaped twice onto our church playground (both before and after Sunday School), "ran" from me down the aisle of the sanctuary during the church service while returning from the bathroom, later had to be taken out for spitting and making noise in his pew, and finally had to appologize to our pastor for disrupting his sermon, we "enjoyed" an outdoor lunch at a restaurant which ended by Ashley and I each carrying a screaming and kicking boy to the car, and - finally - Baby Ryan (age 2 1/2) decided during his nap that it would be FUN to get up silently (I mean NOT A SOUND), break into his 15 year old sister's room, open up 16 bottles of acrylic paint and and paint all over the carpet in her room, the hallway, the stairs and - in the process - all over his brand new Gymboree church outfit (which he was still wearing from his post-church & lunch nap)!

I AM FRUSTRATED, EXASPERATED, AND JUST PLAIN TIRED!!!! So - I've finally found the perfect situation to use a phrase from one of my dear friends, "Help me Henry!!!" It just seemed perfect here. Maybe it works for today's situation, because my friend has 5 children, and although she seems to have the patience of a saint, I know in my heart that she would be saying "Help Me Henry" on a day like today.

The boys are having dinner with my parents (after I begged for mercy and help), and I will pick them up in a little while. Thanks to wonderful and patient grandparents, they will be fed, played with and happy! We are so greatful for our extended family - both near and far!

Let's just hope tomorrow will NOT be a "Help Me Henry" day!

The Blessing of Girlfriends!

Some of my sweet girlfriends at a Birthday Dinner for me and another one of us!

I am a very lucky woman! I not only have an amazing husband, precious children and a wonderful extended family - - - I have a fantastic group of girlfriends! We all met each other through our church family, but our friendships have grown and deepened over the past few years! We have laughed together, cried together, gotten really mad (not at each other) together, welcomed new babies, stood by as we have lost parents and grandparents, been there while our children have been sick or in the hospital, picked up each other's kids from school, brought dinner over after one of us had surgery or another just had a rough day, sought advice on what to do with our babies, toddlers, preschoolers, elementary school-ers, middle school-ers and (in my case) high school-ers, celebrated all the wonderful blessings that our lives have brought and worked through all the challenges that have come our way.

Life always seems to bring the unexpected - both good and bad - and I feel so very fortunate to have these women to share our lives together!

. . . just another day in the life . . .

Sometimes you just need your Dad!

Our little two year old had a rough night tonight! You see, he is in the process of moving out of his crib into a twin bed next to his older brother in their new shared room. And though this is fun and exciting for Baby Ryan, it is also hard. Add to that the excitement of having his grandparents visit from Tennessee this weekend, and it's easy to see how the little guy was just too wound up to go to bed.

After every punishment and motivation tactic we could think of, my sweet S Blankenship discovered that all little Ryan needed was to cuddle with his Daddy. After a few short minutes he had stopped crying, calmed down and fell asleep - on top of his Dad!

Isn't this picture significant because often all we need from our Heavenly Father is just to be there with his strong and comforting arm around us to calm down from all that is worrying us and making us restless???

I am glad beyond measure that our three children have an earthly father who loves them so much and will always take the time to just hold them - if that's what they need!

. . . just another day in the life . . .

Introducing Ashley Taylor Blankenship

For our close friends and family, this day has been coming for a VERY long time, and has been earned through many tears, heartache and emotional pain that is difficult to describe - by me, my dear husband, our extended families, and most of all - our sweet ASHLEY!

13 years after Ashley's biological father and I divorced, and after a relationship with him that progressively deteriorated for Ashley over those many years, she finally TODAY was given her freedom from that relationship that caused so much hurt and torment. Due to some very sad circumstances, Ashley's biological father, voluntarily terminated his parental rights - and today, that termination was made official for Ashley, including the privilege of changing her last name to Blankenship. We are now in the process of finalizing Steve's adoption of Ashley, but just as she has been for these MANY years . . . she is truly a Blankenship!

Words can not describe the feeling of relief and sadness, joy and anticipation as the judge read the Termination aloud in the court hearing this morning. This situation has been the singularly most impacting circumstance in our family's life over these past 13 years. As a mother, I had all the hope in the world that things would be different, and have cried tears of deep sadness over watching my little girl hurt as she has grown up. But through it all, the Lord God Almighty has been there for all of us. He has given us the strength to endure, wisdom to handle difficult circumstances and has placed the most perfect people in our lives (especially Ashley's DAD, my sweet husband Steve).

Through everything, and despite some serious difficulties through the years, our dear daughter has turned into an amazing young lady! She is beautiful -inside and out, thoughtful, loving, fun, independent, empathetic, determined, hilarious, and most importantly and girl deeply devoted to her God! As there were times to question whether God had "left" her, Ashley developed a deep and abiding faith - one that is real and tested and means everything to her!

We are very proud of our daughter and are so grateful to God, our family and our friends for their love, support and compassion through the years!

THANK YOU, The Blankenship Family

Dad always makes special days special!

My sweet Husband always finds the perfect way to make important and special events just perfect for our kids! He took time this morning to take Jack to vote (see "Election Day, 2008" post below), and then he decided it would be fun to take Jack and I to lunch at Cracker Barrell - one of the most "All American" restaurants I can think of. We got to spend some fun time together and talk about how blessed we are to live in a country where men and women have fought and died for our right to have this Election Day! Jack had a wonderful time talking about the experience with us. Thank You Steve for all you do to make our lives special!!!

Deep political discussion over warm Chocolate Brownie Cobbler and Vanilla Ice Cream!!!!
Oh, that tastes SOOOOOO . . . good!

Election Day, 2008!

Well, today marked our little Jack's first experience of "voting" in a Presidential Election! He was just over 10 months old in the last election, so this was the first time he has understood the occasion. He woke up with Mommy and Daddy this morning and went with us to our polling place at Grapevine Elementary School (where he will start Kindergarten next August) to watch us VOTE! When we went into the voting place, Jack stood on a small metal folding chair between us and watched the miracle of freedom in action - the privilege to vote for our country's leaders! He was very respectful and we were able to take some pictures outside.

We had been getting him ready for this day for a while, explaining the election process and Steve even getting him a kid's video to watch about "Election Day!" He was worried there would be big lines (based on what we heard on the news), but was very relieved that we walked right in. One of our polling officer said that of 3400 registered voters in our precinct, 2000 of them had already voted EARLY - before counting the voters that came today. That is an amazing turnout!

After we voted we walked by the school cafeteria and heard the elementary choir singing a beautiful rendition of "This Is My Country - Land That I Love." What a beautiful sound and a fitting way to experience our son's first Election Day!

Soccer, 2008: End of the Line (Thank goodness!)

Wow!!! Our little Jack's first (and possibly last) soccer season has just finished! We have always wanted to let our kids explore different interests and then settle on what they enjoy and are good at doing. Let's just say, at this point, soccer does NOT seem to be the love of Jack's little young life!

However, I must say that today was a real joy. Jack was blessed with two amazing coaches and a fantastic team of kids to play with this season. And at our end of the season party today, his coach presented Jack with a huge trophy and took the time to praise him very specifically for the things he did well this season! That praise made Jack feel like a soccer superstar, and at age four, that's what really matters!

Besides the great trophy, hot dog cookout, and fun with his team at a local park, Jack got to enjoy some amazing "soccer ball" cupcakes - complete with black dyed icing. He was a hoot to watch with his little black lips, tongue and teeth.

Thank God for putting the right people in our lives for both the successful and the not-so-successful experiences!

. . . just another day in the life . . .