Lego City Mania

The boys in my household, both young & old, have been busy working on a month long project. They were determined to put together all the sets of Legos that we had as well as build additional houses and buildings for their city. Their hope was to design & build the city to display with our Lego train and put it under & around our smaller tree in our office for Christmas.  Many hours were spent creating their masterpiece and I have to say I was very impressed with how it all turned out. I am sure both Carson & Nolan will be incredible Lego builders because of all the countless hours they have spent building with their dad. His engineering background really comes into play in projects like this.

Their town included a train, police, fire & train stations, a hospital, homes, a restaurant, an airport, a castle, a farm, a store with 2nd level apartment, & a Star Wars movie set. Marc even played around with a green screen affect & Photoshop to give some of the town cool backgrounds.

Welcome to Legoville designed & built by Black & Sons Construction.

Early Resolutions!

So quite a bit of time has passed since my last blog. Life has given us lots of up & downs since that post. We have now relocated to El Paso, TX and are currently serving in a new ministry position here.

Carson is 3 1/2 and full of personality and never a dull moment with him. From his incredibly cute witty comments to his crazy antics like cutting up paper & gluing them to all the dining room chairs, he keeps our whole family on their toes.

Nolan is 7 1/2 and a big old second grader. He is very creative and becoming a brilliant Lego designer thanks to lots of Lego time with his dad. He is doing well in school here and adjusted very well to making new friends. He has a sweet sensitive heart & we love seeing how God is already beginning to use his caring heart for others. Now if only he would continue to exercise that gift with his younger brother!

Marc is loving his new position as high school & college pastor here. It is so clear that God has planted us here and that he has lots in store for the young people of El Paso. We are very honored and humbled to be a part of His great plan.

I am currently a stay at home mom and have not pursued a teaching position here as of yet. Church & youth activities keep me very busy and as stated above Carson does as well.

We just celebrated our first Christmas here in the desert and were excited to actually enjoy a few days of snow prior to Christmas. We are taking that as a gift from God directly to our snow loving family! Below are a few pictures of our Christmas celebration.

Here's to an early resolution of promising to get back on the blogging bandwagon & keeping our friends & family across the nation up to date of the latest Black Family adventures!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from The Blacks!

One of My Favorite Things....

Recently, Carson has developed the habit of joining the youth worship team during out preservice prayer time. No matter what he is doing in the youth building, he will drop everything and run up to us and join our circle as we prepare to pray. He holds hands with us and sits very quiet and still during the entire prayer.

I absolutely love that he does this! How incredible to see him want to be a part of not only our ministry team, but of the prayer time!

Today I am thankful that my boys get to be a part of our ministry and what God is doing in the lives of teenagers as well as in the heart of a 5 and 1 year old.

Caught Being Cute!

Lately, I have caught the boys in some pretty cute moments. Or at least as their mom I think it is pretty cute. I thought I would share a few of those pictures with you.

Carson has recently fallen in love with Elmo. Or in our house better know as "Melmo". This is what I saw when I walked in the living room the other morning. Melmo and Carson bonding time.

A week or two ago we had a couple inches of snow. Nolan couldn't wait to get in some playtime outside. After a little while out there, he came back in and this is what I saw. Here's what you look like after you face plant in the snow. BBBRRRR!!!

There is never a dull moment with Carson these days. He is always finding something "creative" to do. This week it has been hiding. I was in the kitchen making lunch and I heard some giggling in the living room. Guess who I found hiding behind the TV cabinet door. And yes, he is standing on the surround sound speakers.

Tonight was Mommy and the Boys night because Marc was gone with the youth group. We had gotten into our jammies and were enjoying some popcorn. I looked over and caught the cutest moment ever! They had their arms around each other while snacking and watching TV. So glad I could catch this one in a picture. I'm sure it will be useful when they are teenagers and forget that they are best friends. :)

Today I am simply thankful for Carson and Nolan. The best two boys in the world!

Perpetual Scavenger Hunt

These days Carson is perfecting the art of hide and seek. Only problem is, it is not the ordinary game you may be familiar with, and unfortunately all the participants didn't choose to play in his game. Lately, he has been picking up odd objects from around the house and "hiding" them. Crazy things like my parents' van keys in their dishwasher (yep, they were washed and thankfully the lock remote still worked), the TV remote was found in the pantry under the bread, a Lego horse was hidden in his new boot and traveled to AR, a baggie full of toy balls was thrown in the dirty laundry, and his shoe was in a kitchen cabinet.

The hard part about this game is that it doesn't help to think about where you might hide something because logic does not play a part at all in their placement. The more random places you look the closer you might be to finding it... maybe if you're lucky. So word of advice to those that might visit.... hang on to your valuables because we can't guarantee their safety in our home. :)

I'm not sure, but I think this may be a strategy meeting for the next scavenger hunt.

Today I am thankful that most of the items have been found or at least I think so. Who knows what has just gone missing as I have been writing this post.

Best Christmas Moment

I thought I would share one of my favorite moments from Christmas. Nolan had created a very special gift for Carson. He wrapped it by himself and was very excited for his brother to open it. In fact, he wanted Carson to open it first before any of the other gifts. Here is a picture of him helping C open the gift.



Nolan had made a picture of them together. He is very interested in writing books and illustrating them these days. In fact, he wrote and illustrated a book about his great grandmother as a gift for her this year.



The picture survived the opening of the gift pretty well. It is kind of tough on the artwork when the wrapping paper is actually taped to the picture. :)



Today I am so thankful for my two boys and the deep friendship that has begun to develop between them.

Tacky Luau & Bunco Good Bye

The second Thursday of the month is always a good night! That is when the Bunco Babes get together for girls' night. This month was my turn to host. It was also a special night because it was my good friend Shannon's last bunco before she moves to Hawaii. So what better way to send her off than with a tacky luau bunco! I had ugly fish earrings, a crazy Hawaiian shirt, and, of course, a coconut bra for her to wear. We had lots of yummy Hawaiian like food even ending with a fruity dessert topped with little umbrellas.


I always enjoy hanging out with the Bunco Babes. They are a wonderful bunch! I am sad that Shan is leaving us. But hope that we will end up living in the same place some time in the future. But until then... there is the awesome opportunity to take a trip to Hawaii to visit!!









Today I am thankful for Shannon. She has truly been a blessing to my life and a remarkable friend.