A Sneak Peak for Gene and Mollie

Say Cheese!

Here's a peak at the kids' 2008 Birthday Portraits (I started on Max's a little early while I had all the gear out this week.) There are more pictures than you'll want to see.... I put up a lot of them because I thought the Grandmas and Grandpas might want to see. The rest of you are welcome to scroll fast. :-)

Happy First Birthday, Maggie Mae!

The Big Birthday Girl Today

One Year Ago

We love you, Maggie Mae! Happy Birthday!

A few more pictures of our visit with Grandmama

The Build-A-Bear buddies are a big hit in this house.

Here's how I found Max when I went in to wake him from his nap yesterday!

Since Grandmama won't be with us for Max's birthday, she brought his gifts early. Max seemed to be just fine with that. :-)

He opened this one with awe and amazement. As soon as he saw what was under the wrapping, he looked up and said in a hushed voice, "Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness."

[I won't reveal what was inside because his cousins might be getting the same thing for their upcoming birthdays]

Just look at this sheer glee over the gift from Grandmama and Grandpapa. He's NEVER had a gift that was a bigger hit. He squealed with delight!

Grandmama's heading back home

Today we said goodbye to Grandmama. We took her back to the airport this morning and had a few tears as we hugged goodbye. THANK YOU for coming to see us, mom. We all love you so much.

P.S. And thank you for sharing her with us this weekend, Dad!

Building Bears with Grandmama

Today we went to Build-a-Bear Workshop and made two little stuffed buddies for Maximus and Maggie, each complete with a beating heart and a kiss from Grandmama! A good friend gave us such a thoughtful gift: a gift card to Build-a-Bear to help make something with Grandmama. It was a special day!

Tough decisions

Maggie and her new bunny, Madeline.

Stuffing Max's new turtle, Squirt.

Making Squirt a birth Certificate.

Taking the new buddies home!

Life's a Piece of Cake

The Cake

Our Little Lady is Turning One!

Officially four more days until she turns one... but already celebrating in style!

After a brief experimentation with the icing on the Ladybug cake, Maggie says: "Forget the hands, I'm diving in."

Maggie with her guest of honor: Grandmama Vicki!

Post cake explosion

The big birthday girl

Are these for me?

Opening gifts.

Max deliberates about how long it will be before he must choose just one.

Maggie shares her cake with Daddy!

At Last!

Grandmama Vicki is here! More reports on our adventures to come...

Will he survive being Two?

Poor little guy. This is the second major lump he's had on his head in 2.5 weeks. This one is about half the size of the knot he earned at family camp.... but it was still a doozy. He earned this one by tripping on some balls and falling into the corner of a side table in the living room. We're really hoping no one gets suspicious of our parenting capabilities... he looks pretty rough a lot of the time these days!!

Good for a smile and a chuckle

A little less charged

How about a post that's a little less politically charged, eh? :-)

Here's something that we do just about everyday around here: build robots and play with toy soldiers. Poor Maggie... she has little girl toys, but somehow always ends up playing soldiers and robots with Max!

Un-Be-Lie-Vable

I am speechless. I knew that Barack Obama was hard-core for abortion rights, but I could not have fathomed the extent of his passion for infanticide until I read the article posted on The Roebuck Report this week. 

If you have ever even briefly considered voting for Obama, or if you have any influence on someone else who plans to vote for him, you MUST read this post and the linked article from the National Review.

Obama is charming. He promises change for America. But he also promises death for thousands of unborn and BORN babies in America. 

Standing Ovation for Herself

That's right, folks. The little lady is standing on her own. Looks like those first steps might be just in time for the big first birthday in 10 days!

Home Again

And.... we're home again. Getting ready for Grandmama Vicki and a big birthday party for our little lady!

Have I mentioned that I LOVE having a car at home during the day while Lucas is at work? I feel so spoiled now- I got to run some errands and take the kids to the library today before nap time. I'm so glad that we've been a one vehicle family all these years, but it is SO GREAT to have a car to use during the day!

"To the Mountains!" said Fred. "To the Mountains!" said Ted.

Nevermind... it's a line from one of Max's favorite books: Big Dog, Little Dog. (From his Aunt Karen!)

Anyway, back to the real news of this post: we are returning to the mountains yet again today. Last week we went for Family Camp. This weekend, we're heading up for a faculty and family retreat with NNU. It will only be a couple of days, which makes packing and loading quite a bit easier than it was for Family Camp. We're looking forward to some good times with our NNU friends, and Max has lots of little buddies going so it should be great fun!

We'll return on Sunday, and then we'll be getting everything ready for Grandmama Vicki's arrival on Saturday and Maggie's first birthday party on Sunday. Big week coming up in the Roebuck house. We can hardly wait!

Scooterville

Lucas drove the new scooter to work for the first time today!

Max checks everything out.

We are now the proud owners of a new Buddy scooter! Top five reasons we already love our scooter:

1. It gets 90 miles per gallon of gas!

2. It saves us $3 in gas every time Lucas drives it to work, so it will eventually pay for itself.

3. Orange is the new black.

4. Max now thinks his dad is cooler than ever!

5. FREEDOM for Cherissa! After almost 5 years of being a one vehicle family, it's a good time to make the switch to two. Stuck at home with two kids and no car is highly over-rated.

Quote of the Day

(After finding some coins in our bedroom)

Maximus: "After Daddy's monies are all gone, I will give him these monies to buy some food."

In that case, buddy, it might be time to fork over the coins. :-)

"Maggie, Blow Me A Kiss!"

Interesting

(I find Maggie completely buried under Max on the floor, squirming and trying to get out from under him)

Me: Maximus, what are you doing??

Maximus: Riding the horsey.

Yeah, I think it works better when he rides the horsey on Daddy.