The Minnie Mouse Birthday Brunch

The Minnie Mouse Birthday Brunch was a smashing success. What a great time! We had perfect weather, good friends, a house full of laughing children, and yummy Minnie Mouse pancakes to decorate!

The birthday girl gets ready to party!

Aunt Brandy and Susan help set up. We loved our balloons from The Balloon Closet!

Welcome, friends!

Max is proud of how he decorated his pancake!

Proud mommy with the birthday girl.

Opening special gifts.

"Thank you, Grandmama."

Checking out the new toys.

Snuggles with Grandmama and Grandpapa.

Thanks to everyone who helped make Maggie's party so special!

Maggie's Birthday

We've been busy with lots of little girl birthday celebrating around here! Here's how we spent our Friday, Maggie's actual birthday:

Maggie started the day by getting a special gift from her daddy: A little Mermaid doll that she absolutely loved!

Then she went to the park with her brother.

We took time to stop and smell the flowers. :-)

A little stop at Jolly Roger's Sweet Shoppe, where Maggie got to choose any candy she wanted.

Not surprisingly, she chose chocolate kisses, or "Chocs" as she calls them.

We went to see Grandmama.....

..... who let Maggie borrow a very girly pink feather boa for her birthday.

It's fun to be a girl!

She got to go play with her cousin Susan while I worked on getting ready for Saturday's party.

And we ended the day at Maggie's favorite place to eat: Chick-Fil-A.... or as Maggie calls it: "Chick-il- YAY!!!"

Happy Birthday, Maggie Mae!

Happy 2nd Birthday, baby girl! We love you so much!

Introducing: Conversations between Max and Maggie!

Well, friends, we have entered a new phase in our family's life. Max and Maggie now regularly carry on extensive conversations just between the two of them. It's fascinating (at least for their mom!). Here's the first real conversation I witnessed between them. I was driving and the two of them were riding in the back in their car seats.

Max: Hey, Maggie, say "fireman."

Maggie: (whispering) Fah-man.

Max: No, Maggie. Say it louder so I can hear.

Maggie: Louder, I hear.

Max: NO! Say, "FIREMAN!"

Maggie: (whispering) Fah-man.

Max: NO, MAGGIE! SAY IT LOUDER SO I CAN HEAR!

Maggie: Louder, I hear.

Max: [Loud Sigh].

A Strange Thing Happened Today

This is it:

In almost four years of parenting, I don't think I've ever seen one of my children lay down in the middle of the floor and fall fast asleep. It was only about 15 minutes before naptime, so I just moved her to her bed, where she slept soundly for the next 2+ hours.

She woke up with a fever.

Aha. Mystery solved. So we had to cancel some fun plans for tonight so that we won't expose anyone else to whatever Maggie has. Hopefully it's just a little 24 hour bug that will pass quickly. At least she's getting this over with before her birthday this week!

In the meantime, while Maggie is getting over her little fever, the Roebucks are holing up for the night with the doors and windows open on this gorgeous August evening. We're renting 'Enchanted' for a family movie night and crossing our fingers that no one else will get sick. :-)

We're Baaaa-aaaack!

Okay, folks. The Roebuck family is back online. Since it's a futile endeavor to get the blog caught up on the last month of life, I will instead give you a quick and totally incomprehensive pictorial overview of the last month of our lives:

1. We packed a. whole. lot. of boxes.

2. We watched movers pack our entire life into a semi. Then we said many, many sad goodbyes to our dear friends in Idaho.

3. We moved into our fab new loft in downtown Siloam Springs, which we love, despite the fact....

4. ..... that this is the color of the living room walls.

5. We got settled in. And Max and Maggie find out how great it is to have late night parties every night, now that they share a room.

6. We enjoyed some great Roebuck/Huckaby mania when Erick, Brandy, Susan and Jackson moved to Siloam the same week we did (Erick is now a professor at JBU), and Jacob and Laura got to come for a visit for the weekend!

7. We squeezed in some mega quality time with good friends.

8. And somewhere in the midst of all this, Lucas started his new job as Director of University of Communications at John Brown University! It's been a C-R-A-Z-Y few weeks, but we are thrilled to be back in Siloam Springs and calling it home once again!