Holiday Recap #5: WHITE CHRISTMAS!

We had the most wonderful Christmas day! This Christmas brought two new firsts to our family: Our first Christmas to spend in our own home with both our kids, and our first WHITE CHRISTMAS!

In fact, as I got to thinking about it, in my 30 years of life, this was my first real White Christmas! I couldn't remember one, but I thought maybe I had just forgotten. So I did some research online and it confirmed that there had not been any White Christmases in the years I've lived in Arkansas, and there was only one Christmas where there was snow on the ground in the Tulsa area in the early 80s- but no snowfall on that day. So this was it, the first real white Christmas for me!

For several weeks leading up to Christmas, Maximus had been telling Lucas and I that it would not be Christmas until it snowed. He was convinced that was how he would know it was Christmas day. We tried to tell him that it usually did not snow on Christmas in Arkansas, but he would not be persuaded. You can imagine his glee when he woke up first thing Christmas morning to find snow! When he woke up, he climbed up on his bed and looked out the window, then ran into our room and exclaimed, "Christmas is here! There is snow everywhere! And Santa already came!" It was like a hallmark commercial. So magical for him- and I won't ever forget how precious it was!

We had a fantastic day together with just the four of us. We never left the house except to go out in the snow for a few minutes. Can't remember the last time we did that- it was such a great day. Here are a few pics:

A magical Christmas morning for Max.

Checking out the SNOW!

Presents!

Christmas morning.

"It's Tinkerbell, Lost Treasure!"

FUN IN THE SNOW:

Back into the warm to play with Christmas gifts:

Our first family board game: Candy Land.

We Interrupt this Holiday Recap to Bring You...

... Artwork by Max.

Yes, I realize that I am probably the only human on the planet who loves looking at these drawings that Max has been doing over the last couple of days. Perhaps a grandparent or an aunt or uncle might have a mild level of interest. :-)

I have been so proud of how Max's drawings are starting to take shape. I have no idea how he compares to other 4 year olds in this arena- all of you moms of other preschoolers: please just smile and nod and humor me since your kids have probably been drawing like this for the past two years!

But for Max, this is the first time I have been able to really recognize the things he is drawing. It's so fun to see physical representations of what is going on in that active little imagination of his!

Here are some drawings he did yesterday and today, and his description of each:

"Pirate on a pirate ship with two swords."

(I particularly loved his hat and the three masts on the top of the ship)

"A Veggie Tale pirate"

"A treasure box with pieces of gold treasure inside, and (on the right) right there I wrote the pirate's name: Dark Validi"

"This is IronMan. I drew him for Addison and Preston because they love Superheros."

Holiday Recap #4: Dees Family Christmas

One of the highlights of this holiday season was something we never imagined we'd be able to do: celebrate a Dees family Christmas in 2009 with all of us alive and well and together. It's hard to even put into words what this gift meant to me. I'll just say that I was treasuring every single minute and storing it up in my heart. God has been so good to us.

Here are just a few pictures of our overflowing joy!

All the cousins in front of the tree...

... And Aunt Meagy helped us get baby Roman in there, too!

It is amazing how much energy this Grandmama and Grandpapa have for their grandkids!

Love of my life. Isn't he handsome?

Maggie tells Uncle T and Aunt Meagy all about her presents. :-)

Serious business. Checking out the Transformers.

Mitch and Steph are such a cute couple. Never before have I seen God so tailor-make two people for each other. Perfect.

Russ! He loves to play Santa Claus, and brought everyone such special gifts!

Tyler and Meagan and their little family of two: but not for long! Baby Roman will be making his appearance in just a few weeks. I can't wait to snuggle him!

Mom and Dad are the most adorable love birds. Dad bought her a diamond necklace for Christmas. So sweet.

And... what Dees family holiday would be complete without some serious Acquire? Even the little guys are learning the ropes.

Holiday Recap #3: Susan's Party

In the midst of all the holiday celebrations, we got to celebrate my niece Susan's 9th birthday! Erick and Brandy hosted a tea party at the English Tea Room- SUCH a great idea to make a little girl's birthday extra special!

Maggie, of course, was thrilled to be a part of the tea party:

Maggie with the birthday girl. You can't tell that she enjoyed the treats, can you? :-)

My mom was able to come to Susan's party as well- Maggie loved sharing the tea party experience with her Grandmama.

Susan blows out her candle...

... and opens her gifts!

I love living close enough to Susan and Jackson to be a part of everyday life instead of just getting to see them a couple times a year. Susan was the sweetest little birthday lady, and Maggie and I were glad to get to be at her party!

Holiday Recap #2: Anna's Birthday

While Laura was here for Thanksgiving, we had the extreme fun of surprising our dear friend Anna with an overnight girls' getaway to Branson on her birthday. These lovely ladies put up with my serious directional deficiency, although we did eventually make it to all of our destinations in one piece. :-)

We talked, shopped, hot-tubbed, sipped Starbucks and ate yummy food. Bliss!

I booked our hotel through hotwire, where you get a great price but don't see the name of the hotel until after you book. Here's where we stayed:

The Welk Resort, as in Lawrence Welk. The geriatric capital of Branson! The parking lot was full of charter buses, and check-out time at the hotel was 10 a.m.... because all the guests besides us had been up since 5 a.m.!

We had a great time celebrating Anna and friendship. We did, however, feel like we were missing a limb without our dear friend Amy with us. We missed you, Amy! The only thing that could have made it better was if you had been there!

P.S. And how could I forget to mention the three fabulous husbands who facilitated this time away?! Jacob and Lucas kept Max and Maggie, and Brian not only kept his and Anna's three munchkins, but he was also super sly and helped make it possible to completely surprise Anna with this little getaway. Thanks, guys!

Holiday Recap #1: THANKGIVING!

Okay, everyone. Time for this slacker blogger to get everyone caught up on Roebuck life and times over the holidays. We've had a GREAT holiday season. Here are some of the highlights, starting with Thanksgiving:

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we were able to get together with my parents and siblings for a great Thanksgiving meal, prepared by master chef Vicki Dees. We were all so grateful to be together, and especially for the fact that my mom was feeling so well that she did all the cooking and hostessing!

Mom checking the temp of the cooked Turkey to make sure my dad knew that it was safe to eat. He gets a little concerned about undercooked food, so she had to put his mind at ease. :-)

Three precious cousins. These two little guys can do no wrong in Max's eyes.

The whole crew!

Lucas and I were thrilled to get to have two of his brothers and their wives in Siloam for Thanksgiving. We had SUCH a good time! Thank you, Jacob and Laura and Keith and Erin for sharing Thanksgiving with us! Our good friend Pam also came to spend the holiday with us, and we were so glad to get to see her as well!

Traditional Thanksgiving Day Football Game

Fun with Uncle Keith and Aunt Erin!

Uncle Jake and Uncle Keith know just what little boys love. They took Max to Walmart and got him a Hot Wheels race track- his first introduction to Hot Wheels. Commander Murray was also with us for Turkey Day and helped show Max the ropes. :-)

Yum!

Two of my precious sisters-in-law. We had some great girl time together.

A visit to Grandma Huckaby at the rehab hospital.

Night out in Rogers with some of the the RoeHucks.

Even though we couldn't be with the WHOLE Huckaby family this year for Thanksgiving, we still managed to get a family portrait via iChat! :-) We still didn't get everyone in this shot... next time hopefully we can get Joe and Tammy and Erick, Brandy, Susan and Jackson, too.