We are here!

We are here safe and sound with my parents. Thank you all for your prayers yesterday... Our flights went so well, I know it could only have been the Lord's gracious intervention! We're looking forward to some really special time here!

And We're Off!

In just a little bit, the kids and I will be departing for Arkansas via plane. We're so excited to be going!! I'll be triple excited once we are actually settled in with my mom and dad in their cozy home. If you think about us, please pray that the flights and long layover go smoothly for us today.

My wonderful hubby is staying home to bring home the bacon and finish up his semester. He'll be joining us soon... but not soon enough, I'm sure. 

Bon Voyage!

The Earliest Christmas Party in the History of Christmas Parties

We just celebrated the earliest Christmas party in the history of christmas parties. And it was awesome. Mollie and Monroe came over Friday night and we played Christmas music, enjoyed a meal together, baked and decorated gingerbread men, opened presents and packed a box for Operation Christmas Child. What a night!

I hadn't realized until Friday morning how I had been just a little bit sad that I wasn't going to be able to decorate or celebrate Christmas in any way in my own home this year (because we will be celebrating with my family through all the holidays, which we are SO excited about!). When Mollie had the idea to bake gingerbread men with the kids, I decided to make it a full-blown Christmas bash. It was so nice to be able to celebrate in our home, even for one evening.

Warning: Lots of photos to follow. We just had such a great time, I had to give you all a peak:

Before the decorating began

After the decorating was complete. Max wasn't really into the whole "Less is More" idea.

Monroe's perfect creation. What an overachiever. :-)

Max's Creation.

Mollie works diligently on her "Little House on the Prairie Girl." This must be where Monroe gets the overachiever gene. Or maybe it's Gene with the overachiever gene. Ha ha. I thought of that little joke all by myself.

My little gingerbread Lucas. Isn't he adorable?

Lucas made a storm trooper.

Packing up our box for Operation Christmas Child. I won't mention the fact that Max threw a knock-down-drag-out fit when he found out that the box was not in fact for him, but for some poor child in a third world country. What a selfless little angel we're raising. We'll keep working on it. :-)

Thanks, Mollie and Monroe, for a GREAT early Christmas celebration!

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow!!

My dad just called with GREAT news from my mom's scan reports this morning! Their oncologist told them that the MRI showed no cancer in her brain, and the CT scan showed that the size of her cancer tumors have actually been REDUCED since the last scans, which were taken after she had completed chemo. Her doctor was so very pleased with her status, that he told her she now doesn't even have to come back for another set of scans for two months! 

I am overflowing with a thankful heart to our gracious God, and I can't think of a better gift that He could have given us for the holidays. Thank you, LORD!

I think he's really pretty great.

Just for fun, here's a snapshot that our friend Michele took of dad and me this weekend. I love this picture! My dad looks so happy. Yep, he's basically the best.

P.S. Back by popular demand (okay, well just Aunt Suzie, but she's pretty popular): The former blog template. I agree, Aunt Suzie, the white background is easier to read than the black background. 

Back in the Land 'O Potatoes

We're Home!

For the sake of sanity and positive attitudes in general, I will not recount the event that Maggie and I made out of our final leg of our flight home. Let's just suffice it to say that when we landed, the pilot came on the intercom and said, "Hooray. We're here." And it was in reference to us. Every seat was taken on the flight, and Maggie wailed like she was dying for 1 hour and 39 minutes: gate to gate. 

Poor Maggie. She was doing the best she could. She was sick and exhausted... two states of being that carried over into our night last night. She hardly slept a wink, and so now we're all feeling a bit beat up around here. It has not been a fun 24 hours, but I told Lucas I'd do it again ten times over to get to be a part of the conference this weekend. 

We're going to spend the next week trying to recuperate, get packed, stock Lucas up on some meals for the two weeks we'll be apart, and get together with some friends here in Idaho before we take out again on Monday for our holiday extravaganza. I was dreading having to do the whole travel/flight day with both kids alone again next week, but then I realized that: a) I will probably be a little more rested by that time than I am today, and b) I won't have to turn around and do the return flight day three days later like I did this weekend. So I think we'll be just fine.

AND FOR THE RECORD, the flight attendant on one of the flights made a point to stop at our seat to give me discourse on how kids "are really pretty easy at this stage" (referring to Maggie) "Believe it or not, they just get harder as they get older," She said. She went on to tell me that she has a 7 year old. Can ANYONE out there in blog world vouch for the fact that 7-year- olds are more difficult to take care of than 1-year-olds? Because I'm not buying it.

Seriously, people. Someone needs to inform the world that the phrase, "It only gets harder"  is NEVER an appropriate thing to say to a mom of toddlers. Particularly in airports, which seems to be where I hear it quite frequently.

The Women's Conference

My mom teaching at the conference. Isn't she lovely?

My mom and Grandma. They look nothing alike, huh? :-)

I'm not quite even sure that I can tell you, O Blog World, what a special time I had this weekend at the conference. My mom did a fantastic job speaking, and I have several little nuggets tucked in my heart that I know will always be with me. I also got so see so many special people to me, including my dear group of high school friends, lots of friends from Owasso, my grandma aunt and cousin, and many others. My heart is full of thankfulness for the gift of being here this weekend. It was a profoundly special few days for me.

A few stats

Maggie and I arrived safe and sound in Arkansas tonight! Here are a few stats about how long various activities kept Maggie occupied during our flight:

Eating airline pretzels: 1 minute, 43 seconds

Playing "find the doggies" in Sky Mall: 36 seconds

Throwing plastic cups on the floor and then retrieving them: 54 seconds

Looking out the window at the airplane wing: 9 seconds

Watching movies on the iPhone: the remaining 1 hour 45 minutes and 23 seconds of the flight.

Needless to say, the iPhone was my hero today. I really don't know how I would have kept her occupied for two hours on my lap without it. But I suppose it is possible. iPhones haven't been around forever, you know.

ANYWAY... we are so glad to be here with my mom and dad for the SCCC women's conference this weekend. I can't wait for the conference– I really think God has great things in store.

Our Fun Sunday

We had a great day yesterday! First, we had a great morning at church. Max learned that God is Omnipresent. The teacher said he was really quiet during the lesson until she said that Omnipresent meant God is everywhere.... even DisneyLand. Max suddenly got very interested in spiritual things.

After church, we got to meet up with Gramma Cheryl and Pops for lunch. They are moving from Denver to Oregon, so we were a stop on their path! Max had A LOT to talk to Gramma Cheryl about:

Maggie tried to impress Pops with her yogurt eating skills.

We were so glad to get to see them!

After lunch and naps, we got to help our buddy Ruthanne celebrate her first birthday! It was a great birthday party, and we had a ton of fun. Ruthanne's mom was even nice enough to set up special places for Max and Maggie to eat their cake. 

Speaking of cake, I wish I would have taken a picture of Ruthanne's birthday cake. It was awesome, and her mom made it. It had an adorable yellow ducky on the top that Ruthanne dug into. Happy first birthday, Ruthanne!

Earn Free Gift Cards: Swagbucks

Okay, I just have to tell you all about this really cool search engine: Swagbucks. Basically you use this to search just like you would Google or any other search engine. 

The great perk is that the site randomly gives 1, 2 or 5 Swagbucks when you search... and you can later trade these Swagbucks in for gift cards to great stores like Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Macy's, and the list goes on and on. You also get Swagbucks for making online purchases through the site as well and trading in your old cell phones and iPods. 

Pretty sweet... I thought you guys might like to check it out and get free gift cards for the searching you're doing anyway!! To get started, just click here!

Christmas Wishes

It's that time of year again: Christmas Wish Lists. Once again this year we are posting a wish list of a few things the kids would enjoy for Christmas. Disclaimer: The reason we post the list is simply because some of you have said it is helpful. We don't need or expect any of this! We kinda like smiles and hugs as gifts. :-) But if you're interested or find this helpful, here you go! 

Roebuck Wish List

Hmmmm....... Interesting

Well, I gladly did my civic duty today. Thankfully, I was able to walk right in, register to vote in Idaho and vote in just a matter of a few minutes.  I heard that in Virginia and some other states, people were having to wait six to seven hours in line to vote. Woh.... hats off to those folks. That's commitment.

Get this. On the Idaho ballot for U.S. Senate, there is a candidate named Pro-Life. Yes, he legally changed his name to Pro-Life to run for this seat. On the ballot, it lists the three other candidate's names and then said this for the fourth candidate: "Pro-Life (This is a person, formerly known as John Doe)." Except instead of John Doe, it listed his real former legal name. Crazy.

Now Lucas and I are settling in to watch the results come in. Call us All-American Nerds– This is great!

Happy: Harvest/Halloween/Reformation Day/ Birthday to Preston, Aunt Carol, and Janel!

Today we continued our third annual tradition of celebrating Halloween by delivering candy to Lucas' classes... what fun! 

Maggie the Pumpkin and Maximus "Cowboy Woody" Roebuck

We played in the leaves at NNU between classes.

Maximus put on quite the "dog and pony" show for Lucas' students. He had quite the act down by the time the third class rolled around. His little presentation included:

1. A moving rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"

2. The theme song for Speed Racer, just to lighten things up a bit.

3. An account of his trip to Disneyland the gun that Uncle Jacob bought him at the Buzz ride.

4. A financial presentation in which he informed the students that his daddy came to teach their class everday so that he could get "monies to buy food and toys."

All Maggie had to do was look cute. They were quite a hit.

Hope you all had a fun day today!

Conversations with Maximus

[Maximus is watching his Daddy ride the scooter while we're following him in the car on the way to the Reformation Day party at church last night.]

Maximus: That is my Daddy. That is my SUPER Daddy.
Me: That's right, he is a Super Daddy.
Maximus: No, he is MY Daddy. He is only my Daddy.
Me: What about Maggie Mae? He is her daddy too, right?
Maximus: No. Maggie Mae is your pumpkin. I am my Daddy's and Maggie Mae is Mommy's.

Need a new Twin Stroller?

I don't usually post about giveaways, but I REALLY could use this twin stroller, so I'm going to try to win it! (I had to post on my blog about the giveaway in order to enter) If Anyone else wants to try to win too, just click on the button above and give it a try!

Talkin' Up A Storm

Maggie has suddenly taken off in the talking department. Here are just a few of the words she is saying now:

Momma 

Dadda

Ducky

Doggie

Wa-Wa (water)

Nice

Round and Round (as in The Wheels on the Bus Go...)

Milk

Nana (as in Banana)

Cracker

And the newest word she added last night:

Wall•e (comes out a little more like Wahhhh)

So cute. Of course the average human would not be able to translate her words yet, but Lucas and I can... and even Max likes to run up to me and exclaim, "Maggie is saying 'Doggie, Doggie, Doggie!"  It seems like overnight she has gone from baby to toddler. Walking, talking, hugging, kissing and singing little songs!

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight we got to go to a pumpkin carving party with some of our NNU friends. Great fun was had by all. Lucas and I aren't usually big on carving, but tonight Lucas had fun teaming up with Ben to create a masterpiece. They even won trophies for the most original design!

The champions.

Can you tell what it is? I'll give you a hint: McCain and Palin would approve.

Our little buddies Eleanor and Maria. They're pretty great.

Team Elephant schemes about how best to create their work of art.

Lucas does the gross part. 

Happy Pumpkin Carving to All, and to All a Good Night!

The motherload from Old Navy

Or, as Maximus called it today, "Oh, Maybe." Every once in a while, Old Navy has awesome sales on their clearance items. Today was one of those days. They were hosting a halloween party and any kids who showed up in costume got to pick out any t-shirt free. They were also handing out $5 off any purchase coupons, baby and toddler clearance was an additional 50% off clearance prices, and there was a HUGE rack of men's and women's clothes marked $1.99. It was great! Here's what the Roebucks scored today:

Women's clothes:

6 shirts

2 skirts

2 shorts

1 bra

1 pair of shoes

Toddler/ baby clothes:

2 pj sets

1 skirt

3 dresses

8 shirts

1 pair of pants

All of this for the grand total of $45. 32. That's about $1.68 per item! While $45 is a pretty big chunk of cash for us to be plunking down right now, I was so thankful to get some adorable gifts for some special friends' soon-to-be-arriving babies, as well as some needed items for Max, Maggie and myself. Thank you, Lord!

The Pumpkin Patch

Around here, autumn means a trip to a real pumpkin patch! I don't know if Oklahomans don't do pumpkin patches or if I just missed out on them as a kids, but I think this is an awesome fall tradition. 2008 marks our second annual trip to the Berry Ranch Pumpkin Patch with  Gene and Mollie and family. What a blast!

All the kids pose for about 1.3 seconds for a photo.

Sweet siblings.

Max has always loved pumpkins. "Pumpkin" was one of his first words!

Our kids look thrilled to be taking this photo, huh?

Gene, Mollie, Monroe and Mairin- we love these guys!

Back at Gene and Mollie's, the "bitty girls" play.

Max enjoys a little table for two with his best buddy, Monroe, who by the way, has the most adorable self-administered hair cut EVER. She looks so cute!

Final California Adventure Post: Visiting Grandpa and Abuelita

I know it's taken me forever to get these posts up about our California trip- Sorry! Here's the final installment: our visit to Chaney and Maria, a.k.a Dad and Mari, a.k.a Grandpa and Abuelita. After Lucas had to fly back to Idaho to get back to work, the kids and I trekked down to San Diego county to spend a week with his Dad and Mari. We had a great visit, and they were so nice to keep the kids while I partied at Pismo Beach with the girls! Here are a few snaps from our visit:

Abuelita got a kick out of Maggie stuffing entire bananas in her mouth all at once.

Chata is Grandpa and Abuelita's dog, and the kids LOVE her!

Max and Maggie with their Grandpa.

Snuggling in bed together.

I was SO happy to see the kids when I got back from Pismo Beach!

Grandpa shows Max and Maggie the birds

Abuelita teaches Maggie the basics on how to cook the BEST MEXICAN FOOD IN THE WORLD. "The most important thing, Maggie," says Abuelita, "Is to never, NEVER, put a metal spoon in the beans."

Max helps Maggie practice her walking at Grandpa's house.