Our Fun Friday

We had a super fun Friday yesterday with just our little family of four! Here are the highlights:

• We put out a spontaneous yard sale yesterday morning. I know the words "spontaneous" and "yard sale" aren't usually found in the same sentence. However, this actually worked out great for us yesterday! I saw that our neighbors were holding a yard sale, so I took advantage of all their hard work of putting up signs to direct traffic. I put out a bunch of my overstocks from couponing as well as some clothes and home items that I already had gathered for a sale. I was only outside with the sale for one hour, and I was able to earn a some extra cash to buy some organizations items from our going-out-of-business Office Max store. I was pleased!

• We all took Lucas to the dentist. Max went back with Lucas and apparently charmed all the hygienists while Lucas got his teeth cleaned. Meanwhile, this is what Maggie and I did outside:

Self Portraits with the iPhone!

Can't you just hear her: "Hey, guys. Listen up. I have an idea."

and last but not least:

• We took the kids to a matinee of Pixar's new movie, Up. We loved it! After I saw the trailer, I wasn't sure how good the plot of the movie was going to be. But, Pixar never disappoints! It was great, and both the kids watched the WHOLE movie, which was a first for Maggie. It was a fun outing!

Now back at the Roebuck ranch, we're continuing the saga of trying to get everyone completely well. Lucas and I both are struggling to get back to 100% health after 3 weeks of being sick. We are so ready to feel completely better!

Coming soon: pics from our wonderful visit with the Main family this week!

A Sweet Reunion

Last week Maggie and I flew to Arkansas for Memorial Day weekend. In addition to getting to spend some sweet time with my mom and dad and Uncle Larry, Aunt Suzie and cousin Brandon, I also had the HUGE treat of getting to see some of my college buddies from JBU!  It was so great to reconnect with these friends, many of whom I have not seen in several years!

Maggie and I were both sick during our whole trip, but we did our best to pretend like we weren't. :-) I couldn't stand the thought of missing out on visiting with these friends, so we just sucked it up, took a LOT of Tylenol and other cold drugs and had a blast with our friends!

Here are just a few pics of our great weekend!

Self portrait of me with Kris!

The adorable Mullins family

Everyone got to stop by and visit with my mom. How special for me!

The charming and endearing William with his parents, Jenna-Clare and Jeremy

Maggie and I at Natural Falls state park

The Hartgroves!

The whole gang at Natural Falls

Nathaniel Smith introduces Maggie to the doggie.

Jenna-Clare and I in front of the cathedral.

Farewell, friends! Thank you for the great weekend!

My husband is THE BEST.

Lucas surprised me with an early 6th anniversary present by making reservations for us a beautiful inn up in the mountains of Cascade, Idaho. It was the best 24 hours I've had in a long, long time! This was the first time we've done a weekend getaway like this with just the two of us since we had Max 3.5 years ago, so it was extra special.

Our resident hero, Laurie, came over just after noon on Friday to watch the kids for us. Laurie gets the gold star for the weekend, because she is a kid-caring pro and took such good care of Maggie even though our little princess was a little sick and hardly slept at all. Maggie was not so happy about Mommy being gone for a day... but Max, on the other hand, was thrilled to have his friend "Yorie" here to play with!

Lucas and I left the house about 1 p.m. and went straight to see a matinee showing of the new "Star Trek." The best moment of the movie was when Lucas looked over at me in the dark theater and found me weeping– weeping!–  in the opening scene of the movie. He said after six years of marriage, I have now proven my true conversion to nerd-dome. I told him- back off. I just like J.J. Abram's work, OK?! We couldn't stop laughing!

Next we had dinner at my favorite restaurant: P.F. Chang's, and then started the 2-hour gorgeous drive up the mountain to the Inn. Our room was absolutely beautiful, and I couldn't have asked for a more restful time. I needed it so much.

We came back home Saturday and relieved Laurie just in time to take back over before both the kids started throwing up. After such a great day away, I didn't even mind too much. When we got home, the first thing Max asked us was if we had been at a restaurant that whole time. Cute!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lucas!

 

Inaugural Dentist Visit

Max made his first trek to the dentist's office today:

The good news: Max was a champ. I was really nervous about taking him, because in the past he has had what I would classify as panic attacks whenever we are in any type of medical facility. We're talking about the get-yourself-so-worked-up-that-you-start-barfing type of panic. For some reason this panic also translates to haircuts as well. So I was afraid that the dentist was going to be yet another thing to add to that list.

But, much to my surprise, Max was peachy-keen through the whole experience. And ever since we got home tonight, he's been wanting to play "dentist," poking around on my teeth with a plastic knife.

The bad news: Cavities. And their impending assault on our meager budget. :-) Looks like it's time to ramp up my toddler brushing/flossing skills. Apparently I haven't been cutting it!

As a side note: To all my buddies out there who have not yet ventured into the world of dentistry with your toddlers/preschoolers: I totally recommend finding a pediatric dentist. I took Max to dentist that specializes in pediatric dentistry, and I really think it is the one reason he had such a good experience. 

The whole place was geared toward kids, and the staff obviously knew how to put little ones at ease. As soon as Max laid down on the table, the hygienist gave him a pair of headphones and pointed to the screen on the ceiling where he could watch Finding Nemo while they "counted his teeth." 

And by the way, I know kids LOVE Nemo, but wouldn't you think the dentist scenes in that movie would freak kids out as they were sitting in a dentist's chair? Even Max said today, "In Nemo, the dentist uses that screw driver on that one guy's teeth!" The hygienist next to us quickly and kindly corrected him just as she put a mouth-ful of tools into the mouth of the 4-year-old in the next chair over! Ha!

Anyway, the whole experience was fantastic, and I just cringe thinking about what it could have been like with someone like my childhood dentist and Max. Thank you, Lord, for such a successful day.... even with the cavity discovery!

We love these beautiful women!

To the three beautiful moms in our life:

Happy Mother's Day! We Love you!

Links to add to my list of "things to read that are good for my eternal soul":

One of my favorite bloggers, Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer, has this link posted in her "best of" section of her blog. I've decided to make it mandatory periodic reading for myself until I have no children under the age of five in my house:

It Gets Easier

Thank you, Shannon. I really needed that.

Mondays are Good Pajama Days

We're all still in our pajamas here on this dreary Monday morning. [Not that that's unheard of for us on a Monday morning at 9:30 :-) ] Max is watching cartoons– a treat he's come to really appreciate at Grandmama and Grandpapa's house– and Maggie is stacking and re-stacking cupcake baking cups and feeding crackers to her stuffed Mickey. We're making this a low-key day.

Pray for my mom. It's been a terribly hard two weeks on her, and yesterday and today the weariness in her eyes was the strongest I've seen it. She's been so incredibly brave, strong and trusting through this entire journey. I am hoping that our gracious God will give her some good-feeling days soon.

Tonight I'll go pick up Lucas at the airport at midnight. Thank the Lord that, as far as we know, this marks the end of us having to be separated for weeks on end. The kids and I had originally planned to stay in Arkansas throughout May and then have Lucas join us at the beginning of June when he is finished teaching. But since mom's oncologist feels that she is somewhat stable at this point (this could change at any time), combined with the fact that we've reached the end of what we can handle with this separation business, we're all going to head back to Idaho for a few weeks. 

I am thankful to be able to get back home for a bit- I would say it is a necessity for our little family at this point. It's been a hard year, with harder days likely to come. And as hard as it will be to be away from my mom right now, we need a respite and something that at least vaguely resembles normalcy for a few weeks. 

Of course, I'm sure that when we get back to Idaho, I'll be wanting badly to be back here with mom. But that is the nature of life these days. We've been so thankful to be here with her and dad, and we're thankful to have some time to go home for a while, too.

But mostly, I'm just really happy that I get to see my husband tonight!

Maximus' Dinner Prayer

Dear God, thank you for this food. And thank you for letting us go on our walk....

Oh, and I love you, and you know that you love me. And thank you, Jesus, for forgiving our sins. Amen.

Coyote County Loser JBU Alumni Event

On Thursday night JBU hosted a screening of Coyote County Loser in Siloam Springs. Lucas was able to be here to do a Q&A about the movie production for the alumni. We really enjoyed the evening together, and the alumni really enjoyed the movie!

If you haven't had a chance to see Coyote County Loser yet, it's playing this weekend at the Siloam Springs 6 theater and the Rogers Pinnacle Hills Malco theater. I know you'll enjoy it! Jacob and Laura (and so many others, including Lucas) have worked so hard to see this movie become a reality!

Conversations with Maximus

Me: Maximus, I love you! I want you to know that there's nothing you can do to make me love you more. And there's nothing you can do to make me love you less. I love you no matter what.

Maximus: Um, I don't know what that means. Mommy, will you tell me what that means?

Me: Sure. Let's think about it this way: you know there are some things I really like you to do, like choosing to obey and having a happy heart. But even if you don't do those things, I will still love you. Even though it makes me the most happy if you do choose to do those things, I will still love you even if you don't. I love you no matter what.

Maximus: Am I your grandson!?

Apparently this little guy has a mental link between grandparents and unconditional love. A pretty smart deduction, if you ask me. :-)

Helping with the Garden

Just one of the day-to-day special things the kids are getting to do with their Grandpapa and Grandmama while we are here:

We're so thankful to be here!

See Coyote County Loser in Northwest Arkansas this weekend! And enter to win free tickets!

Remember Coyote County Loser, the new romantic comedy that my husband helped write and his twin brother produced? Well it's showing at two theaters in Northwest Arkansas for a week starting this Friday, April 24!

If you're in NWA or know someone who is, tell them about this great new film. It's a rare find: a romantic comedy that actually has a true and healthy message about relationships. 

Also, in case you haven't checked out The Frugal Muse in a while, be sure to pop over there today to enter for your chance to win free tickets to Coyote County Loser this weekend!

The film will be showing at the Rogers Malco Pinnacle Hills and the Siloam Springs 6 theaters from April 24-30. You won't want to miss it!

Coyote County Loser: A romantic comedy for the loser in all of us!

What a great day!

Yesterday was truly a great day. For a couple of weeks, my parents had been planning on speaking at a church in my hometown of Owasso about their journey through terminal cancer. 

I really wanted to attend, but just didn't see how it would be possible with the kids. Maggie is at a stage of severe separation anxiety, and makes herself sick from crying so hard if left in a strange nursery. The thought had crossed my mind that the only way I would be able to go is if someone could come to my parents' home and watch the kids while I went to Owasso. But I just didn't feel like I could ask anyone to do that on a Sunday morning.

I was so shocked and surprised and thankful to find my aunt's e-mail a couple of days ago offering to drive FROM DALLAS to come stay with the kids for the day so that I could: a) go to hear my parents speak, and b) have a break from motherhood during this season while I'm here without Lucas.

Her offer was yet another reminder to me of the supernatural way in which a loving Heavenly Father is caring for my every need during these difficult days. Thank you, Lord!

And what an incredible gift from my aunt! I was able to drive to Owasso with Russell, Tyler and Meagan; hear my parents speak at two services; visit with friends who attended the services; and then enjoy a nice lunch out before heading back to Siloam Springs late in the afternoon.

I guess I was in such a hurry to get out the door (FREE-DOM!) that I forgot to take a picture of my aunt and my cousin while they were here! But we had a really sweet visit on Saturday night, and they gave me such an awesome gift by keeping the kids all day on Sunday.

Thank you, Aunt Suzie. You were my hero this weekend!

What Maximus found in the Mail Today

Lunch Date with Sam, Kate and Kai

The great news: the kids and I had an absolutely fantastic time when we joined our friends Anna, Sam, Kate and Kai for lunch today. It was like water to my soul.

The bad news: I'm spoiled by my Nikon camera. All I had was my little iPhone camera for these snaps of our adorable little buddies. The leaves picture with Sam and Max is so cute, I'm wishing I had it in a higher resolution photo!

Thanks, Anna, for the awesome day. Loved every second of it.

Celebrating Easter

We had a glorious Easter celebration last weekend! Here are just a few pics, and I'll add some more of egg-hunting, etc. later:

Our Easter dinner:

Grandpapa teaches a lesson about the Resurrection. He showed the grandsons a picture of his dad, who is in Heaven now because of what Jesus accomplished through his death and resurrection. They were very interested in what Grandpapa had to say about all of this. 

Our little family on a cold Easter morning!

We were all SO happy to have Lucas here!

All Together for Easter!

We are so happy to all be together for Easter this weekend! Lucas and Max flew in late Thursday night. Lucas will fly back to Idaho on Monday, but Max will stay with me this time.

Brian, Lucas and Dad always have to get in some good Acquire action when Lucas is in town. Apparently Dad dominated all three games last night.

This is what the Dees family used to look like! 

It's crazy how much many people we've added in the past few years!

This was an unplanned surprise to have all four kids here with mom

and dad during the day on Thursday.