The Roby Family

The eve of Christmas has arrived!  We enjoyed a great afternoon and evening with my mother, sister and brother.  We attended a wonderful Christmas-themed service at LifeChurch.tv.  Jenny spent most of the day making a traditional yet gourmet Christmas meal complete with a pecan pie topped with whiskey cream sauce.

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We ended the evening by giving the boys their traditional Christmas pajamas.  They were good about getting in bed but the sugar plums are surely dancing in their heads.

The house is decked with decorations while the tree is swarmed with lights, ornaments and a truckload of presents.  Christmas day is almost here!

Tonight our LifeGroup family visited downtown Tulsa’s Winterfest.  The holiday themed event boasts ice skating, carnival rides, tasty treats, carriage rides and more.  No one from the group ventured out on the ice or plopped around the block in a carriage, but we had a great time together and the kids loved the carnival rides.  Jacob and Jefferson really loved the giant corndogs.

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As I rode the ferris wheel with Jacob on one side and Jefferson on the other I couldn’t help but hold them tight and think about how blessed I am to have such a wonderful family.  So, if you’re in or around Tulsa this December I recommend taking a spin on the ferris wheel, there’s just something about that dangling, whirling ride that makes the world seem right.

Since we arrived home from Thanksgiving we’ve been busy decorating for Christmas.  We did a bit inside, then a bunch outside and now a bit more inside.  Last night we hung ornaments on the tree.  The boys loved doing it and even posed for a few pictures!

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We aren’t done decorating but we thought we’d give a sneak peek of the tree.  Stay tuned for pictures of all our purdy holiday decorations.

It’s been a big week for Judah.  His first tooth popped out.  Experienced trick or treating for the first time.  Another tooth broke through.  He’s now sitting up very well.  Then another tooth appeared.  And, um he said “da da.”  That last one is probably the most important.  I’m just sayin’.

Jacob spent nearly three years in a child development center before coming home to spend the day with Jenny and Jefferson.  Well, Jefferson’s never had that pleasure.  When Jacob started back to school this year it was easy to see Jeffer was equal parts jealous and bored.  Mommy and Judah are fun and all but he wanted more.  We discussed the possibility of him doing a mother’s day out last spring but never pulled the lever.  It came back up this fall and we decided to look into it.  After looking at a few places we placed his name on a waiting list at our favorite.  We lucked out when a spot opened up within a week of requesting.

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He started last week and we made a big deal out of it.  We took pictures of him and Jacob before heading out to drop Jacob off at school.  Before taking him to the school we stopped at Merrit’s Bakery for donuts and juice.  He is only attending one day a week but he loves his “school”.  I think Jenny may like it the most.

For the final day of Staycation 2010 we trekked an hour north to a gorgeous part of Oklahoma, the rolling hills of Osage County.  We landed at the ranch of Mr Frank Phillips.  He and his brother founded Phillips Petroleum and amassed quite a wealth over the years.  Phillips, or Uncle Frank as many called him, built the large ranch west of his adopted hometown, Bartlesville, and named it Woolaroc.  Woolaroc is taken from the elements he carved the ranch from, wood, lakes and rock.  He imported animals from all over the world, built a magnificent museum and a spacious lodge all with the intent of relaxing and entertaining his family, friends, clients & investors from around the world.

Uncle Frank passed in 1950 but the ranch and its buildings are open for the public to enjoy.  The animals from around the world still call the ranch home.  Some of the animals are roaming within the vast confines of the ranch, others are in the petting barn, while others have their heads mounted on Uncle Frank’s walls now that they’re roaming the great beyond

The museum is also still fully stocked with western art, oil field memorabilia, indian artifacts and lots of guns.  The lodge is open for viewing and afford beautiful views of a lake and the rolling hills.

Part of the fun about Woolaroc for us is much of it was constructed from 1925-1929.  These are the same years our home was under construction at the base of one of those rolling Osage hills.

The boys loved visiting Woolaroc.  They enjoyed the museum and its many pretty paintings, cool sculptures and old guns.  The wild west town playground and petting barn were definitely their favorite.  Jenny & I enjoyed the lodge and the massive stone ledges and steps leading from it to the lake below. The boys were great the entire day. They had so many one liners from the moment we got in the car to Jacob trailing off in mid-sentence about not being tired then falling asleep.

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We plan on visiting again in a year or two, but will visit in the spring or fall. The 105 degree temps are for the no one, not even the birds.

I’ve had a bit of a bet going with myself.  What would happen first, Jacob lose his first tooth or Judah gets his first one?  Judah’s been coming strong with drool everywhere and gnawing on anything he can get in his mouth.  But Tuesday morning Jacob woke up and proclaimed he had a loose tooth.  Well dang, how was thing going to play out.  Jenny & I are heading to KC this weekend and we didn’t want to miss Jacob’s tooth falling out of his head.  I mean we went thru some sleepless nights with that dang tooth cutting thru those gums.  I thought I might tie some string to it and yank or just reach in there with some needle-nose pliers and yank before he went to bed Thursday night.  But then last night we had a breakthrough.  While eating a meal of chicken, asparagus and rice I looked up and saw the tooth had popped right out of place.  I asked if he knew it was gone and he got a bewildered look on his face.  My first thought, great he swallowed it, I ain’t digging through poop so he can get some money from the tooth fairy, but wait we’ll be in KC, mom can’t do that for us, well crap.  So like any good pops I stuck my hand in his mouth and started digging around for the other white meat in his mouth, a tiny tooth.  After a minute or two he finds it, pulls it and shows it off.  So, there you have it, we have a kid losing teeth while still enjoying a baby that ain’t got any.

There is the toothless wonder.  Oh and in case you are wondering the tooth he mysteriously chipped a few years back is still hanging in there.  For the dental-ites in the family here is a close-up.

With this whole incident happening after the banks closing for the day and with Jenny & I shipping out for KC first thing Friday morning it seems the tooth fairy got caught in some turbulence and won’t be flying into to Tulsa for a few days.  That’s what she told me anyway and I’m sticking to that story.

Josh is taking some time off this week for a family “staycation”.  We have some fun day trips planned as well as some veggin’ around the house.  Tuesday we spent the day at the Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum in Seminole, OK.  Josh’s dad, Joe (aka Pa), met us at the museum.  The day was filled with so many activities it would be difficult to list them all.  But I’ll try, magnets, domino stacking, Tonka trucks, pulleys, auto shop, changing muffler, filling car with antifreeze, shopping for groceries, checking out groceries, ringing up our groceries, sacking our groceries, putting our groceries back, climbing on an old fire truck, sliding down a fireman’s pole, trying on fireman’s jacket, breath, breath, riding in a tornado, watching a marble maze, pretending to do the weather, watching a tornado spin, playing with a sound wave cannon, making designs in sand on a spinning wheel, potty break, water break, digging for Mayan treasure, being “bitten” by a spider, figure out which spider “bit” us, checking on patients in the hospital, looking at babies in the womb, pretending to be surgeons, looking at all the germs on our hands, pretending to drive an ambulance, bathroom break, riding on a train, water break, lunch break, taking a trip with “Mr. Magoo” in an old car, digging for dinosaur bones, flying an airplane, pretending to be anchormen, flying an airplane, looking at Oklahoma fish, climbing a huge vertical maze, playing in the water with rubber ducks and buckets with pulleys, bathroom break, exploring an old caboose, exploring a castle maze, taking a big breather while watching the marble maze for a really long time, riding a bike next to Dr. Bones, pretending to be the judge and the jury and finally looking at ourselves in funny mirrors.  Yeah, it was a busy day.

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After the museum we drove north to Stroud and ate dinner at the Rock Cafe.  The restaurant and owner served as the inspiration for Sally Carrera in the movie Cars.  With the restaurant and the movie as our inspiration we took Route 66 back to Tulsa.  The boys enjoyed the scenery for all of 5 minutes before crashing.

A great way to spend the day!  We definitely recommend to kids of all ages.

For the last few years we’ve been a part of an informal supper club.  The club just meets whenever, at a members home, is pot luck, kids are welcome and the only rule is it has to be Sunday night.  We hadn’t met in a while, so with our home getting to a point ready to host Josh & I decided to open the doors to the club.  Tonight’s club meeting consisted of 12 adults, 7 kids and 2 babies, a full house to say the least.

As the main dish for this crew I made 12 lbs of pulled pork using Pioneer Woman’s (my gal crush) recipe for pulled pork tacos along with a few large bowls of pico de gallo and guacamole.  Other folks brought jalapeño corn muffins, Doe’s Famous Tamales, a Mexican casserole and a key lime pie.  Pretty safe to say everyone was stuffed!

We had a great time hosting everyone and can’t wait until the next club meetin’!

P.S. Josh carried the camera around in his pocket the whole night and didn’t snap a single picture.  Boo!

Friday afternoon Josh discovered no one was utilizing the bank’s tickets to the Tulsa Drillers baseball game so before he left for the day he snagged them.  He’d been to the new ONEOK Field but the family had not enjoyed the stadium.  Not only would this be the family’s first trip to the ballpark but it was also a fireworks night.  We arrived a few innings late but it didn’t matter and in fact might have helped the boys last through the fireworks.  The boys had a great time watching the game but really enjoyed playing on the giant playground just beyond the right field fence.

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The home team lost but we had a great time.  If you haven’t been out to ONEOK Field yet it is definitely worth a trip!