Bob turned 7!

Bobby turned seven on our last full day in Red River, but the seven year old privilege around our house is an all boy (or all girl for our daughters) birthday party.  So we had a mini golf party with owl cupcakes and a cake as requested by this adorable, sweet boy a week later.  He's been reading Guardians of Ga'Hoole lately which inspired his owl cake request.

 

I love this smile!

Roman hung out indoors in the A/C because even in the evening it was a scorcher.

My Oreo-eyed Owls

They played miniature golf, ate pizza, drank a lot of lemonade, and devoured the cake.  It was simple and fun for my special boy which is all I could hope for!

Red River, New Mexico

This past July was my parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary.  Of course, this called for an epic trip back to our annual childhood summer vacation spot.  Brian and I hadn't taken our children there since 2012 Judah, Bob, and Roman had never even been to Red River, New Mexico.  This time my sister's family and my brother's family all got to come too.  We rented two giant cabins across the road from each other for a full week.  Here are the highlights in photos!

Late night card games

S'mores made using the fireplace

Lots of walks and hikes

Working our plans around two baby cousin's naps and bottles

Roman loved the walks  sitting on his "hipseat."

Our cabin had these two aliens on the bench out front.  My niece was a bit obsessed with them.

Lots of attempts at a photo of all the kids that slept in the A frame house

Fishing trips

Cuddles with babies

Isaac went on two really long hikes with his dad and great uncle

Isaac with Uncle David

Lots of burned down trees that they had to climb over at times

Enjoying the green and the cooler weather

Hannah loves her sweatshirts and was thrilled to get to wear them outside!

A guided fishing lesson with the ultimate fisherman, Papa Boat.

Brian was in his happy place: outside, fishing, cooler temps!

Getting ready for the big professional family photo shoot.

Finding awesome walking sticks

walking along the river and enjoying the sounds, smells, and sights of my childhood

An all boy hike plus me

 I really love this place!  Some people are beach people like my mom, and some are mountain people like my dad.  Me? I love them both so much!

Mr. Smiley Noodle Pants

He is 9.5 months old here.

Bob was entertaining him for me, and he started piling these beanie babies all over him.  

Roman loves to use his feet for things that usually one's hands are employed for.  Since very early on, long before he even batted at toys with his hands he was using his feet in this bouncy seat to kick the toys to make them make sounds.  He is now still using his feet, often with his hands, to grab toys, try to hold his bottle, and even to clap!

He has gotten so much more smiley in the last month!  

I found this piano at the second hand children's store, and it has truly been a huge hit!  He has learned how to play the notes and even to change the mode at the top with a sliding bar.

His love of music is so great that it really helped him on his hearing test.  They were watching how he responded to sound and so they used music.  He was sucking on a pacifier because it was nap time when the test began.  Every time they'd play the music in his ear, he'd pause sucking until the music stopped.  He's still not totally cleared of trips to the audiologist because he is still borderline on his hearing.  We'll be heading back when he turns a year for another check up, but first back to the ENT to make sure that one tube isn't partially blocked with ear wax.  Sigh.