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!

Genevieve's Sweet Sixteen Birthday Party

Genevieve is nicknamed Lobster around her because she always chooses the most expensive thing on the menu (completely on accident) and pretty much just has high society taste.  She wanted a Cottage Core Aesthetic Birthday Party on our new covered porch.  I was unaware of what "Cottage Core" even was prior to this request.  You may be shocked to find out after reading this post that I tempered her requests quite a bit.  We went all out on decorating the back porch with greenery and plants.  She wanted picnic style finger foods. 

Unfortunately, the flies were really bad and it was quite hot, but her birthday month has really unpredictable weather.  One year we had a pool party and it was freezing!

A friend of Genevieve's has a grandmother that makes and sells macarons.  They were beautiful and delicious.

Then it was picture time!

I got a special picture with the birthday girl too!

Then came to real fun.  We did a mini Chopped Junior Sweets competition.  I had basic baking ingredients available and each group got three of the same mystery ingredients that had to be used in a creative way to make a dessert.  The ingredients were French Toast Crunch Cereal, dried cranberries, and a can of Pillsbury biscuits.  While the girls cooked, they sang and danced and it was such a precious thing to watch!

Roman really enjoyed watching and dancing to their singing while they cooked.

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

This was the only one I got a picture of before I taste tested them as the judge. 

The mess left behind from this frantic cooking competition was so big and so deep that it took me the entire movie to clean the kitchen.  The girls piled up on the trampoline and watched a movie on our projector outside.  Luckily it had cooled down enough to enjoy this.

 

Another Birthday Boy

Isaac is the next in our series of birthdays.  He turned the big 13!  He was thrilled to have coffee and Dr. Pepper as is the privilege of 13 year olds in our household.  For his birthday he asked for a friend party at an escape room, a Card cake with homemade strawberry icing, and to go to Olive Garden for his dinner.  We told him the party would be his gift this year, but I did get him a very cool camping coffee mug (with a carabiner handle to hook to a backpack) in Red River that I saved for this occasion.

They escaped!

Brian took him and his friends to the escape room, and I had his cake and pizza ready when they got home.

He's as tall as me now, and way taller than his friends of whom he is the youngest.

The party was a few days before his actual birthday because this year it fell on the day of orientation for school.  When dad got home from work, we went to Olive Garden, then gave him his home-made cards, and his gifts that had arrived in the mail.

Bob drew that Captain America all by himself!

 I must have missed taking pictures of the girls' cards for him.   He got a wallet, some money, and a whittling set that he has been practicing with.  Happy birthday, Isaac!