Peter and Joseph Turn One!

Cake Smash!

Hiking in the Sandias

This memorial day weakened we went on a couple great hikes in the Sandia Mountains. The first hike was at the foothills and we brought the Bob Stroller which did a remarkable job on the trails... as did Eli and Eva who hiked the whole thing. We saw a snake, hawk, lizard, butterflies, and a variety of birds, not to mention the cacti, flowers, and bushes. 

The second hike we did was up on the Piedra Lisa trail. This time we carried the babies in back packs as the trail was more rugged and uphill. There was beautiful views the whole length of the trail. 

(Above) A beautiful view of the Rio Grande Valley with rain off in the distance. 

(Below) We got a C for preparation on this hike. Eva made it into the car with only her frozen sandals. She ended up hiking barefoot towards the end of the hike as the sandals were not cutting it with the loose gravel on the trail. Thankfully she has tough feet and is a trooper. 

(Above) Eva stopping to smell the flowers. Jamie made a comment about how the flowers were beautiful at the beginning of our hike and Eva made it her job to point out every flower to us. 

(Below) Joseph looking over my shoulder. 

(Above) we recently bought this chair from REI which packs up really small. For an adult it works fairly well and is confortable, but for Eva it's close to a hammock. The kids love sitting it... may need to get a few more. 

Our little Southwest explorers! 

Swinging

The older kids love swinging and with the addition of two baby swings we can now have all four going. Peter and Joseph love watching Eli and Eva swinging.

Enoying some Redsox

Eli created a sweet setup to watch the game.

Morning Paper (magnet) Dolls

Eva enjoys playing with her magnet "paper" dolls. From the moment she wakes, this girl is going!! Here's her in the morning with bed hair and pajamas. Little cutie!

Princess Buttons (guest blogger: Oma)

Poppi and I want to be sure that our only granddaughter has plenty of pink and tutus. When we found a pink T-shirt dress with a tutu and a dog with a crown on it we were sure it was right for Eva. When I showed it to Eva she loved it and then said, "It needs princess buttons." I asked her what were princess buttons, but I wasn't quite sure of her answer, so I told her we would look through my button collection and pick out what she thought were the princess buttons. She went immediately for all the pink ones. When I showed her a purple one or a mother of pearl shiny one shaped like a flower she said, "no, not princess buttons." We finally settled on five. While she was playing baseball I sewed them on, and when I showed her the completed dress she got a big smile and said, "Perfect, Oma!" The dress really did look cute with the added "princess buttons".

Fishing

One of the activities Elijah wanted to do was fishing on this birthday weekend. So Eli, Eva, and I headed down to Tingley Beach where they have a great little stocked pond for the kids. 

We have tried numerous bait to try and catch fish with no success. This morning it was sausage... but alas no fish. 

Eva testing out our new camp chair.