Red Beard

I do not like beards.  To each their own, but my preference is no beard.  I like nice smooth skin.  I don't like moustaches either.  Ken has expressed many times his desire to grow a beard.  I have resisted, until now! 

I can't remember which friend it was said that she couldn't imagine telling her husband not to grow a beard - it was his face.  Some thing like that anyway, and it got me thinking, and feeling guilty.  How could I prevent my sweet Ken from realizing the life long dream of growing a beard?!


Sometime in mid January, after he hadn't shaved for several days, I said to Ken, hey, why don't you just keep going?  And so he did.  I even tried my very best to keep an open mind.


I didn't hate it, but.  Yeah, still not a fan of the beard.  For Valentine's Day, I got my clean shaven (well mostly, that chin thing has always been there, and I like it!) guy back!

Oh, but I didn't remember to take an after picture until today...

A Dinosaur Tea Party

I was involved in a discussion recently (well a Facebook string of comments) about the winter blahs.  I confessed that since having a baby in January, one in February, and a husband with a January birthday, I didn't have time for post-Christmas blah.  There were too many parties to plan! 

Alice decided she wanted a Dinosaur Tea Party, and she knew who she wanted to invite - her friends from church - Claire, Lucienne, River, Max, Juliette, and Amelie and Marisol - oh and Kate and Fiona of course.  When we made the invitations she insisted that we make one for Kate and Fiona.  The days before the party, I made the pinata, we went party shopping and we planned the fun.

I will get the "bad news" out of the way right now.  I was so mad at myself for forgetting to take a group shot, and we forgot to wear the stinkin' cute dinosaur party hats that we got.  ARGH!!  Other than that, it was an awesome party!

Once all the friends had arrived, Kate was the dinosaur doctor specialist and she took all the kids to the basement to find the dinosaur eggs, filled with dinosaurs, and messages.

After they figured out the message - that the egg (pinata) was in bed upstairs - we played "pin the head on the dinosaur bones".

The cutest was Lucienne - I spun her around and then she just stood there.  I told her to put her hands out and feel for the wall.  She put her hands straight up - he he.  Once she finally placed the head on the bones, she just stood there with the blindfold on  - until her Mom prompted me to help her, and of course she did all of this while wearing a bumble bee costume.

Next was PINATA time!!  Alice wanted to go first.  I tried to talk her out of it, but then she cried, and I thought, it's her party, what do I care?!  So first she went!

I always love pinata time!

Then it was lunch!  Grilled cheese (fancy - Havarti/avocado for the grown ups) and hot dogs (yummy sausages from the butcher for the grown ups), and lots of snacks - cheesies, chips, guacamole.

Then Alice decided it was time to open presents?  (Just go with it, doesn't matter, it's Alice's party!)  Amelie and Marisol gave her some cute Lalaloopsie figurines.

Juliette gave her some clothes.

Lucienne gave her a puppy purse, gum and chap-stick. 

Claire gave her a Lalaloopsy doll and a dinosaur craft.

River gave her some cute shirts and a bathing suit - which Fiona promptly took possession of and wore for the rest of the day - over top of her clothing.

And from Max she received a cute magnetic Doc McStuffin's dress-up doll - somehow I didn't get a picture of that? 

After the presents - Cupcakes!!  This is when poor sweet Kate nearly lost it. She actually cried during Happy Birthday.  Why you ask?  Because she didn't have a puppy purse and her life was ruined!  Oh man, it is so hard to watch your siblings get presents!

And just like that Alice is four, and she has been most properly celebrated!