Birthday, Birthday, Anniversary, Banquet, Banquet, Birthday (Whew!)

February is a busy month around our house. It's my birthday, Elizabeth's birthday, Grace's birthday, my anniversary and two Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquets. So I'm a little partied out.

Here's the highlights:

ELIZABETH'S BIRTHDAY-FEB 17

Lizzie turned 4 this year. We had a family party at home, and she got to pick her favorite meal for dinner. She chose macaroni and cheese--from the box! Here she is making a silly face while eating her favorite meal.



She asked for a pink cake, so I made her a pink pony cake. The boys LOVED the "horse hair" (which was really Fruit By the Foot).



Lizzie's favorite gifts (BY FAR) were the first two she opened. (1) the purple dress and (2) the white sparkly shoes. As you can see by the following picture, she HAD to try them on before she could finish opening any other presents!



MY BIRTHDAY-FEB 19

Nothing to report. I had to work that day. Bummer.

MY (AND GREG'S) ANNIVERSARY-FEB 23

This fell on a Monday, so we weren't able to go out and celebrate (especially since I had to work the whole weekend). That's okay. It's number 13. We've had a dozen years to celebrate already. Plus I was too busy getting ready for the Blue and Gold Banquet (see below).

BLUE AND GOLD BANQUET (AMMON'S PACK)-FEB 25

Since I'm the Cubmaster, I was running this show. Our theme was "American ABCs" and the decorations were geared around the cities and states of the U.S. Each table had a unique centerpiece that highlighted something about the state it showcased ( so each table was a different state). This was the only picture Greg managed to get of the table decorations, and it doesn't show anything except the tablecloth and placemats for our table. What it doesn't show is the pile of ice cream containers and spoons (because Vermont is the home of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream).



Here's a photo of me holding Grace, and if you look closely you can see some of the wall decorations in the background. We had state maps plastered everywhere, and random alphabet letters. Greg didn't take any other photos.



But Greg did manage to get a photo of EVERY SINGLE CAKE in the Father/Son cake decorating contest. Hmph. Men. Here's the cake he and Ammon did together. Yes, that is an eyeball staring back at you. Ammon won the "Red Eye Special" Award for it. Oh, and we ate all the cakes for dessert. Yummy.



BLUE AND GOLD BANQUET (BEN'S PACK)-FEB 27

Ben is in a different pack as a Tiger Cub, so we had a second Blue and Gold Banquet to attend. The most important part was that Ben was awarded his Tiger and Bobcat Badges! Hooray, Ben!



GRACE'S BIRTHDAY, OBSERVED-FEB 28

Since Grace's official first birthday won't be until 2012, we celebrated her first year on the last day of February.

For simplicity's sake (and for the fact that we were all just plain tired of cakes), I made cupcakes this time.



She quickly figured out how to rip the wrapping paper, but she really didn't care what was inside (though she did hug a few articles of clothing--I wonder...).



We tried to teach her to blow out the candle, but she had no clue. She did, however, know how to devour the cupcake and ice cream cone we gave her!







Whew. It was a fun month but I'm sure glad February is over.