A Newfound Love for a Rat

I took my children somewhere yesterday whose doors I thought we would dare not darken until at least Isaac was five...

Yes, we went to Chuck E. Cheese yesterday.

Yes, we survived.

Yes, we had a fun time.

Let me first explain that in the past I have cringed over the thought of my children knowing what Chuck E. Cheese (C.E.C) is and having to hear their requests to dine in such an establishment. I was quite the connoisseur of Showbiz Pizza (now know as C.E.C.) back in the day and even had my own 25th birthday at C.E.C. (it was awesome). However, the thought of having to deal with two kiddos, a billion parents and their children, loud games, $40 spent on tokens to win a set of temporary tattoos, and a large rat who apparently sings and dances was just too much for me.

Or so I thought.

Yesterday when a friend called and invited the children and myself to meet her family at C.E.C. to celebrate her oldest child's birthday, we agreed. I must have still been on a coffee high from my two cups enjoyed earlier in the morning.

Seems that Monday mornings are the time to enjoy this pizza parlor. There were few screaming kids, no dancing rats, the games were eerily silent, and the pizza remarkably good.

The kids had a blast and I never once worried about a future participant on NBC's "To Catch a Predator" swiping either one of them by the play area.

There was an "incident" by the skee-ball machines where I thought it would be a good idea to impress my children with my mad skee-ball skills. They thought it would be a good idea to "help" Mommy play this game by throwing balls into other machines and by climbing up the game (Miss. E.). It was quite the comical site, but fortunately the other six patrons of the restaurant did not seem to mind.

Going to C.E.C. might be the highlight of Isaac's third year of life so far. He loved it. I told him we could go back when it is his friend's birthday again...a mere 364 days away.

We did manage to leave with some great trinkets of a flimsy page of four stickers, the smallest Tootsie Roll Pop I have ever seen, and a sad little bookmark for Isaac to color. What great treasures.

However, I will say I am a fan of the C.E.C. on quiet Monday mornings when school is in session.

Here is Isaac on a "ride" at C.E.C

Here is E. riding in a car with the rat himself. She wanted to ride this over and over, however sat with a completely stoic expression on her face the entire time. Silly girl.
Here are my sweet kids sharing a ride together. This one started with a bit of a jump, causing E. to instinctively reach out for her brother's hand.
Who knew Barney drove a tractor?
The four kids (mine plus my friend's) also had the most excellent time playing "Dance, Dance Revolution: The Preschool Version." Who knew "Wheels on the Bus" could cause such excitement?

In other news, Isaac has just been tooling around his cotton field lately. He recently took some cotton to preschool to share with his class. His teacher asked me why we were growing cotton, saying, "I thought you lived in the city."

We do. We also grow cotton.

A rare moment of peace between brother and sister...shortly after this shot was taken a heated battle broke out over who got to have more table space.
E. on a "field trip" with her daddy, Nana, and great-grandparents (Isaac and I were at a birthday party at the time)
For the moment, Evelyn is once again allowing me to put hair accessories in her hair. However, said accessory must be referred to as a "barrette" or she will pull it out and toss it to the side.
I am off to make a batch of play-dough for Isaac's preschool. I have put off this little assignment for as long as possible (Like the time I put off making a pinata for my high school Spanish class and had to stay home from school one day to finish twisting and hot-gluing tissue to a paper-mache balloon). Normally I would like doing something so crafty, but making play-dough from a combination of flour, boiling water, and kool-aid just does not appeal to me. I want to ask the teacher why we just can't buy the stuff in the stores, but don't want to look like the lazy, uninvolved mom.

So I am off to boil water and possibly dye my hands purple (The grape kool-aid was on clearance...I am never one to pass up a sale). Then it will be time to rouse both children from their slumber, work a 50 piece puzzle with Isaac due to a promise I made him this morning at 6:15am, cook supper, and pray that Cloris Leachman gets booted off Dancing With the Stars tonight.

Adios!