Birthday continues

Makaila's actual birthday was the day after the big Chuck E. Cheese event. She had already gotten a few things early, but she got to open her two big things, an outfit for Sarah Cole had picked out, a game and some clothes on her birthday. Here are pictures of the 2 big presents. And a great video of her firt seeing her new bike.

Chuck E. Cheese

Chuck E. Cheese is one of those places that has a Love-Hate relationship with all parents I know. No adult really enjoys going there. It's loud. It's chaotic. No adult really enjoys the food (except my father-in-law). We come home with some sort of junk that we have to sneak and throw away when our kids aren't looking. And we're all a little creeped out ever since Law and Order (or CSI or some other crime drama) did an episode about abducting a kid from a similar place. But our kids LOVE it. There are games they both like. They get instant gratification by earning tickets to buy some trinket from the store. There is a tunnel and slide up high to play in (Cole's favorite part). They even like the little red car getting their picture taken with statue Chucky.


Needless to say that Makaila has wanted to have her birthday party there ever since she went to our friends bday party there about 2 years ago. Originally she just wanted the medal that Christopher got, but she convinced me that it wasn't the only reason. When she told us she wanted to have her birthday party there, we resisted. I was worried she was getting a little old for it and it would be "uncool". Chad just isn't fond of their food and didn't want to go there. We researched and gave her 3 choices with 1 being Chuck E. Cheese as she as requested. She went for it of course.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. It was way better than I thought. She wasn't too old (other 7-yr old and 9-yr old parties going on too). Her friends were excited to come to Chuck E. Cheese (definitely not "uncool" yet). And they really made Makaila feel special with a sticker, singing, shaking Chucky's hand, going into the ticket booth, etc. She left loaded up with a large Mylar balloon, piggy bank with tokens, blow up crown with more tokens and of course the ever coveted medal (actually good weight to it). And we didn't really have to do much of anything. They took care of the timing of food, singing, lighting candles, serving cake, and clean up. And it made our daughter really happy. Hmmm. Maybe it's not such a bad place after all.

And she seemed to do pretty well on the gifts even with a limited number of invites!

Movin'

Cole and I were reading a story while we were waiting for Makaila to finish her bath (for him to go next). He kept squirming around. I might have been more aware of this because the kid was naked. But I asked him why he kept moving. His response was, "I just like to move."

Las Vegas?

We were eating dinner at a deli tonight. Cole looks at the pictures on the wall and tells us those pictures were Las Vegas. The other 3 of us were trying to keep our smirks from turning into laughs as Chad says to Cole "the pictures look like a city called Venice". Then Cole goes, "yeah, in Africa". Again we're holding in the laughs. Next vacation Venice, Africa? Any takers?

Grow up

My son is watching a video where they are talking about what they want to be when they grow up. He looked at me and said, "I want to be a super hero when I grow up." Priceless.

Unusual weekend

Chad and I had a nice night away while Grant and Jennifer hung out with our kdis. They got to play with their dog Landry, have pizza for dinner and an apple pie treat for dinner, and they went to a birthday party without Mom their to limit their cake and ice cream comsumption.

While we were away we went to my new favorite place to eat breakfast. I'm one of those people who likes breakfast any time of day. This resturant had the coolness factor- both with location and with decor, it served breakfast until 4 and we were able to have a conversation and not worry about there not being a kids' menu that comes with crayons.

Then we were inspired to make our annual spring trip to home depot for anual spring flower planting. Really. We just do this once. The bad part is when we came back we discovered the back lower lock had been locked, and Chad had his keys that didn't have a house key on it. Bummer. That meant both a delay in the planting (don't really have time to finish tomorrow) . . . and the dreaded call to the locksmith. Well, the call isn't dreaded, but the bill was.

The kids were crazy hyper at dinner. Don't know if it was over-tiredness or post sugar high from the b-day party, but the kids were in their own world just making each other laugh. Each thing they did just made them giggle at each other more.

Awesome God

When I am the one who tucks him into bed, he likes to sing. Sometimes I sing alone, but often he sings with me. Recently Cole has learned Our God is an Awesome God at church and we have been singing it at bedtime. He is so cute and so totally off tune. He even tells me the first time that we need to sing it two times and the second time we are singing to the Lord. I love how little kids can just sing loudly and not have any inhibitions or fear for their lack of skill. They just love to sing and praise.

Which way?

My son has this crazy sense of direction. It must have skipped from my father and passed right on to my son. If we go somewhere else instead of going home after we take Makaila to school, he will point towards our street we should turn at and say, "Mommy, you passed our street". Recently we were going to Target in the morning and he didn't want to go. We went by an intersection we pass every day, but we were coming from the east and usually we enter it from the north. He points towards our house and tells me to turn up there. Amazing.

Reading over the shoulder

I never realized how much Chad slightly altered the words of our nightly Bible story until Makaila started reading. She catches him on everything. She say things like, "Daddy, it says SO tired". Or "could not find MUCH food." It is one of those things that is annoying when I'm the reader, but it's kind of funny when it's happening to Chad. Last night the story had the word quiet in it. He was in a very dramatic mood and he too a long pause after reading quiet. Makaila made sure to point out, "There's no comma there." [Insert me trying really hard not to laugh] I guess that is what we get for having a smart daughter who isn't old enough to know to leave things unsaid!

Nighttime

Sometimes I like going in my kids rooms before I go to bed just to see the strange positions Makaila is sleeping in.

Rhyming dude

Cole is really into rhyming. He's pretty good at it too. Tonight he was telling Makaila that she was lucky. Or he was actually saying, "You're lucky Makaila. You're lucky, tucky, hucky. . ." You can guess where he went next.

Again

Some days I get annoyed at having to tie the same pair of tennis shoes for the third time in a morning before we leave the house. Other times I am so frustrated that I have to repeatedly tell my daughter if her clothes are dirty or clean at the end of the day. I wonder how many more times I will be getting washcloths for sticky hands or sweeping the crumbs under my son's chair. I try not to get annoyed at the many fluids I've cleaned up off the floors today. But every once and a while I see a glimpse of my children doing a new thing independently and while I am excited, I know that some day I will miss tying those shoes, again.

Pre-school

Cole will be starting preschool next year. He is excited about it. He goes with me to take and pick up Makaila from school every day. He goes with me to events there and to help in her classroom. He is excited that next year he will be getting his chance to go to "school".

Chad and I have been debating if he should go into the 3's or 4's class. His birthday is 2 weeks from the cut off and we're unsure if he will start Kindergarten at age 5 or 6. One day I think he will do better in 3's. Help him get to work on his handwriting. He can be a leader in his class and have a lot of fun. Then the next day he starts reading more letters on signs, know that if he has 2 napkins, he needs 2 more to get 4, and other smart things. Those days I wonder if we need to move him to the 4's class. I guess it's a kid's job to keep you on your toes. And that our kids are good at.

Growing up fast

Cole was playing out back kicking the soccer ball around. He had his new hat on and was wearing it backwards. Chad looked at him and thought he looked like he was 10!

Biking

The kids have REALLY been into biking lately. A few weeks ago we went with some friends to a park that had a nice loop for biking. Cole got his confidence back and a lot of practice. He had so much fun he was telling Makaila all about it. She wanted to go there, but I told her it wasn't really worth it until she could ride a bike (we'd taking off her training wheels in the fall and she didn't take to it well). So that next day she was willing to go out and try. Although a little shaky, that afternoon she got it. Since then we've been going out biking almost every day. She has gotten ride of most her wobbles and picked up speed. She just gets a little out of control and has trouble stopping sometimes, but she's doing great! Cole has gotten a lot better too and it's fun that it is something they enjoy doing together. Plus our weather has been so nice it's a great time for being outside. Only bad part is most days we've had crashes involving blood. But practice takes perfect.

Boys

Cole had just finished doing "business" in our back bathroom when Chad came home. As he walked by the bathroom Cole says to Chad, "smell in here". He is such a boy.

AG store, again

Mom and Dad took Makaila, Cole and Sarah to the AG bistro. We even made a reservation this time just to be safe. Since it was NOT a meal time and NOT spring break, they were the only ones in the Bistro. But they got to enjoy some goodies just the same. Maybe it's me that is the bad luck when we go. . .I wasn't there and there didn't seem to be any major catastrophes.

Train trip

While the Bakers were here we also took a ride on the local train. We headed up to a playground a went in a little train museum. The riding the train was of course the best part for all the kids.

The boys

(continuing from the cousins' trip) While the girls had a great time dressing up their doll, the boys just had a great time dressing up. Here they found some elastic straps that suddenly became "headbands". Most of the weekend they spent each wearing one fireman rain boot or glove and carrying a sword. Hats constantly were changing - knight helmet, fireman hat, pirate hat, whatever.