Another first...first trip to Chuck E. Cheese

WARNING: Chuck E. bash ahead....if you're a huge fan, you may proceed to other internet surfing...but if you feel me, feel free to plug your ears with me in solidarity.

Can you believe we made it over 6 years with no trip to Chuck E. Cheese? Yeah, we were overseas, but even when we came home to visit, we somehow managed to avoid that little den of money-sucking fun. But, alas, it is no more...

McKenna was invited to her first birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. So, not only did we get to "enjoy" the games and fun at a decibel level way above what should be legal for tender little ears (and big grown up ones, too) but we were blessed to sit right down front near the stage! And now-a-days ("why you young whipper snapper, when I was your age...") they even have added to the FUN with TV screens playing Chuck E. propoganda and loud "cartoon-like" shows all in the name of self-promotion. I may just be bitter that there was no "Chuck E. Elvis".

But, it is a restaurant. And, the food is overpriced, especially the meager salad bar, and the pizza has never been a favorite. I don't even think the kids at the party ate full slices. Not with the jangle of tokens in the air.

And, right after blowing out the candles, they were gone again, only a couple of guests stuck around to watch the little girl open her presents. How. Sad.

The others were drawn by the promise of getting tickets out of machines. I know they changed their way of doing the games, one token per play, which seems like more for the money, but before, I KNOW the machines paid out more tickets. Now, McKenna barely got a ticket per game.

And don't even bother going over to the prize wall until your 3rd or 4th trip, and even then, you'll probably walk out with an eraser head. At least now they have attributed inflated prices to the items, so that you can purchase outright what, otherwise, would be decidedly unattainable.

We did get our souvenir fuzzy black and white photo of McKenna riding alongside Chuck E. And, there was a new (at least new to me) machine that produced a pretty cool sketch of the two of us. That was the highlight of my visit. I can't handle all the chaos, the noise, and especially not the moms that let their toddlers walk up the skee-ball and drop the balls in the slots, while your 5 year old trys her hardest to just get her ball down the lane.

The only thing I have always liked about the place was the matching hand stamps at the door. At least when your little rugrat runs off in search of video nirvana, or you think they may be stuck in the climber, you can be assured you'll end up taking your over-stimulated prodigy home with you.

I know it's the easy, although not cheap, way to throw a birthday party. And, there were photo ops, and McKenna enjoyed being with her friends. So, how can you say no to that little face, all lit up and excited to go to her friend's birthday party? I won't. But, I'll still cringe when I open that invite and see the word's "Chuck E. Cheese's" at the top..."where a kid can be a kid." And grown ups can't wait to go home.

Happy Sweets for you all!

Today is Valentines...an admittedly commercialized version of what the holiday once was, as I was reminded last night in Wal-Mart at 10pm with the amount of people angling to snatch up chocolates and cards out of the middle aisle. (and, no, that's NOT what I was doing there!)

Yet, it's still an opportunity, albeit sanctioned by Hallmark, to tell those in our lives that we love them. Our little family secret valentines didn't work out so well, but maybe next year. We'll definitely try it again. I was able to take advantage of our built-in babysitter and go to a yummy Black Angus dinner with my hubby.

Unfortunately, I only sent about 1/4 of the valentine's cards I'd made a month ago. We did hand-make McKenna's valentines, though, complete with paper doily hearts.

And, I still enjoyed leaving little trinkets and sweets on my kids' pillows. I sent some love and received some love. All in all, pretty successful, I'd say.

And here are more wishes of love-- may we be surrounded by those we love and know it, and appreciate it, for that is precious above other things...Happy Valentine's Day!

Secret Valentines

This year I was in charge of a Valentine's Tradition class for our Relief Society Enrichment, and realized we don't really have any as a family.

As a child, I always loved coming home from school on Valentine's day, and my mom would have put some sweet item and love note on each of our beds. The last several years my kids and I have sat down and handmade their valentines to exchange at school. That's been our only real constant. Over the years I haven't been able to keep anything else up often enough to call it a "tradition." I mean there were years when Dennis wasn't even on the same continent to have a date night. So, this year, in my research for the class, I saw an idea where you exchange names like a secret Santa, and do things for your "Secret Valentine" for the week. This idea involves secret acts of kindness every day that I planned to culminate in a great "unveiling" on Valentine's day at a special family dinner.

So, great idea...in theory, draw names from a basket. 5 year old McKenna comes and asks you if "m-o-m" is mom. Next, Sabrina gets "Hayden" and says "is this rigged? Can I have someone else?" Next you realize that realistically for the 5 year old to pull off any secret acts of kindness, she's gonna need help. Then, Hayden proceeds to start a list using clues from people and comes up with the entire, now not-so-secret list of who has who. So much for the "SECRET valentines" project.

Oh, well, at least we can still do nice things for each other and enjoy the love shared all week long. Again, In. Theory. I found out today that every day when I've made Sabrina's bed, so she had a nice fresh one to come home to, she just assumed she had done it herself. Maybe next year we try a new tradition....