Because I Like To Torture Myself...

...I decided yesterday was the day to make good on a promise due to the kids. After earning stickers for more than a few months for 1) Claire staying in her bed and not coming downstairs with a million excuses for why she wasn't tired, and 2) Miles not yelling at the top of his lungs at 6 am for me to come get him out of his crib, they earned a trip to Chuck E. Cheese, one of my least favorite places. But, I figured the visit had to be before the baby comes, and better to go on a weekday than a weekend. It was actually not so bad. Very few people inside and no birthday parties going on. We bought $20 in tokens and said when they were gone, we were done.

Claire was very selective about what games she would play, and walked around the floor trying to decide where to best spend her tokens. Miles, on the other hand, was more interested in spending his tokens than in actual games. He kept running back to the cup of tokens over and over again, so finally I followed him to see what he was doing. As I waddled in his wake, I noticed all the basketball games were on, several ski ball games had balls rolling down the chute, and a car was moving up and down. He must have had 5-6 games going at one time - with no one playing them. I played the basketball game (still got it!) and Matt followed him for a bit to play the games he left unmanned. I figured it got us out of Chuck E. Cheese faster if I just let him spend the tokens, so I didn't get too upset about it.

They had fun, were very good about saying thank you, and left without a fit with their $20 worth of nerds, a plastic ring, whistle and sweet tarts. Good times. I survived. And in other news, the next sticker chart for bunk bed rewards is working pretty good... I don't want to jinx it so we will just see how it goes.