Chuck E Cheese

One night this week, we took Emmy Cate to something I knew and loved as a kid – Chuck E Cheese!  After going, I’m convinced that it hasn’t changed in the slightest (I had a flashback to begging my parents for more tokens so I could win tickets at skeeball to buy those plastic trolls with the neon hair!!)!!  The food is still bad, the games and “rides” are very entertaining, and the prizes you win are still terrible!!  But Emmy Cate loved it! 

There is a Chuck E Cheese just a few minutes away and I imagine this won’t be our last trip.  They have a toddler area with a slide and small climbing area which Emmy Cate was more than happy to play on, but she also just loved to run around and look at all of the different rides, games, flashing lights.  She wasn’t totally convinced by the “big rat” (as her dad called it), aka Chuck E Cheese when he came around to greet the kids.

   

Here we are eating our pizza … would not recommend it!  For those of you who don’t know, Chuck E Cheese is free to go to and play, but you have to buy tokens to ride the rides or play the games, and those aren’t even that expensive – a quarter a ride – but it’s the food where they make their money.  Soooo not good.

 

This was too funny not to include.  We put Emmy Cate on the very first ride and turned it on.  Well, it’s one that takes a picture of you with Chuck E Cheese while you are riding.  I guess Emmy Cate wasn’t quite prepared for the motion …. see what you think!!

Matt & Hillary’s Shower

This weekend, my sister-in-law and cousin-in-law threw my cousin’s-in-law (complete mouthful to get that out right!), Matt and Hillary, a baby shower for their little boy, Myles Avery, who is due in a couple of months!  I got to do the invitations and decorations and I had a lot of fun planning it all out and creating a cute diaper cake, favors and all of the other fun things!   Now we just can’t wait to meet baby Myles!

 

 

 

    

 

  

Emmy Cate stayed home with Nathan while I was up in North Carolina.  Unfortunately, she wasn’t feeling to hot on Sunday and they hit a bit of a rough patch!  Here are a couple of blurry pics from Nathan’s blackberry!

Block Party

I’m a little behind on posts, so this was a couple of weeks ago, but we, along with our favorite neighbors, hosted a block party in our cul-de-sac for the nearest neighbors.  We had a GREAT turnout and had probably 40 people from nearby homes.  This year, that included 3 little tykes!! 

Our neighbors did most of the work and they went all out with flowers and decor, heat lamps, etc.  Everyone had a great time, especially the kiddos!

  

Luckily for us (and some of the other parents!), we hired a sitter for the night.  I think she ended up watching all 3 kids …oops!!

 

Fall Festival Time!!

The Grandparents were in town this weekend to enjoy some QT with EC and for Papaw’s birthday on Sunday.  We also got to see EC’s cousins Macy and Makayla and Aunt Mandy and Uncle Gary on Saturday. 

We went to the Fall Festival in Duluth on Saturday afternoon.  It was a G.R.E.A.T. festival but the fact that it was 95 degrees was not GREAT.  The girls mainly enjoyed the little carny rides and the playground.  EC rode the Merry-Go-Round with her Papaw and she couldn’t have been happier!!!

 

Unfortunately, her cousins did not take to it that same way she did!

But they came alive at the playground, where they all enjoyed plenty of slide time … in addition to spilling at least 3 of our adult beverages!!!

Unfortunately, EC was a little under the weather (and continues to be a few days later) and was not the most cheerful little girl for the rest of the weekend.  We think she might be getting in her final two teeth!  Or it could just be a random virus … who knows!!  She did manage to wrap Papaw around her little finger while he was here since she immediately began calling him by name, and pretty much didn’t leave his side the whole weekend!  

For comparison’s sake, couldn’t help but post a pic from the last birthday.  What a difference a year makes!!!

Weekend at Home

We stayed around the house this weekend and Emmy Cate was more than happy to play with all of her toys and hang out.  She especially enjoyed playing with Play doh and coloring with crayons.  We also read many, many books, which has become one of her favorite activities. 

We received our CCS newsletter this weekend and both Nathan and Emmy Cate were featured.  I recently posted about our neighborhood 25th anniversary festival and Nathan winning first place in the race!  The organizers made a special T-shirt for EC so they asked for a picture of her to feature. 

 

 

Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!!

The weather was absolutely amazing this past weekend, and we finally did something we had wanted to do with Emmy Cate for a long time – a trip to the zoo! 

Emmy Cate loved seeing all of the animals!!  There were 2 pandas – a mama (or papa) bear, and a “little” baby.  They were both really close to the windows and we had fun seeing these magnificent creatures up close and personal. 

Emmy Cate pointed out everything and said “See”.

All of the monkeys were pretty cool and Emmy Cate can say “monkey” too!  After seeing orangutans, gorillas, and other monkeys, she posed with Daddy for some pics.

 

We enjoyed the kids area complete with a petting zoo.  There were plenty of goats and sheep for EC to love on, and she was really into petting them.  She thought they were pretty neat and liked feeling the different textures of their fur.   

After hitting a couple of exhibits, Emmy Cate really got into trying to spot the animals in their habitats.  She was pretty good at pointing out things to you if she saw it first!  

 

I think her favorites were the monkeys, who were jumping around chasing each other, the pandas because they were so close to us, and the petting zoo because she got to touch!! 

Emmy Cate’s grasp of new words has really exploded the past few weeks.  Even her teachers have commented on how advanced her vocabulary is compared to the other kids!  I think we stopped counting once she reached about 20, but her latest words are Mommy (yay!!), monkey, bird, bump, side (for outside), no, Elmo, Cookie (for Cookie Monster), puppy (this is a favorite), car, nite nite, more, and Minnie (for her fav stuffed animal Minnie Mouse).