Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The Stay at Home Mom Chronicles: Weekend trips to Chuck E Cheese

I'm realizing that my days around here seem to run together.
Ordinary moments unfold around me daily
and I need to stop and relish in them.
One day, my boys will be out living life
and I will miss these everyday experiences.

So, I am taking the time to document
the simple moments that pass between us.
I'm calling this little collection of memories
The Stay At Home Mom Chronicles.

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Sunday 9:00 am : Our weekend trip to Chuck E Cheese


We made this deal with Griffin that he can earn Chuck E Cheese tokens
for making "good choices" during the week. He can earn up to four tokens a day.
On the weekend (yes, just about every weekend)
he and Roger take a trip to spend up his hard earned tokens.

This reward system totally works for him.
He can be teetering on the edge of getting into trouble and all
I have to say is "Chuch E Cheese token!!"
He'll stop dead in his tracks.

We all went as a family every Sunday morning.
If you go at 9 am, no one is there
because most families are off worshipin' somewhere.
We call our Sunday morning trip going to "Chuck E Cheese Church"
because we somehow became heathens as of late.

After I had Koen, I quit going.
We tried taking Koen once and he freaked out.
It was just too noisy and crazy for a baby.
So, Daddy and Griffin would go
while Mommy and the baby stayed home.

Well...this last Sunday we all went
and Koen loved it.
It was a HUGE deal.
Griffin was so proud to show his little brother off
to all of the employees that have become our friends.

We had a great time.
Koen felt so big and scurried all over the place.

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I think that it will be a weekly trip for the whole family now.
Except, I am campaigning to move it to Saturday morning.
I want to get this sweet family in church.
I have a feeling that God
doesn't hang out at Chuck E Cheese's on Sunday mornings.
He's got too many other important places to be.

14 comments:

Shell said...

What a fabulous reward system! I will have to think about this one- because my boys are addicted to Chuck E Cheese!

BigSis said...

That is so cute. It almost makes me want to take my son back. I'm just praying for the day that he outgrows Chuck E Cheese!

Kearsie said...

I potty trained my first daughter through the bribe of Chuck E. Cheese. It was literally her most favorite place on earth. So we took her there, got pizza, partied hard the 2 year old way, came home and said "you wanna go back to Chuck E. Cheese?" which of course she said yes. So our deal was, she had to be in big girl panties and keep them dry in order to go back. And it took a whole summer but we did it.

Katherine said...

I've only taken my kids of Chuck E Cheese once, and I felt the whole time that I was in a kiddy casino. Althouhg maybe it would be different on Sunday morning without the crowds. What a great family outing though. Our Sunday outings are usually going to the library.

Unknown said...

Awww great pics...and now I'm going to say something that may be a bit controversial..but oh well..lol!---God is wherever you are, you don't need to be in a church to worship Him...its great you have weekly family times..its so important!

w said...

we don't have chuck e cheese's here. i haven't been since i was like 8.

also. is it weird that i hang out at disney with a big mouse... and you hang out there with a big mouse?

Andrea said...

Haven't been to Chuck E Cheese in a while...now that we are getting grandbabies I see it on the horizon, again.
Hugs, andrea

Caroline said...

While I was reading this my girls are running around screaming "Chuck E Cheese!" because they caught a glimpse of the pictures! They've not been yet, but have seen so many commercials and are just dying to go!

p.s. How is the food? That seems to be all i can think about these days! ;)

Susan Anderson said...

Sounds like a great reward system! It always helps to get creative on these things...

=)

Unknown said...

I love this idea. I need to institute something similar. Only I hate Chuck E. Cheese. But wait, can you go and play there and not eat the pizza? You go at 9 a.m.? DIdn't realize they were open that early.....

I know what you mean about church/feeling like a heathen. But getting kids to go to services and sit still/behave is a challenge. We're working on it, too....

Vanessa said...

I had a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese when I was in 2nd grade, and that's the last time I've even seen one!

You know, the cool thing about God is that He's with us wherever we go! But He does like us to hang with his peeps once in a while, too, so your Saturday trips sound good! (Although, we have churches that meet on Saturday nights around here -- do you?)

Karen Mortensen said...

Love this. Glad you all had fun. Wish I could do something like this for my school kids but I don't make that much money.

I am glad you are going back to church. I love to go to church. Really helps me.

Sarah RDH said...

Awww my son is very indecisive about Chuck E Cheese. He's scared to death of Chuck and hides under the table when that giant mouse is out lurking. But he has a ton of fun. But I'm also unsure about CEC bc they can be pretty ghetto. People get shot there all the time. (Not ours-yet-but in general, there's a ton of crime going down at CEC.)

sanjeet said...

That is so cute. It almost makes me want to take my son back. I'm just praying for the day that he outgrows Chuck E Cheese!
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