Gradually catching up on posts....

Last week Taylor, our niece-Brandon & Amanda's daughter, had her third birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. I have avoided that place like the plague because I still have nightmares from my childhood. The ones I went to in California had black walls, no windows, and creepy puppet creatures that moved in the corners of the rooms. You can imagine why I was traumatized. So our kids have never been, but surprisingly, the restaurant has changed and was much more pleasant than what I remembered. Here are a few pictures...

Taylor, the birthday girl. Can't believe she's three already.

I thought it was funny Amanda was willing to wear Taylor's inflatable crown to

catch more tickets in the little ticket booth. It's expensive to have a birthday there, but they do give you tons of free stuff. When we were leaving I was amazed. Taylor looked like she'd robbed the place she had so much loot!

I feel so badly for Ben. Since we found out he is allergic to all milk products his life has been really un-fun. And Chuck E. Cheese's when you can't eat anything but what mom brought from home and then the party afterward with cake and ice cream and you just get a fruit snack were the last straw. He cried so sadly. Ben did have some fun riding the horse, but most of the time he was either....

distracted watching people eating...

or just plain irritated. Poor kid. This new diet will take a lot of getting used

to for all of us, and we all feel so badly for Ben. We're still waiting to see if he has Celiac Disease too which would mean no gluten products. Then I don't know what we'll feed him!

I mostly held Sarah so we don't have a lot of pictures of her. She didn't like the

rides but the food was top notch in her book. Bring on the breadsticks!

Jocelyn was a good sport and would try almost anything. She wanted to play

air hockey so bad, a girl after my own heart, but the puck was missing.

Aimee had a blast too. It was fun to see the kids just having fun. I worry they

don't get enough of it. And the girls dote on Taylor so much it was great to celebrate with her.

Here's a shot of the kids waiting for the picture of them to pop out

of the machine. Jocelyn has the "please, oh please" look on her face. So cute!

It was a fun night, Taylor had a great birthday I think!