I'm Exhausted (in case you care)

I've had to go out-of-town for a few days for work, but now I'm back and proud to announce that our house is still standing, and everyone looks well fed and rested. Even that lizard that somehow found its way into our home while I was gone. Ben told me: "Don't worry, the kitties can't get ahold of the lizard. This lizard is really fast and is hiding out in our closet, probably in one of our shoes". Umm.... Okay, whatever. I'm truly too exhausted to actually process this information right now - lucky for him.

My niece Charlie celebrated her 7th birthday this past weekend at Chuck E Cheese. When we pulled into the parking lot, there were 2 parking spaces left in the whole entire lot. My first thought was, "Oh My Gosh, this place is crowded". Ben's first thought was, "Oh My Gosh, do you realize how many kids are running around inside that place". And seriously, there were wall-to-wall kids in the restaurant. I just honestly have to say that if you are looking for an alternate form of birth control, just spend an hour inside Chuck E Cheese on the weekend!!

Braedyn couldn't really play any of the games since they are for older kids, but he was able to ride the little vehicles that move up and down. Aside from those few rides, he spent the rest of the time running around the place trying to touch all the flashing lights on the games. I mean, hey... whatever makes him happy, right?

I also realized that kid's birthday parties aren't about what kind of gifts you get, it's about how many gifts you get. My adorable neice Charlie tore open all her gifts as quickly as possible and exclaimed "oh cool, a jewelry box" (the gift was not a jewelry box) or "oh wow, a game token card" (it was a gift card to a kid's store) or "oh cool, it's a... a... " and then she sets the gift aside and tears into the next present since she can't figure out what the present is. It truly was very comical to watch this. I usually spend a lot of time struggling over gifts to buy for kids, but now I know that it really doesn't matter at all. Especially considering her favorite gift was a robotic pet tarantula - which was probably the least "girly" present she received. Go figure...

Anyways, Braedyn had a blast, and made it through the day with only one hour of napping, which was simply amazing. I was psyched thinking that he'd be totally exhausted and would sleep in late on Sunday morning. So you can imagine how I felt when I heard him babbling away at 6:15 am Sunday morning. And you can also imagine how I felt when I turned to Ben, nudged him, and realized that the sound of a freight train wouldn't be enough to wake him up that early. Of course, when I hear Braedyn say "mama", it melts my heart and I happily drag my lazy butt out of bed regardless of how tired I am. (By the way Ben, I know you were pretend sleeping and were fully aware of what was going on. You really didn't fool me, and paybacks are hell!!) And on that lovely note, I must go to bed now before I fall asleep at the computer.