The World Of Chelle': Forgotten time...

I DON'T MEAN TO GO WEEKS WITHOUT POSTING...
IT JUST HAPPENS!!

Our recaps and highlights...we enjoyed our time in DC with my sister in law and her family. The kids loved every minute of their time together. Especially K-girl and Caroline. (Note pic above... it's K-girl and Caroline kissing baby Eli... how stinking cute is that?) I have a video clip of the two of them (K-girl and Caroline... not Eli of course) dancing to music they created on a keyboard and played back... HOWEVER, I have no idea how to insert it into a blog, so you'll have to take my word for it.

We've celebrated a few birthdays since our last post. Hard to believe my youngest is now three. (If it seemed like I was avoiding many of you in the 5 days between K-girl's third birthday and Beetle's fifth... I WAS. I couldn't risk the possibility of having to answer the question, "How old are your kids now?" I would have had to say, "THREE, FOUR, and SEVEN.") Thankfully those days passed quickly and universal balance was restored as the distance between my children's ages once again became TWO years... NOT ONE!!!

For K-girl's birthday we headed to Barnes and Noble for story and craft time. She loves it there. (Though... recently, her storyteller at B&N put in her two weeks so I'm not sure what we'll do without Miss. Kate.) After B&N we took K-girl for her first hair cut. Well, technically her second. What can I say? We took her to a salon that does kids cuts. She got to sit in a car and watch Clifford. They also do manicures so I'm thinking about taking her back soon to get her nails polished. She's such a girl... and I LOVE IT!

After K-girl's haircut we went to Chuck E Cheese. As a mother I have to admit, this could potentially be the MOST SACRIFICIAL thing we are ever called to do for our child. (And all the parents said, AMEN!) Really, think about it. It is a place specifically designed to extract money from all parental pockets. It extorts even. Have you ever ordered a PLAIN pizza? 30 bucks. And how about drinks? Another 10 bucks. BUT... if you bring with you a tiny coupon that just about NO ONE notices (let alone clips) in the weekly

"pennysaver" magazine they will throw in a few tokens for the kids to enjoy. Sure... you may be homeless in three weeks now that you've spent your mortgage payment on a day of CELEBRATION in honor of your youngest child...but at least you have the memory of an EXPENSIVE pizza and a cheap plastic toy that she selected after playing 30 games and winning 6 tickets. EXCELLENT! (By the way... has anyone even seen that cheap plastic toy? I'm sure it's lost in the backseat of the van by now but it needs to be recovered and super glued into a scrapbook somewhere. For what I "paid" for it... it better at least be available anytime I want to view it.)

After that FUN experience, we returned home to celebrate with Cake and Ice Cream. We are an old fashioned people. Just the bare necessities are required. And not much of them as we spent the day running around and we don't want to waste the FATIGUE we built up at Chucke E Cheese by adding large quantities of caffeine and sugar to their little bodies. Here's a picture of B-boy and K-girl as they finished up their "goodies". B-boy has become quite the little Ham these days. She's not far behind.