Friday, August 22, 2014

Chuck E. Cheese, The Zoo & What I Know For Sure

Last weekend we had a birthday party for JT at Chuck E. Cheese.  It was loud and crazy and all kinds of sensory overload, and it was almost three months late.  Yes, his birthday was in early May and we had a party in August.
There's nothing like watching my kids at Chuck E. Cheese to remind me that they will probably inherit all of my impulse control issues.

You are welcome.  I say that because if you are feeling behind, like you can't catch up or like you can't do anything right for your kids...I am here to make you feel better.  I am that friend that is more unorganized, more behind, more emotional.  I will make you feel like you have your shit together.

But here's the thing, even though I laugh it off and don't get too hung up on much, sometimes I let it bother me.  I let worry about what others think creep into my mind and heart.  I worry that everyone, EVERYONE, knows the answers and I am totally fucking up my whole family foreverrrrrr.

                          ***************

Half-way on our way to the zoo yesterday, I realized I forgot my debit card. Or maybe lost my debit card.  I had no gas and no cash.   After searching my purse and the floor of the minivan in the gas station parking lot, I drove back home.  I looked and looked and looked for the debit card.   I called Tim and said "well, we should check the accounts because I lost my debit card and someone is probably spending our money all over town right now."  Yeah, I was convinced someone was out there having a good time on the 200 bucks left in our account.  I might have cried.  And then I found my debit card tucked into a never-used side pocket of my purse.  

"Well why would I put it there?," I laughed.  Peyton rolled his eyes.  

"No worries, I found it," I texted Tim.

"Well, I guess we are going to the zoo, zoo, zoo after all," I sang  all Raffi-like.

Again, my older kids rolled their eyes.

The zoo was full of cute families with their cute wagons and picnics and kids in matching outfits.  We strolled in with our non-matching, messy swagger.  
They look like they should be walking in slow motion with some hard rock song playing in the background.




We had fun, but I'm not sure if anyone thought we were cute.  I don't think anyone looked at us and said "awww, someday I want my family to be like them."  In between the good moments, there was bickering and slapping each other with the zoo map and more eye rolling.

At one point I swear even the chimpanzee was looking at us like "who the hell are you?"  

You know you are a little oversensitive when you feel judged by the animals in a zoo. 

Sure, reacting to the chimp is a little nuts, but you better believe people are judging.  That's what people do.  But people also lift us up, laugh with us and totally get us.  Not everyone, but there are some people.  My hope is that everyone has more of those some people in their lives.  Because screw the chimp, screw moms that judge instead of support, screw old people that forgot what it was like to have toddlers or tweens.  I fully support and admire families that have color-coded activity calendars and brush their kids' hair and have birthday parties within a week of their child's actual birthdays.  It doesn't mean I'm going to do that, just means I'm cool with it. 

I know for sure that just like Taylor Swift sings "haters gonna hate, hate, hate" and that we can't let it get to us.  There will be days when it bothers us more than others and we feel like total failures, but you just can't let it consume you.

Right? I mean screw that chimp.


Here's what else I know for sure this week: 
  • Hello, my name is Angela and I am a binge watcher. Tim and I are so addicted to Friday Night Lights that when Netflix wasn't working we went into total withdrawal and panic.  We looked at each other like "what are we going to do?!!!???"  Um, we bought two episodes on iTunes, because we are binge watching addicts.  This video is funny talking about the dangers of binge watching TV shows.


  • Brothers rule.  They wrestle and compete and punch, but they also support, encourage and play.  Watching the boys be brothers is pretty awesome.

  • This football movie looks good.  In fact I cry every time I see the trailer.  




  • Vlogging is a whole lot of fun.  I got the whole family involved in my latest vlog.

Check out my #sheethappens moment blog.

(Click here to watch the video.)


  • I'm close to my goal!  I have one week to reach 100 subscribers to my YouTube channel and I'm at 84.  Help me reach my goal, click here to subscribe.

  • I will  never stop loving Skeeball, never.
I am proud to report that I won quite a few tickets playing Skeeball at Chuck E. Cheese.  

What do you know for sure this week, right now?  Tell me what you know!  Share it here in the comments or over on my Facebook page.

Come play with me on Instagram, click here.


3 comments:

  1. When I look at your family and read your posts, all I see is a whole lotta love and light and laughter. Screw those chimps and haters.

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  2. I know for sure that our families would get along great, because my kids are always disheveled and non matching. My thing? Forgetting the tickets. I forget the tickets almost everywhere we go. This week I panicked because I wasn't exactly sure where our SeaWorld passes were, and when I found them, I put them in my purse and promptly messaged my husband "BTW the passes are already in my purse!" He was so proud.

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  3. See, here I am wishing I could take a more "lax" approach to things such as birthday parties and trips to the zoo. Girl, I think you've got it right. :-)

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