Chuck E Cheese

On Saturday Abby attended her first birthday party when her BFF Reese turned the big 1! Reese had her party at Chuck E Cheese. Now, the last time I was at Chuck E Cheese, I think I was about 7 and I spent a lot of my time being scared of the big animatronic characters that were (at least in my memory) spewing sparks and frayed wires. However, I was still pretty excited to take Abby to her first establishment of this sort.

So, we got there and Abby was, at first, pretty overwhelmed. She wasn't scared, just very very quiet and observant. Well, she was scared at one point when the gate person tried to stamp her with a number (that matched my number to ensure I was the only one that got to leave with her). She tried to climb over my head to get away from the stamper - s

o we ended up just giving her a sticker.

Anyway. Abs eventually was confident enough to walk around and look at all the games. There were a ton of kids there of course.

checking things out

Eventually Reese and her gang were all there and we spent some time with the other guests and Abs had her first pizza. She ate that whole piece and liked it....shocker. ;)

So as it turns out, getting a picture of the girls together was impossible. I mean, two toddlers surrounded by lights, characters, kids, noise, food, prizes, sirens...I have NO idea why they wouldn't just sit still and smile....This was the best I could do, haha.

The Chuck E Cheese crew did their birthday thing with songs and dances and the big mouse man himself came out to say hi to the kids. Reese seemed to really have a good time. She loved seeing the mouse. One of Beckah's friends made her this adorable cake....and I think Reese enjoyed it quite a bit!

Soon after cake was done and about 367 pictures of Reese in red icing later, the party was over and the guests headed home. Abs and I stayed for a while to play some games. All the kids got some tokens and Abby really liked carrying her token cup around and listening to it jingle as she shook it. She did that for a long time before she'd let me put her on a ride.

pushing buttons.

This was her favorite - just a little car that moved and played music. She screamed when I took her out and did that whole toddler thing where she frowns and stomps her feet real fast. Hilarious.

She also took her first carousel ride. Well, a mini one. I was hesitant to let her ride it at first - I didn't think she'd stay on. But, she did. We rode it twice and she held on tight and smiled. I could not get a good picture to save my life, but the memory is still there.

Unfortuantely, once the ride stopped and I looked down for one second to put my camera down, Abby fell off her horse and got kinda stuck between the ride and the horse. She was fine, but upset and scared. So, since Abs wouldn't let me put her down after that...we donated the rest of our coins to a nice lady & her daughter(who had helped us pick them up earlier when Abby dumped them everywhere) and we took our tickets to the prize counter where Abby got some stickers. Then, we headed home.

Abby was plum worn out that night, but she was happy. She chatted and sang and jabbered all the way home. So, thank you Reese for inviting us to your awesome party. We can't believe that you're already one! Thanks for being Abby's best friend all this time - she couldn't have picked a better one. :)