Birthdays, Pizza and Eyeglasses

So I made a goal (not a resolution!) to be more active on the blog this year, even if it just means posting silly daily stuff rather than a recipe every post. 

Today was Bella's best friend's birthday party.  It was a Chuck E Cheese party which the kids were soooo excited for, I totally get it... Chuck E Cheese is an AWESOME place for kids.  Not so much for a vegan mama, it's difficult to have to say "No" over and over again to them. But we love our friends and knew it would be a crazy fun party so I had to figure out a way to make it work. 

Per Peta, Chuck E Cheese's crust and sauce are vegan, so a quick call to talk to the manager and ask if I brought in my own bag of Daiya would they make us a vegan pizza?  He was very kind and accommodating and assured me it would not be a problem.  When we got there I asked at the counter for the manager and he took our vegan cheese in the back and made our pizza himself.  It was not bad as Chuck E Cheese pizzas go.  I didn't get a pic... sorry.  The kids had me pretty distracted, but I did manage to snap a couple pics of the pretty princesses.

The party was a princess theme and all the girls were encouraged to dress up as their favorite princesses.  Bella of course always one to go against the grain decided she wanted to be a fairy (Tinkerbell).  I think I managed to pull off a pretty respectable Tink outfit for her.  It was an awesome party and the little princesses (and the big bros) all had a great time.

So.... if your little one's have invitations to a Chuck E Cheese party, never fear... make a call to your location and ask to bring in your own vegan cheese, and kick back and enjoy the party.

My little Tinkerbell

Brandon and some of the cool swag he scored with his game tickets

 After the party we came home and had some family reading and writing time.  We are working hard as a family to get our kids more excited about reading.  So at dinner we pass around the kindle and each of us takes turns reading out loud to the family.  Right now we are reading book one of Harry Potter.  It's slow going, as reading aloud is something both of the boys need some focus on, but I'm hopeful that the added benefit of time spent doing it together as a family will help.

After reading everyone took sometime to write in their journals before bed.  The boys write stories about their toys, or just about whatever happened in their day and Bells practices her name, numbers or drawing pictures.  Daddy works on a fantasy story he is writing and I have decided this is a perfect time for me to work on the blog :)

Oh one more exciting tidbit to share... The first born got glasses yesterday.  He's pretty stoked about them and had a lot of fun with me going to the different eyeglass places to try on frames and find one he really liked.  We went with these ones.  They were only $50 for frames and lenses at Vision Works in our local mall.  The second photo (the bolder frame) are the ones he really really wanted but they were $139 for the frames plus another $30 for lenses.  So we told him if he does a good job of taking care of these we'd consider getting him a more expensive pair in the future.