Nerf Wars and Chuck E. Cheese's

I have been promising Benny for sometime now that he could get a Nerf gun when his Daddy returned. I just didn't have the energy to chase and search for all of the bullets myself I guess. The other day while at Walmart, I told Nick of my promise. He marched off and promptly returned with not one, but two Nerf guns. Sometimes I forget that I really have two boys. The boys have been playing with them non-stop, mostly in the basement, but upstairs too. I have been really relaxed about letting them pepper any and every flat surface in our house with sticky bullets. Benny isn't strong enough to cock the gun himself, so Nick loads it and then hands it off to Benny. They are constantly switching the guns, and that itself is part of their game. When Benny is ready for a reload he says "Cock me!", which makes me laugh every time. This combat photo was difficult to shoot, as I was the target while taking it. Soon after, I received two bullets to the forehead. It's difficult to be the mom......
One cold and rainy day this week, we headed to Topeka for a little bit of shopping and fun. We decided to take Benny to Chuck E. Cheese's (Where a kid can be a kid, as Benny likes to call it). First we went to the mall, and made the kids endure a bit of shopping. Then we surprised Benny by taking him to Chuck E. Cheese's for pizza. We have been once before, but on a Sunday afternoon when it was really, really busy. Thursday afternoon is a lovely time to go, as the place was almost deserted. It was so empty, even Sophie got to walk around and join the fun!
Benny is doing much better bonding with his Dad. He even let Nick put him to bed one night this week. I know he is going to make a lot more progress in the coming weeks. It is so good to have Nick home!