For our wedding anniversary I got Christian an hour massage at a place in the mall. So we went to the mall this morning and while he was getting massaged I was keeping our 4 kiddos entertained. Here's what we did!
We visited candy corner and Melody was such a sweet heart. She shared lots of her quarters with her two brothers. They all picked out things from the candy/toy machines. Dane of course chose bouncy balls which is one of his obsessions. They have a new "little" playground that's nearby so we played there for a very short while.
Then Dane wanted to ride the elevators which cracks me up. It really is a fun ride for him. People thought we were a little weird riding up and down but then they'd see how much fun Dane was having and they cracked up too. After riding the elevator a few times I spotted SEES Candy so took the kids to see if we could get some samples. Melody wanted desperately to buy her own pieces of chocolate so I asked the lady if there was anything for 50 cents. The lady said the cheapest piece is actually 65 cents. The lady thought Melody was super adorable though and let her pick out a few pieces of candy and she was able to pay for all 3 for only 50 cents. Then the lady gave the rest of us our own samples of chocolate. Then we rode the elevator back down to the 1st floor to check on "daddy".
Christian was almost done with his massage so we sat in some comfy chairs and took turns chasing after Dane's bouncy balls. Good thing the mall wasn't crowded with people quite yet.
Then on our way out of the mall we passed by a bigger vending machine that was selling "splat" toys that you throw at the ground. The machine must have been messed up some how with the prices. They were all exactly the same size and toy but they were all different colors. One of them was $5.00, some were .75 cents and some were .15 cents and other various amounts. It was kinda weird and we felt guilty for ripping off the toy machine somehow. So the kids have been playing with these .15 cent toys all day. That concludes our morning family outing at the mall.
And Happy Anniversary Honey. The flowers were lovely!
Yesterday Alynna was moved to another foster home and I couldn't sleep very well last night. I kept waking up and worrying about her. What was she thinking? Was she scared? I'm sure she told the family to hang up her star night light for her. Will we ever see or hear from her again? She loved Baylee so much that I could see she was having a hard time leaving Baylee behind. She just held, and kissed her for a good 30 minutes saying things like I don't want to leave my baby sister, and what if I never see her again. And she hid behind our couch. I promised her she'd see us again. I'll have to put a little mini flip book of pictures together for her and send it her way. I told the CPS caseworker to please let Alynna call us if the new foster parents were okay with that. And to tell the new family that we'd like to pick up Alynna to take her to the park or the dollar movies with us. When Alynna left I felt like something went missing. It was that same feeling of losing something that is so important to you but you don't where it is all of sudden so you search and search all over for it. I went inside my house after she left and just had to sit for a while to let the whole thing sink in. I'm also the one that had to tell her that she was being moved to live with another family. I pulled her aside to her bedroom and told her I had some news and I didn't know if it was going to make her sad or not. I told her that my friend Tiffany from CPS just called and they had another family that wanted to have Alynna come live with them. They had a 13 year old girl that was excited to have a little foster sister come and that Alynna would be the youngest in the house just like Baylee is the baby in our house. And I told her I loved her and that I would never agree to something like this if I didn't think this would be a really good thing for her. I asked her if she believed me and she said yes. I wasn't really happy that they would be taking her out of the elementary school here but after finding out more about the new foster family I knew this was exactly the home that she needed to go to. The new foster mom is an elementary school teacher in Mesa, they live in the city where Alynna's from and where all of her appointments are every week, they have all older kids that can help give Alynna the attention she needs, the mom is enrolling Alynna in the school where she teaches so will be able to be watchful and work with Alynna at school as well. I told our foster care agency to give me a little reprieve so I could pull myself back together after having cared for Alynna. When Alynna left yesterday I literally felt a mountain of stress come straight off my shoulders and leave. Melody is the child I worry about right now having some affects of no longer having Alynna here to play with, work with, write notes to, and argue with. She was already missing Alynna last night. I snapped some last minute photos of the girls together in Alynna's room just before she left with Tiffany. We love you Alynna. I hope we get to tell you that again someday soon. 
