Dinner With Chuck...

E. Cheese that would be...! In Short: He's the Devil! But I digress...

We picked the kids up last night for our dinner at the promised Chuck E. Cheese. Wouldn't you know it, but in Sunday's paper there was a Chuck coupon (I've become a full blown clipper!), so stuck that in my purse.

The day started with a trip to the Regional Center for Bobby to be evaluated for special needs. High risk kids are evaluated to see if they need speech, physical, or other therapy. I received a call the night before from a social worker. She told me the bio dad was going to be at the appt, and he was okay with me being there. She wanted to make sure I was okay with it (I was).

In the note that they sent home for the appt, it mentioned bringing a snack in case he got hungry. I cut up an apple, got a cheese stick and a couple of graham crackers, and put them in my make-shift diaper bag tote.

I arrived at the appt and met the social workers who had picked Bobby up, as well as the evaluation team. Dad wasn't there yet, but we went ahead and got started. The social workers shared with me that Dad had been told on Friday that they were recommending that his rights be terminated. Apparently he was told at the supervised visit with the kids. She said it was very emotional with all parties crying at the end. She wanted to warn me in case he became emotional at the dr.

Bobby did GREAT, and bottom line, does not qualify for any special services which is a good thing. Almost an hr had passed, and dad still wasn't there. The SW finally called him and he was just parking. He'd been working in Richmond, and had been delayed. He got there right after they evaluation was completed.

He came into the room and was introduced to everyone. He shook hands with everyone, and the therapists gave him the high level summary. After we were done, one of the SW's told Dad that she had about an hr before she had to be back, and if Dad had time, they could do a visit in the park across the street. Dad said heck ya, he had the rest of the day.

On the way out the door, I handed Dad the apples, crackers, and cheese, along with a book and told them to have fun. I then headed out for my errands, which were to pick up a registration packet for Angel at our elementary school, and then to check out some child care centers.

The registration packet was easy as they knew I was coming, and our situation. The Public Health Nurse and SW's are helping with the forms. I then went to 2 child care centers, one with the Lutheran Church, and one was La Petite Academy.

Both centers were excellent in their own way. We are going with La Petite right now for a couple of reasons:

1. The Lutheran Church didn't have room for a full time student in their 2 year old class.
2. At La Petite we can pay by the week, versus paying for a whole month at once.

La Petite is a bit more expensive, however the weekly pay, versus monthly helps us out right now. Murphy and his laws have struck us all at once, as we have to figure out the day care costs on top of our scheduled gianormous property tax payment. We weren't expecting to have kids this quickly, so didn't have a lot of $$ tucked away. We will be receiving a stipend for the kids, but that won't kick in until 30 days after we are in full possession of the kids (which will be on Halloween). Nor do we know exactly how much it will be...Until then, we are just gonna keep our eyes closed, and hope we stretch the dollars as far as possible!

But back to Chuck. Our plan last night was to pick the kids up for dinner, and then bring them right back home. It's a school night, etc, and the foster family goes to bed on the early side, so they requested we bring them back as early as possible.

I picked the kids up at 5, and we said they'd be back by 7. Mark was coming from work, so was meeting me at Chuck's. I got the kids packed up, and on our way. We arrived at Chuck's about 10 minutes later.

Prior to picking up the kids, I'd stopped at the bank and got some cash. Mark had the money for dinner, but if he got stuck in traffic or whatever, and the kids had to stand there and watch the games without playing any, life would end as we know it. So my lucky coupons had something like 60 tokens for $15, so we got those to get started. Unfortunately, Chuck puts the ice cream machine right at the front door, so it's the first thing they see. I was able to deflect the ice cream requests to after dinner and get them into the arcade portion of the place.

I'd not been to Chuck for a LOOOOONNNNNGGGG time. I am thankful for 2 things:

1. We were there when it wasn't crowded.


2. They have someone watching the exit.

Now...if only Mark was there to help me! He was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic of course!

Thankfully, Angel is very sweet and cooperative, so helped me rustle the little ones to some extent. By the time Mark got there, I felt as if I'd run a marathon. Jenna especially has a tendency to dash away. I totally understand now why some parents have their kids on a leash. In some instances, it really is a safety issue.

Mark finally arrived, and we ordered our Pizza and drinks with the coupon (and more tokens!). We each rustled kids while they played games and collected tickets. At the point where Jenna was picking up random drinks off of tables and taking sips, I realized we needed to get their beverages, and find our table. I ran off to do that while Mark took his turn watching all of them.

Pretty soon the pizza arrived, but Mark and Angel were off on the other side of the building. I was trying to chase Jenna and Bobby down, and get his attention. After screaming his name across the room several times, I got his attention. I got Bobby seated in his booster, and then tackled Ms. Jenna.

Jenna has a history of 'failure to thrive' and initially wanted NOTHING to do with sitting down and eating. She threw herself down for a tantrum, and I scooped her up, and told her that even if she wasn't hungry, she needed to sit with the family. We also wisely placed her on the inside of a booth, so her escape options were limited. I'd gotten Jenna and Bobby some punch and Angel a soda as a treat, and all started drinking away. We doled out the pizza, and started chowing down.

Jenna became the pizza connoisseur. She sprinkled parmesan on her slice, and then ate like a trooper! We did the 'one more bite' thing a few times, and then the threat of no dessert. She ate 90% of it, so we were quite happy! Eveyone else chowed down as well. Chuck doesn't make the best pizza in the world, so I just had a small slice.

At this point, it was time to work through the tokens. We'd told the foster parents that we would have them back by 7, so at this point it's about 6:15. Based on our privious outings, and how everything takes 10 times longer than planned, I told Mark we needed to get dessert, cash in the tickets, and get on our way.

As mentioned before, there's an Ice Cream machine, right at the entrance. They also have cotton candy hanging in back of the counter. Angel had actually mentioned on the way there, that her favorite kind of candy was cotton candy, so they kids got a choice: Ice cream, or cotton candy. Bobby didn't want anything, but Angel got a pink cotton candy, and Jenna a blue. Jenna hated it and immediately wanted to go play some more. Angel tried both, and decided she actually liked the blue better. I encouraged her NOT to eat the whole thing, and that we could save it for next time...

Then it was time to cash in the tickets. We had roughly 100 tickets, so settled on a lip balm thing for Angel, and got a sticker set for Bobby and one for Jenna. Then it was time to pack up and go.

In the car, they wanted more cotton candy, so I doled out portions. Bobby wanted some as well, so I handed him a little blob. He proceeded to stick it on his carseat, and asked for more. I said no, and the screaming began. We just ignored it and Angel and I kept talking, and he stopped by the time we exited the parking lot. Then he started doing this fake snoring thing he does. It's actually pretty funny!

We got them back to the house, and up to the door by 7pm. We wanted to see them again on Thursday, but the foster parent said that school nights are bad, and can we just do it Friday and keep the kids all weekend....so that's what we are going to do.

Mark and I felt like we'd run a marathon, and fell into bed once we got home....

I chatted with the SW today about that, and she was irritated as it affects the transition with the kids. I told her that we will make it work, and would have the kids full time starting Halloween if all goes well.

We still have issues with the dogs and the kids and getting them used to eachother. We also still have some kid proofing to do.

Saturday there is actually a carnival at the elementry school that Angel will go to, so we are going to that. Sunday is a Fall Festival at our friends church, so that should be fun as well.

So that is the latest and the greatest!