The weekend

We had a really peaceful weekend, it was great. Akila went to my friend Curt and Lori's from Friday through Sunday, and she was really good for them, which was great news!

The other 3 kids had a friend over for a sleepover on Friday night, and on Saturday night, we went out to dinner, shopping at a mall and came home and watched Oliver Twist together. It was really nice. The most odd thing about the night, was when we were wandering around the mall, browsing at stores, eating ice cream in the food court, etc. I realized that this is not something we can "normally" do.

Normally, we avoid malls like the plague with Akila and if we are in one, we are always on edge and thinking ahead; like what is the path of least resistance when we leave Nick Universe to get to our car, how can we avoid walking by the American Girl store, where is there a Claire store, as we do not want to walk by one of them either. Where should we park, so when we are leaving, if we are in rage mode, we won't have to walk through the housewares department where there is breakable stuff in the path.

We were walking around the mall, having an enjoyable time, being silly with the kids and were just very relaxed. We also went out for lunch after church on Sunday, and our food took longer than normal to arrive. When this happens when Akila is with, I feel like talking the server aside and explaining that she/he could be potentially ruining our entire day by this delay, and that I cannot be held responsible for the behavior which is about to occur. But, it was no big deal.

I picked up Akila around 3:00. Lori had already gone through her backpack and the main thing she had tried to steal, was a pack of lip gloss. Lori had already taken it out. I also went through her back pack, and I was being very through. I went through all the pockets of all the clothes in the bag. I went through Akila's pockets on the clothes she was wearing, and looked under her clothes and at her underwear (last year she came home with their bra and underwear on). She had nothing- Hallelujah!

About an hour after we got home, the kids came inside and said she had a cell phone. She had taken one of Lori's daughter's cell phones. Lori had said it was missing, but she was sure it was her daughter's fault- a reason why I looked so hard through Akila's stuff (she loves cell phones). I could not believe it. I asked her how she got it home, and she said she put it inside her teddy bear. Her old raggedy bear has holes in it and virtually no stuffing in it anymore. I had not thought of looking in it. Wow, I was almost proud of her for thinking of such a sophisticated hiding place. Ha ha.

So, I'm having lunch with Lori today so I can return the cell phone. Thankfully, Lori and Curt don't get bothered by things like this, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate them and their family. They even have their house on the market and had to leave both days while there was an open house- now that is true friendship.