{money lessons}

This past weekend our neighborhood had its annual yard sale. For some reason, this annual event is ALWAYS on the same day as opening weekend for deer hunting. I never thought that would effect my schedule!! Growing up with a dad from Peru, deer hunting was never part of my life. Apparently this is unusual for those of us raised in South Texas, or maybe anywhere in Texas? Regardless, my husband was unavailable so I had to do it all myself. On the bright side, it was great motivation to clear out a lot of stuff. I did however miss my kids' last soccer game. Now, let's remember that they are three and there will be a lot more sports in their future. They were pretty excited to show me their medals, and they had a great time with Aunt Ashley (my cousin) and Matt (her boyfriend). They did much better that morning than I did in the cold, unable to drink anything because bathroom breaks would be impossible, but I digress.

When I got back to the house and finished counting our earnings, my daughter was obsessed with the stack of ones. She kept begging me to give her money. I told her that since they are three years old, her and her brother could each have $3 to take to Walgreens. So, they jumped in the wagon for the ~.25 mile walk. On the way, we talked about what they might buy, and I warned them that $3 wasn't much, but they still went straight for the biggest toys they could find. Once I explained that those were too big and expensive, my son immediately zeroed in on the hot wheel type cars. When he found out he could get 3 for his $3 he was done shopping. My daughter was so much harder! She could get a book, or some flash cards, or a small toy. But then we found it. A bug catching kit! It had a little cuppy thing to catch the flying bugs, some ladybug tweezers to catch the crawling ones, and a little mesh box to keep them in (temporarily). Perfect!

When it came time to pay, we were blessed to get my favorite checkout woman who is always so sweet to us. She rang them up separately, gave them their own bag and showed them where to get their change. I did try to rush them through a little since a line was forming. The gentleman behind us did not seem impressed with how well my kiddos were handling their money!

The best part is that they both got change which I'm putting in their piggy banks. First deposits! I think we'll have to do this a few times a year, and eventually they'll understand about the change collecting in there. As an accountant, this whole process was very exciting to me. I especially loved how excited they got when they received their $3 and put it in their pocket. So cute!

Side note -- I love walking with the twins in their wagon. Since they're facing each other, they have the best conversations!

image from here