Zach and Asia Go Shopping

Today, Zach and Asia had their first real shopping lesson. Or maybe it would be the second. I think the first was actually two summers ago when I gave Zach and Asia some coins to spend at a garage sale. Asia got two Barbie dolls and a magic wand. I believe Zach lost his money rummaging through stuff. John got him some books though. So Zach failed that first lesson. This time, they had to finish lunch and then help clean up the living room. It was quite a job. They both took quite a few trips up to their rooms to put toys away. Then they both had a blast operating the vacuum cleaner. First Zach did some vacuuming while Asia held the cord. I told her it was her job to not let Zach vacuum over the cord or trip on it. Zach's vacuuming strategy was to go around in circles. That left lots of dust left for Asia to vacuum up. It was pretty funny watching her try to push the vacuum. I don't think she knew how heavy it was. Her eyes got all big the first time she tried to push it by herself. Once she got the hang of it, I tried to show her the right way to vacuum - up and down along the rug. I figured she may as well learn how to operate a vacuum cleaner correctly more than Zach since it seems that it's something moms and wives and sisters do more than their male counterparts. Why is that? Giving you a Y chromosome means you don't have to vacuum or do the dishes? I rant...
So the kids did a great job on cleaning and as a reward, they got to spend some of their birthday money. Isn't that a great idea? They get to spend their own money. Anyway, they both have these piggy banks that they got when we moved here. Asia's actually gone through two piggy banks. Her first was a glass one. Then I moved her and Zach's money to these plastic ones I got from PNC bank. Well, it was the plastic one that broke. So now her money is back in the glass one. The glass one that has no way to open it. So I think John used a knife to pry some money out if it today.
You'd think that I would have started small - like let's all spend five dollars each! But what can you get with that? I guess if we went to the dollar store... I didn't think about that. I was thinking more that all you can buy with five dollars is candy. So Zach and I agreed to spend 20 dollars or less at Toys R Us. I figured they'd definitely find something they lucked for under twenty dollars. And boy, was I right. First Asia picked out this megablocks Disney princess set that was for 1 year old and up. It was 19.99. Then as we went through the store, Zach kept picking things that were too expensive. Even one Lego set that was 20.99. I explained, he only had 20 dollars and how to look at the price tags. Then Asia decided she wanted a fairy dancing princess Barbie (after going through some other things that were over budget). The Barbie was 9.99. So she had 10 dollars left to spend. Both kids took a detour in the bike department trying out new bikes. Zach almost spent his 20 dollars on a bike helmet. I asked him if he really wanted to buy a bike helmet instead of a toy. He agreed he really wanted a toy. He already had a bike helmet at home.
I pointed Zach towards the cars and trucks aisle and told him to find something there. Then Asia found a princess Dora for 6 dollars and then a Barbie princess ball for four dollars. She was set. Zach found two race car sets, each 9.99. Then he saw a power ranger sword and decided he wanted that instead of one of the racing sets. So then we went to pay for the toys. When the receipt was printed, I balked at the price. Seemed a little high with the tax and all. Then I realized that one of Zach's racing sets was actually 19.99. So we returned it and went shopping again. Zach decided he didn't want a race set. It took some time, but Zach finally decided he wanted 3 toys like Asia, so he had to get something under ten dollars so he'd have some left over for something else. He ended up getting a tow truck that was on sale and then a Marvel heroes ball. All in all, the kids did good with their purchases. Thanks to the people who gave the kids money. :)