Too much Lilo and Stitch

Alexia loves Lilo and Stitch.  It's like she can't help herself.  She adores them.  So here she was, going through clothes I am getting rid of.  She pulls out these old Hawaiian print shorts of hers and annoucnes "Look!  My Hula shorts.  Aloha, hoo, Aloha hooo."  I guess you had to be here, but it was so cute. 

Trying to loosen the reins

I'm trying to let Jacob grow up.  No one told me it would be so darn hard.  Alan signed him up for Baseball today.  Jacob is very excited.  It starts in April.  This will be a social challenge for me.  I am it helps Jacob.  Heck, I am hoping it helps all of us.

Super Sunday

It's almost time.  Our snacks our made.  We always have a bunch of snacks and that is our dinner.  Just the kids and Alan and I.  Dh and I love watching the commercials.  The kids come for the food.

Go, Seahawks!

Just because I have never liked the Steelers, lol.

Learning to be a positive Role-Model

Some background:  I am a *very non-confrontational person.  I will do all I can do to avoid a confrontration.  That means even if I know I am right,  I lose money, etc. because  I won't argue it.  I have always been like this.

So today, Jacob had completed his chore chart.  His reward was to go get some Trading cards.  As it happened, his Grandma had given him a $10 gift card to Toys R Us, so I took him today to get his cards.  I figured it was a good opportunity to teach him the value of money.  I told him he had $10, and he was allowed to pick one pack of cards.  That is what he earned.  After gently telling him at least seven times that he didn't have enough money to buy the $22 box of cards he wanted, he finally decided on a pack for $3.99.  So we go to the register, and with tax it came to $4.23.  I went through the trouble of explaining that he spent the $4.23 on his pack of cards, so he now had $5.77 left to spend.  We did the math while we waited on the cashier.  When she scanned the card, the register came up with a message she had never seen before.  So she called someone over to help her.  That person in turn had to go and call the place that deals with the gift cards.  She comes back and says "OK, there is $5.77 on the card, so he has $1.49 left."  I was like "What?  There was $10 on the card.  $4.23 plus $5.77 is $10.  Don't you find that a little odd?  It was ran twice."  "No it wasn't, Ma'am, there was only $5.77 on the card.  You did not have $10 on it." 

This is where I turned into a rude, snipey creature and stomped out.  I said "I don't believe you, but OK." and left the store telling Jacob that they were rude to him by stealing money from a little boy.  Once I got all three boys into the van, I sat there with the keys in my hand ready to start the vehicle and get back on the road.  I just sat and stared at my keys.  What kind of example was I being to the boys by being rude and stomping out of the store?  I'll tell you...not a very good one.  In fact, I was being a lousy example.  So I took a great big breath, loaded the two youngest back into the stroller, and told Jacob to bring his receipt.

We went right to the lady I was rude to and I said "I'm sorry I was rude.  It's just that this is hard for me, because I am trying to teach my son the value of money."  I then explained in a nicer tone of voice what I thought had happened.  That the cashier had run it at the register, and it did go through despite what the message said.  Then, when she (the lady I was talking to) called, she was told the remaining balance, and then went back to the register and ran the amount onto the card a second time. 

Long story short, the lady was told to call the card place back and find out how much the card was issued for, and what days any purchases were bought with it.  Lucky for Jacob, all of that stuff is recorded instantly in the computer system and was extremely trackable.  I never knew this.  The lady was told the card was issued for $10 back in December, and two purchases for $4.23 had just been purchased within the past ten minutes at the store we were standing in.  Now, the lady didn't even look at me when I saw her writing this down and saw immediately that I was right.  She did not want to admit she was wrong after telling me bluntly that there was only $5.77 on the card to begin with.  We were issued another card with the refund on it.  The manager came over and apologized, and I apologized again for being rude.  Jacob was given back his money and all was made right again.  More importantly, Jacob saw Mommy apologize for being rude, and stand up for him and herself in explaining politely what she had thought had happened.  I explained to Jacob once we were back in the car that I should have started out explaining politely to the manager instead of stomping out and muttering and saying not nice things.  He said he understood.  So I asked him "What did you learn today, Jacob?"  He said "If you think they gave you back the wrong change, ask nicely...don't be rude!"  I was beaming with pride, then I noticed the pensive look on his face.  He then blurted out "And don't steal money from little boys!"  LOL.  OK, so not all was lost, at least.  He did say he was going to start saving his money now to buy the box he wanted.

So today Mommy learned some things about how gift cards worked.  And Mommy learned to stand up for herself and to eat humble pie and apologize.  Hopefully Jacob really did learn a little from the entire experience.  I personally am proud that I finally stood up for myself. 

                 Well....it wasn't really for myself.  I did it for my son.