Santa

The boys have been saving their pennies for weeks. They decided weeks ago that they wanted the Lego Batcave and that they were going to work together to combine their pennies and save the $70 it costs for the Batcave.

It's been incredibly cool to see them working together to save their money. (Teamwork is really encouraging to witness as a mom!) 

There have also been a few times I realize they are totally working me over. For instance, when I rewarded Isaac with a penny for allowing Sidge to have the "good seat" in the back of the van, I noticed that every single time we were getting into the van one brother was saying, "Thanks for giving me the red seat!" (They were purposefully sharing it each time to earn a penny!)

But when 100 pennies is equal to $5, it is going to take awhile to reach $70, and a few weeks in, I noticed both Sidge and Isaac feeling defeated. Each day they'd count their pennies and realize how far they had to go to reach their goal. 1,400 pennies is a lot!

So one day last week, Sidge decided to take things into his own hands. 

"Can I have a piece of paper, Mom?"

I gave him one. "What's it for?" I asked.

"I'm going to write a letter to Santa," he said. "And ask him for the Batcave. We are never going to be able to save that many pennies!"

So he took out a crayon and wrote Santa a note. We put it in an envelope and put it in the mailbox. (By the way, I'm really enjoying being able to mail letters simply by putting them in my mail box and checking my mail by just sending a child out to the curb!) 

The next day, I asked the boys who wanted to feed Scrubs breakfast. No one offered. This surprised me as they have been eager to help and earn pennies. "Sidge? Isaac?" I said and called them into the garage where we feed Scrubs. "Why is no one offering to help?"

"Because," Sidge replied. "I wrote Santa. We are going to let him get us the Batcave and stop trying to save our pennies!"