@YorkieonmyPillow What a great day! So my grandson (who has my late husband's first and last name) decided to go book and shoe shopping with us.
He's a talker, everyone says that....Hummm??? I wonder where he gets that from...Ha!
Anyway, First we ate (in the car) as always, then over to DSW shoe warehouse. The two girls went off somewhere and I followed my grandson (he just turned 12 but he's smart and outgoing, just so much fun) to the men's side. He couldn't decide on two colors of (he called them mid-level top) something or other tennis shoes (Van's).
The main difference was one had a small white stripe on the side and the other a small brown stripe. He kept taking pictures sending them first to his Dad and his Dad was texting, "No way! Too expensive". He didn't like that so he started sending pictures to good old Mom...At first she was like, "You don't need new shoes". But she softened so he helped me find his sisters who were huddled over in the high, high (I mean 3" heels all sparkles strapy shoes)!
I try not to show surprise....holding my breath (I hate to say, "No way"...that's up to Mom! Anyway, they kept texting and sending pictures to mom. Finally they each found sparkly 2" heels (one was wedge) the other wasn't.
Each girl got one pair. Their other grandparents are taking them on a 2 week cruise through Europe with their cousin (boy) this summer so they figure they'll wear them then and for Homecoming and Prom. They sure are fancy! Ha!
They got their mom to let them keep them by saying, "They were on sale for $30!
Then off to the bookstore. They each picked 4 books (the boy picked 2 books. I mean these are very thick books, but I know they'll read them. This is a family of readers. For Easter they get books and for every Holiday they get books. My girls did that too.
Anyway, we topped off the day by going back to McDonalds and getting ice cream.
What a wonderful day! They leave on Tuesday to visit my middle daughter and her family in Florida (near Orlando). The Florida daughter has 3 girls.
The best thing about these children is that they take nothing for granted and know how lucky they are. My daughter and son-in-law have done an amazing job raising them.
So, here's how it will go. In a few days I'll receive in the mail either one large card with separate notes from each child written a special message to me thanking me for (and they list everything). Sometimes I receive 3 separate cards, one from each child.
In our family it's very important that the person receiving the gift or time sends a thank you note (handwritten) to the person. It doesn't matter what they've given or done, always a thank you note.
My girls even gave myself and my late husband thank you notes when we got back from vacation telling us their favorite parts of the trip. They also kept journals when we traveled around Europe.
Another thing my daughter does is at every meal they discuss "peaks and valleys". This is a highlight of the day and something that wasn't so good. It's to make them realize you can find good in the day if you look and you can overcome the worry by thinking about the good.
I think if you make sure your children understand what's expected of them, they'll do it, no problem.
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