Shopping.

1. I am thankful for $10 shoes for the kids at Target and Walmart. My kids are so active that they just keep wearing through one pair of shoes after another. I have tried the more expensive shoes and the result is the same. Sketchers or Cherokee, after a few months you can see socks peeking out in the toe area or the sole is coming away from the main part of the shoe. So it's $10 shoes for now. We bought a couple of pairs today and threw out the ones we bought at the end of August for the start of school.

2. I am thankful that Spencer saved his money over the last few months and finally got to buy something today. We were able to tell him we were proud of him for doing it and I feel good about teaching him a little something about responsibility. Both responsibility for his bedroom and keeping track of his glasses and responsibility to save for the things you want. It's especially great considering his big sister earned only $2 in the same time it took Spencer to make $11 (to be fair, $5 came from the tooth fairy) and all because she keeps leaving her homework at school. I hope that seeing Spencer will motivate Leia to remember her homework.

3. I am thankful that Spencer was set on getting a football today with his money. We walked through the toy section and he was faced with all sorts of tempting transformers, lego sets etc... But he knew exactly what he wanted and he wanted a new football to throw around the yard with his Daddy and to take to school to play with at recess. I love that he loves playing outside. He's a really great kid!

4. I'm thankful for brotherly love. When asked what he thought he might do the next time he saved $10, Spencer started talking about buying footballs for Leia and Nathan. He's such a sweetheart and that was the first thing that popped into his head rather than buying himself the other stuff he saw today in the toy department.

5. I am thankful that Thanksgiving dinner is planned and shopped for. I can now look forward to a day of yummy food, board games and Christmas movies. We'll maybe even consider getting out the Christmas Tree early since last year we invested in a non-perishable but nicely realistic fake tree.