Periodically, we go to dinner at ‘Sweet Tomatoes’, which happens to be across the street from Toys ‘R Us. Vegas dreads this dinner outing more than any other, because we always end up at the toy store. Its like groundhog day, or deja vu. The kids go in, the choices are overwhelming and terrible, nothing is particularly interesting, but everything is so fantastically expensive. We leave, always with at least one child weeping. 
Last night was our trip to sweet tomatoes, {we had a 25% off coupon and boxed macaroni at home…so a salad buffet sounded awesome.} The boys had saved some money and begged to go into Toys ‘R Us, so we said yes, and Vegas groaned. We wandered around, riding horrible bikes with fat tires and pushing buttons on a hundred noisy toys. The boys couldn’t decide on anything, because a.) it was all awful, and b.) it was all expensive.
I was having a great time though, because there were some things on my school list that I wanted to see in person, rather than buying them on Amazon, sight unseen. I found some 1.3mm mechanical pencils right away, on clearance for less than half the amazon price, and super cheap pencil boxes, {for the new crayons that couldn’t stay in the box..who designed crayon boxes anyway? Ugh.}. Magnadoodles were next on my list, and I had to hunt for them. I wanted them for letter and number practice, to save on paper, and to offer a different tactile medium for writing. The small size that I had planned on getting seemed awfully small for their $11 price tag, but the big size seemed too pricey at $19. So, I went and asked the kids what they thought. Try asking any three {or five} year old what they think about school supplies while they are riding Spiderman bikes and singing along with life-size frozen dolls. They can’t even hear you.
I bought them anyway.
And some play dough.
Guess what they have used non-stop since we got home?
Planning on planning all day, Shelley
The Harmon Academy 