Sometimes I wonder what I've done to deserve such awesome kiddos.  And if they are actually mine.

"Spend it!"  I encouraged my son.  "It's your birthday money.  People gave you money to spend."  He hemmed and hawed in the middle of the toy store as I kept a watchful eye over my two greedy daughters racing up and down the aisles making mental wish lists for their birthdays in February and March.  Way to go girls!  It's never too early to shop. They are so mine.

My son, the old soul, stood before the Nintendo display and deemed everything "too expensive."  We left empty handed much to the girls and my dismay.  "It was buy one get one 50% off, Jay!"  Lola reminded him.  The truth is that the kid didn't have much to spend. He opted for a birthday party, instead of cash like last year.  Birthday party was a success! Us parental units opted for "let's save grandparents cash for college" this year, that also contributed to his empty pockets.

"I just want to save my money."

"Do what you want.  It's yours."

"Give it to me!"

"No. Me!"

As the sisters fought over who was more worthy of their brother's cash, I turned to my son and asked "what are you saving up for, Handsome?"

"I want to buy something for Babcia Pola."  He answered.

"What do you want to buy her?"

"A statue."

"A what?"

"A statue of Jesus or something."

Immediately I think of the 62 foot styrofoam and fiberglass Jesus statue outside of Cincinnati and how much that would cost us and how that would look in front of my parent's house.  "Apolonia also likes chocolate and stilettos." I said.

"No, Mama.  I want to buy Babica Pola a statue so she can look out her window and smile."  He admitted.  "I remember that her house in Poland had Jesus things and her house here has none."

Nothing like encouraging your child to purchase a video game on sale with his birthday money when in his heart he wants to purchase his great-grandmother a Jesus statue to make you feel *this* small.  "Statue it is!"  I screamed and pulled over before I was struck by lightening.  I googled "where do you buy Jesus statues?" on my phone and 246.3 miles from the toy store we landed in a concrete jungle of statues in rural Ohio.

"Welcome! We are running a special on flags today.  Buy one get one 50% off."

"Thanks, but we are here for Jesus statues."  I smiled.  "Are there any deals on Jesus?"

Oh, the things you never thought you would say as a parent.  After much time and deliberation, my son selected this as a gift to his uber-religious-great-grandmother-from-Poland-who-loves-stilettos-but-Jesus-more with his birthday money: