A Tale of Two iPod Touches

For the last couple of years, Ethan has been DYING to get an iPod touch.  Grace eventually dialed into that pipe dream, too, and since last summer has joined with Ethan in begging and pleading for us to PLEASE just buy the iPods for them. We assured them over and over again that THAT wasn't going to happen, and once they finally believed us and knew we weren't going to cave, started devoting their energy to saving up their money.  After an entire summer's worth of "work," they have both saved enough to make their dreams come true!  Here is the tale of how these two iPod touches came to be:

Ethan's Story

If you'll recall, I promised the kids at the beginning of the summer that anyone who went above and beyond our "3000 Pages of Summer Reading," and read 5000 pages between June 1 and Aug 1 would be rewarded with $100.  To be quite honest, I wasn't really thinking anyone would be able to accomplish that.  I mean, seriously, that is A LOT of reading. In order for them to hit the 5000 mark, they had to read at least 82 pages every day.

However, I should just learn my lesson already, that when given the right motivation, my kids will rise to just about any challenge that is thrown their way!  Friday night found Ethan feverishly reading until 11 PM in order to finally get his 5000 pages.  With the other half of the iPod  price already procured through a summer's worth of allowance and some lawn-mowing jobs, his money was burning a hole in his pocket and come Saturday morning he was ready to make his move.

Even though I had just been to Costco the day before and seen some iPods there for a little cheaper then the retail price, Ethan was INSISTENT that he needed to get it from the Apple store where he could be assured that it was the right generation/model and could get the necessary Apple care protection plan and all that jazz.  He had done his research THOROUGHLY and had his mind set on EXACTLY what he wanted.  And there was no swaying him.  Hahaha. 

So, we went to the mall, he picked out his 16 GB blue iPod touch, and then got it set up right then and there in the store.  Being Ethan, he wasn't overly outwardly demonstrative, but I could tell he was SUPER stoked and excited about finally getting his hard-earned gadget.  And a little bit proud of himself, too.  When I asked him if it made it THAT much more exciting because he earned all the money and bought it himself, he answered with a begrudging "yes."  Yes!

 Clash of Clans was his first downloaded app.  Shocker.  Hahaha.

 Grace's Story
 

 In the car, on our way to Costco.

And then there's Grace.  As soon as she heard there were cheaper models at Costco, she was ALL over that.  Hahaha.  She didn't have quite as much money saved up as Ethan, so hearing that the iPod would be about $30 cheaper at the big box store was like a dream come true for her.  

That crazy girl earned the bulk of her money this summer by reading.  Not only did she reach the 5000 page mark {like a few weeks ago}, she also negotiated to earn $50 more for reading an additional 5000 pages by our Aug 1 deadline.  And you know what -- she came REALLY close.  According to her records, she managed to get to 8200 pages before I convinced her to finally stop the insanity this week because there was no possible way she could read another couple thousand even if I did give her a few extra days to try and finish up.  Once I informed her that I was willing to pay her $20 extra dollars for the extra reading she DID do, she was more than satisfied and began to count up all her earnings to make sure she'd be able to buy the Costco iPod on Saturday.  Thanks to saved up allowance money along with some extra dough she's earned this summer by babysitting for me, she had just enough and was super excited as well.

Unfortunately, by the time we got to Costco on Saturday afternoon, the cheaper {older model} iPod touches were completely out of stock.  Grace was more than a little heartbroken, and after a few moments of pleas and promises, I agreed to cover the difference for the now only $10-cheaper-than-retail-price iPods available and she could pay me back when she earned the rest.  

She was SOOOO excited, and after refusing the concept of Apple care protection plans -- there was no way she wanted to owe me an additional 60 bucks for something she didn't think she needed -- we hopped over to the Target next door so that she could pick out a case for her and Ethan's iPods.

And that is the end of their stories.  It has been quite the weekend of navigating how to deal with personal electronic devices for kids, so for now we have informed them that once this honeymoon of ownership is over, we WILL be formulating some family and house rules with regards to their use.  They're really excited about that, let me tell ya.  Hahahahaha.

In closing, I feel like Sophie needs some representation in this post.  So, I'll leave you with one of the 2 options she narrowed things down to for her first-day-of-school-outfit from The Children's Place.

Bam!  What??? 

And p.s. -- this is the reject outfit.  You'll just have to wait for the first day of school to see the winner.  Hahahahaha.