At Long, Long Last.......

Background story:

For the last 10 years,

when I asked Jeremy what he wanted for

his birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, random Tuesday....

This was his response.

"A flat-screen TV"

It was a running joke between us.

Because our TV was perfectly fine.

Well...

So, you couldn't actually SEE movies or shows that were set

in late afternoon, evening or night time.

It was DARK.

You had to listen really hard and try to guess

what was happening...

And the volume had to be up almost as high

as it could go in order to hear it...

But it still WORKED.

So,

for the past year,

(watch out, you're going to get a little teary)

the WHOLE past year,

my dear, sweet children have been saving every

penny, nickel and dime they got.

They saved their birthday money, their hard-earned money,

and whatever they could,

to save for a TV for Dad for Father's Day.

They really had to sacrifice as I shaved money

off of the grocery bill by finding less expensive snacks

and making do without extra things.

Their dedication to getting this gift for their

dad was so touching for me to see.

I would hear them talking about how they were so excited

to see his face when they gave it to him...

They were oh, so, close at the start of June,

so we stepped it up a notch and really got busy.

They hit up all the grandmas for chores.

And they spent days sneaking out to their lemonade stand.

(So dad didn't see.)

I still can't believe they kept it a secret for so long...

You should have seen them at their lemonade stand...

They waved and smiled and danced and sang

to get people's attention.

It was adorable.

And they did it.

They made their goal.

We went to the bank and handed the poor

lady ALOT of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters

to change into bigger bills.

They all made cards for dad, and put the money inside.

When they gave it to him,

He almost fell over.

Then they whisked him off to the store

to pick out the one he wanted.

Within the given budget, of course. :)

Pretty much the best Father's Day ever.

Period.