One, two, three, eight, nine, thirty-four...

This past Christmas our oldest received a money-counting bank from Grammy and Grandpa HB. This "bank" has been used quite a bit since December, but today was the first day it was ever used for the purpose it was made. Most recently it had been used as a bug home for unsuspecting insects whose paths crossed with our oldest bug catcher.

Today however, our oldest brought it downstairs (I don't remember when it was brought inside--so very likely there are stray bugs running amuck in our house! Just a day in the life of a Lowe...) accompanied by his piggy bank. Our oldest gets a weekly allowance from which he is learning how to pay tithing, how to save for a mission , and how to save for other important things such as Pokemon cards, Star Wars Legos, etc.
This amazing little contraption can tell the difference between all coins, showing the value of the coin after it has been pushed through the lid,
And then keeping a running tally of the contents of the jar.

The best part for me was that our two oldest boys were working together and taking turns. I love seeing them do things together! They were working together so well and were both so interested in what they were doing that after 15 minutes I was ready to write a letter of gratitude to the makers of the bank; pictures of the cooperation it was instilling in our boys, teaching beginning lessons in finance--my excitement was building with each minute they were busily working together. When the bubble burst and they began arguing over who would insert the next coin and who had contributed most to the contents of the jar, I just had to smile.
Those 15 minutes when they were working so intently together make me happy even now. I like looking for reasons to smile...sometimes smiles comes from the most interesting places.