I never ceased to be amazed at the lengths that kids will go to to keep from having to clean their rooms. The other day my youngest DD was talking on the phone to her BFF and I told her to go upstairs and finish cleaning her room. She quickly mouthed to me, “Mom, today is the anniversary of the day we met and we need to be able to talk in peace.” 
A few days later that same DD was walking around with an Oriental Trading catalog and she came up to me and said, “Mom, I need to know what my budget is for my birthday party so I can get my order ready for Oriental Trading.” I didn’t even know that she knew what a budget was, and we definitely have never had a birthday party budget for an 11 year old. Well anyway, I told her the budget would be around $2. She didn’t appreciate that at all. She quickly said, “No, it needs to be around $35, because I have already found the things I need to order and it totals $34.” Maybe I should add accounting to her list of subjects next year. 
Oh and by the way, apparently we are having a luau birthday party.
