Makes My Monday

Target now has a great dollar aisle. No, that's not what makes my Monday -- although I do really love Target. Anyway . . . one day I picked up two sets of flashcards of the U.S. states in that dollar aisle, and put them in a "toy bag" full of cheap toys that we used to keep for an elaborate, long-abandoned system that we had in place to reward good behavior. Those cards have been sitting in that toy bag for well over a year.

The other day, the boys found them. I would not let them play with them (visions of one hundred cards strewn all over our house), but told them they could take them on the airplane when we flew to go skiing. They did, and they played with them the entire time they were in Ruidoso. On the return trip, Charlie challenged Cort in a game of "name the state from just looking at the shape," and Joseph challenged me. Cort and I both lost, legitimately. Both boys recognize almost every state, only getting tripped up on things like New Hampshire versus Vermont. That is amazing, I think, and even though I got whipped, it makes my Monday!