Choose Wisely.

On our getaway last weekend, Robb and I wanted to choose something to bring home to each of the boys. We browsed through several toy stores, in search of the perfect something that would be: a) enjoyable, b) different, c) inexpensive, and d) not junk.

In one toy store, I picked up box of toys for building and creating; there were like 600 hexagons inside, each with a nook in each of the six sides, suitable for connecting to each other. I picked it up to look it over.

Robb said, "Oh, no. Not that. Look at all those pieces. In two weeks, we will have lost half of them. So we'll throw the other half away. And for two years, we'll find missing pieces and say, 'Did we keep this toy? Or did we throw it away?' And we won't remember what we decided to do, so we'll keep random pieces, just in case we find the hundreds we forgot we threw away. No way."

A good point. And a good observation of our family pattern. Who wants to sign on for that? Not us. Or at least not this week.

(By the end of the weekend, we bought them each a t-shirt and a KitKat bar. Manageable and easily consumed. And it met all of the above criterion. Check.)