Bookbag Treasures

One of the many joys of being a mom is that I get to rifle through my kids' things.  That's right.  I just said that.  I'm sure it will result in more juicy findings when they are older than seven, four, and eighteen months old.  For now, though, I'll settle for my funny, gross, sometimes frightening discoveries.

One of the places I get to rifle through is the bookbag that goes to and from school with Ben.

I remember being in elementary school and being obsessive about keeping my desk clean.  I have a suspicion that my son is that boy who sat next to me that drove me absolutely insane.  You know the type.  He's the one  with random scraps of paper overflowing out of his desk in any haphazard manner, with nary a clean piece of paper to be found in the mess, and perhaps even a suspicious odor emanating from the depths of the chaos.  There is more glue on the top of the desk than left in the glue stick itself.  He has a pencil case, but it's full "treasures" he collected.  Meanwhile, a pencil is unlocate-able.

I know this because that is precisely what his bookbag is like.

Maybe it's a boy thing?

At any rate, while cleaning up my kitchen this weekend in prep for making the annual turkey dinner that I don't get to eat (but I still really do enjoy making - for Sam's office), I stumbled upon the bookbag.  So I dove in.  And I found some good treasures in there.

He had a stack of artwork from the previous week.  And wouldn't you know?  I took a picture (or seven) for you to enjoy along with me.

First up is, what appears to be, an adorable little scarecrow.  But if you thought that, you'd be wrong.

Thanks to the helpful text bubble coming from the "scarecrow's" mouth, we learn that "I am from Mars.  I come in peace."

And apparently, on Mars, they love red Power Rangers as much as Ben does.  They even wear likenesses of them on their hats when traveling to other worlds.

But, no matter where we come from, it seems we all agree that there's no place like home.  Especially considering that the Martian scarecrow had "Mars Sweet Mars" sewn into his overalls.

Then there's this adorable little gobbler.  It looks just cute enough to eat, don't you think?

I guess Ben thought so too...because it would be weird for the turkey to write the words, "Eat me" on itself.

Among the other treasures in Ben's bookbag were countless scrap pieces of paper he collected to make Christmas presents for all of us (that's sweet - truly), several hoarded pieces of candy he'd gotten for good behavior, and dozens of gigantic acorns.  I almost didn't want to ask about those.  Turns out, he'd just been collecting them little by little from the playground.  Innocent enough.

In the spirit of thankfulness this week and all year long, I just want to let you all know how much I appreciate you reading this little old blog.

And please, please take the time to count a few of your blessings.  Right now.  Yes.  I'm being bossy.