End-of-Season Clearance

You know, I love this time of year. Not only are we still basking in the warmth of Christmas and trying out all our new schtuff, but we're looking forward to the uncharted adventures of the New Year. AND! And there is the joyous event of End-of-Season clearance! Oh, joy! Oh, ecstasy! Cool stuff I KNOW I can use, or give away as a gift, for oh-so-cheap. True, it's mostly clothing and gifty stuff, but still. I have purchased $40 sweaters for $6, an entire year's worth of birthday gifts for my children...and so on and so forth. Last January, I purchased a $75 1,200-piece K'Nex set for $25, and stashed it away for ten months, to give to Hyrum for his birthday. It was a new thing for me. In the past, as a parent, I have worked really hard to NOT have anything in my house that has innumerable tiny pieces that need to be picked up all the time, that might be construed as a choking hazard, or that feel like walking on broken glass. Can we say Legos? I actually stood there in the aisle debating the purchase for that very reason. I almost put it back. But! It was totally worth it. Hyrum LOVES the tactile, versatile, hands-on creativity that is K'Nex. After untold hours of connecting and creating, he decided he needed yet more. Hyrum used some of his babysitting money to supplement his K'Nex set. We perused eBay for the perfect deal: loads of stuff, super-cheap. And we found it! He got another 2,000 pieces for $20. (I know what you're thinking, and yes, it all stays in his room...for the most part. He keeps it together pretty well) K'Nex is such a great thing for him: he can build whatever he wants (one time, it was chairs and tables for Gabba's fairy house, another time, it was the K'Nex version of the Arc de Triomphe), take it apart, spending hours in his room imagining and building. He has fits of benevolence and invites his sisters into his room to build and create right along with him. Here we have Hyrum and Yvy doing the fake arrow-through-the-head gag with K'Nex. Too funny.