Hidden treasures

This is why I put up with the cold and snow of living in Minnesota. While searching under the couch for a missing library book, I found this.

A million thoughts flashed through my mind in roughly a split second. But none of them involved a fear that this was poisonous.

AJ's toy snake has been missing for months. How exciting that I was able to find it for him! Between lifting cushions and actually moving the entire couch, I didn't find the missing book, but I did discover all sorts of other treasures: 14 cents, four combs, two "hair pretties", a spoon, a fork, two toy mice (one of which Maddie proudly brought to us - howling - at 5 a.m. How nice!), a plastic spider, three other books, a small knight, about a half dozen legos, the camera's lens cap and enough animal fur to form a small pet. I am pretty excited about finding the lens cap. It's been missing for weeks.

And the missing library book? I finally found it about two hours later. It was in a bag of toys inside AJ's closet. Of course! I can't imagine why I didn't think to look there first.