In My Yard

Yesterday we did yard work, and Blake caught this little guy he named Toad-o. The kids and Toad-o were entertained for a couple of hours. I was really hoping they didn't squeeze him too hard, especially when it looked like they were squeezing his guts out. But then we realized it was just poop --my kids' favorite thing. I actually was sent for a wet papertowel, and Blake wiped his bottom afterwards.

And a few weeks ago, Blake came running in saying, "Come on Mommy, you've got to see this! We found a pet snake!" Since he has a buzzing imagination, I knew this was for pretend but thought I'd play along. He took me to this corner and pointed out the snake.

Not seeing anything, as expected, I said, "Oh cool! A snake! What are we going to name it?" The conversation ensued for a couple minutes.

And then to my disbelief, I heard leaves shifting and saw a super-long-but-thankfully-skinny snake start slithering around.

My reaction: "Aaaaahhhhhh!! Run!!" (very loud, very girly scream) and I took off running the other direction, leaving both of my children barefoot by the snake. Save them from peril? No. Whisk them away from the danger of the common gardensnake, which for all I knew was a rattler? Definitely not. Save thyself, that's my motto.