There I was, dinner on the stove. The crucial minutes when the meal "all comes together" was upon me. I was stirring a simmering pot of my 'special recipe' spaghetti sauce and preparing to serve everything up when all of the sudden I noticed Zeke blow past me on his way to the pantry like a kite being carried by a stiff breeze. He opened the pantry door to pull out a Zip Lock bag with a zip top. That's not uncommon. Around here, the boys come in frequently to grab storage bags for various things: to take a bunch of Matchbox cars somewhere, to capture bugs (which I sometimes find in my freezer due to the Insect Study Merit in Royal Rangers), to collect strange blades of grass, sticks, or rocks, to fill with water like a water balloon, or even to put a mud pie in... well, you get the idea. To my boys - a Zip Lock is an endless world of possibilities.
I really didn't think anything about Zeke's attempt to grab a baggie until I saw "it". EWWW! Something green was sticking out from his hand. At first the image went in my mind and right out because we have a lot of plastic "animal toys" around here, but then it registered. The adrenalin rushed as I realized....HE'S GOT A LIVE FROG IN MY HOUSE!!!!! He was trying to put the frog in a baggie. Poor froggie. Zeke had him by the back legs so he couldn't jump away (but very clever on Zeke's part)- froggie's head and stomach all bulged out under Zeke's grip- it's little arms moving. Gross. I couldn't believe my eyes.
I'm not a woman who is afraid of creatures. In fact, I am an avid animal lover, but there was just something disconcerting about me standing there making dinner and having that slimy little fellow in my child's hand.
"Zekie, get the frog out of my house NOW!" I boomed. I must have scared him because he ran over to the dog door. swung it open, and tossed Mr. Frog out onto the deck! Froggie hopped off the deck and back down by the pool area. I told Zeke to go and wash his hands "very well with lots of soap" and that you "musn't" ever put froggies in baggies because they would die. "Ohhhh!", he said so innocently and sweetly in his long drawn out way. Off he went to wash up.
Yeah, that's one thing to remember especially when you live in the city or busy suburbia. If you have water around... you will attract animals of all sorts! We've had opossums, snakes, raccoons, turtles, frogs, toads, rats, cats, mice, bunnies, deer, birds, owls, chipmunks, butterflies, and tons of assorted bugs. Yeah, folks, the wild critters are still out there and need a place to live even if we put our houses on their land.
Zeke knows that there are certain wild or strange animals that should not be touched, but that didn't stop him yesterday from picking up a "pretty yellow fuzzy bug" that he later decided was a bee when the stinger came off in his finger. He got the stinger out himself, but seemed to act like being able to touch the fuzzy part was worth the stinger! 
Boys, what are 'ya gonna do?
Oh, and one more funny for the day. This is even funnier since Daddy is a policeman...
We were doing a school art project; making a book on "The 7 Days of Creation" to use in class. The kids just had VBS and the entire theme was on "Creation", so it was also helping to reinforce what they just learned. Zeke and Levi worked on their books for three days and yesterday we bound them together and then read through them. Then I had them put the books aside and quizzed them on what happened each day of creation. Levi was quick to answer and Zeke would echo his responses. When I got to the seventh day however, I asked "What happened on the seventh day?"
Zeke said without a moment's hesitation: They got arrested.
Proverbs 15:13a
