Frogs, snails & puppy dog tails . . .

The world of bugs has been opened to my boys this past week. We spent a long weekend in Utah visiting family before I took the boys and headed to my parents' for a couple weeks. Ethan ran inside to tell me that he had a pet spider and that he, Lincoln and their cousin Brody were taking such good care of it. To keep there young boys happy together without angst or bickering for nearly an hour is nearly a miracle, so we watched, entertained ourselves by their curiosity, while they dug for tiny ants in the dirt and them placed them ever so gently on the spider's web. . . watching wide-eyed while the spider explored her freebies.

Ethan wants to pick up every bug he finds now . . . and we've had to set some limits. On our way to church on Sunday morning, he picked up a potato bug and said, "Look, daddy! This bug looks like an armadillo!" We had to stop him from putting it in his pocket to take to sharing time, but he's enamored with the critter world. It must be a boy thing.