Boys and their toys

Rollie Pollies seemed to be the theme around here earlier in the week. I hate spiders with every part of me, but rollie pollies haven't bothered me. So, I was only slightly grossed out by my boys when they had their hands covered in them as they hunted them down. We made "houses" for them, and searched for hours to fill those houses. We found all their hiding places and learned it was easier to find them after the sprinklers had gone off. They probably each ended up with 30 or so.

The theme soon moved onto snakes. I like snakes about as much as I like spiders. (It's kind of a long story, but stick with me). There are a lot of orchards around here, and snakes make their way into most people's yards. Apparently we are in that season now. My mom's yard seems to really attract snakes. She flipped out when she spotted one and immediately started offering reward money for anyone who could kill it. Koby was on a mission. He tried for a while one day and was never quite brave enough (yet). Uncle Tim (my brother) ended up killing it later that day. But, wait, the snake Tim killed was smaller than the one Koby was hunting. You know what that means - yep, mom has snakes in her yard now, not a snake. The next day, Koby spotted a snake as he walked out the front door. His bravery kicked in and he stomped on that sucker. Then he grabbed a big heavy stick and started wacking it. He tried to hold it down while my dad grabbed a shovel to finish it off, but the snake got away. Meanwhile, Grandma had already paid him the $5 promised. A few hours later Papa spotted a snake with a missing tail and finally killed it. He chopped it in half with a shovel and threw it away.
The next day the boys were playing at a friend's house by my mom's. When I went to pick them up, they were roaming the neighborhood and grossing out all the neighbor kids with something. Koby walked towards me and reached into his pocket. He pulled proudly pulled out the snake head that he had helped kill. Yes, bare hands, pockets, and proud as can be. Spencer had the rest of the body that he was playing with and eventually crammed it into some crack that we couldn't retrieve it from. I made Koby put the snake in a zip-loc bag and throw it away. That darn snake has been thrown away and retrieved from the trash can 3 times now. Every time I turned around, it was back to haunt me. Koby just had to fish it out and show it off to cousins, uncles, etc. Yesterday, grandma threw it in a neighbors trash can (unkown to the boys), so I think we are finally done with that thing.
Can't wait to see what other surprises are in store for me with these boys!PS - My dad later killed a third snake in their yard - and had the guts squirt in his face! Are you officially grossed out now?