Bugs and Birthdays

For the past couple of weeks we have played host to 3 Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches.

Meet Gregor, Elaine, and Red:

The boys were pretty excited to take care of them on behalf of their friends Sam and Alden. They liked to stroke their backs and hear them hiss in response. And of course they loved showing them off to anyone brave enough to look. (I think little Eva Savage was my favorite spectator of the bugs! She was perfectly fascinated and frightened all at the same time. Darling!)

In all the time they spent with us though, not one member of our family ever picked them up!

I thought Corey would like our exotic guests. Turns out he was not actually thrilled to have them with us. He had all kinds of little cracks about "If I wanted cockroaches in the house..." He said if I had consulted him first he would have told our friends "no." Pshhhh. No he wouldn't have!

From Jack:

And Alaster:

On a fun afternoon picnic we picked up another bug. Jack caught an enormous ant on a tree and named him "Army Ant." It took him a while to determine whether he wanted to think of him as another brother or as a pet. In the end he decided Army Ant was simply a pet.

The next day after catching Army Ant Daddy spied another cool creature and caught him for Jack:

They shared the jar for a while but it was making Jack super nervous because we did some research and found that Praying Mantis bugs only eat what they kill themselves... Jack loved Army Ant and was quite sad to let him go, but in the end he couldn't bear the thought of "Mr. Brown," eating him.

Mr. Brown stayed with us for a while but he really stressed me out. We had to constantly be catching bugs for him to catch and eat, and then watch to see if he had a chance to eat them or not before they died on their own... He was also nothing less than frantic trying to escape from the jar. It was sad. We kept him for 2 days and then let him loose too.

A few days later and Uncle Tyler found our next friend:

Oh this bug was my favorite! He was so, so darling, and incredibly interesting to watch. I did my research on the proper care of caterpillars and created a perfectly lovely home for him:

He was a wonderful distraction for me. I found myself leaving dirty dishes to go and watch him crawl. I LOVE the way those guys move!

From Alaster:

I had been inspired by THIS STORY of a dear friend and was sure we would have a similar tale to tell. We did see him through a few stages of development... but then one day... inexplicably... he died.

I was so sad! I had done everything possible to keep this guy safe and happy. I had loved him! I had protected and fed and cared for him! It was almost as bad as Mr. and Mrs. Bird.

Maybe we are cursed.

But let's not dwell on that thought today shall we? For today is a very fine day you know! Today my Alaster Morgan turns 5. Can you believe it? He is amazingly still sleeping (It's 9:00am! Turning 5 must really wear a guy out!) and I have been pondering what a blessing that child is to me and to our family. Do me a favor, will you? Click on THIS for old times sake and take a minute to love my boy too.

Happy Tuesday!