Mantis Update

Mantis hanging upside down from her tree.



Mantis' new habitat.

Well, our new "pet" came home again from school. I told the kids if we didn't find her another bug to eat today, we would have to release her into her natural habitat. Alexa said it is a girl because it is light green, and boys are usually darker with some brown. This seems backwards to me when thinking about animal genders, so I am not sure that she is right on this one but we are going with it.

Anyway, the news we might have to release the mantis upset Alexa a great deal, so Robbie -the dutiful big brother that he is- wandered out into the backyard to find a bug. He caught a moth from somewhere in the flower garden and brought it in.

With some help from me, Robbie got the moth into the cage. The mantis didn't bother it for a few hours. However, I did a photo shoot this evening and that seemed to have awakened her apetite because as I was finishing, she went after the moth. Below is some video footage. (Sorry if you can't really tell what is going on.)

Bugs - Bugs - Bugs

(S0, I really don't have time to be doing this right now, but I feel so badly that we haven't been sharing news very well, that I am going to type a quick post here before I dash off to make lunches, sweep, mop, fold laundry, and maybe get some church work done before I can't keep my eyes open anymore.)

BUGS 1
Five year old girl to family: Hey, come look at this spider.

Two boy siblings quickly run over to observe.

After the boys have had their fill, two year old girl decides she doesn't want to be left out and says she is coming to see too.

Five year old girl to two year old girl (in very manner-of-fact tone): Well, I already killed it now, but I guess you can come see half of it.


BUGS 2
Sunday morning Rob notices a praying mantis on the wall in our dining area. None of the kids notice it all day long, but at dinner he points it out as it is still in the same general area.

They ask him to catch it. Alexa wants to take it to school because they are talking about bugs in class. She also states, "I think it is a boy which is good, because Mrs. Jump already has a girl one in our room and now they can mate!"

Rob and I look at each other and wonder if she knows what this means. We know Robbie knows this word as he has used it often enough, but we have never heard her use it.

After dinner, Rob does catch the p.m. and puts it in a bug cage that Robbie has.

The plan- Robbie will take it to his class first since it is his cage, and then he will take it to Alexa's class and they can keep it for as long as they like.

Funny side note: While we were talking about the praying mantis at the dinner table, Cole stood up and struck a Kung Fu Panda pose because he knows "all about" praying mantises from the movie. I couldn't help but laugh out loud, but Rob stayed composed to not encourage such untimely displays of aggression.


BUGS 3
The bug cage did go to school this morning and made it rounds to the classrooms, but came back home at the end of the day. So when I found a grasshopper in our garage, I scooped it up and put it in the cage too. Less than five minutes later, the praying mantis had started devouring the grass hopper. Guess they aren't going to be friends after all.

Later, Robbie and Alexa started polling the fam (including Birdie) if they wanted to name the praying mantis "Long Legs" or "Killer". I think the vote is tied right now, so they are waiting for Rob to come home and place his vote to break the tie.

No Drama - Just a Victory

Well, no dramas from the Hunt family at the OSU game this week. We made it through -- healthy and injury free. We even made it through the WHOLE game. It started at 6 p.m., so it makes for a late night and it might not feel like it was worth tomorrow morning getting ready for church, at church, or coming home from church when everyone is cranky - but it sure was fun this evening!

The game was not all pretty; there is still lots of room for improvement with our boys, but in the end, a win is a win and we'll take it! We have fun hanging out with friends, watching for Rob, and then visiting the training room at the end of the game.

I didn't bring the camera this week, so I have no new pictures to share, but I have a few from last week that my mother-in-law and friend took on their cameras. Maybe this week, I will do better and post more often and can include those photos. For now, I am going to sign off and go to bed soon. It is late, and I am tired!

Oh, the drama!

I never reported details from the first two football games, but we have had our share of drama off the field as our players have been making their own on the field . . .

In the middle of the first one, Robbie started not feeling so well. By the middle of the third quarter he had his head resting on the back of his chair all curled up and watching the game off the big screen in the corner rather than on the field. He said he didn't want to go home though. Around the beginning of the fourth quarter I felt his head and assumed he had a fever. We stayed through the entire game, and afterwards in the training room took his temp . . . it was 103.6!! Yikes! One dose of tylenol brought it down though and it never came back although he spent the next week feeling a bit under the weather with no specific symptoms.

Just a few minutes into game two, Cole fell trying to climb into his seat while holding a bowl of fruit and flipped off and cracked open his head! It bled a LOT, but once we got the bleeding stopped and could tell where it was actually coming from, the cut wasn't that deep or wide and no further treatment was needed. He and I were quite a bloody mess though. Robbie had a tshirt on under his jersey, so Cole wore that the rest of the night and we did the best on cleaning up the rest of us. It was very helpful to have Kay (my mother-in-law) there to watch the rest of the kids while I along with Tiffany (a good friend and athletic trainer) came with me inside to get Cole cleaned up. Tiffany -who was also very helpful- was able to offer professional advice on the severity (or not so) of the injury. After the game, we hit the training room again and Rob got Cole cleaned up much better with supplies (other than concession napkins) and put some goo on it.

We are getting ready right now to head to Game 3, and I am wondering what our evening has in store for us this time?!?!

Sunday Football

We love our Cowboys even when they lose, but this is the best football I've seen all weekend!

Before Tomorrow . . .

I really need to share last week's photos from the game, so here you go! The still shots are all ones showing the fun stuff we did before the game outside the stadium. The video (if it will upload properly) is what I took just as the game was getting ready to start. I haven't actually previewed it, but if I remember correctly, you will hear some music, see some fog, see the players come out of the tunnel, and get a sweeping view of the stadium -I apologize for any vertigo it may cause! Enjoy!

How about our Cowboys!?

I don't really have anything to say, but I wanted to give readers an opener in case they want to comment on our Beloved Orange . . . as seen on the front of Sports Illustrated TWICE in the last MONTH!

Football Fun

Until I have time for a more detailed update from the football game on Saturday, here is a small teaser . . .



Sorry for the wrong orientation - not sure how to fix it.
Robbie is the first one coming down on the right side, followed by Cole.

GAME DAY!

FINALLY it is here, and we don't even have to wait ALL day for it to start. Game time is 2:30. While Rob is probably already busy at work (I don't really know what he is up to- he spends the night at the hotel with the players- yes, even for home games), we are hanging around the house trying not to expend too much energy so we have plenty left for a day full of FOOTBALL FUN!

I wouldn't label us a "super fans" or anything so extreme, but so much of our life seems to revolve around it including, but not limited to- going to games, meeting players, when we go to bed based on when Rob comes home from work, "losing" Rob when he goes to help a sick or hurt player during off hours, etc., we pretty much live and breathe football around here - specifically Cowboy Football.

This of course means life is much more fun when our Cowboys win, so we are always hopeful for that . . . along with healthy players.

Game time = 5+ hours

Launch time (from the Hunt house) = 3 hours

We can hardly wait!

GO POKES!

As I was looking

around and realizing that I really only had one of the three ingredients for the dinner that I was planning on making this evening and then was trying to decide what to make in its place, I noticed that my kids were being much more productive than me.

Even more notable, they were QUIETly busy.

Robbie and Alexa are playing school. Robbie is being the teacher and imparting all kinds of useful knowledge upon Alexa.


Cole and Rachel have some sort of game set up in the entryway - animal bowling, perhaps? Rachel ran away as soon as she saw the camera coming (bad hair day?), but you'll see Cole here working the game.


And, I am happy to report that while I was waiting for the photos to upload, I took one more look through my pantry (and while not finding the original ingredients I thought I had) I managed to be inspired by some ingredients that I did see and our dinner is simmering on the stove right now. Whew!