September 10, 2008

Aren't praying mantis's supposed to live outside? One decided to try to move in with us this afternoon when I got home from work. It climbed up the front door (when the door was open) and the it climbed inside on the door casing and started camping out. The girls weren't too fond of the giant 'bug'. The babies kept calling it a bug and Ally didn't know what to say about it. It was the biggest praying mantis we've ever seen. This thing was giant sized and it had fangs and pincher's the size of lobsters (ok, maybe not that big, but it was huge)! Jenn and I kept laughing at Lauren and OG because they wouldn't go near it. Ally was more interested in eating than the 'bug'...OG was really interested, but every time I lifted her up to see it she freaked out and kept saying "no, no, no". Lauren would just grab on to my shirt for dear life, and then she would cry. You would almost think that we were throwing them to the wolves or something, but it was just a praying mantis. To give you an idea of how big it was, take a look at these terrifying pictures.

This is Jerry's hand next to the gigantic 'bug'. Can you see how scary it is?

OG was not too impressed, at least not up close. She loved the 'bug' as long as it wasn't too close to her.All Ally wanted was her Go-Gurt, that's the ONLY reason she's smiling. Jenn bribed her by saying if she got a picture with the 'bug' then Jenn would cut her Go-Gurt open. Ally came running with a big smile on her face!Every time Jenn or I asked Lauren if she wanted to see the 'bug' she would whine and shake her head no. It was really funny and she'll probably be scarred for life because I made Jenn hold her up so I could get a picture of her with the 'bug'. Don't worry, Jenn's the best nanny ever, she's agreed to pay for all Lauren's therapy!

After Jerry came home and the girls showed him the 'bug', Ally opened the door and the 'bug' decided to jump off the door casing onto Jerry's shoulder. Jerry realized it and jumped a little bit, but I thought it had jumped outside. I said "where'd it go?" and Jerry turned and I screamed. That scared the babies a little and then they started crying a little. Then the gigantic thing started climbing up Jerry's neck...he freaked out....here's a picture of him cringing...

See the 'bug' on his right shoulder...look hard, it's a little blurry. Once it started climbing up his neck he shook it off and it 'flew' on the floor and started walking up the wall. Once the cat saw it, he wanted to join in the fun too. He tried playing with it and Ally kept yelling at him "Bubby, no! No, Bubby!" The best part was when gigantor praying mantis was trying to get away from all of us and it flew down to the floor, right next to Olivia. She fell in the cat's food, crawling away, while crying. Lauren was standing about 2 feet from her and started screaming, flipping out because she figured this thing was going to attack her sister. It was hilarious! At that point, I got out the video camera and started taping the girls, the cat, and the monstrous praying mantis! After messing with the 'bug' for about an hour, Jerry took it outside on the deck with the girls and they let it go. As much as that 'bug' was probably terrified of the girls it had no idea how much they were horrified of it! Maybe I'll send the video into Funniest Home Videos!