Why you should not hold an angry tarantula!!!

I (Mike) was playing with 'Shelob' a few days ago and decided to put her on the carpet to see how she would react (we've heard they don't like carpet because thier legs get 'stuck' when they walk) and she didn't like it. So I picked her up and 'Shelob' immediately started to crawl up my arm to escape while flinging her urticating hairs to show her displeasure. Urticating hairs are little hairs with fish hook like barbs that a trantula will 'throw' when threatened or unhappy. They are actually quite irritating and appartantly don't exactly go away. This happened three days ago and my arm is still very irritated and itchy. Needless to say, I have not played with Shelob since!!

More Easter pictures for your enjoyment!

Joshua was having a hard time practicing on the "black beast" piano, because the keyboard was so high in relation to the bench. The music stand was also very high, so the poor boy had to kneel on the bench and crane his neck back to read his music. I realized at that point that we just needed to move on in the world of pianos. So I worked a deal with my mom, and bought hers. It fits Joshua much better, and since I am teaching, it is a much more appropriate instrument. It also is much more attractive in our living room. As for the "black beast," I put ad in the paper and it sold in a matter of minutes. We love our new piano! It originally belonged to my grandmother, so I know it has been taken care of well. I'm fond of this new piano as well, because I have been playing on it for years! All through highschool, this is the piano I played. Now my children will learn on it. How is that for nostalgic?!

Easter!

We had a wonderful easter this year. They boys got fun baskets from the "easter bunny." Joshua got a toy he has been asking for for months now, and Andrew got a plush bunny bigger than he is. He loves it. First thing Sunday morning we hunted our easter eggs which was a fun activity for all of us. It took awhile for Andrew to get into it, but once he got the hang of the game, he couldn't be stopped!

After church Mom came over and we had a lovely ham dinner, complete with ressurection rolls. I'm sorry to say that , even though ressurection rolls are a great object lesson, ours didn't work out at all. At least they tasted good. The marshmallow in the middle represents Christ's body in the tomb, and as you bake the rolls the marshmallow should melt and leave the tomb empty when it is opened. Well, our marshmallows just expanded to the size of baseballs and made our rolls look like overstuffed clams. Very yummy though!

After dinner we pipped. For those of you who don't know pipping, it is a tradition from my side of the family. It's pretty simple. You smack your egg against someone else's and see who ends up with the egg that is "uncrackable." Joshua won this year, beating Ma by one egg. I, of course was the first one out. I always lose. I need to work on my technic.

All in all, a very pleasant Easter.

we love unkie Jon

we loved having the jaussi clan up here for the weekend a couple weeks ago. Andrew and Uncle Jon caught up on quality time, with the help of some soccer cones.

Funny and cute things Joshua says. . .

Joshua says some pretty cute things sometimes, so I thought I would jot a few of them down here for all of you to enjoy!

" Mom, can you buy things with sanddollars?"

"I am the boss of smart."

Joshua: "Mom, are all grandpas fat?

Mom: "No, not all of them."

Joshua: "Emma's Grandpa isn't fat. Emma's grandpa is like my pinky."

Mom: "What is your grandpa like?"

Joshua: "My thumb!"

P.S. We are all excited to announce that Joshua registered for Kindergarten today. My little boy is growing up!

Tagged

I've been tagged by Shelly.



Pick up the nearest book (one of at least 123 pages)Open the page to 123Find the 5th sentence.Post the next 3 sentencesTag 5 people.



Mine is from "The Tarantula keeper's Guide" (sorry)



"Increase humidity by using a wider water dish, more than one water dish, or closing off some(but not all) of the ventilation. Make some provisions for ventilation. This may mean allowing some warmth to escape, but that is unavoidable."



I tag: Betsy, Victoria, Emily, Daniel, and Tamara