"5 Little Speckled Frogs"

5 little speckled frogs
Sitting on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs...

As a child I was robbed of one of the major rights of passage. I never had the privelage of being the proud capturer of a frog. I know you're probably all asking me what in the world I am talking about, but it's true! Most kids at some point in time get to catch frogs. Even my little nieces who are 4 and 3 have talked about catching frogs and they're some of the girliest of girls I know! Perhaps there just weren't any frogs in Bountiful...but whether there were or not, I never was faced with the opportunity to catch myself a live frog. Even growing up in my later childhood and teen years having frogs as my "favorite animal" and owning my own frog collection, I still never caught my own frog...or even ever touched a live frog for that matter. I did always want to though...

So tonight I was delivering invitations for Spencer's birthday party on Saturday. As I was walking to the neighbor's door I saw something "flutter" (if you will) past me. I took a closer look and it actually seemed to be hopping. It was dark and I could hardly see it. At first I thought it was a leaf but then decided it must be alive cause the wind wasn't really blowing. I thought maybe it was a moth or a very large spider (it was only about the size of a quarter, but still...that'd be a really big spider)! But at the same time I felt this heart-racing-excitement that it might be a REAL LIVE FROG! As I chased it down and used my invitation to coax it in a direction in which I could get a closer look I was extatic to realize it truly was a frog! So tiny and cute I just had to catch it. It was a quick one but I used all my skills and successfully caught the little guy.

When I went back to my car I didn't want to hold it in my hand while I drove so I put it in the cup holder and shut the lid. When I arrived home I opened the cup holder to find it empty. With the assistance of my husband we searched the car high and low. My brilliant husband was able to discover that upon shutting the cup holder a whole new world opens up between the interior and exterior of my car. I thought it was a lost cause and was so sad that I had lost my new friend when low and behold I saw him hopping around the garage. After some more help from my humoring husband we were able to re-catch Tiny Tim (that is what my niece Caylie rightfully named him). I put him in an oh-so-cute big jar that I bought at Savers a week or so ago. (Yes...you heard me right...SAVERS...it was my FIRST Thrift Store buy of my life! I was so excited). Anyway, he is now residing in that jar with a ranch dressing lid full of water. My sister-in-law lovingly informed me that I'll need to catch live flies with my bare hands to feed him...I'm not so sure about that. I want to keep him to show Spencer, so I guess I'll see what I can do. We get Spencer on Wednesday so hopefully Tiny Tim will last until then. Then we can set him free together! :)