Boy, do I need a girl!!!

While the boys were playing outside today, they decided to become "professional spider hunters." Within a few short minutes they had collected a thorn spider from the swing set and a bazillion baby spiderlings that had just emerged from their egg sack on a rock. They were going nuts with excitement, so the search continued. A few minutes later I hear them yelling, "Holy cow, that one is ginormous!" So I hasten to the scene. Sure enough they had uncovered a very large hobo spider in our rocks and were trying to kill it by throwing rocks at it. Hobos, by the way, are related to the brown recluse, and can give a nasty little bite if bothered (little boys throwing rocks at them might fall into the "bothersome" category). So mommy turned into "Spider Killer Woman" in a hurry and squished that hobo to smithereens; after which, I had a heart-to-heart chat with my spider hunters who are no longer allowed to touch the rocks beside our house, nor try to kill or capture dangerous spiders (thankfully, they know which ones those are since they have read EVERY spider book at the library). Michael agreed and said, "You're right mommy, if Grandma Theresa would have seen that huge spider, she would've BLACKED OUT!" No more than 5 minutes later, I hear their excited voices again, this time trying to capture a jumping zebra spider on our deck. I come to monitor the chase (again) and inform the boys that zebra spiders are way too fast to catch. Michael immediately tries to assure me by saying, "We're professionals. It won't be a problem." The only thing I am sure of is that I need a little girl. Pretend tea parties sound much safer than professional spider hunting.