Ever have one of THESE in your house?

We had an interesting experience today. Our home teachers came for a visit and one of them brought a surprise (well, at least that's what he said.......don't know if I'd consider it a surprise or not). I was in the kitchen and didn't see them come into the house and sit down or I probably would have noticed something. But a few minutes after they arrived, one of them said, "Well, I've told you about this before, but I decided to bring it today...." He pulls out this small bag behind him on the couch, opens it and says, "This is Slimey, my pet SNAKE!"

He's a corn snake, non venomous and used to being around lots of people including kids. His wife was a teacher and kept this snake in her classroom as the class mascot. She had a whole team of "snake keepers" who helped take care of him. He's pretty brightly colored with yellow and brown designs and he's about 4 feet long! Now, any of you with kids can only imagine the excitement, drama, terror and fascination that was happening. My girls just stared with their eyes wide. Meagan kept saying, "oooohhhh, can I touch it? OK, move so I can touch it. Wait I can't see, I want to touch the sna......eeeeee!" as she jumps on the couch. Then there's Riley who just sits back, "Eeewww, gross! I'm NOT touching that thing!" And if any of you would like to completely stun and terrify Kris Bennett, just put her in the same room as a snake.....enough said. But, talk about boy heaven........Noah and Gabe couldn't get enough of the thing. Our home teacher was showing the kids what he could do.....he "tied" it in a knot, wrapped it around the boys arms (they loved that!) and showed them how he likes to crawl in dark places like in his clothes or under the couch (could you imagine finding one of those when you're vacuuming?) I was really trying to be brave and hold it, but the whole pulsating, slithering, cold feel of it just kept me from attempting it. I'm so glad Eli was napping......I could just see him trying to grab it, step on it's tail or poke it in the eye. That wouldn't be good. But here's some pics of it. Please ignore the horrible table that Slimey was laying on......we keep wanting to throw it away, but something keeps preventing us from doing it........?

Meet Slimey in all his glory!

Now what could compare to this in a little boy's mind?

Oh wait, maybe this is better!

Oh but hold on, this is the ultimate! Boy, we have a lot to share with the other boys on the playground tomorrow!