Follow-up On That Food-Chain Issue

Well, on Monday, my kids attempted and really may have succeeded in devouring at least two of my eldest's Venus Fly-trap plants.

Did I ever mention how well they work together as a team? Kai usually is the one who does the dirty work for the most part, but evidence was there to suggest that everyone had some hand in it, both literally, and figuratively.

Tuesday was a nice, calm day of rest for all of us. In retrospect, it was the calm before the storm.

Wednesday, I heard chair moving noises, and jumped up and ran to the living room to see what was the matter.

In the beginning, it appeared that Kai wanted to sit in the arm chair, and watch the cars go by on Creswell while he looked at his picture books.

All of this SEEMED innocent enough, so I went back to my work, thinking all was well.

What I DIDN'T realize, was that there was a very good reason they had removed the cushions from that arm chair.

The placement of the cushions was by no means an accident, either!

While working, I heard another, different noise coming from the living room. It was a sort of dull thud.

Now, in my house, I am very adept at discerning the different natures of thuds that occur. This wasn't a body thud, and it wasn't a breaky thud, either.

My curiosity was peaked, as was my Mumsy radar triggered, so I headed back into the living room.

Well, those cushions were, as it turns out, strategically placed under the cabinet next to the fireplace for a very good reason.

Now, I am not sure if it was to muffle the noise of what the kids were about to attempt, or if it was done to keep something from breaking.

Whatever their motive (probably a bit of both, actually,) it had done its job and quieted the noise and kept everything in one piece in spite of their antics.

That day, the hermit crabs were the target and point of peaked toddler curiosity.

Kai had climbed up and slid the very large aquarium off of the cabinet ledge onto the cushion below.

He has a heck of an aim, lets just say that! That aquarium fell on end squarely in the middle of the cushion.

In fact, they managed not to even lose much of the dirt from inside it, somehow.

As for the crabs, well, I was petrified. If any of you have any hermit crabs, you will understand that you must keep extra shells in their habitat for them to move into as they grow or become bored with their old ones.

So, I hadn't any clue which crab was in which shell, or even which were vacant because I have one crab who prefers a giant shell to his tiny body.

But I knew that at least one survived, because it was chirping in its disdain for the disturbing of his home!

I couldn't tell if he was in his house or somewhere on the floor, but I hoped for the best as I cleaned up everything and set everything to right.

Nobody got hurt, thankfully, but some days I really wish they weren't so smart!