A New Addition

Yesterday was my son's 9th birthday. I always let my kids choose where they have their birthday dinner since we do a joint party on a weekend but recognize them individually on their special days. My son chose McDonald's because of the awesome playground. So after this spectacular dinner of happy meals and big macs, we head on over to my moms house. Now my mom lives only a few apartments down from me so my children walk there on a daily basis and usually bring along a neighborhood kid or two. Apparently while we were out to dinner, the neighborhood kids brought Damien a birthday gift that mom chose to put into a very decorative baby blue gift bag. After unwrapping the family gifts my mom sat him down and told me to sit with him while he opened this mysterious gift. He pulls out of this baby blue gift bag a yellow butter container with holes poked into the top. Immediately I back away because I thought this was a joke playing on my fear of bugs, especially lady bugs. He opens the top and out pops a teeny tiny, little bitty, baby corn snake. As I walk back over and attempt to pick it up, my mom and sister in law Katie begin screaming as if they're about to get bit by this worm-sized monster in my hands 15 feet away. So in the chaos of it all, the snake falls to the floor and starts wiggling around, causing all kinds of commotion. My kids are laughing wildly, my mom and Katie are climbing over each other to get on the couch, and I attempt to recapture this poor traumatized reptile. After a five minute ordeal, he is safely back in his plastic abode and probably more confused than before he was kidnapped from his natural habitat. After careful determination and assessment of where this creature was captured, we decided that he was probably escaping the construction work that  threatened his environment and wouldn't survive much longer without proper housing. So now he has been adopted by my two kids and has a lovely aquarium complete with a heat lamp, purple sand, and a tree branch. So thanks to the neighborhood kids, we have a new addition to our family!