I said Yes to tadpoles on my counter.

I have these boys. And they have a love of all things outside, animal and science. 

And these boys now have tadpole turned frogs on our porch. 

I worship Jen Hatmaker and act like we are actual friends by following her on Social Media. She is hilarious, in general. Her most recent blog post was about how nobody really knows how to correctly parent, but it comes down to choosing what to say yes/no to during your parenting attempt. As I was reading it, she asked other people to share their yes moments and, even though I did not share, I totally thought of these tadpoles as my yes. 

"Mama, look at all of these tadpoles! Can you get one, please?"

yes.

"Mama, can we take them home? Please!"

yes.

"Mama, can we please keep them until they become frogs?"

yes.

"Mama, can we please keep them until they become bigger frogs?" 

(this one might be a no-the jury is still out. And, by jury, I mean my sanity.)

We went to Dollywood about 3 weeks ago where I was totally swindled into fishing in the random pond thing with a free water cup to gather some tadpoles. I say "swindled" because when your 5 year old asks you to get them out, with the assumption that you CAN and WILL, you just have to give in to him. One day, I will not be cool in his eyes, but on that day, it was no question that I was willing and able to illegally? fish in a Dollwood water area. So, peer pressure won. And, my sister documented. Of course. 

Max's sippy cup had to take one for the team that day. I DID end up throwing it away because tadpoles AND amphibian ebola were not on my list of things to bring home as souvenirs that day. 

They promptly took up residence on my counter where I fed them boiled lettuce. Thank you, Google, for that info. Look how little they were! I am sort of nostalgic about them now. 

Also, I was boiling lettuce as I was making 4 lunches and doing breakfast prep and cleaning up dinner and letting the dogs out thinking....I am boiling lettuce for tadpoles. Where did I go WRONG??

In some kind of "it keeps getting more free" twist, the Science theme of Anderson's school that week was the life cycle of a frog. So, in to Goddard went the plastic tupperware with tape around it, full of nasty water and 2 tadpoles. BEAMING does not even begin to describe how Anderson felt when he told me about showing his friends the tadpoles. I am sure many mothers that night were cussing me as the kids went home talking about the tadpoles living on Anderson's counter. 

They were seriously on the counter. 

Brandon always comes through for us in every life event with words of wisdom. 

For this situation, it was-

1. Please move them outside, I think there are tapeworms or some kind of parasites in the water, which is on our counter where we eat.  

2. Yes, they will do that; that is what they do. (This was in response to me telling him "We have tadpoles! They are going to turn into frogs!")

We love his logical and rational mind and his ability to keep us parasite free. 

After a week or so, the water was super gross, so we got new pond water at GG's house. In this round, we also brought home a snail that we didn't realize until later. The gift just keeps giving!

They started to grow legs-see them?

Despite his initial reaction, Brandon also grew attached to them (they were so cute!) and sent me this pic one night while I was at work- 4 legs!

And, today we went outside to check on them and this guy was just perched on the moss. 

A FROG!!!!

So, I realize that most people probably are not that excited about these frogs, but I am just so impressed that they actually stayed alive long enough to become frogs. This might be the most fun parenting thing that I have done in awhile & Anderson got to actually see this happen. I am documenting this in case I ever need to send in "frog life cycle" pics for something. You know, because the tupperware on the counter is very scientific and official. 

Also, I had to do this post today because I am not sure how much longer they will be with us since Anderson is obsessed with picking them up. I figured it was best to document now.