Bird Nursery

For a few months now,

we have had the privilege to watch

2 families of baby birds.

It started back in April

and my grandmother thoroughly

enjoyed watching the mommy

sitting on her nest

when my mom and grandmother

came to visit back in April.

The first babies left the nest

while we were away on our 

mini vacation to Dallas in May.

We missed watching them leave the nest.

A second family of birds

took over the nest 

within days of the first 

babies vacating the nest.

This time we were around to see them

leave the nest

and it was somewhat traumatic!!

We woke up one morning

to find 2 of the babies on hunkered down

on the patio

then he wandered toward the house

to find some safety...

he managed to get in between the screen

and the back door.

and the third teetering on the edge of the nest.

I wasn't sure if they had fallen out

or if they were out voluntarily.

We were cleaning up the kitchen

and one of the boys noticed

that the third baby was upside down 

on the patio with its wings spread.

I was a little worried.

I got up the nerve to go out

and dodge the 

screaming

 and 

divebombing

momma & daddy birds

and 

flipped it over using a cloth.

It scampered off to hide under the little rocker

on the patio.

So it seemed ok.

Unfortunately,

when the hubs got home later 

he found it had made its way off of the patio

and was under the kids slide...

it had not survived.  

So out of 11 eggs that have been laid 

in that nest,

only 6 have survived 

to leave the shelter of the patio.

So now,

family #3 has moved in.

There are 5 more eggs...
I took this picture a few weeks ago

And last Sunday, we noticed that they have hatched...

This is our third set of baby birds this summer,

and the excitement hasn't died down.

It always so wonderful 

to see their little heads 

and hear those little peeps!

MORE Baby Birds!!!

All of our baby birds have moved on.

I am truly amazed at how quickly 

that whole process was!

6 weeks from

egg laying

to 

see ya!

I had noticed another bird

hanging out around that nest

since the last inhabitants 

had left.

I started to wonder if 

another mommy had come in

and made it her own.

Then last weekend, 

the kids were out playing on the patio

and my two middle children

decided it would be a good idea to 

throw a piece of chalk in the 

presumably empty nest.

Well apparently, J is getting

better at basketball than we thought,

cause he hit it!

I got a little worried and asked daddy to 

remove it carefully because I suspected

there were more eggs in that nest.

He removed the chalk,

then tried to look,

then raised R to try and look

then got a chair and tried to look.

I finally climbed in the chair 

with my handy dandy cell phone

and got this picture:

I am excited we get to watch this again!

Spring Cleaning & Bird Update

Unintentionally,

I am teaching T how to help with laundry...

one article at a time...

that was the longest washer to dryer transfer

I have ever witnessed in my life - 

but he enjoyed it!

(and NO my laundry area does not

ALWAYS look THAT bad!!)

Then mommy actually let him push the buttons to start it!!!

We start 'em young around here!

Speaking of laundry...

Saturday, when we were getting ready for

our last baseball and soccer games...

my dear sweet husband commented on the 

amount of stains on our oldest boys

white baseball pants.

I smiled and said:

"Well, when I tried to get them super clean

back at the beginning of the season,

YOU told me not to.

Because you said it made it look like

he rode the bench and didn't actually play

enough to get dirty"

Oh you should have seen the smirk on that man's face!

His reply - grinning ear to ear...

"Ha, well that sounds like something I would say

but I don't remember saying that".

Well ya did dear, and I did as you asked...

I sent my son to games with stained baseball 

britches cause you wanted to make sure people 

knew he PLAYED!

Hahahaha!!!

Here are our little sports stars with 

their medals.

Unfortunately, I was helping pass out trophies for

R's team and I forgot to get a picture of him

and his medal 

(and dirty pants)

Last week, R has discovered my blog 

- so he spent quite 

a bit of time over a 2 day period catching up

with what was going on in his life!  

Gotta make sure I continue to keep it R friendly!

(haha!)

And finally -

 a bird update:

They have all outgrown the nest.

But they continue to come home almost every night to sleep.

The babies perch on the rim of the nest,

while mommy and daddy hang out on the porch ledge.

Then one of the kids accidentally picked out

the perfect book for us to read after lunch last week:

It is about how Clifford finds a robin egg

and he and Emily Elizabeth take care of it til it hatches

and then release it back into the wild.

Super cute story to wrap up our baby bird watching!

Man those things grow QUICK!!!

Catching Up (Again)

So besides our mini-vacation last week...

what else have we been up to?

For starters, I have been working on a project

that I am SOOOO excited to share with you,

BUT, its not quite complete

FULLY.

I am doing 8 sets,

so it is taking me a while.

My mom and mother in law each received a set

last week.

Once the others have been completed,

mailed and received...

I will share...

but I am SO excited!!

We had some friends come over to play 

a few weeks ago.

The kids that were over 

are literally almost

the exact same age as my older 3

and same sexes...

so it was PERFECT.

A had a sweet little girl to play with.

She asked if we had dolls,

um, a few...

then she wanted clothes for them.

Hmmm...I don't think we have any sweetie.

You see, my little sweet girl is growing up in a house full of boys

and with a mommy that doesn't really remember playing with dolls.

I am sure I did - 

but we have purchased dolls 

and such for her

and she just never shows much interest.

So I showed her what we did have in A's room

and left them up there.

Then a few minutes later, she came down

asking me to help her take her dress off...

boy you should have seen the look on my face,

DO WHAT??

Then I finally figured out they had found the little 

princess dresses on the back of A's door 

and they wanted to play dress up.

So I helped her get into the little dress,

and showed them where A's little dress-up earrings

and bracelets and bows were.

Oh and shoes - they needed shoes!

The little friend (L), left her headband at the house.

And A has been talking about her friend, L

and saying her name

(that is a first for my kids, they all have the memory of 

their momma and can't remember their friends' names!)

Off with the bow box to play dress-up.

So there were 7 kids in our house

and God decided to make it rain.

Thank you, sir.

No I do not really want 7 kids

yes I am happy with the 4 I have,

now please make the rain stop so they can

GO OUTSIDE!!!

Notice the girls still in their dresses.

Ok kids, time to switch.

I was not about to allow the littles on the trampoline

with those big boys.

That evening,

daddy did a little weight lifting.

He frequently does this with one kid at a time...

they were too wiggly to successfully do 2 at a time.

So mommy decided to challenge him to do

arm raises with our oldest.

(don't ask what we are watching - it appears to be a show

they are not supposed to be watching!)

Then a few months ago 

(Christmas I think)

one of my sisters sent a nifty packet of 

hand tattoos for the boys.

(here is what the box looked like)

Haha - look mommy - he's eating him.

Baby bird update:

These were taken before we left for our trip.

Unfortunately,

when we got back, we discovered that they had learned

how to fly in our absence!  

They are still coming back to the nest every night,

but they love to perch on the top of the trampoline netting

during the day.

Which means there is TONS of poop on the trampoline now.

YUCK!

Our Birds (& more)

Man - those baby birds are growing

FAST!!!

I have snapped a couple of pictures,

but I really need to get another one - 

they are overflowing out of the nest!!

The kids continue to enjoy watching them 

throughout the day.

Here are a couple of pictures I have taken over the last

10 days or so.

They are 2 weeks old today

(Thursday).

I have lightened some of them so you can actually see the birds better.

They were born on Thursday, April 26th.

Here they are at 4 days old

taken on Monday, April 30th

Then the following were all taken on May 3rd.

They were 1 week old here.

Here they are 9 days old.

Taken on May 5th.

Then this one was taken May 7th

(11 days)

I thought it was cute that mommy can't fit in the 

nest anymore,

so she perches on the side.

Daddy is not in the picture,

but he is just off to the right,

helping out.

What a good daddy!!

Then I grabbed this one Thursday morning, 

May 10th.

Happy 2 week birthday baby birds

(and Nana!)

Besides bird watching,

we did manage to do a few other things last week.

First off,

On Sunday,

we joined my family back in NC

via Skype for a 

"Gender Reveal Party".

(we are on the computer - this was taken of us in NC)

My sister & her hubby invited their friends and family

over for a cookout. 

Then for dessert,

she made cupcakes that had 

a color that would reveal the

sex of their baby.

To include us on the reveal,

she called a local bakery

and had them help out

by baking us a couple of cupcakes

with the middle revealing the secret.

The cupcakes were yummy.

And it was so neat to participate with the family.

And for the record...

I was right!

Monday,

we did manage to 

make it to PE last week.

And I have a couple of engineers on my hands!

The object of the game was to run from one end of the court

to the other and get a colored block.

They had to do something interesting on the way down but

I can't remember what it was.

Then build a tower as tall as you could

and it had to support the bean bag.

Here is the boys' team's first attempt:

R is threatening everyone who even breathes on it!

(kinda scary looking)

Then their second attempt:

Then A doing her thing at the other end of the court 

with the blocks she went and stole out of the pile.

And T climbing stairs...

nope, no rest for mommy.

Then Tuesday,

we went to Tae Kwon Do...

background:

R & J took Tae Kwon Do during co-op

this past semester and they really enjoyed it

especially R.

And their teacher was hosting a summer class 

on the other side of town.

R had been working us for WEEKS about attending

this class.

I really wanted to let him do it,

the price was right,

but the location was NOT!

We finally gave in

but I was off on the start date.

Thankfully his instructor e-mailed me

about uniforms on Monday

and told me she had found one

and that she would bring it the next day...

to which I responded:

"Will we see you tomorrow?"

Yep - class starts!

UGH - so much for having my Tuesdays off.

So we went to Tae Kwon Do

me & the littles sat in the back.

They followed along.

Wednesday,

I posted about that last week,

that is when we made our Apple Parfaits. 

R also has made a friend at dance class.

He now looks forward to seeing this little baby 

and making him smile and laugh

(then starts in on me about wanting 

another sibling! - no comment)

Thursday,

we went to our co-op end of semester party

which included a visit from Dinosaur George.

He brought lots of neat stuff 

(although I didn't stay inside to listen)

I did, however, walk in to see him 

holding this up!

Mercy...this is the nose of a T-Rex!

Then Friday - 

I took this picture.

I will explain why in the next post.