LOTS of catching up!!

I am FINALLY able to sit down and share something REALLY COOL that's been happening at our home for the past week and a half. At the beginning, I didn't have a camera other than the one in my cell phone (my Minolta somehow met it's doom at an indoor soccer game this winter), so the pics leave a lot to be desired. However, after receiving our tax refund, I was able to purchase a replacement camera which I LOVE! OK, it's not like Alli's or Kevin's, but I'm just a simple point-and-shoot kinda gal! Anyway... get ready for some pictures!

On Monday, May 3rd, after dropping the kids off at school, I came home and noticed a birds nest in the tree in front of our house! I guess the bird must have built it pretty quickly over the weekend, because it seemed to just appear out of nowhere! There was no bird in it, so I carefully looked inside and found it beautiful, but empty. I was hoping that we might have a little better luck this year, since we had a bird nest in another tree of ours last year, but it wasn't very secure, and the bird abandoned it before laying any eggs in it. Later that day, I took another quick look inside the nest and was thrilled to see a single beautiful blue egg resting inside! When the kids came home from school, I pointed it out to them, but made sure to also warn them to STAY AWAY from it. I really didn't want to spook this bird away from her nest.

5-3-10... Afternoon... 2 eggs! We're so excited our Mama robin has decided to make this nest a home for her eggs!

5-3-10... Evening... 3 eggs! We now have as many eggs as the nest I was reading about on-line!

5-4-10... 4 eggs!! We're getting SO excited! (Lee took this picture with his phone camera... Obviously MUCH better than mine! Thanks, Lee!)

5-5-10... Morning... Still 4 eggs. She MUST be done. How will any more baby birds possibly fit into this nest??

5-5-10... Afternoon... 5 eggs!! Can you believe this?? Mama robin is amazing!

5-6-10... 5 eggs. We love to see how she keeps moving them around!

5-7-10... Still 5 eggs. Looks like she's finally done!

5-9-10... Proud Mama robin taking great care of her eggs! (LOVE my new camera!!)

After finding the first egg, I found a web-site on-line that detailed a robin's nest from 1st egg, to baby birds leaving the nest. I learned that the eggs usually hatch around 14 days after the last egg was laid. Kendra originally marked 5-17 on her calendar with "Baby Birds!", but it may be later this week. Either way, we are getting VERY excited! Now that I finally have a camera, I am going to keep posting regularly through the end!

(If you're interested, the site I found was www.i-pets.com/rpet19.html)