Yahoo! I Got it to Work!

OK,... this is a video I took on Leandra's Ipod this morning - she's been keeping her school teacher up-to-date with our robin family, and REALLY wanted her to see that some had hatched. How lucky was I to get this shot??!! Anyway, here is a really AWESOME video of a very HUNGRY baby bird! Enjoy!!

I wasn't sure I'd be able to figure out how to copy this video off of Leandra's Ipod.... I am so smart! (Yea, sure!) Anyway, more to come later!

Happy Birthday!!

I am SO glad I had time to share our bird story and pictures yesterday. Did you know that Kendra is psychic?? Well, maybe you remember that I mentioned Kendra had marked 5/17 on her calendar for the eggs to hatch??

She was RIGHT!!! I notice the Mama robin was away for a minute this morning, and went out to take a quick picture of the eggs for the blog. When I got back to the porch to look at the picture I'd taken, this is what I saw:

AHHH!!! I was SO excited! I came into the house to show all the kids, because I hadn't even taken them to school yet! I've taken a couple more pictures and video's below for you to see. I'm SURE there will be more to add later this evening!!

Mama robin feeding her babies:

New baby robins wiggling in their nest:

Mama robin feeding her babies and keeping them warm:

More Robin News...

Our Mama robin has been spending a lot more time in her nest lately (taking fewer breaks), and DAD has been hanging around making sure all is well! The first few days, He sure let us know when he thought we were getting too close! On Sunday, the 9th, I was out with the kids while they gave Raider a bath, and when I tried to get a picture of the nest, I seriously got yelled at! :) So, I decided to step back and take a picture of Dad instead!

The next day (Monday, May 10th), we had some pretty good rain showers in the morning. I was so excited to get this picture of Mama robin! Look how she spreads her wings over the next to keep the eggs dry. You can see the raindrops sitting on her back before rolling off without ever getting close to the eggs! It's amazing!

Later that day, Dad seemed to be a bit less worried about me, although he made sure to stay close. I didn't even get yelled at for being in my front yard! Instead, he just made sure he kept his eye on me.
Every once in awhile, Mama still needs to stretch her legs (I guess,) and we see her standing on the edge of the nest. I wonder if she's also making sure the eggs stay the right temperature (without getting too warm). This whole experience has been so fun!

Yesterday, (after FINALLY finishing all the costumes I've been sewing - I'll post about that later) we finally had the chance to attend to some MUCH needed yard work. We were interested to see how the birds would take to us getting the lawn mower out, and using it right under her tree. We were impressed to see that none of the work seemed to phase them... not even Daddy robin!! After the lawn mower, I even weeded all of the garden right under the tree, and she didn't even flinch. Well, if she did, there was no evidence given!

It's neat that they seem so comfortable here. It's like they know we're not a threat. This is so cool!

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)

BEST Book Club Report...EVER!!

All I Want for Christmas...

Oh, Come on now... you know the rest!!

Out of 4 children losing teeth, this is our first Christmas to really CONNECT with, and ABSOLUTELY LOVE this classic Christmas song!

What more can be said??