The Hatching

A couple of years ago we had a bird build a nest in our backyard. These Killdeers build nest on the ground in rocks, mulch, whatever is around. They are very interesting because they run away from their nest and act injured if you approach where the nest are at.

Well, the whole nest on the ground in the backyard of four boys and two dogs thing ended tragically. Someone (although no one ever fessed up) smashed the eggs. Mama bird was NOT happy and made it known.

Last year there was no nest in the flowerbed. We thought they had learned. But, this year, they were back. We went in the same flowerbed to pull weeds and Betsy and Larry started squawking and carrying on making a huge scene. She ran away with one wing stretched out, carrying herself in an awkward manner and limping about. Sometimes Larry flies away, sometimes he runs injured like Betsy, sometimes he just stays. I know their sceme now though. I peeked around and found a nest with eggs.

I can't pull weeds in the flowerbed without upsetting Betsy and Larry! The flowerbed looked bad enough because we never had a heavy enough freeze to cut back my roses and they are out of control. We also never had a heavy enough freeze to kill out weeds, so the bed is in SAD shape, but we are teaching the kids a lesson!

I didn't think this was going to end well again this time. Shortly after the boys realized there was a nest, one of the boys brought an egg to the flowerbed right by the back porch. He made a cozy little nest, similar to the one Betsy and Larry made. I was told by another child. I picked the egg up into the cup. I placed it next to the nest on the ground, hoping Betsy and Larry would take the egg back. When I went out the next day they had!

Wednesday Paul was going to his Jeep, which is parked at the end of the driveway (toward the flowerbed). He noticed Betsy on the other side of the fence quite upset. I know it was Betsy because she was upset that she had three babies going in three different directions and she could not gain control over them. That is how Mom's are ;) There was still one egg in the nest though.

Yesterday I decided to check on the status of the last egg. I did not even make it to the flowerbed before Betsy started her injury act, coming right at me. Larry came running to the nest and got between me and it and stayed that way.

I can tell which is which because Betsy goes into panic mode when someone comes near her babies. Larry stays calm but protective ;)

I look over at the nest and then had to run and get my camera. This is what I saw:

12:32 pm

12:42 pm

12:50pm

12:58 pm

1:19 pm

1:32 pm About a foot away from the nest

2:22 pm even further from the nest

4:22 pm Not quite keeping up with his siblings yet, but getting around pretty well

I will say that Betsy and Larry quickly got okay with me coming out to take pictures. Betsy would walk off, but not screaming and acting injured. Larry would stay right with the baby and keep his eyes on me. The boys absolutely loved coming home last night and seeing the pictures of the hatching baby. Hopefully, now that they have seen the FULL process, they will all be more understanding and respectful of animals and their nests.

Now.....TIME TO GO PULL WEEDS!!!!!!!

Birthday Pictures - Andrew and Madeleine

Andrew and Madeleine have their birthdays in April. I wanted to try this idea I had of making an invitation with a picture of them holding a sign with their party info. So, yesterday we took birthday photos (I removed some information before posting).

Andrew is having a dinosaur theme with green, blue, purple, orange and yellow. Madeleine in having a pink and yellow (with some butterflies and flowers) theme. I love yellow and pink together so I enjoyed making the pink and yellow tutu that she required (I wanted a girly girl, right?).

Andrew will be five on the 11th. We will be registering him for Kindergarten on Thursday. Madeleine will be three on the 19th. Daddy will be.....older.....on the 16th (busy month).

They were pretty cooperative for the pictures, in a we still took 300 pictures to get a handful of good ones kind of way. Andrew was distracted by leaves, bugs, dirt, etc. Things that distract little boys. Mady was distracted by bugs, dirt, mud, etc. Things that she tries to avoid ;) Bribery helped and I left with my hair still attached to my head, so I would call it a success.

Mady was not thrilled about the pictures of her standing in the creek. The water was cool and right next to wear she was standing there was MUD (*GASP*). Out of the 50+ pics we took in that pose most of them are her making disgusted faces. When she accidentally stepped in the mud and it was squishing between her toes, she about had me dying. I think I laughed at her the whole time. But, out of all of that came one of my favorite pics of her yet.

Two of my cuties: