we got pets (5!!)

Don't panic for those who think I'm crazy by the header. We don't REALLY have pets but I was rewarded for my chaotic back porch as well as an attempt to clean it for Jeff's office to come over for lunch. I took a box which I thought was just shells and put it in the shed. After the lunch I went to the shed to try to clean stuff out a bit and heard baby birds. I thought they were just in teh shed until I looked at the box and out of a hole in the side noticed straw/leaves in the "shell" box. I moved the box back to the table and saw that amongst the shells was a nest. After getting a flashlight and hearing the birds chirp I called for the kids and we looked at 5 open mouths that were waiting to be fed!! We left them alone and I kept an eye out for the mom and dad that had been hopping around the table every so often but I hadn't realized WHY they were there. Fortunately they returned and the kids are enjoying seeing them bring worms to their babies and hop into the box. They don't seem bothered that we look at their babies from time to time either. I'm not sure if this was a reward for NOT cleaning or FOR cleaning but it's pretty cool to have 5 baby birds as "pets" for the time being :-)