What's that up there?

Many of you will be somewhat familiar with this decoration we've had for many years. Tonight, as my brothers and I came back to my house and were walking through the front door (where this decoration is presently hanging) I noticed something a bit strange out of the corner of my eye and paused to look a little closer at this decoration. Just above the red hearts, between the "cheeks" of the hearts, was a wad of green grass.

...or maybe the beginnings of a bird nest?

I grabbed the nearest kid (my eight-year-old second daughter, I think) and lifted her up high enough to look down inside the wad of grass. Her reply?

"Whoa. There's eggs in there."

Thinking that she might just be playing with me, I grabbed my eleven-year-old oldest daughter and lifted her up for a peek.

"Cool. There are three of them."

Thinking that daughter #1 might just be playing along with daughter #2's reaction, I lifted up my two-year-old daughter #3 (who hasn't yet figured out how to play tricks on her gullible father) and asked, "What do you see?"

"Eggs."

By now, my sister-in-law had already gotten the camera out and brought it over. I help it up high, pointed it back down at the nest, and took a picture. Looking at the LCD screen afterwards, sure enough, there were three little blue eggs in there.

...and they're hanging on the front door of our house.

Jeff Lindsay's post this morning (about the ducks that build nests near his house) drew some fun parallels with the responsibility of human parents to make good choices regarding where and how to raise our children. Thanks, Jeff!

We've seen momma bird come and go (usually go) a few times since we noticed the nest, so as far as we know, everybody is still in business. I'll post again as events unfold. :-)