Welcome Riley Ducklings

Last spring we were very excited when Mark noticed a female duck and her nest in our back yard. We waited and waited for ducklings but sadly something went wrong. We are still not sure why but the duck's eggs never hatched, she just sat on rotten eggs in her nest. Finally, she left the nest long enough one day for Mark to clear it all out. We were sad that we did not get to see any little ducklings and Annabeth became obsessed with rotten things. I mean OBSESSED! For weeks she would say, "Is that rotten?" or "Will that rot?" or "When those rotten eggs coming back?" She even memorized a decomposition song from a Sid the Science Kid video. Finally, by the end of summer, we all moved past it.

Then...

About a month ago, Mark spooked a duck while weed eating the back yard. Another duck. Another nest. More eggs. We had already seen a great deal of ducks and ducklings in our area and began to worry with each passing day. Days went by and still our duck and her eggs sat. Annabeth began talking about the rotten eggs again and we wondered if it was the same late-laying duck.

Eventually we named our duck Mama Duck. We went to check on her each day. We talked to her and made checking in on her a little part of our day. As I mentioned on the last Frugal Friday post, we even had our friend come and tag the duck for a research project he is doing. He said it wasn't too late in the year for the eggs to hatch so we had hope again for Mama Duck and her babies.

Then...

This morning I was cooking breakfast on the stove, when a shadow by the back door caught my eye. Mama Duck...and...10 ducklings!!!

The kids and I waited until she was away from the door and snuck out to watch them in the yard.

We all had so much fun watching our Mama Duck and Babies!

Welcome Riley Ducklings!