Last night was a night of beauty.  And joy.  No games to run to.  No errands to do.  Just stayin’ home and livin’ the high life.  (That almost sounded like a beer commercial for a minute.)

The boys had their buddy over to play and it was so nice to just let the kids be kids and PLAY.  Because that’s when good stuff happens.  Like enjoying nature and exploring and having fun.  Which is why I think I may have some scientists on my hands.

I was finishing up some laundry and the boys came running in…”Mom!  Mom!  Look what we found!!”

Immediately, my mind went to SNAKE.  Or a baby bird that they took from a nest.  (I knew they wouldn’t say spider because I’ve proudly passed on my fear of spiders to them.  Or at least to Nate.)

They rushed me out the door to take me to the bird nest.  That is under our deck.  And there, inside the nest, were four little whitish-very faintish blue eggs.

“Aren’t they so little?  And they are almost white!” Nate said with such pride in being so scientifically observant.

I think we were all surprised that Mama Bird came back and laid more eggs.  About a month ago, we had some in the nest and then…yes.  The wind blew them out or something.  Because it was like a scene of scrambled eggs all over the grass.  Sad, I know.

But now, we had eggs back!  Oh, the hope in the world!  I went back in to continue laundry (because laundry is never done) and this is what I saw when I went back outside a few minutes later…

Nate quietly observing and drawing

How precious is that?!  Nate being all sciencey and documenting his findings in his football notebook.  It was so neat to see him excited about writing.  He ended up writing about all kinds of eggs in his notebook.  Drawing pictures, labeling them…I was so proud of him!  (On a side note, he is like me…a little overly optimistic about some things.  He had written on his first page “eggs pg. 1 to 50”.  By page 3, he was so over that project.)

Nate and his “Eggs” science journal

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And the science fun just kept on happening.

Later, I went inside to start the oven for our gourmet supper, frozen pizza.  Because we are just that fancy on a night with no games and no running.  Then, I was bombarded once again by enthusiastic scientists.

“Mom!  Mom!  Look what we found now!!” they yelled.

I went outside to see Maxim’s little fingers wrapped around a toad.  It was a cute sight.  Max beaming with pride and the toad frantically wiggling to get out of his tight grasp.

Maxim and Legs

“Mom, this is Legs,” they told me.

(On a side note, yes.  That would be one of our snowmobiles still sitting in our back yard.  I almost cropped it out of the picture, but I wouldn’t want to portray that we, The Pattersons, have it all together.  I realize it is JUNE.  Sometimes, it takes a little while (perhaps 3 months), to get our toys put away.  Just keepin it real, people.)

Back to Legs the Toad.  Why is it that about 248% of the time, my mind always goes to 80’s songs?  (Probably because I’m musically gifted. Not.)  So, when I was introduced to Legs…I started singing ZZ Top’s great song “Legs” in my mind.

Well, they found a bucket and had all kinds of toad fun.  Giving Legs rides on the swing set, seeing if he could swim in a bucket of water and taking him for a walk (this looked frightening to me…this is where Max would walk about 1 centimeter behind the poor toad, making the toad jump for fear of getting stepped on.  I can appreciate Maxim’s creative thinking though.).  Apparently, Legs the Toad likes going down the slide, too.  I had no idea.

Legs is LOVING life, I’m sure

And there you have it.  Our night of science and fun.  Because learning isn’t just for school.  The backyard has so many creatures just waiting to be found.