Early Easter Egg Hunt!

Emily, Daren and the kids came down for a weeks vacation...and oh my gosh we have had so much fun!!

Since we will not be together at Easter - we decided to just have out own little Egg Hunt.  Here is Don and Daren doing the manly job of hiding the eggs.  I was peeking through the window.

 Hope the colorful eggs over by the chicken coop don't confuse the hens!

To say the kids were impatient ....

                                                   ..well that was a huge understatement!

down the stairs we headed..

and Daren made them turn around and close their eyes until he said "GO".

                                                                  ..and they were off

                                                      hey Madison, I think you missed one

More Baby Chick Pictures!

To cute for words!!!

The Saddest Easter Ever...

We were awaiting one more baby lamb and that lamb was born this morning. I was so thrilled and told Don I was going to name it Easter. Easter's Mother, Anastasia had separated herself from the herd and was laying down. This is one ewe who is not very friendly towards us and as to not scare her, we tried to keep our distance. You could tell that she was having contractions as her body tensed up as she pushed. We waited. This part of labor was not to take over an hour unless twins were coming. Enough time had passed so that we were now worried. Don and I cautiously approached Anastasia. She was not as resistant as she normally would be and it only took me a few seconds to understand why. Anastasia was trying to give birth to a dead lamb and she was having a very hard time. Only the baby lambs nose and tongue were visible. The sack was broken and due to the very dark color of the tongue - it was easy to see it was lifeless.

"Oh Don..." I said as my face grimaced.

Don ran upstairs to get some plastic gloves and some lubricant for me. After putting them on, I gently inserted my fingers into the ewe. The lamb felt fully formed, and large. It was in the correct birthing position, but even with contractions, Anastasia could not get it out. I was unable to get my hand in a position to help her.

We went into the barn and found some thin rope. Don fashioned it into a loop with a slip knot at the end. I placed the loop around my fingers and again inserted my hand into the ewe. I gently pushed it up and over the baby's head and tightened it around the neck. I started to gently pull. Anastasia had another contraction with little to no progress. I pulled harder. I pulled again, this time with all of my might. Still with very little progress. Next, while pulling the rope with my right hand, I slipped my left hand into the ewe and grabbed the lambs front leg. Pulling both, it's small perfectly formed head started to emerge from it's Mother. With another 5 minutes of intense pulling, we were able to birth the little boy lamb named Easter.

We buried him by our newly planted pear trees. Don told him that he loved him, even though he never got to know him.

Someone once told me that sheep are born looking for a way to die... I think that I may understand that now.

Have a Blessed Easter Blog Family!

Easter Ideas...

Happy Easter!

Easter Humor!

We had a great time in Fredericksburg! I will post more photos tonight..but for now - just an Easter Funny!

Past Easter Memories!

Annie at My Life As Annie is having her Time Travel Tuesday and this week it is about Easter. Growing up Easter was ___________.

_______________

Something unique about our Easter Celebration was a wire cross our church had. It was always standing up on the floor in the center of the isle at the front of the church as bare as can be Easter Morning. Every child would bring a spring flower and at a certain point during the ceremony, we would go up to the cross and fill it in with the beautiful flowers. Mine were always roses from a neighbors yard. Ironically, the woman who owned the rose bushes kind of scared me, but she always allowed me to get these Easter roses.

We usually ate at my Grandparents house after the service and yes - I was dressed to the nines...usually something pastel colored and chiffon. It was always a very formal dinner.

One year, when Mom and I dyed Easter Eggs (real ones), I was so proud of a lavender one I made, I hid it, so no one would eat it. I hid it in my desk. A few days later, Mom was going crazy trying to hunt down what smelled so bad! Who knew??