Family Photos from Easter

Here we are in our Sunday best.  We stopped at Fort Edgecomb on our way to church to immortalize our spiffiness.  Not the best lighting, and Maine looks pretty drab in the spring!

 Our church had baby goats for the kiddos to pet!

Easter Eggs

Logan made an Easter Garden with the boys - the Lego soldier was Josiah's idea. :)

 

The kids were very serious about their Easter egg decorating!

 

And here are the pics from the kids' Easter egg hunt:

Birthday Parties

Mom had a coupon for her birthday from 99 Restaurant, so they came and met me in Topsham after Hailey's birth. 

 

And Melissa's surprise 40th birthday, that had been post-poned multiple times due to snow storms, etc., finally happened!  There were lots of friends gathered at The House of Pizza to celebrate this special friend!

Welcome Hailey

I weaseled my way into the hospital room for Hailey's birth!  I had been invited to go to her big brother Tanner's birth a few years ago, and had come down with the flu that week.  I was devastated!  Lisa worked hard at providing another baby so I could have a second chance. :)  It was AMAZING to witness a birth.  What a miracle! 

 

I got to the hospital about an hour after Brandon and Lisa arrived, and she had just been induced when I go there (around 11, I think?).  Sometime around 2:30, Lisa's pain was getting intense, but her nurse said she should wait for the 3:00 shift before she got her epidural (so she wouldn't have to stick around past 3:00).  I told Lisa that she should insist rather than suffer for an extra half an hour, because it would take awhile for the anesthesiologist to arrive, etc.  So Brandon went out and told the nurses they needed the epidural right away, and the anesthesiologist came right down.  It was almost four before he had it all set up and working, and by 4:20 she was pushing!  Dr. Groh's had rushed down from her office.  Hailey came out with the umbilical chord wrapped around her neck and she wasn't breathing, but they had her in her mother's arms so quickly, I don't think Brandon and Lisa even realized there had been an emergency.  I could not sleep that night from the adrenaline that was still pumping hours afterwards.  So exciting!

 

Brandon and Lisa were happy that I was there after I sent them all the pictures I took.  Here are a few:

Mom's 60th Birthday

Mom's birthday was the same day as the boys' choir concert, so we didn't celebrate until that night.  The kids were very excited to surprise their Grandma with a little party!

We found a dachshund toy we thought Grandma would like...and she did. :) 

Abbey knows the Happy Birthday song!

The boys worked on some birthday cards for Grandma.

Lookin' good for 60!  :)

I was proud of my cake, made from scratch.  :)

Kiddie Choir Concert

Josiah and Ben have been excited about working on a "Winnie the Pooh" play with their Kiddie Choir!  Josiah got the part of Pooh and Benjamin is Rabbit.  For the March Y Arts Concert, they performed three songs from their upcoming play.  Here's a picture of their choir, and some blurry pics from their performance:

Maine Maple Sunday Fun

We went to our first ever Maine Maple Sunday this year!  On Saturday, we stopped at Goranson Farm in Dresden, where there is a large maple syrup production.  I can't remember how many thousands of gallons of syrup they make each year, but it was impressive.  We had fun there with the Wells, Griffiths and Feders, and the farm animals. 

 

We had to skip out pretty quickly from the syrup-making demonstration, because we were worried that Josiah was going to knock a boiling hot tub of syrup over.  He is too fidgety!  :)

 

There were all kinds of delicious maple treats to purchase!

Josiah had to wear his overalls since we were going to a farm.

On Sunday, we visited our friend Margot's husbands' little hobby sugar shack in Edgecomb.  This is one serious hobby!  He's got all the maple trees tapped in his back yard and also neighbors have let him tap their trees.  This is the first year that he has had an electric pump pumping the syrup from the trees straight to his sugar shack, where he refines the syrup, removing all the water through a boiling process.  The boys were very interested and got to sample some in snow, take a tour through the woods to see how the pump works, plus we were gifted a beautiful bottle of syrup.