Easter & First Quarter of the Year Catch-Up

We had a nice time together on Easter. I always try to get a grandchildren picture but that was quite a challenge this year. Here is the best I could do. Cassidy wanted nothing to do with a group picture so as fast as we set her down, she quickly ran away. I managed to just get her in this picture.

I actually really love this photo! So many different expressions!

Here are a few other random pictures of the egg hunt.

Mark & Awstin search diligently for eggs

Clara shows off her golden egg.

Janae's color was purple and Jake in the background was collecting blue eggs.

Cassidy is delighted to find one of her green eggs in the refrigerator.

Even Kyle was excited to find an egg.

Also in the month of March we had two baby dedications to attend. The first one was for Kyle. It is so wonderful to see our grandchildren dedicated to God.

Showing off his wave

Jake got in on the picture taking too!

And the second one was for Seth

Neither Cassidy or Seth were interested in smiling!

Also in March, we were able to watch some of our grandchildren's Bible quizzing. Mark & Hannah's tournament was on Saturday, March 23.

Both Mark & Hannah were top 15 quizzers!

 

Team Picture!

And on Sunday, March 24, it was the final quiz of the year for Alexis and Lydia.

                                                                                

Lydia received the most improved quizzer award of the season and Alexis tied for top quizzer! Amazing!

                                                                                    

Waiting to quiz

The second week of February we kept Clara & Janae for a weekend while Jay & Kristen went to the mountains with friends.

                                                                                    

Clara is quite the climber!

                                                                                    

Janae enjoys the slide

                                                                                    

You can't have a sleepover at Grandma's without having movie time!

The end of January was Jake's 3rd birthday.

                                                                                

Birthday Boy!

                                                                                        

Family picture!

And...way back in January we got a new car!

A 2019 Ford Edge. I love it!

That is a brief recap of the first part of the year. Now we are ready for Spring and warmer weather!

Welcome Naomi Ann Lehman!

It was just an ordinary day. I was working the store and heard my phone signal that I had a text message. I continued finishing what I was doing and then went to check it. I picked it up and saw that Kristen had sent me this picture with 5 words underneath it.

And then there were seven!

Suddenly it wasn't an ordinary day! This was a surprising and very exciting piece of news as the baby wasn't due for another 3 weeks. The fun was that I didn't know if it was a boy or girl. I quickly tried to call Kristen but it went to her voicemail. I then tried Jay and thankfully Lydia answered his phone so I didn't have to be in suspense much longer. 

I found out that Naomi Ann Lehman made her appearance at 6:30 am weighing 6lbs 13 ounces! We are delighted to welcome her into our family. She will be much loved by her siblings and parents. We are so happy that she is safely here and everyone is doing well.

Steve and I stopped at the hospital to visit and of course took a few pictures.

Such a little sweetheart! We can't wait to see her little personality emerge! We now have 13 grandchildren--7 girls and 6 boys! What a blessing they are to us!

And...here is my Scrabble board. I had to do a complete overhaul but I am pleased with the result. It needed an upgrade with all matching tiles so I did that as well as moving Steve, Mary and Lehman to the side giving me more room to add Naomi.

The Impossible Puzzle

I have always enjoyed doing puzzles. I know as a child, we would occasionally put a puzzle together over the winter months and in my dad's later years, he always had a puzzle that he was working on. When the children were small, I didn't have time for it (or didn't make the time), but over the past couple of winters I have resurrected my love for puzzles. I am partial to 1000 piece puzzles and if I'm not too busy, I can often put one together in about a week. Years ago, when my step-grandmother's (Vivien) items were being disbursed I received a small folding table and it is the perfect size for a 1000 piece puzzle.

About 3 weeks ago I started this puzzle.

Now, there are easy 1000 piece puzzles and there are hard 1000 piece puzzles. I realized right away that this was a hard one. Too many pieces had the same shape and almost fit, but not quite, and there were also a lot of one color so it was hard to tell them apart and figure out where they might go. I struggled with the border and as you can see in the above picture I actually couldn't complete the black on the bottom border. Pieces just didn't fit. So I started at the top and hoped the bottom would come together as I got to it. 

I slowly moved along and completed the sky, eagle and lighthouse. All that was left was the black bushes on the bottom. And they were just impossible. I would think I had it figured out and even get down to 6 or 8 pieces left and they just weren't the right ones. I would take all the black pieces out again  (about 40 pieces) and try again and again and again. I have never worked on such an impossible puzzle. Megan tried and also deemed it impossible. Julissa tried and came up with the same conclusion. The pieces were getting ripped and jagged from just taking them out and putting them back in so often.

I was determined not to give up on this puzzle, but it was going on 3 weeks of working on it and the last 10 days were just on the approximately 40 black pieces. Finally I got so frustrated that I just jammed the last 6 pieces in that didn't fit and called it finished. To the casual observer it looks like I completed the puzzle.

But if you look close, you can see where a few pieces don't fit.

I'm sure if you are reading this blog, you are convinced that you would be able to fix it, but I honestly don't believe you could. I really wonder if it is possible.

Some of my puzzles I keep and put together again, but not this one! I thought about packaging this one up and taking it to the Main Street Closet Thrift Store with a note including my phone number: This is an impossible puzzle. If you solve it please send me a picture.  I'm sure someone would be up to the challenge but I decided to save them the frustration. This puzzle is going in the trash can!