Evacuated!!!

Sunday night around 9pm we were evacuated from our home due to the cumberland river rising 60ft above flood stage. Our home was spared thankfully, but many of our neighbors were not so fortunate. I will tell more later. For now, we are all safe, dry, and very very blessed.

The Artist

Here's a little clip of our jabber box Aeva experimenting for the first time with finger paints. Lucky that Abuela was there to provide some much needed supervision and instruction. Need I say that this activity was a hit!

Easter

This was a perfect Easter weekend! Aeva's Papa was off work, we saw Aeva's grandparents Nani and Papi, and there was even an Easter egg hunt!

We spent a beautiful Sabbath afternoon with my parents on their back porch, where Aeva enjoyed having Nani paint her toes.

Sunday morning we told Aeva that we were going to a party to find easter eggs. She was so excited. She babbled on an on about "pardi, pardi" all the way there and back.

Aeva sacked a total of 11 "eggies" during the hunt. That's my girl!

We f

Daddy's Girl?

I love my daugther very much. I play with her every mintue I'm home, I let her eat sweets when her Mami isn't around, I carry her on my shoulders, and in general am a pretty good playmate. But as much as I would love to say that Aeva has become a Daddy's Girl.... well, I will let you see the evidence for yourself.



Aeva is definitely a challanging little girl. She is a lot of fun but also a lot of work. Lately, we have been working on the concept of sharing, which frankley isn't going so well. She has learned how to say "shay" and participate on the receiving end but isn't fond of reciprocating.

Sporting Clays

This week we have seen some of the first fruits of a long awaited Spring, with sunny days and warm temps that irresistibly draw you out of your winter den. Likewise, I called my Dad early in the week and told him it was time to pull out the shotguns and head to the range. Evil company corrupts good habbits, of course, and I think we may have made a new disciple from our friend Toni, who will likely also soon have a shotgun of his own.

My skeet shooting skills are frankly embarrassing, so this time we decided to shoot sporting clays, too. That's basically a walking course through a scenic area, with traps placed at strategic and random positions. You determine when the clay is launched, but you never know exactly in what direction, how far, how how fast, or from which launcher it will come. Ideally, I think it simulates a hunting experience. Talk about addicting!

The Blizzard of 2010

Snow at last! It finally feels like a real winter here in Tennessee. Daytime temps in the 20s, kids with sleds sliding down the neighborhood hill, and a full weekend without any call. How much better could it really get? I'd say we had a good 4" here in Nashville, though my parent probably had more like 6" or 7" just up the road from us.
Speaking of sleds, we don't have one. This Sabbath morning I improvised with a rope an a laundry basket and took Aeva for wild rides around the back yard. As you can see, however, this particular sled had the unfortunate tendency to dump it passenger out on the right. No worries though. Aeva just smiled each time and said, "Más más."

Aeva has been loving the snow! We can barely force her inside.

It seems that this little one can't get enough of the snow. As much fun as sledding was, she would much rather have sat in one spot on continued to shove more of that crunchy, white, cold stuff into her mouth.

Almost Complete

Here it is. This is the almost-finished loft. Since last posting I have put down carpet and underpadding, assembled the slide, and completed the suspension bridge. We have also started to put up some decorations like suspending chinese paper lanterns and gold starts from the ceiling, as well as the placement of door bead at the entrance of exit of the first platform.

Here's a shot form a differenct angle. You probably can't tell from this small picuture how I build the bridge, but it ended up being quite the headache. No matter its finished now. Not only can i disconnect the bridge to lower my kyaks from the roof, but I can adjust the tension on all teh ropes to keep the bridge tight and minimize excessive swinging. I also had to place some handles at either end of the bridge since Aeva is still a little timid about crossing by herself.

The best part, of course, is the slide. I can personally vouche and tell you that its not only sturdy enought to support a grown man but its also quite fast! The last big task to do will be completing all the sanding.