Mega-deck... a work in progress...

Here's some pictures documenting the progress of the "mega-deck" thus far...

The first weekend, the structure lumber was purchased and the concrete footers were poured.

The second weekend, construction of the skeleton begins...

Here's a view of the 6x6x16 posts

The precarious ladder positions...

This is probably the reason health insurance was invented....

Easter Update

Above, Emily dons the helmet which Eric's students wear in the chariot races at the JCL convention. She will be a chariot rider yet. As for the glove I have no idea.
Above and below, Emily opens the Easter package from Great-Grandma Connie. Thanks for the Easter surprise Gr-Grandma!
The three next below are from Emily's Easter egg hunt at Lisa's house Saturday. Apparently, Emily is uber-slow. All the other kids were swiping as many eggs as possible. Emily methodically finds and egg, inspects it, opens it up, inspects the contents, and then places it into the basket. She has got to speed up if she wants to compete in this cut-throat Easter egg market.

Easter Sunday, we went to the park near our house. It has a nice stream over some rocks. Emily was timid at first, but then she braved up and even dared to place toe in water.

Emily even dared to climb a tree!

Springtime activities!

Here's a sneak peek into some of our recent happenings.

Since the weather warmed up, we've been forced to do one of the most dreaded outdoor chores... raking. Since the Adams' are slave drivers loving parents, we purchased Emily her very own rake for the job.

She knows the rules of the house - you gotta work if you wanna eat, so she jumped right in to the task at hand...

She may not be the most efficient raker in the family, but she sure does love being a big helper and copying Dad. (actually she's probably the 2nd most efficient raker in the family since I do more standing around, photographing, and thinking of excuses to go back in the house than I do actual raking)

Can you guess what day this picture was taken? I tried to get them to pose together for a St. Patrick's Day photo to show off their matching green... but it somehow just digressed into a colored pencil sword-fight.

Along with the warm weather comes our annual visit from the carpenter bees. We always get a swarm of them around our house for about a month. Eric bought Emily a bug-catching net and a "bug house" to trap and imprison the bees.

Here she gets the tutorial of how to use the bug net.
And then she sets off to work!

Grandpa came up for a visit and also got in on the bee catching action. (see the bug house in grandpa's hands) I don't know who enjoyed it more, Emily or Grandpa.

Then Grandpa revealed that he had a gift for little E....

She's ready...
It's a steel drum from the Bahamas!

And thus the drumming begins... and continues and continues and continues :)

The next morning, Emily and Grandpa participate in story time.

We went to the park last night and discovered some huge azalea bushes. Unfortunately, the sun was in Emily's eyes, so this was the best shot we could get.

Emily's Valentine.

For Valentine's Day Emily received a special package from her Gr.Grandma. Here she is opening her gift. She received a valentine shirt and a special bear friend.
She opened the shirt first (notice shirt at bottom right of picture), and she liked the shirt, but not as much as her new almost-as-big-as-she-is-bear.

It was love and hugs at first sight...

Also, for Valentine's Day she received a marshmallow dog pop. It was hard for her to chew, but it sure was funny to watch. Here she is trying to devour an ear...

Success!

The Adams' have a night on the town...

So the Adams had a big night out this weekend; we stayed out until 9:30pm! Seriously, this was a late night for us. We started our night with dinner at the Ferguson's home for a charity dinner event, and then went to the "after party" dessert reception at the Botanical Gardens. Here's some pics from our fun evening.

Having appetizers before dinner.

Dessert reception.

The reception had a salsa band, which Emily thoroughly enjoyed. Here Emily takes Dad for spin on the dance floor...

Minnesota or Georgia?

Ok, so here's a guessing game.... where are we in these pictures - Minnesota or Georgia? It's crazy that there could even be a comparison!

That's right, one of these is from MN and one is from GA, only a few weeks apart...

Again, one from GA and one from MN...

I think these GA folks have gotten our fill of snow this year!

Christmas Recap

Ok, so I do realize that it's February and we're just now doing the Christmas recap, we're a little late to say the least.... What we lack in promptness, we'll try to make up for in pictures :)

To start our Christmas adventures, we hopped a plane... (Emily took advantage of Grandpa's window seat)

and headed to the land of ice and snow

to visit with Gr-Grandma!

By surprise we also got to visit with these folks as well! Uncle Dick and Aunt Vivi surprised everyone by making the trip from VA. It was great having everyone together.

Here's a random assortment of our time in MN:

Family snowman

sledding...

Then Eric built his own snowman...

and did this to it! Poor snowman's head got launched...

Quality time with Uncle Dick

and tickle time with Gr-Grandma :)

Then of course, with Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents around, Emily received a mountain of presents.