Well, we just rolled out a new look for the Gautier Designs website.  The other site was working fine, but Jenn wanted to give it a more refined look.  One improvement is a pretty cool Flash image fader I created for the home page.  She chose a different color scheme of lavender and dark brown, which I think works well.  Additonally, we redid the product images, now including multiple images and closeups of the products, to give customers a better idea of the detail of the items.  Take a look and let me know what you think.

Nick’s Little League team is about halfway through their season with just 10 games left. They’re having a great time and adjusting fairly well from hitting off a tee to hitting off the pitching machine. Nick’s primarily been playing left field or left-center, so he doesn’t see much over there. Last night he had a ball lined to him and grabbed it making a great throw to 2nd, nearly getting a runner out.

Here’s a couple of team pictures taken by one of the parents recently. Nick’s in the back row, 2nd from the right.

Also, here’s the remaining games on their schedule:

I had put together a shopping cart for Jenn’s scrapbooking website over the past few months and it went live (quietly) a few weeks ago.  With almost no advertising we’ve gotten pretty good traffic and she has just processed her second order!!!  Seperate from her custom scrapbooking service, the Gautier Designs Boutique is her storefront for selling premade page layouts and cards.  Since she makes stuff all the time and always has an inventory, it made sense to open a web store that’s always available to potential customers.  Once we get used to it and iron out any kinks, we’ll start some Google/Yahoo advertising.

Congratulations on your second order Jenn!  I’m sure there’ll be many more to come!!

Today is the day Taylor turned the big “one-three”.  She’s officially a teenager now (yikes!) and to celebrate the occasion we took her out shopping for clothes and jewelery (though she didn’t want much) and she had her friends over for a pizza party and sleepover.  As I type this they are all in her bedroom playing video games and will probably be up half the night eating popcorn, watching movies, etc.

 Happy 13th Birthday Taylor!!

I’ve been tagged by my wife.  Wow, reminds me of being on the playground back in 3rd grade.  I’d spend my recess playing freeze tag (or other variants) on the big toys or kickball. …ah kickball, that’s another post entirely.  Anyway, I’ve been tagged and have to think up some random/weird stuff about me.

1.  I paid $400 for my first car, a 1980, red Buick Century.  After working on it for over a year, it was “road-ready” (for the most part) and was dubbed by my friends, the “Bunzlmobile”. 

2.  I build computers for fun.  May sound like work to others but I love buying components and assembling them into a working (and of course ridiculously high-powered) PC.  In fact, I’m typing this blog using a “G-machine”.

3.  I love hot food.  Tacos must have hot sauce, Thai food must be at least 3 stars (5 being the hottest) and I put Frank’s Redhot or horseradish on almost everything.  Jenn jokes that I’ve burned off all my taste buds.  Oh, and I loooooooooove this stuff.

4.  Not sure how weird this is…but Jenn’s commented on it.  I tap my toothbrush on the sink after brushing to expel excess water, before putting it away.  I do this because my dad did and the funny thing is, all our kids do it too.  Watch out world…a new generation of toothbrush-tappers is on the way!!

5.  I like to run the tank down to “E”.  Jenn hates this.  While I’ve heard this can be bad for the car, and often do this out of laziness, I have this idea that you actually get better mileage doing this.  Makes sense since a lower tank weighs less right?  While I’m sure the benefit is nomimal at best, I needed another weird thing to add.

6.  I have a horrible phobia of bees, spiders and scorpions.  I’m cringing just typing this.

7.   I have a plastic, yellow chicken toy next to my work computer.  This is part of a farmhouse toy set (Fisher Price I believe) that comes with several other farm animals.  Doesn’t sound too strange in itself but it is actually a monument to Nick’s toddler-hood and learning to talk.  When he was 2 or 3 we would ask him what it was, to which he replied “a quaw-quaw”.  Then we would point the red “comb” on top of it’s head and ask what it was.  His reply was “um….hai-wuh”, as in “hair” with a “w” instead of an “r”.  Jenn and I thought this was so cute and were amused by it for many months.

 Most of my friends aren’t bloggers so I will tag Jonspach and Tim.

Okay so the rules are…

Link to the person who tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog, we all want to know them.
Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Spring has sprung and baseball is in the air…even if it’s still a bit blustery. The Opening Day Ceremonies were held today for Nick’s Little League. Thankfully there was a long enough break in the hail and snowstorms for the teams to file onto the field for the league picture, national anthem and speeches. Nick also got his new uniform today, which he loves. Though a different group of kids, his team is once again the Pirates. This year he got a black cap with a yellow “P” and black shirt that says “Pirates” on it. His first game is on Monday and they’ll be taking on the Blue Jays. On Thursday they’re going up against the Brewers, then they are off the following week for Spring Break.

I’m pretty excited about the MLB season getting underway too. The M’s also play their first game of the season on Monday, against Texas.

A final note, I know he debuted last year but I just find it amusing that the Reds have a pitcher named “Homer Bailey”. While I hear he has definite potential, I just think that name is a bad omen for a pitcher.

One of my all-time favorites…

Does this count?

http://ilovethisscrap.blogspot.com/2008/03/photo-friday-challenge-5-easter.html

Sam (now age 3) just got a new digital camera for Christmas and had an opportunity to use it during Nick’s Little League practice recently. It’s a snazzy orange and yellow Vtech Kidzoom camera with a tough rubber skin. I know, what’s with kids these days? I didn’t get my first digital camera until my mid twenties, and it wasn’t as good as this one! :) This camera takes video as well, my 2mp Canon didn’t.  Also, if you’re wonder what the deal is with the table with the Viking helmet, this is another feature of his camera.  It lets you choose different items such as hats, bat-wings, nose and glasses, etc, to add to the shot.  I guess he wanted to give the picnic table a bit of a Nordic flavor.  Anyway, Sam enyoyed walking around and taking all kinds of neat pictures. I think you’ll agree, he’s got an impressive eye! ;)  Take a look at his portfolio.  If he continues to be inspired, I may make “Sammy’s View” a regular feature of my blog.

Since this day only comes once every 4 years, just had to write a post to say “Happy Leap Day”!

This day is extra special as it is Marie’s wedding day. Always the non-conformist, it’s no surprise she would have her wedding on February 29th. Apparently, she likes the idea of only celebrating their anniversary every four years. I suppose it does make it that much more special. Anyway, I just wanted to wish Marie and Paul a truly wonderful wedding day and much happiness for years to come.

Today is Ella’s first birthday. I can’t believe an entire year has gone by since she joined our family. Happy Birthday Ella! Jenn took some very cute pictures of her today, which you can see in her post.

Yesterday, with a little help from mom, Ella took her very first steps. As you can see in the video, she was very excited at this feat and would giggle and fall into mom’s arms after every attempt. You can view a larger version of the video in the mediaalbums.