Well, after the snow coming down (and sticking!) for a bit last Wednesday, we were really surprised to see the sunny, 70 degree weather we’ve had for the past 4 days.  The kids were happy to see it as well and spent much of the weekend playing outside.  This is Ella’s first year of really exploring the outdoors and she loves it.  Yesterday they had a blast digging and “making mountains” in our backyard flower bed. Ella has a tom-boyish side to her, thoroughly enjoying playing in the dirt with no fear of getting dirty.  Its funny because she also really loves playing dress-up and pretending to put on makeup.  Also, she has to run and grab her tiny little purse whenever we’re going somewhere.

Today is our little Ella-Bean’s 2nd birthday!  It’s funny we’ve been telling her about it for the past couple weeks and I don’t think she thought much of it.  She must know something is special about today because she’s extra happy and smiley.  Unfortunately, she has a Dr. vistit today and I believe she has to get a shot.  What kinda timing is that??!  We have had her present in our closet since before Christmas.  We saw a great deal on the Rose Petal Cottage so we bought it while Christmas shopping. Jenn was putting it together last night while I was doing homework and,  apparently, it was quite challenging as it took her a while. It is very cute but surprisingly small and comes with a little stove/oven.  She will love to play in it with her baby dolls.

We’re just going to do a little party tomorrow as we don’t want to overwhelm her.  Jenn is going to make cupcakes and a few friends, including her friend Charity, might be stopping by. I’ll try to upload a couple of pictures of her later today.

Happy Birthday Ella-Bean!!

Update: Here are some pics of Ella playing with her new cottage and a table and chair set she got from her grandparents.

Well, Nick and I were playing Wii Sports on Saturday and I started losing to him at baseball. I started joking that they would have to invoke the mercy rule and that’s just what happened! In fact, I started throwing some real nasty stuff at the end, 93MPH (my max on the Wii so far), screwballs, etc. and he responded by hitting back-to-back-to-back homeruns to win. He also beats me regularly in bowling but I usually still come out on top in golf. Also, I never realized how important it was to stretch before playing video games. You get a workout throwing those heaters. The boxing game is a real workout though.

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!!

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.

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.