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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.

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:

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.

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.

Well, it’s been entirely too long since my last update. I know, I know, it’s unforgiveable and I should be ashamed to call myself a blogger. I’ve been intending for some time to upload new photos for this year. I have a ton with our camping trip, Halloween, zoo trips, etc. I hope to get some of them up soon. Anyway, we were brave (or crazy) enough this year to take all the kids to Penny’s for Christmas pictures. Despite some difficulties, we ended up getting some pretty good pictures.

Well, it’s been several weeks since my last update. I’ve been very busy working on a few different websites. My friend and Pastor of Education at our church, James, is starting his own school of theology so I’ve been posting more content on his site Jcroone.org

I’ve also been working on another group of Christian sites, one of which will sell various apparel. For this site I’ve been learning a lot more about the capabilities of Flash in terms of coding and animation methods to design the intro. You can see it here While this has been pretty cool, my client has some pretty specific ideas of what they want and it tends to conflict with my personal tastes. I prefer a cleaner look and feel and more subdued colors. Oh well, that’s what this site is for…which reminds me, I’m planning to overhaul the look of this blog when I get some spare time. Yet another site I’ve been working on is Jenn’s custom scrapbooking site, gautierdesigns.com I setup a pretty nice gallery to display her custom designs and pre-made products she will be selling. Now we just need to get more images posted. She also setup an eBay seller account for her company so I have a gallery specifically for auction items, so she can display as many images as she wants without having to pay eBay.

On to the real reason for this post…I’ve finally posted Ella’s professional portraits. I was very impressed with how these pictures turned out. The scans don’t quite do them justice but you can really see how red her hair is against the black background.

Until next time…

Well, the hectic pace has continued in recent weeks but here’s an update. Nick’s t-ball season is now over and he had a great pizza party with his teammates and they all got trophies with t-ball players on them. Also, we went to the Mariner’s game for Little League day on May 20th. The seats weren’t the best; first base side 300 level, probably 15 rows from the wall. Fortunately, we did sit next to the coach and his son, so Nick had a friend to enjoy it with. While the M’s ended up losing to the Padres, 2-1, we did get to see a good outing by King Felix.

I’ve finally posted some video of Ella. It’s of her getting a bath at 2 weeks old (so long ago already). It’s a bit of a long one at 5 minutes, check it out in the mediaalbums.

Another task that’s been keeping me busy is building a website for my friend James. He has his own educational ministry and has started his own institute of theology. You can take a look at what I’ve been doing here. There’s still much content to add. Additionally, I did a quick little website for the Queens of Washington Drillteam, which you can take a look at here. Looks like the craziness will continue as James’ sister looked at his site and want’s me to do one for her as well.

Nick’s 2nd season of T-ball kicked off yesterday with an afternoon practice. While he was reluctant (a little upset even) to put down his Legos and head out to a wet/muddy field, he did a great job and had fun. This year he plays for the Pirates and will face teams with other MLB names, including the Reds, Astros, Cubs and Orioles. There doesn’t appear to be anyone else from last year’s team so he was a bit shy at first but warmed up when it was time for batting practice, still his favorite. He’d be happy just being a DH.

Also, Ella’s hospital pics have now been posted here:

http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/babypage_view.asp?URLID=9R0R8Z4R6K

In response to requests for more photos of baby Ella (or Ella Bella Bean as I’ve been calling her), I have posted more pics taken during her first week. As always you can view these in the mediaalbums. I hope to get a video clip or 2 up soon…if I can just remember to charge the camera battery!