New Picture Gallery Online!!

It’s been a long time since there were updates to the site, a long time. In addition to life & work keeping me from having the energy to do it, the time consuming nature of creating, uploading and writing descriptions for the photogalleries has wore out my desire to keep things up to date.

Enter a software script called Coppermine Photo Gallery. Basically it’s a wonderful little piece of software that once installed and setup on a web server makes uploading and managing pictures very easy. It provides far more features than I could ever manage to create and facilitate on my own.

I have been working on the whole process since last weekend on and off. Setting up the software was very easy. Trying to theme it with the colors and style of the rest of the site has been tough. (I’m not totally satisfied with it yet either, so things will change as I have time to do so.) Moving all of the pictures and descriptions over to the new galleries has been very time consuming. For the time being I have pictures from when Sarah was 1st born and the most recent pictures since the summer in the gallery now. I will be filling in the blanks with the rest of the pictures as time passes, but there is plenty of fresh content to see immediately.

There are unique features you can use from rating pictures, sending e-cards, viewing slideshows, etc. I will probably force you to create a login to the gallery at some point; this is just to allow us some control over access to the pictures. It keeps things between friends and family that way.

Have a look at the new gallery and let us know what you think!! The link in the banner at the top of the page will take you there too.

Happy Halloween!!

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Any candy around here?

Trick or Treat!

For Halloween we took Sarah out to try her hand at that time honored childhood skill of pandering for sweets. Now, we dragged her out after she had already been to her school for a Halloween parade and party. Even with a little nap she didn’t have the stamina or endurance to go for more than a few blocks.

Sarah did OK for a 2 year old with little legs. As her goodie bag hung lower and lower on the ground we knew she was done. Although she did have the energy for a few trips up and down the slide near where we went trick or treating.

After that we came home with Sarah’s bounty of goodies and handed out more candy to the neighborhood children. Sarah and Daddy sat on the porch and as trick or treaters would walk down the sidewalk Sarah would yell “Hey Kids!” or “Happy Ham-o-ween” or even “Happy Daddy!” (She was a little confused, about a week ago for my birthday Sarah was so happy to tell me “Happy Daddy” over and over, it must have stuck.)

Uncle Uncle John & Tyler Too!

Last week Uncle Uncle* John came down to have have dinner with Sarah because he was away in Alaska on her birthday. He brought cousin Tyler down as well join in the good time. We went to Outback of course!
Sarah was far too excited over John and Tyler to eat much of anything, but she sure had a fun time! She was so worked up on the way home we thought she would never goto sleep. She eventually crashed but spent the whole night talking about John this and John that…
*John is really my uncle so that would make him Sarah’s Great Uncle, but the “Great” title would surely goto John’s head, so he is Uncle Uncle. It’s also easier for a 2 year old to say. Then there is Tyler, my cousin, Sarah’s 2nd cousin? Whatever…

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Newborn… Infant…. Baby… Toddler… Kid?

“I’m dreaming, you’re awake
If I were sleeping, what’s at stake?
A day without me”
~ U2 – A Day Without Me

One of Sarah’s birthday presents was a real toddler bed! No more crib for the big girl. This was a very tough day for Mommy and Daddy but as you can see from the pictures below it was just a little bump in the road for Sarah. These pictues are from her first nap in the bed. She laid right down and got comfy immediately. It took about 10 minutes for her to be off and dreaming.

Sarah has not turned back since that day, 2 weeks ago. She never asked about her crib and made the transition smoothly. (It was almost like she didn’t even notice) Since these pictures were taken we have added a real pillow and bedspread, one step at a time. All are Spongebob themed of course.

Happy 2nd Birthday Sarah!!

Today Sarah is officically 2 years old, as of 3:00pm. Hard to believe the little peanut we brought home from the hopsital has grown into this 2 year old kid complete with bumps, bruises, scrapes, bug bites and other assorted boo-boos.

Sarah’s party was in Sunday and she had a wonderful time with everyone that came to play with her!! There was Gramma & Papa, Aunt Julie, Unlce Jim, Jimmy, Gracie, Outback Pete, Karen, Clint & Bonnie. She couldn’t make it but Sarah’s friend Samantha sent a card and gift as well!!

We have plenty of pictures to put into a gallery and get online, even some video as well. Stay tuned…

Counting Down to 2…

“Baby slow down
The end is not as fun as the start
Please stay a child somewhere in your heart”
~ U2 – Original Of The Species

Sarah is excited and getting ready for her 2nd birthday party this weekend, as you can see she is modeling one of her favorite outfits in the picture on the left. Maybe she will wear it for the party!!

Sarah can’t wait to see everyone and eat her cake. When we brought it home today she looked at it and said, “Ooh, cake!” Of course she wanted to eat it then and there but we told her she had to wait.

Greetings Programs!

“On the other side of the screen, it all looks so easy.”
~ Jeff Bridges – Tron (1982)

As you can see, I took it upon myself to redesign the website. Along with the new look (It will eventually creep through to the other pages as well) the main page, this page, is completely different and running blogging software called Movable Type. This took some time to setup and configure but the benefits will far outweigh the effort put in to get running.

OK, it’s excting to me and most likely not anyone who reads any of this stuff. Basically it will be much simpler to update this page and I am working on changing the photogallery to streamline posting of new pictures on the site. (Currently are very cumbersome task I have grown to loathe immensely.)

Take a look around and tell me what you think. There is a comments link under each post to leave your thoughts. Go for it.

“Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever. “

Yes, we are still here!! It’s been over a month since there has been an update to the main page or pictures put up on the website. There is really no special reason for this other than some spring fever and a major lack of pictures for the Photogallery. We promise to get back on the ball and take more pictures than we have been.

There are pictures from Easter online now, Sarah had a great time eating chocolate and hunting for eggs. When it was time to put her down for a nap that morning she was clutching a chocolate Spongebob and refused to let go of it. We had to pry it out of her grip and wipe the mess off of her face, hands, neck, etc. (It was a very good, “from my cold dead hands…” impersonation that she was doing.) Chocolate is good, but she has had that before. An all new goody to try was jelly beans! After one or two she was pretty much hooked. It’s a good thing Easter is a once a year sort of thing or else we might be in trouble. Gramma and Grandpa brought Sarah a really neat bubble machine and a new giant sized Spongebob coloring book to add to her collection of half colored, half scribbled coloring books. It was a very fun day!!

The latest round of excitement around here was for Mother’s Day. Sarah and Daddy sent Mommy a nice vase of roses and took her out for the day. After a breakfast of coffee and doughnuts we went to Moore’s Tavern in Freehold for a Mother’s Day brunch. Sarah enjoyed the chocolate mousse very much. Then it was over to Freehold Mall for an afternoon of shopping… for Sarah. New kicks for her big feet and her very own teddy bear named, “Mondo” (her name) from Build-A-Bear Workshop. There was so much to see and do by the time the day was all done Sarah could barely keep her head up!

So, check out the new pictures for both April and May!!

To keep up to date with our goings on, join the mailing list and please sign the guestbook too.

Dance Dance Sarah

The music, the lights, Sarah couldn’t simply resist. After all, it’s a video game and she is her Daddy’s daughter!


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