Elser Family Blog

[parental boasting ahead]

H received the principles first grade writing award this month. One student from each class gets chosen to have their writing put up on the wall, then, the principle chooses the one she likes best to be put up on the principles writing award board. One student from each grade level is chosen each month. The name of the story was “my skeleton”

Not a bad award for a elementary school of 900+ students!

R wanted to check out the dog biscuit before he gave it to Shieba.. Just to make sure it was ok to eat, you know…

I guess it was OK for Shieba to eat!

The girls, just relaxin’ and painting some pictures.

I’ve added a section to the debate and family forum page. Its a forum where you can tell a story or post a picture that you want included in the family history file I am keeping. If you have an item that has some family history or provenance, post the picture and the story behind it there. What’s neat about it is others can come by and tell stories of what THEY remember about the object. I though it was a good idea anyway. 🙂 Click here for forum page.

I forgot to post a picture of R getting into the apple pressing action… He was scooping sticky apple juice with his hand. Momma was not pleased.

K went to rent a video the other day. She came back and said ” I guess we have not rented a video in a while…” She was right, we have not used the blockbuster card in about 2 years. “They hardly rent videos anymore.. Everything is DVD.” I’ve been avoiding buying a DVD. No special reason. Mostly because.. Well.. We haven’t been to the rental store in two years!

Does anyone have software or a crack for ripping DVD’s? Just curious.

Here is a cute picture of M. She’s so sweet.

sometimes.

[parental boasting ahead]

H is really getting into math. I found this paper in her bedroom tonight. She was writing it before she fell asleep.

There’s a multiplication problem on there, and she has the right answer! There is even a negative number on there! In first grade! Does she understand the concept of negative numbers? (wrong answer, but thats Ok) Think about it.. It’s a big conceptual step to go negative. Weird. She is not doing these problems in class. I think she is doing them on the computer. I hope she keeps up the enjoyment of learning. She’s doing a great job.

We Went to Arthur’s plantation this weekend, for an “apple press”. We made apple juice!

When we were done pressing the apples, (H was in charge of grinding.. She really worked hard) We heated some juice up and made some hot cider. (after we boiled up some hotdogs for lunch!)

Here is my little monkey in the tree.. She had to climb higher than the boys, of course.

OK. Here is something that is really bothering me. H’s lunch menu’s are printed on paper that is one big advertising sheet. I know the school is not getting anything significant for this. It really annoys me, especially since they typically advertise for shows that are on cable teevee. I really have to inquire about this.

If you have an opinion about this, post it at the debate page

As most of you that have been reading this know, I was a Howard Dean man. I swore I would never vote for a person who voted for the Iraq debacle or the “patriot” act, an un-American bill as can be.. And here is my proof:

I was a “deniac”, I even canvassed for him. He reflected my views in almost every way. I think he could have proven a better contender to bush.

The girls came with me, as they will for every vote until they themselves can vote…

Making lemons out of lemonade, I believe in the AA type concept of recovery. You have to hit bottom to get back up. This article from Molly Ivans reflects my take on this view:

I really like Molly Ivans, she is like a redneck liberal. Sorta how I picture myself.. 🙂

Ill get on to more mundane things now… Here is the R and I.

Here are the girls putting clothes “on the line”.. They had to get this out of a book, because we have not done it for years.

This is probably the worst part of being a parent so far… Yuck! K just asked me if it’s even worse than a big ‘ol poo diaper… Absolutely. I’ll clean that diaper three times for every face (and high chair) like this I have to clean.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks reversed course suddenly on Tuesday and drifted lower as chatter on the Internet speculated that early exit polls had Sen. John Kerry (news – web sites) leading the presidential election in key swing states.

Hey, we can only hope! If you look at the cell phone picture to the right, you should see a picture of our polling place we voted at this morning!