Elser Family Blog

We recently went to the circus. I tried to get some photos inside, but it was a bit too dark.

It was a circus that was just formed, it has only done a couple of shows I guess. It really felt like an old timy show. It was pretty neat. My favorite part were the two girls that did all sorts of handstands on top of each other. amazing! 🙂

This last weekend everyone has been a bit sick. Hannah has a ear infection AND “pink eye”, and Rockwell is Rock-not-well with a rash all over his body that the doc says came from being sick last week.

Yesterday, Melinda decided she wanted to play in the dirt in the back yard…

The weather is getting nice here. Its about time I plant my garden…. I have not updated the garden blog lately, but watch out! It will have some info soon.

I almost forgot… our Friend Aurthur Shealy bought a full size soft serve ice cream machine off of ebay. It takes 220V so I helped him wire up a circuit just for the machine. We tried it out and it works great! So this year at the official Church Easter Egg Hunt at the Shealy plantation, we will have ice cream AND cotton candy! Let alone the candy in the easter eggs. Boy, those kids are going to be sugared up this year!

Ill make sure I include a picture of the festivities after they happen.

This coming week is the time that “Augusta is the center of the world” or, at least of the golf world… I have to work the Augusta National again. I hear that people would kill for my job… Too bad Im not that impressed with a bunch of old men spending money on azelias and green grass. Just seems to me there are better things to do with money.

I will leave you with a nice picture of Melinda.

Here is a school art picture that Hannah made:

And here is the Artist that Made it:



And here is a picture of all of us!



Nice picture, no? It’s the low res picture off of the sears web site.

We had a once in a lifetime picture session at sears. We took 9 pictures, and 8 of them were perfect. Everyone looking the right way, clothes look right, everyone smiling (even Rockwell). Overall, we were amazed and pleased.

5 days later, sears calls and tells us that ALL the pictures are lost and unrecoverable. They “cut them wrong”.

Kathi (and I) wanted to cry. Kathi did cry. It’s amazing whats important to parents. A flawless photo session is one of them. Anyone that has gone through one can testify.

Can I get a AMEN? thank you.

Also, we found out that Rockwell has strep throat. It very rare for babies under 2 to get it. He seems to be fine, but he hates taking the medicine.

OK, here is the Wedding Picture I was talking about… All the guys.

We just had a wonderful visit with Marc, Denise, and Marek Koch. Long time friends from Chicago. Marc was in our wedding way back when (I gotta post a picture of that) We did some remiscing and beer drinking and debating and some beer drinking and some walking and some beer drinking.

Over all a jolly good time!

It’s nice to visit with friends that you have not seen in years and still get along like we were never apart. (other than the crew cut and crows feet that were wrinkling his ears.. )

Hannah and Melinda had a ball playing with Marek, who is just a bit younger than Hannah. Hannah and Marek are similar in many ways..

heheh

Here are a couple of pictures they drew…

this one is “t-Rex” by Marek…

And here is Hannah’s response to the “T” rex… the “P” rex, a “princess dinosour”



Its probably parental appreciation, but I think that is hilarious.

Have a good Trip home you guys. God bless and thanks for visiting! And Mark… 2006…. Bike trip, at least to Daytona or something…..

Hannah made this picture last night. She is quite the artist, she loves to draw. This one is not all that artistic, but I thought it was special anyway.

It says: These are the things I drew this night, with these markers.

A chocolate kiss, rainbow, candy, orange.

She had separate sheets with each of the items on an individual sheet… I think that is what she was referencing.

Hannah is now officially a reader! She can take most any of her books on the shelf and sound out the words and read through them… I know she is really proud. As am I!

Melinda is starting to talk so that you can understand her 🙂 Melinda has a special charisma that I’m almost afraid of. I hope she uses it well.

And Rockwell is figuring out how to crawl. He also has figured out how to get from his stomach to a sitting position.

jeez- they grow fast.

Well, Today was a busy day! At the carnival at Hannah’s School, I made cotton candy for 4 hours straight, over 350 cones! The place was so packed that Kathi could not even take a picture of the booth, so you will have to wait a bit to get a picture of it. That old cotton candy machine got a workout today, and performed flawlessly.

Today was also Hannah’s first day of soccer (Kathi a ‘soccer mom” ha!) Kath said she had fun. There are only two girls on her team. Kathi also said the other parents took their kids performance WAAYY too seriously. Come on folks!! their 5+6 year olds for goodness sakes! I guess next week will be my turn to witness it…

Here are some pictures of the day at the soccer field:

Just another beutiful day in sunny South Carolina!

I try to make a habit of going to Breakfast with Hannah every once in a while. We either go to the school Cafeteria, or Go to Waffle House. Waffle house is the obvious favorite..

Anyway, we went to the cafeteria today, and Hannah sat with her friend Hannah.

Here are the two Hannah’s this morning…

Today was french toast sticks… a much better fare than usual, If you ask me. (I have to gete a picture of the eggs to show you guys… yuuch!)

Last night we finished up the booth for the cotton candy stand. It looks really good! We will use it for the NAE Carnival on saturday. I will make sure to take some pictures…

Dropped off a few (3) rolls of film I found floating around in a drawer. I had no idea what was on them. (I like the suspense!) Anyway, here are a couple that showed up. They are both about the same vintage…~ July 2001

This one is Melinda with her Grandpa Bob on her Baptisim day. (hey, is that a vintage Christening Gown worn by all the Cousins??? It just might be! )

How about this one? Hannah-in-a-bag

Gotta add another Wedding Link! This time for my Godson David Vandercar and his bride to be Whitney Powers (my emoticons work here dave..smile..)

You can visit their Wedding Page for yourself to see what they are up to.

Congratulations Dave and Whitney!

As a side note, you might have seen Whitney’s dad’s company in the news lately – See news here – What I want to know is if the stock is trading here in the US, so I can get me some.

E

Here is Hannah and I’s latest creation.

Check out the vintage cotton candy machine inside the box. Is that cool or what? Its about 50 years old and works like the day it came from the factory.

Anyway, the box is to store the cotton candy machine when it is not in use, and to act as a stand when it is. Hannah painted it ALL by herself. Pretty good job, I’d say.

For some background, Hannah’s School “carnival” is in a couple of weeks, And I have volunteered to make cotton candy, the proceeds to go to the school and her class.

We are now building a folding stand to look like a carnival booth, with a circus tent theme and all. I’ll upload pictures of that when its done.