Elser Family Blog

Melinda introduced Rockwell to the record collection. And speaking of collections… I have told Hannah and Melinda that my lottery ticket collection is to be hands off! They did not even know you could scratch them until someone ELSE showed them they can be scratched…

Here are the girls in daddies shorts. REAL funny. Just wait till you get older you two…

Ok, at first I thought it was a fluke.. But this is getting ridiculous.

Kathi and I have read this book AT LEAST 50 times over the last 4 weeks.

No kidding.

It is the only book that Melinda wants to read…For the last 4 weeks!! At reading time we play a game… I read and when I stop, she has to say the next word. She gets every one except “porridge” And I know she knows it, she just does not want to say it! She will replace it with “pancakes” some times. She also insists I say “Melindalocks” instead of “goldilocks” sometimes.

Today was “day in the country” day.

We went to Ed Hoppe’s plantation to fish in his pond. Ed Hoppe is my building maintenance guy at the station. He is a retiree from New England. We have a lot in common.

Anyway, Here is Melinda trying to be just like her mother (notice the stance)

Here is Rockwell saying “when am I going to be old enough to fish? This looks fun!

Fun because Ed has trained the fish to come to the shore when someone is there (by feeding them) Fishing in this pond is like, well, shooting fish in a barrel? Put a piece of bread on the line and within 10 seconds… You have a fish! Brim, trout, two different kinds of catfish…

On the way out we saw Ed’s brother in law’s livestock (horses and cows) So we decided to stop and say hello.

For those of you who are CUBS fans (cough cough) AN interesting tidbit for you.

Cousin Peter Oehman’s dad’s VFW Post 2791 (not too much at the site now… But for the interested, this is where Nanny and Gramp, and Mom and Dad both had their 50th wedding anniversaries) The VFW post 2791 is going to be the color guard at the Cubs game this holiday weekend. Sorta interesting, huh?

Today we are going to celebrate Hannah… Where should we start?

How about Hannah’s very first loose tooth?!

Then, to keep up with firsts.. How about this seasons very first tomato, picked by Hannah herself. After this picture, Hannah went and retrieved the salt shaker and we promptly ate it. So fresh off the vine, it was still warm from the sunshine!

OK, enough firsts… How about a “last”? This is Hannah’s very last day of school. She is now technically a first-grader. Here she is coming out of school for the last time this year.

For a final picture of the day, here is Hannah and Melinda laying down looking at the moon as they rest from running around playing hide and seek in the field next to us.

Rockwell is NOT happy.

He is being weaned! Momma is not happy either. Her boobs hurt.

Ain’t nobody happy.

Hannah has her first loose tooth! Its the middle one on the bottom. It is really loose too. If I remember, I will take a picture of it tomorrow.

Here is Hannah’s soccer team: Galaxy. Hannah was player number “1”. She liked it OK enough. I don’t know if she will play next year. We might try something else.

Here are the girls giving some love to that big teddy bear of a dog, Shieba.

(Wendi, make sure you show this to John. 🙂

Secretary of defense Rumsfeld: “Digital cameras, camcorders and cellphones with cameras have been prohibited in military compounds in Iraq,” it said, adding that a “total ban throughout the US military” is in the works.

So, if the news is bad, ban the source??

We are it TROUBLE PEOPLE! This is 1939 GERMANY!

This is not the action of a Christian nation!

This is being foisted on us by people that are calling themselves CHRISTIANS! They are doing the work of the DEVIL!

Please contact your representative and tell them that this will only cause a coverup of the facts! It wont fix the problem!

-Lord, Please help protect us and our Children from the misdeeds of the Leaders that do evil things.-

Pictures from the Relay for Life. We have never been to one of these… They are pretty fun. People walk around the track for 12 hours, from 6pm to 6am to raise money for cancer research. The people that walk set up their “camps” around the track, and they all have themes. Trinity’s theme was “Pirates for Jesus” sorta hokey, but fun all the same.

Here is Melinda in the jumping room. Its the first time she was big enough to jump around…. She had a blast. (note: commercial mouse shirt is a hand-me-down (Although: we love hand-me-downs, even ones with commercial mice on them!))

Here is Hannah mad that Im taking her picture for the umpteenth time. I call this picture “pouting Hannah”. 🙂