Elser Family Blog

Arthur needed some help installing a new thermostat in his icecream machine, So the kids went swimming while I worked.

Sorta cool with the barn in the background and what-not ehe? You can just imagine how many kids have swam in this pool over the 40+ years it has been there.

On the walmart diaper front:

K won the war!

They have changed the tab on the diapers!! It took 6 months of incessant pestering, but they just sent us another case of diapers, and this time, the tab has been replaced with a soft one just like the 2 year old diapers!!

K also got a 100$ gift card as hush money I suppose.

I am so proud of her. She really was NOT going to let this go. I think they knew it!

K said if she had a clear picture of R’s bloody leg, she would have taken them to court for some serious money, and then donated the winnings to a children’s charity.

But the darn digital picture was unusable. No flash at the time. Bummer.

H and M and I visited a ARRL field day site today. For the un-initiated, “Field days” are a contest to see what amateur Radio Relay league group can contact the most other HAMs in a 24 hour period. The purpose is to practice Code and contacting others in less than ideal situations. Since everyone else is trying to contact everyone else, it equates operating in a mass emergency.

It was not very exciting for the kids, but at least they have been exposed to it.

HOWEVER, The location WAS attached to a firehouse, so they got to check out all the firetrucks and such. That was a little more exciting…

H found a locust in the back yard today… Here is she is sharing it with M.

H, M and R went with K and met a neighbor at this commercial mouse’s house. Rumor has it they had fun.

I dunno’, I can’t tell if they are having fun or not….:)

[parental boast mode] Hey, Take a look at my cell phone pictures… See the one with H standing in front of the tree? While they were being watched during a education committee meeting tonight, H made the tree, and cut out the birds and colored everything… And then made a skit where she had the birds taped to her hands, they flew to the tree, and started eating the fruit. H had the teacher cut out pieces of the fruit as they ate. Then the birds fell asleep in the tree.. “The end”. I was impressed, so was the teacher. She said it was all H’s idea.[/parental boast mode]

When it rains in this state-in-the-south, It pours. And rain is always fun to play in, of course.

Here is our Friend A, giving a ride to R. He sure liked doing laps around the parking lot of the church… We had just finished a “movie night”, watching Disney’s Pocahontas.

It was fun… Did you ever consider the parallels of our conquering the Indians, and the situation in Iraq?

Here is H’s idea of having some fun…

OK, even I think it was pretty funny. You should have seen the video!

Great story: K had used the walmart brand of diapers for all our children, until R came along. She purchased the diapers and immediately noticed it was causing a rash, even bleeding near the velcro type attachment. She immediately wrote a letter complaining of it. Tyco (the walmart manufacturer) sent her a letter thanking her for the input, and, sent her a case of the same defective diapers.

It just so happened that she had a couple of two year old diapers of the same brand, (she found them in an old diaper bag!) and could clearly see the difference between the two. I can tell you, it was quite obvious.

So, she sends off one of the old examples and one of the new ones, pointing out the difference.

What does she get? Another case of defective diapers

She called them back, And the lady apologized profusely, and now it would appear they are actually doing something about it…They have called K a number of times in the last couple days asking questions, and thanking her for notifying them. It was a good thing K had the example of the two year old diapers… I think that is what got their attention.

Little K getting action from the worlds largest retailer. Sorta cool!

On a different tack, I said, “why help them? Let them lose market share, they will figure it out” But K didn’t care about walmart, she was worried about all the babies out there that had parents that didn’t know why they were crying… She didn’t want the babies hurt or abused… Such a liberal she is.

Anyone know what to do with two cases of defective diapers??? No, we are not going to give them to charity… That would be defeating the purpose of the whole exercise, no?

Happy Midsummer Day!

Kathi and I really wanted to get married on the solstice, but the year we got married, it was on a Friday.. 🙁 so we settled for the day after. 🙂 Anyway, little did we know at the time that it was a big event in Lithuanian folk culture.

Well, here is what happens when I skip posting for a day or two… I end up having a surplus of pictures.. Its feast of famine, I tell ya’

Anyway, I mailordered this Tee Shirt for M when she was a baby, but it now fits her…

Here are my babies trying to get a way from me. (notice the car over R’s shoulder… Thats his gift from his Godfather, C. He loves it.)

Here is K and R at our friends D and T from W (where it snows) They moved to our state two years before we did. K went to high school With T.

Here are the newest members of our family, Kiwi and Azul. Azul is my Fathers day gift…And Kiwi is the bird from our church preschool. Sort of a sad story, The School closed because the director died, and no one took the bird… So, here they are. Azul keeps Kiwi company.

Here is a picture that just showed up on my camera.. sillyness.

And here is a picture H took of Dad at the computer.

Happy B-day, R!

Here is R’s first birthday cake!

Here he is, ready to celebrate!

Here he is, full of cake!

(click Here for a quicktime movie of R eating cake)

Here he is, very excited about his birthday present! (The figure-8 toy in his hand) Notice he is standing on his own… ready to take over the world, any second.

I forgot to mention a story that was relayed to me… My niece K saw the story about H’s birthday with the “carousel cake” told a story how she remembers my Dad (her Gfather) buying one just like it for her 2nd or 3rd Birthday. Which is pretty special, because he does not make a habit of buying gifts… However, to his credit, He did buy H a special china doll for her when she was born… And she asks to play with it every so often. (we have it stored on a high shelf, being china and all).

Nice memories.

Check this picture out… R in a (vintage, of course) sailor suit. Is that too cute or what?

Funny story: When K went to hospital to have R, We left H and M with our Friends S & H from E. They went to a local pool, and while there, my station was interviewing the lifeguards about safety. During the interview, they had a surprise test – someone faked floating face down, and they had to go through the full drill, as if it was happening. Well, our friend from C thought it was real, and the interviewer interviewed him. Amongst other things, he said, “for a second I thought it was H, the little girl I’m watching for my friends.. The mom is going to be mad when she sees this on teevee…”

Well, I waited a year, but I kept the aircheck for the whole 24 hours of the day R was born, (sort of kool to have the whole days worth of teevee that happened on your B-day, no?) And we finally saw the interview… I’ll have to give S & H from E a call and give them some grief. 🙂 Also, our anchors congratulated us on air that night. Sorta neat.