Elser Family Blog

We were in the back yard (firing bottle rockets.. Fun) When we heard a band playing. A Marching band.
Similar to when, in the autumn when the leaves fall, you start to hear things you didn’t hear before? I remember in Evergreen Park it was the marching band practicing a half mile away, and race cars at raceway park on Fridays, about 10 miles away.
Ah, memories.
Anyway this band… IT was getting closer.
?
It turns out is was the homecoming parade, right out past the front of our house. We caught the beginning, and the kids scored big time with the candy the cheerleaders gave out.

Nice surprise for a Sunday afternoon. 🙂

This evening, I sang in the joint choirs at the Reformation service at redeemer Lutheran across the river in Augusta. See the cell phone pictures for a picture. I sat next to a tenor that blew me away.. I was way out of my league, but now I know what it is like to sing in a semiprofessional group. Neat. Makes me say “hmmm… With a little training, Perhaps R could achieve that level of voice that I could never achieve.. hmmm”

Out for a stroll, to go to the fall festival downtown (down the street a few feet) H is “The Queen of Hearts” an original costume by H. I thought it was pretty good! But she lost the costume contest to some store bought costumes. bahh.

Cat boy, I guess. So serious. I wonder what he is thinking. Probably, when is the train ride going to come?? (that is what we were waiting for at the time) Or, “dad, exactly how long ARE you going to let my hair grow??”

Here is an interesting game… hmmm.

Here is a nice picture I forgot. I’m pretty sure my sister Melinda made it…

I just got back from H’s first parent-teacher conf. They can be pretty boring… The teach always says. “she is doing fine..” And that’s about it.

I hope and pray I keep having that problem!!! (H, if your reading this somewhere down the line, you did really well..)

H, fresh out of the pool. The pool is starting to get cold! brrr she says.

K took a wonderful picture of a praying mantis in our front yard today.. It was snatching bees off the flowers and eating them. This was the second bee we saw it eat. They were big bees too! It seems to be saying.. “Hey, your interrupting my dinner here…”

H’s front tooth finally came out.. With a little help from dad.. 🙂 H was playing with it, and I said, “Let me see…” It was so loose that I got my fingernail under it and yanked it down and it fell into H’s lap. Her reaction was “Hey, what just happened??” She was surprised and quite happy it was finally out.. Looks like the Tooth Fairy is going to visit tonight. H left out her crown teira and ceptre to impress the tooth fairy. And wrote her a note, but we were not able to read it.

Here is a fun picture from the SnoCap. Gotta love those mailtrucks.
tomorrow is K’s birthday. Wish her the best!

Went to the local Mexican candy store, and R picked out “candy fangs” (?)
Anyway, M thought Barney needed some teeth…

Just a fun pick of R hanging out. Someone give that kid a haircut, will ya? (that would be me..)

H wanted to build something with wood. R was satisfied just watching. But he put is hard hat on just in case.

Over time, Grandma Elser has given each of our children one of her paperweights. R uses his a ball.. It gets rolled around all the time. (Grandma approves)
As a matter of fact, this picture happened because M just got her paperweight from Grandma. When R and H saw that, they both ran and got their paperweights. I have no idea where R found his at. But HE knew where it was!

H made her first Diorama in second grade. They had to make a “mouse house”.

I know, it looks like a regular room in a house. But to the trained eye, it looks just like a room in a video called “mouse house” that we used to take out of the church library a long time ago.

On my way back from my parents 60th Wedding anniversary, I saw a pinto towing a trailer. Flashback to the 70’s gas crunch!!

Going through a couple pictures.. here is an interesting one. Mom and Dad in 1966.
Intersting because, There the same age as K and I are now in this picture. I wonder if we look this old to our kids? (smile- you know we do)

Took a ride up north… Any family resemblance? 🙂

Here are the siblings… We look the same, just a bit older! Funny how that works.

Here is the NextGen.. Matt and Nolan. Aww. (that’s first Cousin once removed to my kids, FYI.)

Here is Chris, performing his magic on a hog.. He says he has to find out where the last 3 pigs came from, because the meat just falls off the bone. Something I didn’t know.. Your supposed to ask for a roasting pig when you order it. What’s the difference I wonder??

I took more pictures, but I will save them for later.

We Went to Luther Point at lake Thurmond, Its a campground that the church maintains. We can go whenever we want, and I look forward to going more often when the kids get a bit older.
Anyway, we had out church service there today. And the kids got to go swimming.

Do you remember swimming with three inches of mud that would squeeze between your toes? Well, here is that memory being implanted.. (Click on the picture for a QuickTime movie ~1meg)

And, H decided she wanted to take communion. We said she had to talk to pastor about it, so we made a appointment and she talked to him about it this week.
So, this is H’s first communion. It was a little foreign for us, but after thinking about it, as long as H knows what the meaning is, I’m good with it. (click on the picture for a QuickTime movie, <1meg)