The Kelsey's

It took a while, but it’s finally happened.  Caleb has both of his big teeth.  When he was three or so (ok, it’s 4 am, I’m not capable of doing year math – that’s why it’s not exact), we were in Atlanta for our first Peacemaker conference and Caleb smashed his face on a stone step at the hotel.  His lips and gums were swollen and black.

Eventually that left front tooth discolored, and thanks to his rambunctious brother, it came (was knocked) out.  He went a long time with just the one front tooth.  I was worried that he might have damaged the root of the permanent tooth.

But just a few weeks ago it showed up and started to come in.  And then the other one started to make an appearance.  In fact his remaining front tooth had become rather stubborn.  Look.

It was hanging in there even as the bigger tooth came up behind and started pushing it out.  In fact, as it pushed that baby tooth forward we started to see our families best ever “Larry the Cucumber” impression.  It was even in 3-D.

It’s all over now, and I am so very thankful.  Whether it’s Christmas or not.  All I wanted was his two front teeth.  I don’t foresee Caleb as a hockey star, but either way – I think I’m going to invest in a mouthguard for him that he can just take with him everywhere he goes.

Oh, keep your teeth in…

The last week or two around the house have been interesting.  One of my least favorite sounds is that of “munch, munch, munch” on the frame inside the walls or up in the attic.  This sound is followed closely on my no-no list with the sound of little clawed feet scurrying about in those same spaces.

We have been hearing these things recently.  A couple of weeks ago we had actual combat taking place.  I am sure it was on the roof as it went across the whole house, even our bedroom which has a vaulted ceiling – so there is no attic space above us.  We heard the battle right over head.  Some foe was vanquished – we heard their pitiful cries for mercy.  None was given.  We got to hear some poor creature meet it’s untimely end right above our heads that morning.

It wasn’t long after that when we started seeing a little gray flash out of the corner of our collective eyes.  I thought I saw something in the basement, but decided it was just a shadow of a little car hanging from the light string…

Then Laura said she thought she saw something while Facebooking one night.  Then a few nights later the kids saw it – the mouse!  It scurried behind the couch.  There was much screaming and running about.

We decided something draconian must be done.  So at the beginning of the month I did a bunch of Googly research and bought some Victory traps, some glue paper, and some smelly concoction from a web site (that hasn’t arrived yet in the mail).  We set the traps and waited – nothing.

Late last week Laura saw it again.  Only this time the creature was so bold to stop and give her a stare back before scrambling away.  We decided that these traps were not actually self baiting as they claimed.  So late Saturday night, I added a dab of peanut butter to one trap.

About 30 minutes later… <!”SNAP”!> and it was over.  I looked and saw a wiggly tale and a shaky arm.  Looking a little close I could see that a spine had been broken.  It was about as quick, painless, and efficient as such things could possibly be.

I woke Laura up to inform her, secretly hoping she would get up and help with the aftermath.  But I guess grossness only pertains the the kids’ issues.  She just said, “That’s great dear” and rolled over.

So I went down and wrapped my hand in a plastic bag and grabbed the corner of the trap.  I was afraid that it’s friends would come out to defend their compatriot against me.  But Reepacheep was evidently occupied elsewhere.  I picked up the corner of the trap with the limp body dangling off the other side.  I managed to take it out and put it on the garage floor.

I then got a freezer bag and placed the trap and all inside.  I also stuffed in the grocery bag that I used as a glove.  So all the biohazard material was contained.  I left it in the garage to show the family that the deed was indeed done.  I also replaced the trap with a new one with peanut butter – nothing has happened since.  Did we actually have just a solo act?

When everyone got up the kids were facinated.  Hannah couldn’t bear to look, but she was willing to have Joshua take a picture for her on her camera so she could gross out her friends.  We do have pictures, but I haven’t posted them because we do want this to be a family friendly web site.

What do you think?  Should pictures of vaquished vermin be placed on The Kelsey’s family blog?  Or is that just T.M.I. (too much information).  Share your feedback with us by commenting on this post.

Here is another, our second, episode of The Kelsey’s Podcast.  This episode introduces little Nathan.  I actually used some interesting software to try to even out the sound levels.  It worked pretty good.  Let us know what you think:

Stay tuned to our blog – we are going to pull something together for the New Year.  We’ll see if we can pull it off.

I’m not sure how this will work, but we have set out to try something new.  We’ve put together a podcast.  It is our intention to try to do this twice a month.  That’s agressive we know, but you have to start somewhere.

Without any more introduction here it is:

If you have any thoughts about our efforts, leave a comment. And we want to have lots of questions to talk about, so send them in the comments too. If we can find ones that will spark discussions, we’ll try to work them in! No guarantees…

We had a great trip to Kansas.  Thanks to Jill’s portable DVD player the kids were relatively fight free (we have to get us one of those).  Usually we stay in a hotel room when we go and do a Biblical peacemaking weekend.  But this time we were going outside of our conference so it was more like a visit with friends where we just happened to be sharing instead of the other way around.  So we broke our rule and stayed with the Johnston’s.  They have a great place with lots of land, a trail to walk, and a dog named Zoe – which was a little bit of a challenge for our family’s canine neuroses.

Joshua got a picture of us all – this was just as we were leaving.

The kids had fun – here are the boys.

And the girls had fun too, due in part to the boys being out of their hair.  (Caleb is the master of the frames that come with the camera…)

Joshua got to ride bikes around.  The boys smashed up lego cars.  Anything built to be broken is a genius toy idea!  The girls got to talk and hang out together.

Now Nathan did get sick on Sabbath morning.  This caused Laura to have to stay home for Sabbath School and church, but he made a quick recovery after a nap and keeping down some crackers.  So they joined us up at the church in the afternoon.  In the evening there was a talent share as a church social.  Yes, we have video, but for the sake of people we don’t even know – we won’t make them famous.  It was fun.

We are headed off today for another weekend of teaching Biblical peacemaking principles.  This time we are traveling outside of our usual territory of Iowa and Missouri.  We’re going to Kansas.  It will be about 6.5 hours to get there.  But the kids have become veteran travelers.  With all the electronic crutches available today, it’s not that hard really.  I remember when having a Mattel electronic Football game with red LED’s that lit up as you mashed the buttons with three rows to choose from as you blipped your way across the little screen made for hours of mind numbed entertainment.  That’s nothing compared to today!

Anyway, we will be seeing our old friends, Tim and Linda Johnston, who used to attend church with us before they moved away.  They saw us at camp meeting last summer and Tim’s brother Tom attended the peacemaking sessions we had there.  Tim was convinced that his church could benefit from learning these things and was diligent in making sure that we got scheduled to come out there.  His persistence paid off and we are on our way.

It’s rainy this morning and I understand that the weather is pretty snowy out on the great plains – so this could be an interesting trip.  We’ll update you when we get back.

Not much to say here – just look at these photos of a hawk that sat looking around our back yard.  I think he was looking for some food.  Maybe he was tracking that huge snake I almost ran over with the lawn mower earlier in the summer (sorry, no pictures of that thing!).

Pretty wild, huh?

Laura took the kids to the pumpkin patch for a day of frivolity and to burn of the last of that summer energy.  Here are a few pictures to help you to get a sense of what happened.

Nathan immediately took to the wheel – he likes to be the captain of his own vessel.  Even if that wheel is bigger than he is.

Hannah helped Nathan to go down the zip line.  With big sister holding on it wasn’t exactly zippy, but that’s the way he liked it.

Just to give you some perspective on how big everyone is getting – they lined up against the measuring rod.  Joshua has just passed 5 feet and Hannah is just past 5 1/2 feet tall.  Caleb is at 4 1/4, but I think he’s getting ready to sprout up himself.

Now a day in the pumpkin patch wouldn’t be complete without a hay ride on the back of a flat bed truck.  Laura and the kids relax with some of their friends as they rumble along through the fields of harvest.

About 5 hours of fun for a fist full of dollars – you can’t hardly beat it these days.  But the end of the day arrived and they all piled in the van and came and picked me up from work.  I had my car in for it’s bi-annual inspection (it passed) so when they got me Nathan and Caleb were zonked out and the older kids looked a little worn as well.

In the evening, Joshua went with me to the evangelistic meetings at church where I interpreted for one of our deaf members and we learned about “Memory Loss and Monkey Business.”  Our friend Brian did a good job presenting.  Now everyone is cleaned up and winding down for bed.  I think I’ll head that way too.  G’night.

A few weeks ago, right after the political conventions were over, we got a call from our FairTax friends asking us to attend the McCain / Palin rally in St. Charles. So Joshua and I agreed. It’s not often you get to go to these things.

We met up with our group and they had T-shirts and hats for us to wear. We also had a big FairTax sign but the security people said we couldn’t bring it in. So we had to take it back to the car. In other words – we waited through this line TWICE!

See the line going back behind the trees?  That was about 1/2 way back to the cars!

The guys behind us were talking politics the whole time (go figure).  The ladies in front of us were teachers and they were glad to see a young person coming to learn about how our leaders are selected.  They took this nice picture for us.

When we finally got in to the baseball park, we found a tent where the local talk radio guys were interviewing our former senator Jim Talent.

We made our way out onto the ball field. We stood out there for a total of three hours. Basically where that camera stand is located in front of us is the pitcher’s mound.

The cameraman is pointed over to where the “Straight Talk Express” pulled right up. Here’s what it looked like from our vantage point.

Mike Huckabee (a big supporter of the FairTax) helped warm up the crowd.

Then Sarah got to speak and the crowd just loved her. This was her first stop after the convention and they weren’t really ready for the 23,000 or so that came out.

We had a great time. It is a very close race. In most states it is now too late to register, but if you are registered – be sure to do your part and vote. We are preparing our minds for the possibility of four years of slouching towards socialism. It’s just that close. But they say that Democrats win polls and Republicans win elections. We’ll see this time.

Post Script: If you are of a different political persuasion and are not fond of Mrs. Palin, we’re entitled to our own viewpoint. I’d love to talk about it some time. I have friends of all political stripes – and we’re still friends. But please be considerate of our kids and hold your nose and vote for McCain. Back to normal family business in the next post.

We’re half way through August and nothing is happening at The Kelsey’s. That is mostly my fault. There have been plenty of pictures taken, and a fair amount of video. The problem in the process is that dad’s not getting things published out to everyone. Too much on his plate? You could say so.

I started a new contract where I’m not just doing development, but I also have some management responsibilities. This is a bit of a twist for me. I’m still not sure what to think about it. My church responsibilities haven’t lessened. I still have a bit of Peacemaker paperwork to do. And we have started working on peacemaking across Iowa and Missouri.

But it is August, and August means… The Thirty Day Challenge ! This is a free education on Internet Marketing. I participated last year and learned a ton of stuff. But it is a major time vacuum. The month is about half over, but the material will remain for people who are interested, indefinitely.

If you want to see a little more what we’ve been up to – here a web site I am trying for the thirty day challenge – It’s called I hate grass care . I’m taking my disdain for my lawn to a whole new level. I talk about how to manage your grass care . And I also show you some handy things you can buy to help you with your grass care. The idea being that if somebody buys what I’m promoting, I earn a commission.

My I Hate Grass Care site has a video that Joshua helped me with.  The kids have been helping where they can.  I have another site that I’m trying to work on too, but it hasn’t progressed as far – it’s Homeschool Software , but I’m having technical difficulties with that one.  Anyway, that’s keeping me pretty busy.

We’ve got more pictures and video from the church picnic, from vacation bible school, and from swimming lessons. And a little more from the thirty day challenge. Stay tuned, there’s plenty more to come.