The Kelsey's

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When you do that, you will be sent an e-mail with a link that you have to click. Once you do that you will be put on a list that will send you an e-mail every time a new post is entered on this web site.

Stay tuned, I have a post for Caleb’s birthday, a post about Joshua’s trip to a political rally, my own birthday, and my trip to the annual Peacemaker conference. But that’s not going to happen tonight. It’s time to head off for bed.

The House Situation

Today was a crazy day. I took Joshua over to meet an inspector to get an occupancy permit for the house we are trying to sell (the one we lived in from ’95 to ’03 or so). The back sliding glass door was open and the inspector said, “I hope you still have your copper pipes.”

He turned on the water and it worked. He said, “Naw, you’re ok.”

But I had go get my hair cut for my Job that starts Monday (more about that in a bit). And then I took Joshua home and went to take care of the house. I got some wood to brace the door shut. But while looking in the back yard for the stick that used to keep the glass doors secure, I found a chunk of a door frame… I figured it had to belong to me.

So I went through the whole house and I found the back door that leads to the car port had been busted through. Then they put the frame back up and even re-latched the chain lock and the deadbolt metal plate so it looked undisturbed. They just forgot and left the glass door ajar.

Well I’m not handy enough to actually fix the door – so what did I do? I took a long piece of wood and screwed it to the door frame. Now the door won’t open at all. So it’s secure, it just doesn’t function as a door right now.

So the question is, will this deter what is most likely mischievous kids, or will it make them more determined to break in to the point of breaking a window or something…? From talking to the neighbors, it seems that there was a party on July 4th at our house. We weren’t informed.

So that’s the excitement there, other than the fact that the people that were going to buy it aren’t going to be able to. And they were going to lease it, but it’s looking like they can’t afford to do that either.

So the house is still out there.

The Job Situation

So I took a 3 week contract to define a potential client’s needs, and then if they are willing, I would lead a team of developers to implement what we planned out. I’ve never been on such a short contract, but it sure beats sitting at home without a job. I’m being told that they are pretty confident that this short assignment would roll right into something much more stable if the work is done well. But they weren’t sure enough to sign a contract over it – now were they.

It will be an interesting stretch for me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been involved in requirements gathering that was planned and not due to a chaotic work environment. So it could be interesting. I guess we’ll know much more after Monday.

It’s getting close to sundown on a Friday night, so I think I’ll just sign off for now. Gotta get you more pictures. Oh, one more thing… I incorporated a new commenting widget called Disqus. Give it a try and see what you think.

So what do you do on a holiday where the big event isn’t until after dark? Does the rest of the day feel like any other day? It may have seemed that way in the morning.

But soon after lunch time, we did something a little different. Laura suggested we stop laying around the house and go outside and play.

“It’s the 4th of July and it’s beautiful outside..!”

So we decided to do ‘some activity’ outside. Joshua grabbed his glove and mine, and a couple of baseballs. Hannah grabbed her iPod. Caleb grumbled a bit about having to put on socks and shoes instead of just flip flops. But I demanded if we were going to do some running around, you would need more than those.

So we were going to go in the back yard and play catch. After all, the yard still looked like it had been mowed. (That reminds me, I need to do something about the fact that I don’t own a working lawn mower – this fact will become noticeable to the whole neighborhood very soon.)

I thought we could walk over to the near by high school and run around the track. But instead we settled for walking a few blocks to the park and throwing the ball around. We got there and Joshua and I started playing catch. Hannah walked over to the swings and Caleb decided that doing that was better than watching.

It was only about five minutes when Caleb came running back over to us. I thought he had forgotten to go to the bathroom before leaving – he looked a little agitated. When he got over to me I asked him what was wrong. In an agitated voice he said, “Dad, there’s bees out here!”

I looked around and we were in a vast field of clover with the puffy white flowers poking out everywhere. I bent over and looked down.

“You’re right! Why this right here would be called a bumble bee.” I took a few steps and said, “And here are two more.”

This wasn’t helping.

“Caleb, you’ve walked all the way across this field twice now and they didn’t even notice you. Besides, this is why I told you to wear shoes instead of flip flops, you’re just fine.”

No consolation. By this time Hannah is on her way over because it’s looking like there’s a conversation that she’s missing out on.

We walked over to the sidewalk and considered just going home. But instead we decided to go on over to the track. Hannah wasn’t interested, so she took the balls and gloves back to the house. Only after we got home did we find out that she decided to take the long way home and even stopped off at the Haakenson’s to visit for a while. Freedom from the supervision of parents is becoming a “thing” with her.

So we walked over and ran up and down the bleachers of the soccer field. I was sure there was a track around somewhere. So we walked all the way around the back of the school and found it on the far side.

We ran one lap. This was enough to leave some of us gasping for breath! OK, Caleb was ready to go – but the rest of us were through. I did manage to jump one hurdle that was on the side. But that took it all out of me.

But before we left, I lined the boys up in one end zone and we pretended to run back a kick off. We did the 100 yard “dash(?)” for what would be considered a touchdown. However, a touchdown isn’t a touchdown when there is no defense. But there were all these metal stakes in the ground, but I don’t think they counted.

After a leisurely stroll home, it wasn’t long until dinner. Not a bad way to mess around while waiting for the big 4th of July feast that was being prepared for us.

Usually on the night of the 4th, we go to a local Steak -N- Shake and order milk shakes for all and sit on a hill and watch 3-4 fireworks displays. We discovered this worked better for our toddlers because they were far away enough from the booms. And the Florissant display was close enough that we could still enjoy some booms during the finale. Plus no crowd and we could just wander back home as soon as it was over.

But this year the 4th fell on a Friday night. We don’t buy anything from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday to honor the Sabbath day. So this year we just stayed home. We were pretty pooped from running around in the afternoon anyway.

It’s amazing how the prosperity of this country has allowed us to become so very sedentary! I’m not complaining! Just observing.

I think things will be changing around here soon… …Laura bought a scale this week.

Oh, a week went by yesterday – but we are still in the next week… I hope you are forgiving. I don’t have a theme for this blog post, just some recent pictures from the kids.

Cruisin’ with the Kelseys

Caleb is free with the pictures while riding in the van. This is a view from the family view mirror.

Here’s Nathan to Caleb’s left.

And here’s Hannah in her own world on his right.

Caleb has quite a few self portraits. I’m working on pulling those together into a slide show or a collage or something, stay tuned.

The latest thing

The boys have just been ga ga for their Wii. We are trying to help them to appreciate temperance with this new activity. But right now they are excited by this little guy…

That would be "Lego Indy Jones!" We’ll try to get you a recording of Nathan cheering them on…

I know throwing up a couple of pictures real quick is a cheezy excuse – but hey, I could’ve just left you hanging for a week or two.

We are getting geared up for another Peacemaking weekend. This time in Ottumwa, IA. Yes, Ottumwa is right in the middle of all this flooding mess. We’ll see what we have to face when we get there.

Speaking of Peacemaking, I have my paperwork in to my mentor. We’ll be talking about that together to make sure I have everything he needs to approve me. I then just need to turn in my independent paperwork. I plan on finishing that off over the next two weeks. Then I’ll be able to graduate in September! I’m sooo close!

We’ve been so busy living, that blogging has sagged a bit. Well no more! Starting this month you will see at least one blog entry every week! Oh, it’s the 11th? Well, last week we were at Camp Meeting… we were in the sticks… What can you do.

The Latest On the Car

First off, I think the biggest response I’ve gotten from people is that my car was wrecked. “Hey how are you doing? I saw on your blog that you wrecked your car.”
Ok, that was the end of March. It’s June now. But the lesson is learned. If it isn’t blogged, it didn’t happen. The car is fixed.

Hannah Continues With the Piano

Hannah was getting a little weary of having to practice. But she loves her teacher, and she loves her annual recital – so we’ll hang on a little longer. She’s back to practicing sans the complaining.

The Camera Is a Hit

The kids have produced more pictures, soundtracks, and even videos than I can possibly put up here – unless I just dumped them all on you. So instead of that, I’ll stick in some “flashback” posts and try to include more of them. Oh yes, very very soon. Here’s a sample shot. This is us at camp meeting. What’s typical about this shot? What’s atypical? If you can’t answer this question, I invite you to get to know us better. Or just call Laura, she’ll know.

Here are a few snapshots of life at the Kelsey homeschool.  We start off with our typical layout.  Everyone is gathered around the table with assignments – diligently working.

Caleb is having a good day at school.

Joshua is clowning around.  All work and no play is just an unacceptable option.

Hannah is filled with thoughts of where her education will lead her in life.  The possibilities are endless.

Nathan is having such fun while the older kids are “chained to their chairs.”  Don’t worry, bub, your day is coming – and sooner than you think.

These were all taken the day I was home sick, Feb. 5, 2008.  Thanks for stopping by.

I have a best friend who lives about 2 hours away from me.  We used to live about 10 minuets away, but she moved away when I was in first grade.  My heart was broken because we did everything together,  from sleepovers to school to birthday parties.  Now, a few years later, we have gotten used to it, found some new people to hang out with (but not to replace each other), and e-mail and write letters to each other.  We are also on a few online clubs that we can get together on.  Today, I was on one of our clubs, when she messaged me to tell me she was on.  I messaged her back and we began to chat.  Then, the subjects went to boys and other teenager things.  I realized almost immediately that my best friend was changing on me.  That’s one disadvantage of being almost 2 years younger than your best friend. That made me feel pretty disappointed.  But I know we will always be Best Friends Forever, no matter how much we change.

This is Hannah Kelsey, the oldest Kelsey kid, and also the only girl. It’s a pretty hard life being the only girl. I mean, I’m not complaining or anything, but sometimes its hard. I still have my mom, and that helps a lot, but sometimes, I just feel really alone. All my best friends live pretty far away, so, as you can imagine, the telephone is my one of my best friends! I use it over time. But, I’m still the oldest! Witch has an advantage. I’m the Queen of three younger brothers. Joshua, the oldest boy, Caleb the middle kid, and Nathan the baby of the family. It’s also hard to be the oldest. Babysitting, changing diapers, dealing with Josh and Caleb teaming up against me, and, of course, setting a good example for them. That is the hardest job in my opinion. One of my gifts seems to be connecting and helping with younger kids. Some really younger, like maybe 1 or 2. And some a little older, like 4 or 5. Once I see a smaller child, I go over, start to play with her, and almost immediately, we start connecting. Hopefully, someday, I will have a little companion with me, to look up to me wherever I go. and with whatever I do.

I now have my account set up so that I can add blog entries as well.  This is really easy.

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While at work the fire alarms went off. Unusual, but not anything to panic over – the assumption is that it’s a drill. So everyone pops out of their cubicles to see if anyone else is going to be the first to head for the exits. We stand around discussing the idea for a moment and as momentum grows and people begin to meander outside – the alarm stops. So maybe it wasn’t a drill, it was a malfunction. I go back and sit down.

Then a voice is heard over the intercom. “There is a fire on the first floor, please wait for instructions on evacuation.” There is a very small second floor, but most of this building is on the first floor. So should we wait until there is an explosion, or flaming men go running past before we take this seriously? After having a good chuckle at the announcement, our boss proceeds to tell us a story about a fire alarm he once participated in during his army days.

He is interrupted by another announcement: “There is a fire on the first floor. Please evacuate.” So out we go into the early September heat. I grabbed all my things just in case we are told we can’t go back in the building – you see, I’ve had some experience with these sorts of things during the great St. Louis power outages of ought six, the summer one – not the winter one.

I put my things in my car and figured while I was out standing around, I’d call my wife to share the adventure with her. She reminds me that this is the 3rd and we still haven’t collected our rent. Now is a good time to call. So I call and ask if this evening is a good time to come by and pick up the rent check.

“I’m not going to pay your rent this month.”
“Why?”
“The rent is to expensive. We’ve liked it here, but we have to move.”
“When?”
“Today.”
“Well what about September’s rent?” You can see I wasn’t quite following.
“You’ll just have to take that out of my deposit, I need this money for my new place.”
“When am I going to get my key back?”
“Well, we’ll move today and the place will still be a little messy. I’d like to clean it up, that will take a couple days.”
“O.K., I’ll call you back on Friday.”

So, not only did my building catch on fire (they let us back in about 20 minutes later), but I lost my renter. It turned out to be a real banner day.

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