Chains Anyone?

Well, we've had a busy house the last while. The other day I had spent most of the day cleaning and finally got in the shower just after 2:00pm (so I could pick the girls up from school). Once out of the shower Zac came to chat with me and was saying something about "going for a walk". I was busy trying to get ready so I brushed it off with a generic "oh really?". Out of the corner of my eye I realized there was more light coming in from the living room/ entry. I ran down there and sure enough the door was wide open! I panicked and made sure Thomas was still here and then asked Zac if he had actually gone for a walk? He replied with a easy going "um yup! I went for a walk to John's house but I heard a dog noise so I came back!" WHAT?! I gave him what I thought was a pretty good "talking to" on the dangers of his choices... but I don't think it stuck with him.
The next day, I was feeling pretty exhausted after a rough night with Zac (who never seems to wear out from being sick and crying all night). I put a movie on for the boys and went to lay down for just a second. I think (from the time on my alarm clock) that my nap lasted about 3 minutes when I realized that my boys were quiet (never a good sign with my boys). So, I panicked *again* and went to see what was going on. They were in fact playing nicely! However, I noticed the "always locked and dead bolted" door was no longer locked or dead bolted. I questioned Zac about it and he replied with " umm yup! I had my keys so I went out side".
So, I think that the chains we bought for the doors (to keep Thomas from going out alone) need to go up to keep Zac from *planning field trips*!

Our Gallery is Up...

You can check out our photo gallery at:
http://kellibramble.jalbum.net/rhodenizer/
It will expire on Oct. 25th.
If you have any favorites, let us know!

Just for Shock Value...

The other day Josh was playing play dough with the kids. Elise had requested that he help her build her bedroom (complete with pillows, books, blankets, etc.). Zac saw what fun they were having and asked Josh to help him as well. When Josh asked what he wanted to make he replied "umm, a girl in a shower"! WHAT?!

Recently Elise makes a point of telling us things she would and wouldn't want to do when ever we are out. For example, when we drive by Pizza Hut she will inform us that "I do not want to eat there!" or when driving over a bridge she'll say "I do NOT want to jump that high!". Well, On our latest adventure Elise informed us that she was in fact "afraid of heights". Zac responded with "I'm not afraid of heights! I have a bug catcher to catch those ones".

ABC's and 123's

I realize that Elise has been in school for 6 weeks now and I'm just now trying to get caught up on my blogging. She has so much fun and wants to practise her reading and writing constantly until she gets it perfect! The first week was a little emotional...partly because my first baby was going to be leaving me for 7 hours a day 5 days a week. It was a little more emotional for Elise though...meaning she was crying at the drop of a hat for the first couple days...it turned out that she had a fever and had to stay home sick on day 4! Once we were over that she has loved it since (but equally loves to sleep in on Saturday mornings).
Here she is all ready to walk to school the first day. She picked out her new school outfit herself!

Elise and Brinley were so excited to see each other at school ( we couldn't hardly get them to stop hugging and squealing).

Here she is at her table, ready to learn! I can't believe how fast this day came and went!

The BIG 2!

Well, Thomas turned 2! His birthday happened to be the same day as the Camp out so we celebrated a little late with Uncle Zac and Auntie Sarah. Our days were pretty busy and since he was oblivious to the fact that the celebration was for him we just bought a cake and sang to him.
He was all smiles on the way home with the cake...

...and all smiles when he saw that it was "SUPERMAN" on his cake...

and as soon as I can figure out how to get the video from our video camera you'll see how *happy* he was when we sang to him. He spent the whole time screaming "NNNNOOOOOOOOO NOOOOOO NOOOOO STOP! STOP! NOOOOOO". I guess he wasn't too excited about being the center of attention for that part. I'll post that as soon as I get the video...that's our little sweetie!

A little Sneak Peek...

I have SOOOOOOOO much blogging to get done and my list just gets longer the more I put it off but this Saturday we were able to have our first ever *real* photo shoot as a family (thank you again M and H!). We had so much FUN! Our photographer was VERY patient...between 5 miles of basically stopped traffic, the gas light coming on, and a barely awake and grumpy Zac needing to make an *emergency* bathroom stop...well, we were a little late!
However, once we finally got there and met her...She was wonderful! The kids loved her right away and she learned pretty quick what strange things worked to coax those smiles (we have 2 boys... smelly squirrels and bird poop! need I say more?). We were able to get some family pictures done right away and then she took each of the kids away from the group for a solo shoot. Elise was ecstatic, Thomas cooperated well when he didn't know he was cooperating (make sense?) and Zac...well he made us all work. He was happy just not willing to make a normal smile or stand where he needed to be (not shocking I know! What 3 1/2 year old does?!).

Well, I would recommend her to anyone! You can check out our *sneak peek* on her blog at:
http://kellibramble.blogspot.com/