Sweet Sleeping Angels...

We had another fun night of sleeping in the castle ball tent! When Daddy and Mommy finally heard us settle down and went in to check on us this is what they found...

So Sweet! Elijah and Adrie were "keeping each other safe and snuggling" they said this morning.

Here is a sweet picture of Ezra sleeping too. He won't be in the cradle sleeping much longer! He loves to sleep in the cradle so I don't know how we are going to transition him into the crib!

Ezra's five month pictures

We got Ezra's pictures taken last week and they are now ready to be viewed online. He was in such a good mood that morning. He pretty much is always in a good mood though. He is such a good baby! If you'd like to view his photos please click the web site listed below and enter Kimberly Rhodus as the customer name. Hope you enjoy!

https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0030107365JCP

Sleeping in the castle...

Last night mommy and daddy let us have a slumber party in our castle jump-o-lene ball tent! We had a very fun time. Mommy set it up for us during the day in Adrielle's room and we had a great time jumping. Then we had the idea that we wanted to sleep in it. It took us a long time to actually fall asleep, but it was sure fun! We had to take all the balls out so we had room to sleep. That was hard work! After we got all the balls cleaned up, we put our favorite stuffed animals and blankets in there to sleep with. We slept all night in there.

Strollathon for Rhett Syndrome

Kelly and Brooklyn Butler

Yesterday morning Ezra and mommy went down town (Cincinnati) and joined the Butler family in the strollathon for Rhett Syndrome. (Daddy stayed home with Elijah and Adrielle...they were a little under the weather). Our good friend Brooklyn Butler was diagnosed with Rhett Syndrome about 4 months ago. We were asked to help raise money and join their family in the strollathon. We of course were honored and wanted to do all we could to help them out and to raise money to help find a cure for this horrible disorder. Our family was able to raise $245 (thank you to everyone who sponsered us)! In all, the strollathon raised over $250,000! Thanks to all who donated to this good cause! Hopefully the researchers will find a cure soon! It was so good to see the Butler family. The Butler team had around 40 people to walk with Brooklyn. It was such a humbling experience for me. Charlie and Kelly are incredibly strong and they are AMAZING parents. Lil' Brooklyn is so blessed to have them in her life to love and care for her the way they do. Charlie and Kelly are so blessed to have such a precious little angel in their lives! Brooklyn is absolutely adorable (as you can clearly see in the photos). When I first got there and knelt down to the stroller to where she was sitting to say hello she gave me this incredible, amazing smile that just brought tears to my eyes. Her smile melts your heart. She is a little miracle! God sends us some special angels in this world, and Brooklyn is definitely one of those God sent angels! You can read more about Brooklyn on her blog listed on our web page under "Our blogging Buddies" or her website is: http://brooklynbutler.blogspot.com/ We love you Brooklyn and never forget the Rhodus family is praying and thinking about you always!

"Team Butler"

Our family photo...

We realized we didn't have a photo of just our family together since Ezra was born!

Picture of us with Papa and Grammy before they left

At the park with Papa and Grammy

Here are a few shots taken at the park...










Adrie and Grammy

Elijah pretending to be a monkey

Papa and Grammy came to visit!

On Friday night Papa and Grammy came to visit us for the weekend. They live in Indiana and we don't get to see them to often. They live about 4 1/2 hours away. We had lots of fun with them. We all went to the Deerfield Day Festival on Saturday and had lots of fun (except on the ride there).


Adrie wanted to ride on the clown cars but got really scared
after they started to move. Elijah was a good big brother and
tried to comfort her. He put his arm around her it was so sweet.
He started to cry because she was so upset and scared. Maybe
she'll be ready for rides next year.



Elijah playing a game at the festival



Ezra slept through the whole thing



Elijah on the slide at the festival



Papa, Grammy, Elijah and Adrie with their prizes they won

First day of preschool in the 4's class...

Today was Elijah's first day of school this year. He goes to preschool 2 days a week from 9:15-1:15. His class is called "The Bears." He was a bit nervous. He said on the ride to school that he wasn't going to talk to anyone and he was just going to wave to his new teachers. Later that day he admitted to his mommy that he did talk to his teachers...but just a little. He gets to eat lunch at school this year which is very exciting for Elijah. We packed his lunch together last night and put it in the fridge. He couldn't wait to eat it today! This lunch box stuff is pretty cool! Adrielle was very sad she didn't get to go to school. We told her she gets to go next year when she is 3. She missed "bubby" while he was gone and she kept asking us to go get him. She said "I miss my friend bubby." It was so cute. We did, however, make her feel special by packing a lunch for her in her mommy's old childhood "My Little Pony" lunch box. She said that made her not feel so sad. We are all so excited for Elijah and hope he has a great year!

New Pool!

Today we headed out to ToysRUs to get a birthday present for our good friend, Ben. He is turning four tomorrow! (Happy Birthday, Ben!) We are going to his party this weekend. Anyways, as we were looking for a gift, we stumbled upon a great deal...a new swimming pool on clearance! (Only $2!) Our other pool was blown into the trees a few weeks ago by a wind storm and it popped and got a big hole in it. This time we bought one that won't pop or tear and it has a little slide built into it. Hopefully it'll last a little longer. Here are some pictures of us enjoying the beautiful day in the pool. Again, we are playing with "army guys"...that has been a favorite toy in this household ever since we watched the movie "Toy Story."

I'll give you the Shirt off my back...

The cutest thing happened yesterday in the car that I just had to blog about. One of those memories I really want to look back upon and remember. Any ways, we were in the car running a quick errand and Ezra was really fussing and crying. I knew he was tired and he also wanted his blankie, which I forgot to bring. He is already so attached to his blankie and hasn't been able to fall asleep with out it lately. When all of a sudden I heard Ezra calm down and suddenly stopped screaming. I looked in my rear-view mirror and Elijah said "I took care of the problem mommy. He wanted his blankie but we didn't bring it so I let him snuggle with my shirt. I'm a good big brother aren't I mommy? I like to take care of my little brother." Here he had some how taken his shirt off while buckled in his car seat and gave it to the baby and let him snuggle with it. It brought tears to my eyes. I sure hope Elijah is always the sweet, affectionate, innocent, kind hearted, loving, lil' Elijah he is now. I pray my children will always look out for one another and to others and always be willing to "give them the shirt off their backs." Ezra actually fell right to sleep and slept with Elijah's shirt the rest of the night.