Our Pumpkin

It's already been two weeks and boy has our little pumpkin Penelope changed! She's the center of our activity and we love it. Her favorite activity is sleeping so it's been an easy transition for everyone. We've even ventured outside a few times and she loves looking around and the fresh air. I have a feeling she'll keep up with her brothers just fine.
3 days old


5 days old

6 days old

7 days old

11 days old

12 days old

Two weeks old!!!

Penelope!

Our newest blessing: Penelope Taisia Drake!!
She made her arrival at 7:14am on July 13th weighing in at 8lbs and 6oz. She is 19 and 1/2 inches long. She's a great eater and a bit of a night owl. We made it home this afternoon on the 14th and we're all doing well. She's such a wonderful bundle of joy!!

Florida or Bust?!

So, since we're expecting our third child - (pause here for gasps of shock) - we decided to take one last vacation, to Florida. On a pleasant Thursday afternoon, we saddled up and headed out in the trusty minivan. Lucas started practicing his methods for getting attention from the ladies on the beach:

We learned from our last trip that driving to Florida takes a long time. So we wisely decided to make some stops along the way, starting with an overnight stay in Clarksville, Tennessee and following up with the Chattanooga Choo-Choo.

The Chattanooga Choo-Choo used to be a train station, but now it's a hotel. Behind the main building are restaurants and shops, scattered around a garden which is framed by a retired engine and passenger cars.

Lately Connor has been trying out our camera. He takes some really good shots! One of these days, his gallery will be on display in the sunroom.

Next we went to Lookout Mountain, another Chattanooga landmark. Trolleys running on steep tracks carry visitors from the bottom to somewhere slightly higher than the bottom.

Apparently, there were lots of people who had the same idea to head to Florida, because we had a tough time finding a hotel. We finally snagged the last room at an Ocala hotel and, after fighting traffic, made it to Treasure Island on Saturday afternoon.

Carl, Kristen, Ben and Ella had arrived the day before and stayed a couple of days. All of the boys got along pretty well. Connor and Ben were particularly inseparable, and Lucas compensated by being particularly hyper during the day and particularly exhausted at night.

We were down there on Easter Sunday, so we assembled gift baskets and hid plastic eggs around the condo for the boys to find. We learned that 1) there are not as many sanitary places to hide eggs in a spartan condo as you might think, and 2) putting candy inside each and every egg was definitely overkill.

An obvious perk of Florida was having swimming pools at our doorsteps. When we last swam in Grandma & Grandpa's pool last summer, the boys were getting around well with water wings. This time around, Connor finally gave them up after some gentle suggestions from his new friends at the pool. Lukie wanted to do the same, but we vetoed that suggestion.

The beach was just as much fun. There were fishermen reeling in baby sharks, pre-dug holes to host monster truck races, and pre-built castles to play with.

Ella even got in on the action!

The last couple of nights, we visited the beach at sunset. There were fewer people around and the kids could be more active and loud. It was the perfect setting for the last hurrah before bedtime.

Lest anyone think that we ran the boys ragged all the time, there was plenty of downtime as well:

On our way back, we stopped in Murfreesboro to see Finn and Brody (and Mike, and Jaimie, and Anne and Jeffrey and Gina!) Finn and Brody are both adorable and Finn is quite a talker!

Mike casually mentioned that they had a swing set which needed assembly and Matt offered, or maybe demanded, to help. We ended up spending an extra night in Murfreesboro (thanks Anne!) to finish putting it together. Both days we were there were gorgeous and we were outside a lot of the time.

We got back at 9:30 on Sunday night, and it was great to be home. Matt had work the next day and Connor had school, but we wouldn't have done it any other way!

Snow and Football

We've had some busy weekends in January with friends visiting and birthday parties. I can't believe how fast the holidays went by and now January is almost gone too. Since we've had a bunch of snow the last few weeks, the boys have been out there as much as possible. The boys have gone sledding several times now and love it. Connor and Lucas are going down the hill by themselves now. Lucas needs help getting started though and Connor is a pro at swerving to avoid the trees and stopping right before the creek at Grandpa's house. He's made me nervous several times as he gets really close to that creek but he laughs and stops every time! The past weekend the weather warmed up that Connor even got to build a snowman with Grandpa.

Below are the boys eating snow cones! They refilled their cones several times!

Last weekend the boys and I caught colds and were laying low. We got to watch both football games on Sunday and the boys really got into the Colts game. As soon as the game started they geared up in their football outfits! They mimicked almost every play they saw on TV. They'd hike the ball, pass, and then tackle Matt. They went strong well into the 4th quarter! You would have never known they were sick.