Rainy Day

It's pouring outside which is great! The rain has forced us to slow down and spend a day inside. I'm catching up on bills, cleaning, laundry, iTune downloads, and blogging. Today also seems like a great day for pizza since I have some time to let the dough rise. It's shaping up nicely for a lazy rainy day!

Here's a picture from April's Hootenanny. Both boys played for some time and loved playing with Dad, Grandpa, and Great Grandpa.


For Easter Grandma Albu got Connor rollerblades and with all the great weather these last few weeks we broke them out for him to try. He did really well and loved blading! He gets a kick out of Matt blading around the driveway so now with a little more practice he'll be able to go blading with Dad!

While Connor was blading this is what Lucas did the WHOLE time. He played with that bucket of water and rocks all afternoon. We barely saw his face!

Last Wednesday we spent the entire morning outside planting and goofing around. Well, I planted while the boys found plenty of things to do and plenty of dirt. One project was an ant aquarium. Who am I to stop creativity! They gave the ants plenty of water to drink, grass to eat, and rocks to climb. It was pretty cute. They also rode their bikes and played on the swing set a ton while I planted most of our vegetable garden.

I tried to get the boys to go inside for lunch several times without any success. Finally around 1:30pm I made them go inside for lunch and Lucas' nap. I quickly got a snack together and headed to the restroom. When I got back, this is how I found Lucas who had been crying up a storm since we came inside. Too much fun!!

This past weekend we headed up to WI for Uncle John's 30th surprise birthday party. It was a big success! Christina and her mom did an excellent job planning, prepping, and keeping the kids in the dark until that day. We had an awesome time and so did the boys! Happy 30th John! Happy Birthday to all the boys' aunts and uncles who have May birthdays too! (Auntie Em, Christina, Carl and Jim)

Sunday we had a fun Mother's Day at my parents house. We had yummy food and a relaxing day hanging around and playing with the boys. Both boys love piggy back rides and lots were had that day.

Connor took this picture of my Mom and Lucas. Not too bad for a budding photographer! Happy Mother's Day Mom, Rita, Grandma Drake, and Grandma Beagles!

Albu Easter

April 19th was Orthodox Easter, so we headed to my folks to celebrate with them. Saturday was a beautiful day and we took the boys outside as much as possible. After lunch we headed to the Botanical Gardens where the boys got to explore. They were most interested in the fish, ducks, and signs. Connor wanted us to read all the signs including the names of the plants. We walked a bunch and had plenty of snacks to fed the boys.

Easter Sunday we had an egg hunt inside since the weather didn't cooperate with us. It rained most of the day. The boys loved it and most of the day was spent hiding eggs in the living room for them to find. The boys had their vests on and so did my Dad. Don't they look dapper! Too cute!

Drake Easter

We started off Easter weekend with dyeing eggs Friday and then headed to Grandma's and Grandpa's on Saturday. The cousins picked up where they left off a few weeks ago and played all weekend long! Bubbles were blown, golf cart rides taken, a Cool Cousins Clubhouse established, a new fishing hole was found, eggs were hunted, and lots of goodies were eaten!

Abby and Lucas had a serious conversation about bubbles. After several minutes of 'talking' Abby walked off saying, "No. No. No. No." You go girl!

Lucas wanted to hold Bridget and they were so happy together. Look at those cheeks!


Easter morning we headed to church and Connor wore 'The Red Suit'! He looks very dapper in it! Matt wore the suit and all of Connor's uncles did too. It's a family tradition that Ben and Lucas will look forward to in a few years. Audrey and Connor look so sweet together.

Do you see a resemblance?

The Easter Egg Hunt was a success. I think we needed a few more eggs for all the cousins to find.

I think that was Laura's Easter basket of eggs!

Two Boys + Too Much Fun + 1 Push = 5 Staples

Our quiet and laid back Friday turned into a trip to MedPointe and 5 staples for Connor. We were visiting Dad at work when Lucas tackled Connor. Connor hit his head right into a corner of a solid wood counter. Connor didn't cry at all so we were surprised when we saw blood on his shirt! Then we saw the gash in his head! He was a very brave boy! We headed to MedPointe afterward where the Dr. cleaned up the head injury and put 5 staples in. It's a clean gash and it's not very deep. He'll be able to get the staples out in about 10 days. He said he was feeling much better than earlier.

The Assailant (Note: Lucas had a black eye back in mid March. He jumped on the couch and found the hardest place. He couldn't jump on the cushions, of course.)


Since I'm sitting down and blogging and the kids are watching TV I thought I'd post answers to some questions I asked Conner the other day. I've been reading other blogs where there are Qs and As and it's pretty funny. Here's ours:

What makes mommy happy? When I do things nice at school.

What makes mommy sad? When I don't do things good at school.

How does mommy make you laugh? When you do funny things like tickle me.

What was mommy like as a child? A baby

How tall is your mommy? Lets see! (He went searching for the tape measure!)

What is her favorite thing to do? You like to play.

What does your mommy do when you're not around? Go somewhere (At least he didn't say go to Walmart.)

What is your mommy really good at? I don't know

What is your mommy not very good at? Yelling

What is your mommy's favorite food? Salad

What makes you proud of your mommy? When you're not yelling.

What do you and your mommy do together? Play games

How are you and your mommy the same? All of us are the same

How do you know your mommy loves you? So much

What does your mommy like most about your dad? I like him so much because he cooks food.

Where is your mom's favorite place to go? Yoga class

What did Jesus do for you? Died on the cross

Why did Jesus die on the cross? B/c he loves us so much

Where does Jesus live? In heaven

Why do we celebrate Easter? Because it's Easter

What happened 3 days after Jesus died on the cross? He went to Heaven

What is your favorite thing? Go to school

What is your favorite toy? The car down in the basement and the trains too.

What is your favorite place to go? The Champaign merry-go-round.

What is your favorite thing about Dad? Playing with me

Dad loves you because? Because he cooks food for me. (WHAT!! Okay, Matt made waffles for dinner on Monday and now he's Chef Extraordinaire! Well, they were from scratch and they were very, very good!)

What is Dad's favorite food? Pizza

What is your favorite food? Pizza (Note: It's homemade by mom!)

What's Dad good at? Cooking dinner (HMM!! AGAIN!)

What are you good at? Riding the Champaign merry go round.

Florida Trip

Our Florida vacation was exactly what we needed! We started off Friday afternoon around 2pm and arrived in Gainesville, FL around 8am EST. The overnight drive was well worth the boys sleeping in the car for at least 9 or 10 hours. The boys did great and only stirred a few times. They were so happy to see their cousin Ben and be able to play and run around! We spent the day at playgrounds and catching up with Carl and Kristen. We also had a wonder Valentine's Day dinner too prepared by C&K! Thanks for a wonderful time!

Here's the happy family with baby Ella on the way! Kristen has more great pictures of our visit on her blog: http://drakefamilyadventures.blogspot.com/2009/02/fun-times-with-connor-and-lucas.html

On Sunday, we headed off to Bonita Springs for our week with Grandma and Grandpa. As soon as we arrived we hit the beach and watched a beautiful sunset while the kids soaked up the sun!

During the week we took a few side trips. One was to a state historical site for some hiking among the bamboo and palm trees. Connor loved exploring the trail. I can't wait for warmer weather so we can take him on more hikes.

Another side trip was to this awesome park where the kids had a blast! We made several trips here to break up the day. Connor pretended this was a school bus even though we kept telling him it was a fire truck. We weren't able to convince him.

Most of the days were spent exploring the beach. The main activity was fetching water and dumping it on the sand or into other containers. Both boys enjoyed doing this except Lucas won't go fetch the water. He'd run up to the waves and then run back as they got near. He did this the whole trip except on the last morning we were there! He finally let the water hit his feet! I took some pictures on Grandma's camera so they'll be more pictures later since they're still enjoying the warm weather.

Toward the end of our trip Andrew, Laura and their dad came down and we had a day and a half overlap. The cousins always find things to do. There is never a dull moment. Here's sweet Laura who always has a hug or a smile!

Andrew even made us delicious cookies at the playground...we questioned the delicious nature of them but he keep insisting they were delicious. We concluded that his recipe needed less wood chips.

Aunt Sarah and Lucas spent a long time sliding down this slide together. They sure did this a ton! Lucas loved it as you can tell by the huge smile on his face. I think Sarah had fun too!

We had a successful vacation! Matt and I also got to take a canoe trip and went out to dinner one evening while Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids. Thanks for the time off G&G! We're already thinking about next year!