Drake's 4th Birthday

Our little man Drake turned the big 4 on June 2nd. Drake loves his birthday. Drake loves anyone's birthday. He insists that presents be opened first thing in the morning, no matter whose birthday it is. So he did that in the morning, and just had fun the rest of the day with Shad, Graham and "Nana". Drake is such a wonderful boy. He loves, loves, loves to talk. He's a great big brother and helper towards Graham, but also thinks it's great to get Graham to do things for him. Drake thoroughly enjoys being read to---or reading (he can read a few small words), and thrives on just playing, no matter what it is. He likes to play board games, build with blocks or lincoln logs, do his "homework" (complete worksheets about words or numbers), and play outside. He is such a wonderful little boy, and he keeps me on my toes with his energy and his curiousity. I'm grateful Drake is part of our family!


When Avery and I got home from the hospital on the night of Drake's birthday, him and Judy ("Nana") were making this cake. Drake probably had just as much fun, if not more, making his cake with Judy as he did eating it.



This is us singing "Happy Birthday" to Drake the night of his actual birthday.

Thursday, June 12th, Drake had his very first "friend" birthday party, and he was ecstatic! We served the kids pizza, jell-o jigglers and carrots for dinner.



My mom set up a treasure hunt. Drake loved it. He was very confident in where he thought the next clues were, even when he wasn't right.



They played "Duck, Duck, Goose!" for a while.

They also played "Red Light, Green Light". Graham just stood in the middle as an obstacle for the kids. After that game, Shad brought Gilbert (Drake's rabbit) to the front yard and let the kids run around with him for a while.



This was Drake's cake the night of his friend party. When he saw the car sitting on it, he took it off and informed me that cars don't go on cakes. I put it back on and tried to explain it was a decoration, but Drake wasn't convinced. When he showed his cake to one of his friends, he told her, "This is my cake, but the car isn't supposed to be on there."

Despite his qualm with the car, he kept it on long enough to blow out the candles.



It was nice to have my mom here to help out. My brother Matt even came down from Rexburg with his friend Kami (mostly to see my mom and Avery, but Drake didn't know that).



It was really fun to have a friend party for Drake and to see how excited he got about everything. Earlier that day, when he saw some of his friends, he kept asking them if they were coming. And during the party, he kept saying "Those presents are all mine." His little 4-year old self just thrived on having a party just for him. After everyone left, and we were sitting in the front room visiting, Drake snuck under the kitchen table to eat candy, after I'd told him he'd had enough. But how can you get upset with such a cute boy who only gets to celebrate his birthday once (or twice in this case) a year? We love you Drake!!