We had an almost surprise visit from Aunt Na Na this weekend!  Not actually a surprise but we only found out the week before that she was coming down for a quick one day visit and we were thrilled!  Julie flew down with her husband, Dan, Thursday night into Orlando then drove to spend all day Friday and part of the day Saturday with us while Dan attended a work function.  She went to pick up Westen with me so she could see his preschool and we basically spent the rest of the time home - playing with Westen and just chit-chatting.  It was great to see her and we can't wait 'til we see her again (prayerfully in November;).

Saturday night we went to watch our niece Lauren in her gymnasitcs competition where she did GREAT!  Seriously, this kid is built like no kid I've ever seen. We all swear she'll grow up to look just like Jillian Michaels from Biggest Loser.  Anyway, the picture above is her right before she began her floor exercise.  We also got to see her do the balance beam, uneven bars, and vault.  She did great and it was fun to watch her.  The pictures below are just a couple more from the competition.  Great job, Lauren!

So my "nesting" instinct has been on overdrive lately (just ask Austin or my mom).  I have so many projects I've been working on and completing and about a million more lined up in my head.  I think, as least for now, I'll start designating Fridays to share some of those projects with you.  Today's is one I found on...you guessed it - www.iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com.  As the mother of a true little boy, I aways have cars, trucks, buses, you name it floating around in my purse.  I saw this little car caddy and had to make one.  Check it out!

Yes, I still need to throw it in the washer to fray those edges of the denim a little, but I haven't done that yet.  Isn't it cute?? A pocket for six matchbox sized cars and a little road for the fun of it.  And here's the back side.

Now instead of digging through my purse for those floating vehicles, I can pack them up in this convenient little caddy.  You just fold it in half length wise, then in thirds, wrap the elastic around and as Westen would say, "All Done!"  I think it's adorable!  I used it today when Westen and I met a friend for breakfast and it was great.  When a distraction was needed to obtain adult conversation, Bam! - I just whipped out the little car caddy.  Head to Cheri's website to make one of these (www.iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com).  It's under Friday Features.  Have a great weekend!

So, I did take the camera with me Saturday night, but I forgot to take any pics; so this one is actually from our honeymoon 6 years ago!  We look a little different??  Austin and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary Saturday, September 18th.  I can't believe it's been 6 years!  We watched the Gator game that day at home with Westen, then Austin's mom came over to babysit so Austin and I could have the night out (Thanks Mauveen).  And let me tell you... my 8 month pregnant self rocked out that night!  JK!  Austin took us to Carrabbas for a delicious dinner and we took our very sweet time.  It was a wonderfl celebration.  When you're with a toddler 24/7, a few hours of adult only time feels crazy!  I very much enjoyed spending time with my sweet husband and am so thankful for him.  I'd say I married well.  And as Austin would say, "Here's to 6 Glooooooorrrrrrrious Years!"  or "To the best 6 years of Kate's life!"  Love you, Babe!

So tonight I had the privilege of spending the evening with 2 of my former ERAU Volleyball teammates and friends.  We met for dinner, then headed to Riddle to watch our alma mater volleyball team play!  And, yes, as we walked in there were stares, whispers, and giggles as it seemed the pregnant gang had just arrived.  That's Sue Del (sorry Sue but you will forever be Sue Del to me), me, and Storm.  As far as I know, there are actually 5 of us alumni pregnant that all played together but the other 2 live out of state (hi Brooke and Nancy).  Storm and I are due just 4 days apart - me October 16th and her October 20th.  And Sue is due in early December (a little later than me and Storm if you couldn't tell:).  It was so nice to see them both and reminisce about our glory days as Eagles!  And by the way, the Eagles kicked St. Thomas' butt!  Go Eagles!

This picture is actually from earlier in the week, but I'm just getting around to posting it.  Westen had picture day at preschool, so this is his sharp little outfit which I just thought he looked adorable in.  Sweet, right??  The funny thing is he got his first timeout ever wearing this sweet little outfit!  That's right!  My sweet little boy did something he wasn't supposed to do!  Who would've thought him capable!! (Uncle Alan and Miss Elizabeth!!)  Regardless, I still had to show off my handsome little man.  And I have to include that even with his one timeout, he still came home with a happy face for the day:)  Good job, Westen!

I thought I'd share a project I did over the summer for Mr. Baron.  I was looking for a baby playmat for him.  The one I used for Westen, I had borrowed and gave back.  I couldn't find what I was looking for - just a soft area to lay Baron during the first months when he's immobile.  Except for the bedrooms, our house is all tile flooring - too hard!  I didn't want a play gym or anything like that just a soft place to lay him with no frills.  Just when I was getting frustrated with not finding what I wanted, Cheri, on www.iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com, posted a baby playmat she made and I thought, hey I could do that.  Plus, I only bought the batting used to make it soft and the satin trim.  The rest was made from extra fabric I already had.  I love when I get what I want for nearly FREE! For Cheri's tutorial, head over to her blog, but basically, I just cut out the shapes I wanted for this little boat theme - a boat, turtle, fish, sun, etc.  I sewed the sky and water together first, then added all my shapes.  I used different fabrics to mix up the texture.  The back side, though not pictured, is just yellow flannel. I used 2 layers of batting between the front and back sides, then sewed satin trim around the edge.  A bit time consuming but not too difficult and just what I wanted.  Granted it's not perfect, but I love it.

And this didn't turn out quite as graceful or perfect as I'd have liked, but I made a couple loops when sewing on the seaweed so I could hook some baby toys through for Baron to play with once he's able to play on his tummy.  Anyway, that's it!  A perfectly soft playmat for our baby to lay on instead of our hard tile floors!  Like I said, head to Cheri's blog for a full tutorial if you're interested in making one of these.

I couldn't not mention that yesterday Sgt. Daniel B. Day, my brother, left for his 6th tour to fight for our country - this time to Afghanistan.  Daniel has been in the army for 12 years.  He's been to Iraq 5 times and before that Kosovo.  Those of you in KY all know and love my big brother, however, most of you in FL have never had the privilege of meeting him.  Daniel is just 2 years older than me.  Growing up in an area where you couldn't see into your neighbor's window, much less find a kid on your road that was your age, siblings became playmates.  Daniel was mine.  He was Michael Jordan and I was Scotty Pippen.  He was my teacher for shooting birds out of trees with slingshots (sorry animal lovers).  He helped me climb trees and learn to play football.  And then when we got older, he dared any guy to try to date me (uuugghhh!  big brothers!). 

The first picture was taken a few years back, but this one is from just this summer, a softer side of the Serg.  And no, unless you catch him in an action photo, he never smiles for pictures.  Daniel's just the kind of guy you want fighting for our country - fearless.  It's so easy for us as civilians to go about our lives day to day and not give thought to the war our country is in.  If you have a connection, like your brother's 6th deployment, it hits home a little more often.  Like this week as I get into my cozy bed each night, I know that Daniel begins his year long stretch of sleeping in a tent somewhere.  Fun for a week long camping trip, but a year???  No thanks.  It's easy to, not purposefully, ignore what these guys do day in and day out.  So here's to you Bub!  We'll be praying for you and for your two sweet daughters, McKayla and Hannah, who will miss their daddy terribly for the next year.  We love you and can't wait for your safe return:)  And by the way, if you haven't thanked a soldier lately, maybe you should!

So this picture is for 2 reasons... one is I wanted to show you round 2 of recycled tshirts turned little boys hats.  As you can see, I made one for football season.  Go Gators!  I think this one's my favorite.  I added some embellishments this time, thus the F and you can't see it in this picture but I used embroidery floss for a #1 on the other side of the hat.  The second reason for this picture is Westen is holding his sweet little Friday Folder from preschool.  This was his first Friday being in school and for those of you, kids and parents alike, that know what Friday Folders are, isn't there just something precious yet humorous about an almost 2 year old bringing home a Friday Folder!!  Our nieces requested a picture of Westen's Friday Folder because they thought it was so funny that he has one, so this one's for you Girls!  It was full of all his projects from the last couple weeks (finger painting, coloring, crafts, and what he learned about God's creation).  Just too cute!

These last two pictures are just more examples of the recycled tshirt hats.  You see some different embellishments on these.  I love them and the measurements worked out great!  Thanks again Cheri!  To make your own hats visit Cheri's blog at www.iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com.  Have a great weekend!

We finally added sweet little Baron's name to, what is now, the boys' room.  Move over Westen!  Westen doesn't know what's coming!  Baron will sleep in our room for awhile though (until he's sleeping through the night, we think).  And speaking of Baron, I've been carrying 3D ultrasound pictures around in my purse for almost 2 weeks.  There's a picture below of that.  A little alien-ish we know, but, the live ultrasound is waaaay cool.  His face was getting a little smushed too, so keep that in mind.  I think there's definitely some resemblence to Westen's pictures like that, but not exactly the same.  I guess we'll see soon enough!

Every year for Labor Day weekend, we head up near Tifton, GA for the Brownlee Family Reunion.  We drove up Friday morning and came back last night and had a wonderful weekend up there, as we always do.  We spend quality time with our family the whole weekend, but the main event is on Saturday when everyone in town heads to Uncle Kenny's and Aunt Jan's lakehouse for lunch and a day on the lake.  It seems like there were more kids than ever this year. As you can see on the boat are many (although not all) of the kids.  And yes there are 3 adults on that boat to supervise (thanks Cousin Bob for taking them all out).  Westen is in the driver's seat with Cousin Bob.  We absolutely love our Tifton family and look forward to seeing them every year.  The food is always great and the company even better.

Here's Austin and Westen out in the lake.  It's so nice and relaxing out there.  Off topic, I know, but I have a funny story to share about the weekend.  Saturday night Austin, Westen, and I arrived back to the hotel around 9ish that night.  I headed to the room to bathe and get Westen ready for bed while Austin went to order us some food as we hadn't eaten dinner.  I was finishing up as he was just getting back with the food; so we put Westen down to sleep in his pack n' play and Austin and I went out to our screened in balcony to eat our yummy burgers.  Keep in mind we're on the second floor.  Our room was right next to a marina where a live band was playing so it was super loud.  I told Austin to peek his head back inside to check and make sure Westen was sleeping. He got up to do so, then turns to me and says, "The door is locked!"  That's right!  My husband and I locked ourselves out of our room on the second floor balcony.  To our defense, we didn't even know the door locked and our room key (the credit card kind) couldn't even have gotten us back in; it was a lock for a completely different kind of key (like a house key).  So really, why is there even a lock when the visitors have nothing to unlock it with??  Anyway, thankfully, I had brought my phone out, so we called the front desk to let them know.  Thankfully again, Austin had not put the dead bolt lock on; however, Westen's pack n' play was right up against the door, so the lady that came to let us back in had to push extra hard to open the door.  Crazy, I know!  Westen was, in fact, asleep an never woke during the whole ordeal.  Surely we can't be the only ones this has happened to, could we??

Our drive back wasn't bad, but I thought this picture of Cousey was the epitome of what we all felt like - TIRED!!  It was an awesome weekend and we had so much fun! Thanks for the wonderful hospitality Tifton Family!  We already look forward to next year.  For more pictures from the weekend, click here.