We spent Thanksgiving with Austin's family today.   My sister-in-law hosted the occassion and we had a great time.  Please don't ask me what Westen's doing in this picture.  Who knows??  I'm just glad we finally got a picture of the 4 of us!  This Thanksgiving was so sweet because of one special lady...

That's Austin with Grandma.  Grandma turned 91 last month and just a few short days after her birthday, she had a heart attack:(  Heartbreaking, I know.  And just when the situation seemed hopeless, this little lady showed us how tough she is!  Grandma is truly an amazing woman and I've adored her since the day I met her.  She's sharp as a tack, tells it like it is, and is certainly one of the strongest women I know - outliving her husband and two of her four children.  And who knows... after the courage and strength she's shown after this heart attack - maybe she'll just outlive us all:)  Anyway, it was so special that she got to be here with us today!  I think I can speak for everyone in saying we were certainly thankful for that!

We spent the day enjoying each other's company and all the delicious food.  Here's Aunt La La playing with the kiddos!

And sweet Marissa, who caught such harrassment for her expression in this action photo even though she showed such gracious hospitality to us all!  Sorry for my husband, Marissa;)

We were also thankful that our cousin Brandon, his wife Heather, and their sweet boy Bayden were able to fly into town to spend the holiday with us.  Heather loved on Baby Baron all day!

Just a little close-up of Baron:)

And Papa who loved on Westen all day!  Oh, and that train he has in his hand...he didn't let go of it all day long!  Thank you so much Uncle Alan for setting up the train table for Westen and Bayden and putting batteries in Thomas the train.  A huge hit!

This was so sweet.  Lauren had Westen and Baron both sitting up at her computer watching a movie.  I turned the corner and it was so quiet, the boys mesmorized and Lauren loving every minute of having them both sit with her.  She's a great cousin.

I love this picture of Westen and Bayden.  This was really the first time they've played together.  Bayden is a doll.

Nana gave me a break and fed Baron a bottle.  Thanks Nana!

I didn't snap the picture quick enough to get Lauren in it, but she took Westen on a few rides on her scooter.  He loved it!  Thanks Lauren:)

Three generations of beautiful women, if you ask me;)

Lauren and Baron:)

I didn't get a great shot of it, but here's Grandma with 5 of her great grandchildren.  Priceless!

For some reason, Westen's so not into looking at the camera these days.  Oh well.

Baron got lots and lots of sugars today;)

Westen with his daddy!  Two peas in a pod right now and I'm sure Baron will be joining their boyish crazy ways soon enough!

We had such a great time today and we have so much to be thankful for.  We are blessed in many ways!  Thanks Johansen's for sharing your home with us and helping to make for a wonderful day!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay, well maybe not yet, but Kohen's mom and I can dream can't we!!  This is Baron with baby Kohen (remember she was born the day before Baron?).  We headed over to the Kazmierczak's today so Westen could play with Rhett, so Baron could nap with Kohen, and so Storm and I could catch up.  We had such a great time.  Westen loved all Rhett's toys, especially his train.

While Baron and Kohen napped, we took the other 2 boys outside to swing, ride Rhett's little quad, blow bubbles, play with tape measures, you know...the normal things little toddler boys do.  It was a nice time for Storm and I to chat and laugh at the funny things that happen during life with newborns and toddlers:)

Thanks to Rhett's Grandma who brought lunch over.  And thanks to Rhett's Aunt Kelly who fixed it for us!  After lunch we sat Baron and Kohen up on the love seat both between the boppy for a quick photo shoot.  While trying to take pictures they somehow managed to link arms and then Baron fell asleep on Kohen's shoulder.  They stayed that way for awhile and it was so precious!

We always have a great time with this family and are thankful for their friendship.  We look forward to another date soon:)  And one last look...

Due to the wonderful weather we've been having here in FL, Austin and I were wanting to do something fun outside with the boys this weekend, so we settled on Gatorland.  I'd never been before either, so it sounded perfect to me;)  Check out this gator mouth that's the entrance to the park.

We had so much fun!  Westen really seemed to enjoy it and chanted "Gator Chomp, Gator Chomp" all day.  First off was the Gator Jumparoo show where gators jumped up to snatch chickens off a cable line to eat.  We didn't get any pictures of that:(  It was cool though.  We then got our picture taken holding a gator.  That's right!  I was holding Baron, Austin was holding Westen, and the gator was sitting across our laps.  The gator kept being really squirmy, so the worker kept having to pick him up and replace him.  The next thing you know I'm getting wet.  Yep, the gator peed on me; thus his squirminess:)  As Westen would say EEEEEWWWWWW!  I only have a hard copy of that picture.  I'll work on that to get it on here too.  Next we got to feed some birds.  Sorry the pictures aren't very clear.  We had to take them from outside the enclosure.

Next we got to check out this giant gator that was over 1000 lbs. and nearly 14 ft. long.  It was huge!

We saw this pretty peacock on our way to our first of two train rides:) First train ride pics below.

Yeah, that's right.  Baron did this most of the day:)  He's got the life!

Then we went to our favorite of the 3 shows which was the Gator Wrestlin' Show.  Check this guy out.

We had some more cute photo opportunities as we walked.  My favorite is the giant tortoises.  Sorry I know that's probably not spelled right;)

There was this cute little playground that was perfect for Westen.  He slid down every slide many times.  I fed Baron while he played and listened to that sweet sound of "Watch me, Mommy!  Watch me, Mommy!"  while he acted like him and Daddy owned the park.  And it was perfect with hardly anyone else there playing.  Just a sweet time.

After getting his belly full, Baron stayed awake for the second train ride:)  Yay, Baron!  This picture was actually taken with my phone, but it turned out pretty good.  I love it!

And here's Westen admiring the train.  He loves him some Choo Choos:)

We walked through the Gator Breeding Marsh.  Um... yuck and no thanks to that.  There were hundreds of gators everywhere we looked and we were walking right over them.  Freaky!

And just a couple more cute pictures.  Don't worry - I'm almost done;)

Overall, we had an awesome time!  It was one of those days where I was so thankful.  Our sweet little family of four was in one tiny little place in this huge world and all was right.  Both boys were great!  Austin had fun!  I had fun!  We were having such a good time that midway through the day, Austin had forgot how bad he felt when he woke up that morning, and it didn't matter that I'd randomly, but completely lost my voice (which Austin maybe enjoyed a little too much;).  I would say it was darn near a perfect day!  I am blessed with some great boys!  And last but not least is this picture depicting how we all felt on our way home.

I just had to share this picture!  I think it's precious.  The weather here has been awesome this week (50s at night and 70s during the day),so we've been outside most afternoons.  And Westen thinks the cold fresh air is great.  Every morning he's been going out saying "Iss told ouside!" and then breaks into hysterical laughter.  He's also been insisting on wearing his little upcycled tshirt hats which I love.  He was being so nice to his baby brother, and I had to get a picture!  Anyway, have a great weekend!

Remember these cute little costumes??  That's my project to share this Friday.  Here's  a look at Westen's.

It was pretty simple.  I found the brown shorts at Kohl's for $2.00 which he wears all the time with other shirts.  The hat I actually had left over from what I bought for last year's Halloween costume so that was free.  Sweet!  Finding a plain dark brown shirt proved to be a more difficult task.  I finally found this one on clearance at Gymboree for $11.00 - I know a little more than I'd want to pay for a Halloween costume.  Under the UPS emblem is actually a little yellow star that says "Sheriff" on it.  It's a cute shirt and at $11 I wanted Westen to be able to continue wearing it after Halloween.  So here's what I did to put the UPS logo on both the hat and shirt.  I found and printed out the UPS logo online on regular printer paper.  I then freezer paper stenciled it onto an old brown tshirt that I had in my pile to go to Goodwill (which I have yet to take because I keep finding ways to recycle those items - a dress coming soon) using yellow fabric paint.  To learn how to freezer paper stencil, click here.  I then put fabric adhesive tape (like hem tape) on the back of each logo, cut them out, and applied them to the hat and shirt.  Voila!! This was a super easy costume to make and was less than $15 which was my goal.  And now, I can just pull the logo off the shirt for Westen to walk around as Sheriff! Here's a closer look (and yes I know the browns don't match exactly, but homemade costumes aren't meant to be perfect, right!!).

On to Baron's which was even easier.  I just used a long sleeve white onesie and fabric markers.  A friend had bought him that cute little fall hat, and since I wanted him to match that, I used an orange fabric marker.  And I just wrote what I wanted on the front and framed it in black to make it resemble an envelope.  It was addressed to The Brownlee's on With Love Rd. in Blessings, FL.  The return address was from HEAVEN.  And I drew the little UPS logo on his so he could match big brother, of course.  Here's a closer look at Baron's.

What did you do for Halloween?  I'd love more ideas for next year!

So Baron is 1 month old today!  I can't believe it's already been a month.  His looks continually change, but he still doesn't look like Westen. Mamaw thinks he looks like Uncle Daniel.  Regardless who he looks like, I'm pretty sure he's precious and adorable.  He's been a joy!  I'd say, so far this transition has been easier than with Westen, mainly because Austin and I know a little better what we're doing.  He's a big eater and does in fact let us sleep some.  If you know us pretty well, you know we're big fans of the moms-on-call method to getting your baby to sleep through the night.  We just started it, or I should say, I just started it this past Sunday.  It claims to take 3 nights of training, so last night was our first night after training and Baron slept for 6 hours!! Sweeeeeeeet!!!!!!!!  Hopefully, this will continue.  If so, he'll be sleeping through the night in no time!  Anyway, he totally tolerates how loud Westen and his toys are (I guess becaues he has no choice) and Westen's need to touch and kiss him.  Overall, this first month I'd have to say he's been an easy baby.  We are so blessed! Here's a better look at our little pleasantly plump baby!

One last thing - thank you so much Mamaw and Uncle Ryan for all you did during your 3 week stay here.  I think Westen's having withdrawls from you (and me too for that matter).  Mom barely let me do anything except for take care of Baron while she was here, claiming I'd have all the time in the world to change diapers, clean, cook, do laundry, even take care of Austin (yes, he got spoiled too).  So thank you Mom!  She also took Westen for walks, to the park, and much more.  And Ryan is such an awesome uncle rarely saying NO to Westen anytime he wanted Uncle Ryan to play yahtzee, trucks, blocks, watch the movie Bolt, or you name it with him.  It doesn't seem like enough, but big fat THANKS and LOVE YOU!

That's right!  Westen was a UPS truck driver (which was perfect considering his infatuation with all moving vehicles right now; although I'm not sure he really got it) while Baron was his precious package!  They were both super cute and Westen did keep his hat on thru about half of the night!  We spent Halloween night up at our church's HarvestFest where there were lots of activities, games, and food for the kids.  Here's a closer look at Baron's costume...

The return is address is from HEAVEN and it is addressed to The Brownlee's at With Love Rd. Blessings, FL and it of course has a little UPS logo to match big brother.  The Harvestfest had so many fun things for Westen to do.  This year was so fun because he could walk around and actually play in the little Toddler Square.  Here's a look at some of the fun which included golf, a bean bag toss, a hay ride (which Westen did twice; once with me and once with Daddy and would have gladly rode again if we would've let him), playing in the jumpy thing (what's that called??), and more.

A little Pumpkin Patch photo booth was also set up so we captured a couple pictures of the boys in there too!

And we were so glad that Mamaw and Uncle Ryan were still in town to join in the fun!

Can we just take another look at Baron's cute little 0-6 week old baby shoe that Mamaw got for him??  Seriously...baby shoes are the best.  I can't even stand it!

And that was our night!  We ate hotdogs and french fries.  Westen ate candy, of course.  We were home by 7:30pm and then had 3 trick-or-treaters at our house.  Thankfully, we had a couple paydays on hand (thanks Mamaw).  And thanks to our church for such a fun event!  We look forward to next year!