Halloween time….

 

  Kaya decided this year to go as a Princess Fairy…why..because she loved the wings…and she was a “pretty princess” so she needed a tiara. Cant argue with that logic!

  Since she is recovering from the croup..we only let her venture to our neighbors. She did excellent at saying Trick or Treat..repeatedly till they came out with candy. She received candy, homemade cookies and change. She was VERY happy.

  The rest of the evening since family plans were canceled due to illness we let her play around the house in her costume. She LVOED it.

 

  She has really been into Halloween. Tonight we are having a lil family party…since Uncle Jonus is home…and having snacks and eating off her jackolantern plates. She has been ready for the party since Thursday night! So she should have a good time.

  She loved her costume so much that she even wore it today playing around the house…

  She added her “princess shoes” today while playing dress up. She walks really well in them.

I can admit…

I can admit having my brother home, snoozing under our roof, safe,fed,warm and happy is the best thing ever. We have always been VERY close..and..I'm lucky that he sees my husband as his brother and vice versa. And..I'm blessed to have my husbands family look at him as their own. That doesn't happen in alot of families…but it does with ours. They opened their heart to him, they pray nightly for him, they celebrate with us for him, and they feel my pain when they know I'm hurting cause I don't know where he is or how safe he is…they are FAMILY.

  One thing that has been nagging at me..is when he leaves. I do not allow myself to think about it much..but..it creeps in. And my main worry…is ..Kaya. When he went to basic..she cried. When he came home for Cmas break…and then left after two weeks..she would sit at the garage door crying wanting him (he played video games in there with her and worked out in there with her)…Yes she eventually got over it…talked to him on the phone and online as much as she could and carried his picture around till it was all wrinkly.

  But..hearing your baby cry isn't easy. So I am anxious this time when he leaves. I know she knows he loves her and that he has to go..but..she is a child. Its hard.

Busy Busy…

  Well since Jonus is home..we are all on vacation next week. But..it will be busy. We have plans with Kaya of course..but..we also have to make use of the time we have off together.

Sunday night..Halloween night..as Kaya says “We going to party”…We are having a family Halloween party. Lots of snacks, Kaya in costumes, movies …just together and fun. Kaya may trick or treat at a couple houses but she’s getting over being sick and I don't want to get her coughing again.

  Then…one day next week will be Thanksgiving! Steve is deep-frying a turkey. NOONE does a turkey like him. The meat is simply..irresistible. We will have all the trimmings to go with it.

  Then..we are going to have a day out with everyone at Texas Roadhouse…Jonus wants a “real American steak”…so he’s going to have it. Last plans had twenty five or so of us going. Even if its just five..it will be fun cuase it will be celebrating my brother.

  Jonus and Kaya are going to have a shopping day since he will not be home for Christmas. That should be interesting…

  People may think..does it bother you he wont be home for those holidays? Yes..it does. But. Halloween is his favorite  and that is the one he got to come home for. We will make due with the time we have and celebrate. We will not be putting up a tree or doing gifts..as we can send him his gifts over there…as it would confuse Kaya too much. But..we are going to do everything we can to have “holidays” while he is home.

Homecoming

  Thursday night we were sitting on the couch talking.A good family friend Amy came over to check on Kaya. We hear a knock at the door….I go to the door…standing there is a guy  in a boonie hat and camos. It took me a second to realize it was my little brother Jonus!!!! He was home from Iraq. Its been 10 months since we’ve seen him, almost four months since we’ve heard his voice.

  Come to find out he had got leave, set it up with Amy to pick him up and decided to suprise us for Halloween. BEST trick ever…with the best treat ever! He was wore out since he had been on planes for two days (went through four provinces in Iraq, Kuwait, Germany, Ireland,Atlanta then Indiana) and had basically only snack food and one meal.

I will try to describe how it felt when I realized it was him. My heart stopped…then started beating a million beats a minute..I couldn't stop crying,hugging him and squeezing his face. Mom was..simply..stunned. She didn't speak for ten minutes!! Her birthday was Sunday and this was definitely a great late bday gift!

   Kaya is in heaven. They wrestle together, watch tv together, dance and listen to music together. EVERTHING is Uncle Jonus right now. She is stuck to him like glue and we love it. He was worried she wouldn't remember him. No fear in that.

 

 

  Too many people forget to count their blessings and appreciate the small things in life. I have my brother…who has been in a bad warzone..home for two weeks. That alone is a blessing. He has lost four friends since he landed in Iraq. To be so blessed to be one of the lucky families that has their loved one to hug and hold..is..indeed a blessing.

   I'm very very proud of my brother, proud of what he has accomplished and what he is doing. He is a wonderful example to Kaya that if you set your mind to it…you can accomplish anything. He joined the service at a later age..told he wouldn't ever get in or pass PT..guess what..he did it, is stationed in Iraq..and in three months has moved up rank. He’s physically fit, mentally strong and still has that heart that I love. Listening to him talk about his “life” over there..is hard. You don't realize how nice it is to have FROZEN real ice-cream, real junk food, hot water, pillows, till you hear from someone that don't. Life in Iraq…for the soldiers and the people of Iraq..is not one of luxury and fun. He has MANY pictures of lil kids on his computer…and he not only gives them treats and water..he gives them attention. That..is..a true soldier and a real man.

  Welcome home PFC Wade….just remember..big sis outranks you in this house :)

Croup

   Well…we have been battling croup. The nastiest five letter word ever. Kaya started out with a simple lil cough, slight fever and runny nose. By Wednesday fever was gone but the runny nose stayed and a HORRIBLE cough took over. The dr asked if she had ever had it…which she’s not…and gave her three doses of steroids to take. Directions too that if she coughed uncontrollably to sit in the bathroom in a steamy shower with her or take her outside in the cool air. Either would decrease her discomfort in her throat.

  First night..the steamy shower did nothing but make her hot and uncomfortable. That day we went on about three hours sleep and she coughed off and on all day.

  Finally the warm vaporizer last night seemed to help. We let it get steaming ,then put it behind a fan set on low….and barely coughed all night till four am.

  Bad part of the steroids is that it does make her a little emotional and teary eyed at times. I'm just excited that tonight I might get six hours sleep…lol..>I’ve been going on anywhere from three to five hours a night. Thank goodness I'm on vacation!!!

  Worst part of croup is the cough..and the inability to really do anything much for it…to hear your baby cough like that about kills you.

  Thankfully she seems to be on the mend!

Kaya’s first “baby shower”…

  Well Sunday the 24th was Kim's baby shower. They are expecting their first little one on December 25th which is pretty cool in itself…and doubly cool because Kim’s birthday is Christmas Eve!!!

  We couldn't attend the baby shower due to me having to work ..so we decided to go up after work and hang out and visit. Kaya was in seventh heaven checking out all the baby stuff! She toured the whole nursery checking it out. She gave it her stamp of approval.

The nursery is beautiful…cream and dark brown with a raspberry stripe…then the bedding is flowers and ladybugs.

Kim got alot of stuff for her shower but Kaya was most excited to give her her lil gift. She got her new cousin to be Addison Lou a ducky that temps water, a rattle and a set of toy keys…She told Kim “its for Addie”..Kaya was convinced that we were going to Kim’s cause “Kimmy FINALLY had the baby”..we explained to her Addie was still in her Mommy’s tummy….

I'm really glad Kaya seems excited about the baby. Kim does a great job of including Kaya in stuff and we were all impressed with how much Kim’s belly has grown in just a couple weeks! She looks beautiful…

  Before we left Kaya kissed Kim’s belly and goes “Bye Addie”…very sweet. I cant wait for Miss Addie to make her much anticipated arrival into the world..and to see Kaya’s face when she “finally” gets to hold that baby!!

Jack o lantern

  Well Kaya and Daddy decided to carve Kaya’s pumpkin Saturday. Kaya had a blast being Daddy’s “assistant”..

She thought the “guts” were neat…but yucky. Steve let her help separate out the seeds from the “guts”.  Steve boiled the seeds and then baked them with butter and cinnamon ..Kaya really seems to like them as does Steve. I'm not too big of a fan of pumpkin seeds! Kaya put the rest of the yucky stuff out in the yard for the deer to eat on.

Her pumpkin ended up looking awesome and they did a great job.

Once it got dark, we took it outside and Steve lit it up. Kaya shouted “WOW the monser”…

  She’s pretty impressed with ALL pumpkins carved or not..sooo she was VERY impressed with this one. At bedtime she asked where her “punkin” was…we told her on the porch. She informed us it would get cold and should sleep with her. Needless to say it did NOT sleep with her! :)

A nice Sunday drive…

  We decided since the weather was so great today and there was nothing on our agenda…that we would pack some snacks and the camera and take a nice drive.

   We started out heading towards Williams where we took one of my favorite pictures

This is on Hwy 450 heading out of Williams towards Shoals. Kaya had fun pointing out the red,orange,green and yellow leaves.

  We headed back the country roads in Williams..cutting through to Silverville…

This is the road off of the Graded Road that leads down to Padanaram.

  We drove to Fayetteville then cut back Coxton headed towards home. On that road we saw Kaya’s fave thing…

COWS!! haha She loved naming and finding the cows, horses,and birds along the way. She decided all the animals were eating supper…but wasn't happy that she hadn't seen any piggies..haha

  It was a great drive and fun to get out and see all the fall colors. Wont be long till winter will be on its way!!

Counting down…

  I am counting down to vacation. And to say I'm excited..is a mere understatement..I will work seven straight days starting Monday..then be off…fourteen whole days. I cannot wait.

  It doesn't matter that we don't have a ton of plans or trips etc…its just going to be nice to be with my husband and my daughter for two whole weeks..no alarm going off at six am…wellll…knowing Kaya she will be my alarm but its much nicer to wake up to her than the screaming normal alarm!

  We spent this evening outside,playing, looking at the leaves and just talking. Every time I look at her..I cannot help but smile and think…what a wonderful little miracle. How did I get so lucky to have her. And when she puts her little hands on both sides of my face and smiles..well ..my world is instantly better!

  Kaya was 28 months on the 12th of October. I look back at some of her baby pictures and she has grown so much. Chatters like crazy…a big vocabulary.  She is a little mocking bird..picking up every word and sound. Loves to laugh. She has decided that ranch is the best…everything needs to have ranch on it, in it or be dipped in it. Every day is just a day full of new “awws” and excitement

Enjoyed a family day

  We decided last weekend to hit Spring Mill again..mainly because the village is up and running ,the grist mill would be going and they had decorated for fall.

  Kaya was more than ready to hit the road…asking several times on the way over there if she would see “punkins” and “monsers”…she was dead set on seeing at least a “tiny lil monser”…

  Once there she was very excited to see all the pumpkins lining the paths..each one carved differently. She excitedly had to open each pumpkin up..check the inside and laugh. She was particularly fond of the puking pumpkin…  The whole village had lots of fall colors,scarecrows, pumpkins and mums.

Kaya liked the scarecrows…stopping to check each one out..and to squeeze the legs of them. We have two smaller ones on our front porch..but they are different from the ones at Spring Mill…

I like this picture…lil miss Independent hiking along the trail..lol…

She stopped at each flower in the flowerbeds..smelling them and smiling. I love this picture..mainly cuase she looks soo..angelic and sweet..

It was a super fun day…I think Kaya could go there every day and find something new and exciting. We love to see the smiles on her face and hear the WOWs she exclaims as she finds something new. They had the loom going too and she had fun watching them weave.

Trip to Spring Mill

We decided today since we had Ethan and Emily up to take a trip to Spring Mill. All the kids including Kaya like it over there.

  We hiked around the village. Kaya was in awe cause the people were in the house performing different duties (such as pottery,woodworking etc) and each house had a fire in the fireplace and they were cooking outside.

  We had a great time even though it rained on us a little bit. Trying to get a picture with all three kids in it was nearly impossible as Em is against all pictures and Kaya couldn’t sit still long enough to have all three in a picture! 

First we stopped at the concession stand and got hot chocolate. No one could resist this sweet little face! LOL

We managed to get this cute fall pose of Kaya. Even though she looks very serious in it!

And we managed one good picture of Ethan and Emily together. With Emily its either no smile or a goofy face…lol..so it was nice to have a good picture of the two of them.

In this picture we let Kaya check out the fireplace…not too close and it was screened in but the look on her face says it all. She informed everyone that the fire was “very hot and hurt”…

  After Spring Mill we decided what was more fall like than going to Appleacres and getting cherry cider,popcorn and caramel apples with nuts. All four kids (I say four cuase I am including Steve..hehe) approved it.

 

I think all three pictures speak volumes..the apples were well received! haha

  All in all even with a little rain the day was fun. I love hearing all three kids laugh and have a good time. We adore Ethan and Emily and they are so good with Kaya….truly good big cousins!