Well lots has happened

 A year of catch up. Hmm that's alot of happenings.
  My brother got a little leave time (7 days) but it was wonderful to see him. We've been apart alot more than together physically in the last few years. But the clock is ticking on him being home soon.
  Kaya has grown in leap and bounds..literally! She's tall, perfectly portioned and healthy as a horse. Smart and beautiful. Alot of adjectives to describe our baby girl lol She retains words well, uses big words correctly and makes us laugh with some of her interesting ways of saying them. Every day is awesome and we are learning that every day may not go well but it's in how you handle it :) She's independent, strong willed and funny. Great qualities...most the time lol
  Kaya turned the big 4 on June 12th. I don't know who was more thrilled with her My Pretty Pony three layer cake (complete with icing clouds, ponies and all the frills)..Kaya or my sister in laws lol I love making Kaya's cakes. We had a big party at our house complete with a cookout. It was nice to see so much family together and to have a visit from an out of state friend before the party and some friends that came to visit after the party. I've watched my babygirl go from a chubby cheek new born to an incredible 4 yr old.
  Our other big thing was Steve being diagnosed with MS this year. What started out as severely tired...that we chalked up to all the outside work we had done on garden beds and the heat...ended up with Steve having very hard to understand slurred speech and unable to get out of bed for very long. Once at the ER we braced ourselves to either hear stroke or...something easily fixable. Once the catscan came back with an abnormal spot it was 3 days in the hospitals, lots of anxiety, one freaked out husband (he's NEVER been in the hospital ever) and a child that cried every night. After 3 days of barely 8 hrs sleep they let me bring Steve home. Within 2 days we had a call from Dr K to cancel our appt with him and get to Dr B as soon as possible. The abnormal vein was actually MS lesions. Every day is a new learning experience with the disease. I'll blog more on that later.
  We lost Granny in Oct of 2011. One of the hardest times. My last grandparent..gone. We had to admit her to the nursing home in April due to her memory issues etc and we had spent alot of time over there making her feel at home. Kaya and Granny was VERY close. Two of the hardest things I ever had to do: Tell my daughter her Nanny was in Heaven and then contact my baby brother. I was up for nearly  54 hrs dealing with RedCross (not a big fan of their military procedures) and then the military base. He made it in the day after the funeral. It took me several months (actually it was in Feb) for me to officially go back to Granny's house. I was walking through the house, could feel the tears at the corner of my eyes, and then I found an envelope. Inside it was a valentines my grandpa had sent my Granny while he was stationed in the service during the war. It made me smile and made me think Granny was saying "its ok..I'm with Grandpa."   I go back to the house from time to time and it's the same farm house...just missing the two most important accents...my grandparents. I feel the same when I go to my Mom's family farm. I have not been back in my Grandpa Roberts house since my Grandpa died.
   Most of the last year or so has flew by, holidays were great (just different due to not having it at the normal place I've had it for 30 some years), and every day is something new.
  Ethan is now 17, a junior and driving. Emily is almost 16, a sophomore and boys think she's cute. Makes me want to puke all around lol Sorta moving into another phase of life in that regard. One day my babies won't come up as they will be in college. But I'm very proud of them.
  Lots of great times ahead in our lives and some serious decisions on several issues. Some pretty personal that takes a couple thinking it out hard, others just things to deal with and move on. Very blessed in my life and even for all the bumps..wouldn't change the year or so we've had.