Jay is home!!!

It has been 2 weeks now since Jay came home and we're loving every minute of it.  He flew off the ship on a Monday and landed on a small island off the coast of Greece.  The next morning around 3 am he had to get up and begin a very long day of flying.  He flew from that small island to Athens, then on to Germany, Washington DC and then finally home.  Because we knew he was getting in late that Tuesday night the kids were kept in the dark.  I put them to bed as usual and then a dear sweet friend of mine, Hannah, came over and stayed with them while I went to pick up Jay.  Catlin was on the no sleep war path of hers and so she stayed with Hannah while I went to get Jay when he called and told me to come get him.  Oh it was so wonderful to have him home and know that we no longer have deployments, underways or the stress that comes with those to worry about for at least 3.5 years.

The next morning is when the fun began.  Because we kept the kids in the dark Jay personally had to wake them up.  Kaden was first and he didn't even act surprised.  He had been guessing for over a week that Jay was coming home when he did.  But he still was very happy to see him.

 Annabelle was another matter entirely.  When Jay woke her up she took one look at who it was cried out "Daddy" and was in his arms in an instant.  She was almost in tears over seeing him again.  She missed him like crazy and is such a daddy's girl at that.

We had some great fall weather since he's been home so he and the kids finished tackling the large amount of leaves in our front yard.  They loved it.  And it was a great way to bond with Jay.

 One of the perks of our house is our fire place.  It has become a very large blessing in disguise of late.  We usually have a fire going in it every morning and some nights due to our heater being on it's very last leg of working.  But we love the fires and how warm it makes the living room.  It has added a nice touch to the Christmas decorations we have up.

It took Catlin about a week to fully warm up to Jay and now she is attached to him as often as possible.  She loves her dad so much and just gets a kick out of the simple games he'll play with her.  He teases her relentlessly and she loves it.  We've loved having Jay home and he's been here for almost all of the events we've had for this holiday season.