zombaid

Friday night we took Kaylea to downtown Lafayette for some trick or treat fun.  This was the 2nd annual zombaid event - the goal of ZombAid is to collect non-perishable food donations for local non-profit organizations.  The downtown businesses hand out candy to the kids.  Kaylea was super cute as a mail carrier.  It was even cuter as she realized that people were dressed up.  She would say, "there's a monkey - ooh ooh, e-e-" and "there's an elephant" and "there's Buzz" and "there's a kitty cat."  She did a pretty great job of saying "trick or treat" and "thank-you."  It looks like we will be ready for Monday night.

swim lessons

As soon as I met our reatlor and she told me about a meetup group GLAMS, I knew I had to join.  There is no way I could be in a new town and not have some friends.  I am so glad I joined.  While a lot of the meetups (play dates) are during the day, I have been able to attend a couple.  I also met another mom, who told me about swim lessons at Faith Community Center.  I signed Kaylea up and she is doing great.  This is a lot better than the lessons at the Y that we took before because it is not parent/tot.  The pool is a zero entry pool, so the kids can get in on their own.  The instructor is Miss Dawn and she has a helper, Ben.  Kaylea loves Ben (she likes Miss Dawn, too).  Dawn is great with the kids.  They are working on preschool stuff such as putting their faces and ears in the water and picking up rings from the bottom of the pool.  They also kick their feet and do something called motor boat (submerge).  Dawn said they are doing so well that she is introducing them to Level 1 things.  I am so proud of my baby girl!

 kaylea - jumping in the water

before lessons - splashing in the pool

last official weekend as sellersburg residents

Kaylea and I left on Friday afternoon to head back to Sellersburg.  Even though we have a lot of trips planned back the next 2 months, it was still sad to say goodbye to our house.  Friday we hung out with Jordy's parents and Shannan & Brenden.  Kaylea had a good time.  Saturday we went to the mall and played with the turtles.  Kaylea spent the night with Mimi while Jordy and I went to dinner club and played some blackjack at the boat.

kaylea - posing in from of the 'old' house

our car after nana gave kaylea her halloween candy

saturday morning - relaxing

kaylea & brenden

punkin painting

We bought some pumpkins from Aldi (thanks for the post, Brittney) last weekend ($3.99) and when we made it back to Lafayette tonight, I left Kaylea paint one.  She kept telling me that she was finished painting, but then she would ask for another color.  I painted the face but she did the rest.  She enjoyed painting, but wasn't too happy about having to come in and take a bath to clean up.

our first visitor

Kaylea & I had our first visitor at the new house - mimi came back with us on Monday and spent the week taking care of me and Kaylea!  Kaylea had a great time dancing and singing with Mimi and she never wanted to go to bed.  She was excited to see Mimi after a day at day care (note, my mom is still pretty sick in the mornings and on a lot of medication or I'm certain Kaylea would have been home with her).

Mimi cooked for us and watched Kaylea while I had my hair colored (I'm in the process of going back darker).  Jordy took a personal day on Friday, so he was able to join us on Thursday night. 

Jordy's birthday is next week, so we celebrated on Thursday night.  Kaylea sang the entire happy birthday song to him and gave him his presents.  She was supposed to be putting them in a gift bag, but they never made it into the bag.  She was very excited to give him the gifts.

It really sucked when they had to leave tonight.  Kaylea was all about daddy today and when it was time for him to leave to drive back (the last time he has to do it), she asked him why he had to leave.  It was soooo sad.  I realize that parents travel for work and other things, but it is hard to watch your child be sad and miss daddy. 

playing with mimi (check out that smile)

hiding behind mimi

playing with daddy

harvest homecoming 2011

We met some family at Harvest Homecoming and rode some rides.  Thanks to some great friends, we had free ride tickets...and we had a lot of them.  Kaylea rode the scrambler...the bravery of this girl never ceases to amaze me.  She wanted to ride the scrambler and I asked the ride operator if she could ride with us and he said, yes.  I told him if I put my arms up in the air to please stop it, but that was not necessary.  She was screaming with excitement. 

Kaylea also enjoyed the merry go round and the big slide.  We had a great time with Meagan, Mikey, Trina, Shannan, Brenden, and Nana.  Of course, what carnival is complete without cotton candy???

 merry go round with megan

big slide with shannan



me, trina, & mikey

brenden & shannan



daddy & kaylea on the ferris wheel



waving to someone with her painted face



after her first ride on the scrambler



yum!

face painting

Saturday morning, we opened up the Harvest Homecoming at 9am. We had already eaten breakfast and taken Doodle for a hair cut.  We passed a face painting booth and I asked Kaylea if she wanted have something painted on her face.  She said, yes.  Jordy wasn't convinced that she would really do it, so we asked for something simple, like a smiley face.  She climbed right up in the chair and told the artist she wanted a sunshine smiley face and she wanted the face to be purple.  She was super excited when she saw it in the mirror.

another weekend home

I had a long, five day weekend, and we spent it in Southern Indiana with some of our favorite people.   We drove back in town on Wednesday evening and hung out with daddy & mimi.  Thursday, Kaylea and I ran a few errands and I noticed she was picking up a cold.  We bought daddy a birthday present.  Kaylea spent the night with nana & pop, while I played in a poker tournament and Jordy volunteered at Harvest Homecoming (HHC post to come).  It was an awesome weekend and I'm really not looking forward to returning to work tomorrow.  The great news is, Mimi got to come back with us this week, so we should keep very busy.

nap time - air mattress

dancing with daddy

bouncy house with mimi

bouncy with daddy

catching up

I finally uploaded some pictures from the camera and wanted to throw them into this post.  I was trying to keep Kaylea awake before we drove back to Southern Indiana so I let her play with bubbles while I finished packing.  She loved the bubbles, but insisted on climbing up in a chair and helping me do the dishes.

I came home from work on afternoon and our patio cushions had blown all over the place, along with part of Kaylea's table & chair set.  I decided to move it into the house and since we didn't have a place for it, I put it in the living room.  Kaylea has insisted on eating her dinner there when we've eaten at home.

j-o-b

I guess it isn't completely official yet, but Jordy has been offered a teaching job at Connections Academy.  It is an online public school in Indiana.  It is a slight pay cut, but it seems like a very good fit for Jordy.  It is also on the north side of Indianapolis, so if I were to ever get a position in Indy, he wouldn't have to look for a new position.  It's hard to pass up a teacher schedule once you get used to it.  I'm glad he will be able to have the weekends & holidays off with us to travel back to Southern Indiana and he will still have his summers with Kaylea.  Hopefully, he will finish negotiating the deal tomorrow start this job right after he ends his job at FC!

back already?

Kaylea & I made our first trip back to Southern Indiana this past weekend.  I picked her up from day care just before her nap, hoping she would crash in the car - and she did just that!  She slept almost the entire 2:15 ride (that is the best time I've made). 

Friday night we went to see Mimi in the hospital. It really stunk because when we got there, we found out that my mom was in isolation and Kaylea was only supposed to go in if she wore a gown and gloves, and Kaylea really did not want to.  It wasn't a completely wasted visit, but I know my mom was upset that she couldn't kiss on Kaylea.  The good news is, they finally got a reasonable doctor in to see her and she is now home and on the road to recovery.

Kaylea was a little confused about the house - she wanted to go in the basement and play with her toys and wasn't sure why they weren't there, but we explained it and I think she understood.  She was very excited to see Daddy & Doodle.

Saturday we had breakfast, did a little shopping, and Kaylea & Daddy had some quality time while I went to see my mom at the hospital. 

That evening, we went to the Taste of Our Place (a Harvest Homecoming event) with several of our friends.  We had a great time stuffing our faces and even won a couple auction items!  Kaylea & Lucas danced the night away.  Jordy & I had some time to go out that evening while Kaylea played with nana & pop.

I'm learning quickly that it is difficult to see everyone you want to see on a visit back, but we certainly tried.  Kaylea spent some time with Trina & Meagan on Sunday before we hit the road to head back to Lafayette.  It was a great visit, but Lafayette is starting to feel like home.



kk - in her gown & gloves

family photo

dancing

more dancing

the hamm family

meagan & kaylea hiding in the empty closet