"This year we're going to appreciate Thanksgiving much more," she said. "And we're all very happy."

Michael Naumu is among the few whose R&R coincided with the Thanksgiving holiday.

Today will be an old-fashioned Thanksgiving celebration for the Hawai'i Kai family, with all the trimmings and lots of 'ohana time with parents and relatives — and especially with the couple's four children, ranging in age from 5 to 20.

When Michael Naumu, a carpenter and Army reservist with the 411th Engineer Battalion, was called to active duty and sent to Iraq in March, it was especially hard on 5-year-old Royce, who was so angry he refused to talk to his daddy on the phone.

Amee Dudoit gave birth to her third son on Tuesday. Her husband, Jared Dudoit of Makawao, Maui, was to arrive home from Iraq tonight. TH Timothy Hurley • The Honolulu Advertiser

Her husband originally was scheduled to come home for R&R in December, but it was moved up. He came home Sunday.

"I like Thanksgiving better," he said, adding that Christmas is complicated by gift giving. "It's the meaning of Thanksgiving, too. It makes me feel good. And there's special meaning this year."

Army Staff Sgt. Noel Blanton, a week home from leading an infantry platoon in Afghanistan, will be splitting today between his home and Tripler Army Medical Center.

His wife, Dayna, is expecting their second child around Christmastime, but complications have confined her to 24-hour hospital care.

Blanton, originally from Bakersfield, Calif., and now a member of Schofield Barrack's 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, said he will be especially thankful this Thanksgiving with the opportunity to spend quality time with Dayna, their 5-year-old daughter and his sister, who is visiting and helping out.

Blanton said the Army is allowing him to remain on standby in Hawai'i to help care for his wife and daughter until the baby is born. Then he will head back to Afghanistan.

"In some ways, I miss the soldiers over there, because they don't get to come back here," he said. "But it does feel good (to be here)."

Jared Dudoit of Makawao, Maui, requested his R&R for the last week of November in hopes of making it home for the birth of his third child. Both Dudoit and the baby were scheduled to arrive today.

As it turned out, the timing was slightly off. Wife Amee Dudoit gave birth to a 7-pound, 8.5-ounce boy Tuesday night.

Amee said she was tempted to surprise her husband, an Army Reserve specialist in the 411th Engineer Battalion, when he steps off the plane tonight. But she couldn't help blurting out the news when he checked in by phone yesterday morning while in transit from Iraq.

"I told him, 'You missed out.' He said, 'On what?' Then I put the baby up to the phone and (the infant) was crying.

"He was so happy. He said he couldn't wait to come home."

The Dudoits will have much to be thankful for as they share a late Thanksgiving meal tonight: Jared is safe and home, sharing a special time with his wife, new baby and two other little ones.

Amee said she was waiting for her husband to arrive before naming the baby.

"We haven't seen each other much in nearly two years, so I'm excited. I can't wait," she said.

Mosi Tafao surprised wife Rochele when he called her from Kahului Airport Nov. 9, asking her to pick him up. She thought he was in Dallas on the way to see his parents in Samoa.

But he really was on Maui, and instead of visiting his parents by himself, he took his wife and 10-year-old son with him for a week.

Rochele Tafao said the trip was wonderful.

"The support for the troops in Samoa is unreal," she said. "Every single tree and fence has a yellow ribbon. There really is a lot of support. Much more than what I've seen on O'ahu or Maui."

Tafao, a reservist with the 411th Engineer Battalion, is the dean of students at St. Anthony Junior-Senior High School in Wailuku, and when they returned to Maui on Saturday — the day he was originally scheduled to come home — he got a surprise greeting at the airport from students and colleagues.

Tafao also was honored by the Maui Family Readiness Group support group and attended the Maui Invitational college basketball tournament during his visit home.

Today, the Tafaos are spending Thanksgiving at a "big welcome-home" bash with family members in Honolulu before Mosi flies back to Iraq on Saturday.

Navy Lt. j.g. Anthony Rabaiotti won't be home for Thanksgiving, but he'll still be spending the holiday with his wife. Sasha Rabaiotti and a girlfriend boarded an airliner Tuesday and flew off to Australia, where they will meet their men during a port call.

A podiatrist serving as a naval surface warfare officer, Anthony Rabaiotti is assigned to the Pearl Harbor-based destroyer USS Hopper, which is working its way back to Honolulu after a tour through the Middle East.

"I couldn't wait to see him," said Sasha Rabaiotti, who works with autistic children at Child and Family Services on O'ahu. "We've only been married a year, but he's been gone for half of it."

The ship will be in port for only a few days, but the two women will be staying a week.

"It will be nice to be a tourist for once, rather than just watching all the tourists here."