Face First

The Big 1

The Finogle household just celebrated a very important day.... Chase's 1st birthday. We celebrated his special day w/ pizza for dinner and cupcakes. I wanted to test the waters to see if he would give us a good show for his birthday by digging in the cupcake and boy did he go to town! At first it was slow and I kept wondering if maybe he just isn't one of those that likes to get messy or likes sweets. But he eventually proved me wrong and actually got upset when I finally took the cupcake away for fear of him getting sick to his stomach and vomiting.

So we then traveled to PA to celebrate w/ Chad's side of the family. We had a party at my SIL's w/ tons of food and a ginormous cake. The theme was sailboats and no expense was spared. I went all out for this kid... after all you only turn 1 - once! There was one thing lacking..... and that would be daddy. I struggled w/ whether or not I wanted to do a big party for Chase due to Chad being deployed but I really started to feel bad and flashed forward 20 years and didn't want to have to answer to a 20 year old young man as to why there were no photos of him on his 1st birthday. So I sucked it up and we pulled one off. But we certainly had daddy in our thoughts the entire day. After stuffing our faces w/ Grammy's yummy bbq and macaroni salad and baked beans it was finally time for cake. Once again, Chase took his sweet time w/ digging in but he eventually got the hang of it. Once he decided he was done he actually went to push the cake away so Aunt Shelby picked it up and offered one more bite to which he did not object to and went face first right into the cake. It. Was. AWESOME! And I am so glad I had the camera going. :)

We had a great time and I am so glad that I pushed the depressed feelings I had away about Chad not being there away and celebrated a milestone... The Big 1!

Crafty Challenged

Home project # 1 complete! Like that didn't take forever! I finally got around to purchasing letters for Chase's name for his room... that took almost a year to do. Not sure why, but it just wasn't a priority.... guess its the 3rd child syndrome. At any rate, I packed the boys up after purchasing the letters and reluctantly made my way to Michaels. This store makes me feel crafty challenged. I see all these other ladies who have their basket full of flowers or paints or other items that then intend on making into some fabulous piece of art... and I think to myself... why can't I be like that. Just see something on the shelf and know how to whip into something creative. God did not bless this momma w/ a crafty brain. But I try. So made my way into the paint section looking for stencils, totally not the reason I went there in the first place and found a nice nautical themed stencil set as well as a train stencil. So i tossed it in the cart. Then, i realized i don't have brushes or sponges to do the stencils. Quickly found those - Martha Stewart brand might I add, thinking that by channeling my inner Martha will some how help my lack of craftiness. Wishful thinking. So I get to the paint section - Martha Stewart brand again.... and there are a million choices (totally exagerating because thats what it seemed like to me) and in a million finishes. There were Matte, semi-gloss, super gloss... if only there was a choice for someone who was crafty challenged. Oh well... so i tossed in the basics - Red, White, Light Blue, Dark Blue and what looked to be a cross between a Gray and Tan color. After about 2 hours in Michaels and other various Halloween items that made their way into my cart (i have no idea how that happened - I swear (wink wink)) LOL!! I made my way to the register and paid for my purchase. Got home and sat at the table looking at the letters for Chase's name and had no idea where to begin other than to slap some paint on the letters. After about 3 days of painting and mixing colors this is the end result:

I must say that I am kind of proud of myself. I think the colors turned out perfect even though at the time it seemed like such a screw up. And i think they look fabulous on Chase's wall. :)

Now on to the next project.... Troy's letters and his Train room that I have promised him. Haven't told him that I am beside myself because I have no idea what I am doing! LOL!!

Double Digits

We are over the half way mark of this deployment w/ Chad and finally in the double digits. We couldn't be happier!! This deployment has been different in so many ways. Troy is older and is missing daddy more this time. The things I often hear from him are:

"I wish daddy was here."
"Where is daddy at now?"
"Daddy will fix that for you mommy."
"Daddy would like this."
"Mommy, I miss daddy."
"Mommy, when does daddy come home again"

It makes my heart break to hear these things, but I remind him that this is daddy's job and that he has to help people all around the world. But somehow little 4 year olds just don't understand that.

When Chad left Chase was just sitting up and had just started solid foods. He now is crawling, standing, walking w/ assistance, eating some table food and you can often hear him saying:

"momma"
"dada"
"baba"
"gaga"
"nahnah"
"uh oh"

Every day is a reminder of just how fast time flies and how quickly our children grow up. We all miss Chad and homecoming can't come soon enough!!

My favorite time of year.....Fall

Boy has this summer been busy!! We traveled to PA for the July 4th holiday and spent almost 3 weeks in Florida and then had to evacuate up to PA again for Hurricane Irene. Which didn't even look like anything had come through here when we drove back. But glad we evacuated and spent time w/ Chad's family. After the storm passed I could faintly smell Fall in the air. I get so excited by this as Fall is my favorite time of year. The kids go back to school, the leaves change and fall and there is a crispness in the air and I am finally able to open the windows w/out the air on and let nature in. It also spurs me to bake. I am not sure what it is, but I get this burning desire to bake during the fall. Anything from cakes to cookies to breads. I made some cakes in a jar for Chad while we were in Florida and shipped those off to him and he said they turned out fabulous. So I might try a few more of those. He likes carrot cake so I might try that.

Aside from that, there is a project we are doing and will hopefully have it done before Daddy gets back from deployment. We are going to do Troy's room w/ a Train theme. I have to figure out in which direction I want to go w/ it as I don't want to do cartoonish trains and have Troy out grow it in a year. Plus we have Chase's 1st birthday coming up that I am planning for w/ a Nautical theme. Might do some other painting in the house too. So I have my to do list going and can't wait to mark each one off and post here the results.

Nana's Visit June 2011

Click here to view this photo book larger

Story Time w/ Daddy

Thanks to a wonderful program called United Through Reading, Chad is able to record himself reading books to the kids and send that DVD home so the kids can view it. And today was our lucky day!! After a little over 3weeks of anxiously waiting, we finally received Daddy's package and the boys LOVED IT!!!

Cruisin Time.....

Chad and I won a Carnival Cruise at the Command Christmas Party last year and we have finally booked it.... THANK YOU DEBBIE BONILLA FOR ALL YOUR HELP!!!!! Can't wait to go. Chad and I cruised on our honeymoon to Bahamas, Virgin Islands, & St. Maarten and had a blast!! We were hoping to get to Hawaii this year w/ our good friends Ryan and Kelly to celebrate our 5 year anniversaries, but Chad went on deployment and we had Chase, and life happened for both of us. So this cruise will kind of be our celebration of our 5 yr anniversary. Totally looking forward to the rest and relaxation that is to come!!!!

1st Beach visit of the summer

Sun-N-Fun

Happy Memorial Day 2011

My Grandmother and Grandfather

My Grandfather

Thomas (on left) and my Grandfather @ Thomas's grave in Epinal, France during WW2

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As I reflect upon this day, I am reminded of my Grandfather. He served in WWII. Thankfully he survived all the fighting, however, his younger brother Thomas Garrison, did not. My Grandfather didn't really speak of his days fighting in WWII unless you asked and when you did, you could see the memories flash in his eyes. I wish now, I would have taken notes of all the stories he told when he was alive. Its hard for me to recall them now because I was a teenager and not all that interested in history. But now as an adult, it fascinates me. I can't even imagine the images he remembered and I can't even begin to image what it must have been like. All I know, is I am so thankful that he survived, otherwise I would not even be here. We just marked the 1 year anniversary of his passing earlier this month. He was a wonderful man, Father and Grandfather and I am so lucky to have been blessed w/ knowing him.

Picnic Lunch @ the park

Mommy, Chase and me recently went to the big wooden park, as I like to call it to have a picnic lunch and to play on the new playground. There use to be a big wooden playground that had tunnels and stairs and twisty slides that I really liked to play on. But for some reason, it was torn down and a new playground was put up. Its just as fun, but I really like the wooden one. My baby brother Chase went on a swing for the first time. He wasn't too sure about it until I started to push him. Then he liked it.

My daddy has been gone on the big ship for a week now and I miss him. I keep looking out the window to see if he will be coming home, but mommy keeps reminding me that he has to go protect some other people on the other side of the world. She said that we will see daddy when the weather gets cold and after Thanksgiving. I wonder if he will have Turkey on the big ship for Thanksgiving? Well, its time for me to take a nap. Until next time.

Countdown Mode

Its been 2 days since we saw daddy off from the Navy pier and mommy has already started her countdown for when he comes home. She says that time will fly by and before we know it we will be back on the pier waiting for his ship to come back. Mommy says that we have lots of plans this summer to keep us busy. She is signing me up for swim lessons again w/ Mr. Steve and she said that she is even going to sign my baby brother up for lessons. Mommy said that we are going to visit Grammy and Pop-pop in Pennsylvania for Grammy's birthday and we have a big trip planned to Florida to see Nana and Pops. There are lots of things that daddy is going to miss while he is gone especially w/ my baby brother - like crawling, talking, walking, his first birthday. But she says that she plans to keep daddy updated as much as she can.

Mommy ordered Pizza for dinner tonight and its here, so I need to go eat my dinner. I miss you daddy where ever you. Kiss Rawdy good night for me! I love you 2 more!

Its that time again....

Yep - its that time again... Daddy is going on deployment again! We watched the Sesame Street video w/ Elmo. Its about Elmo's dad having to leave and how Elmo has to stay behind but all his friends cheer him up and keep him busy while his daddy is away and then his dad gets to come home. I liked it alot and ask mommy every day if I can watch it again.

Mommy took me to a very special place the other day to get daddy something very special for when he goes to leave. I can't say what it is yet, because its a surprise. We plan on giving it to him the night before he leaves - IF I can bear to part w/ it!

Mommy says that this deployment will go by fast because we plan on staying real busy while he is gone. She said that we are going to go to PA and spend time w/ Grammy. And we are also going to go to Florida again to see Nana and Pops.

Mommy said that she will pull the giant map out again and put push pins on it, showing where daddy is in the world. I think its neat that he gets to go all the way on the other side of the world! I wonder what its like over there?

Well, its time for me to eat breakfast and my baby brother just woke up. So bye for now!