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I have been stalking my doTerra friends for a while and have finally decided to dive into the Essential Oil (EO) world. I have started my collection with the family physician kit and have slowly added an oil or two each month. I was pleasantly surprised that the lavendar and peppermint actually got rid of a headache that was starting with and I used peppermint to bring down a fever troy had. And I started using the melaluca and oregano on these two warts that Troy has on his knee. It started getting smaller after a week of use but then I forgot to put it on a few nights and have since stopped. And repeat application is key to this stuff. Sometimes it calls to reapply every half hour. I am excited to see where these oils take me. I guess I am an oil junkie now. 

In other news.... Troy had his Pinewood Derby with Cub Scouts. He went with a Steve from Minecraft theme. Didnt do so well but he had fun regardless

My sous chef......

 This one making my homemade Valentine's candy. This years request was chocolate pecan turtles. He pulled it off and they were delicious!!  I love this man!!

Em had her first winter guard competition on Valentine's Day. They placed 5th out of 6th in their title. She had fun. 

Out with the old and in with the new.... got a new hair cut for the new year. (disregard the quality of my photo- ive dropped my phone one too many times and I think the camera has taken the brunt of the abuse).  Im pretty sure there was 10 inches cut off. Wish I could donate it to locks of love but they dont accept color treated hair. Which ive had color treated hair since i was 14. But i needed a change and needed to get dead ends off. Decided to go darker too. Once it warms up Ill put in some hilights again.

Before:

 

After:

Todays weather is pretty crappy out so the boys have decided to do puzzles. I dont have the patience for that. 

Christmas 2014

Boy did Christmas come up on me quick this year. I always say at the start of a new year that THIS is going to be the year that I either set aside a little money towards Christmas or start buying early... like in July. But who am I kidding.... neither of those ever pan out in our house. This year though.... I have a plan. I printed off one of those nifty Savings Plan Challenges off of Pinterest and I have it tacked to the wall. I am hoping to stick to it. Sounds pretty easy and simple. So we will see.

2014 Christmas was spent in Pennsylvania this year w/ Chad's side. It was nice to get away. We decided to drive up the coast like we use to when we lived in Va Beach and totally avoided the DC/Baltimore area traffic. It was totally worth the $12.00 toll we had to pay to cross the Chesapeake Bridge/Tunnel. Have I ever mentioned that I am totally afraid of bridges..... Especially LONG bridges...... that are over bodies of water. Like seriously.... they make my heart rate, my palms sweat and if I'm driving across it, my knuckles turn white from having a death grip on the steering wheel. If I'm not driving I usually end up w/ nail marks in my palms from clenching. Like its no joke. I hate bridges.

Anyways..... so yeah.... Christmas in PA.  One would envision some snow and freezing temps. But this year it was actually decent. Temps in the 50's on a few days. Kind of weird though not to see snow or be able to play in it. The coldest was the night we decided to go to Christmas Village w/ the kids. I believe when we arrived it was 34 degrees and by the time we left it was pushing 22 degrees. Our toes were numb. But the kids had a great time. A little crowded so I didn't enjoy it as much. Busy making sure my 4 yo wasn't swooped up w/ another family. We got to visit both sides of Chad's family. Accomplished Troy's wish for the last 12 mos of riding on a real steam engine. Bless his heart... he loves trains even though he is reaching that age where trains are kind of baby-ish. He still enjoys laying on the floor and rolling his train back and forth and watching the wheels go round and round. Ho-Ho (our name for Santa) was good to all of us.

We have quite a busy 2015 ahead of us too. We have 3 weddings on Chad's side that we will be receiving invitations to, one of which Chad will be the best man in. Chad will still be taking classes full time. Trying to push him to finish his degree. He is soooo close. March will be a major life changing month for us though. Chad is up for sea duty orders and he will have to start his look for our next duty station. Here's praying that its East Coast side because the last few months that he has peeked at the list, its been overseas or West Coast. This will be our last summer w/ Chad around. Emily will start her senior year at Havelock HS and Troy will be a big 3rd grader! Im even looking into getting Chase into the Headstart program here. We will get to spend Thanksgiving together but then prepare for Chad to head back to a ship somewhere in the World. Our plan is for me and the kids to stick around in Havelock till Emily graduates June 2016 then off we go to join Chad where ever that may be.

We are still monitoring Chase's bruises and lumps on his spine. I continues w/ the night/nap sweats and now his appetite is slowing. Plus he recently developed a bruise on his abdomen that we don't feel like there was a cause for it. He hadn't fallen to our knowledge. Still has the swollen lymph nodes so we are checking periodically for signs of enlargement. So we pray for healing there as the research has been scary to say the least.

So with that said.....here is to 2015...... Its going to be a great year!!!

XO
The Finogle's