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

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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!

I'm a Big Brother!!!!!!!

Meet my new baby brother..... Chase Michael Finogle!! Isn't he cute! :)

Video

Preschool Paddlers

Mommy signed me up for swim lessons again w/ Mr. Steve. We already did one session and this week starts session 2. I was super excited to be back in the pool again splashing and playing w/ the other kids.... that is until we went to Grammy and Pop-pop's camper in PA and went to the pool at the campground. Mommy thought it would be neat to show daddy all the cool things i had learned at swim lessons so she dragged me out into the middle of the pool... i was a little reluctant.... why you ask??? Because the water was soooo cold!!!!!!! I got very upset and didn't want to be out there so i didn't show daddy what i could do. Mommy finally gave it and let me go back to the shallow end where it was warmer to play. But when i went back to my swim lessons w/ Mr. Steve i did not want to participate in what he was doing. So the last couple of days of swim lessons were a little difficult as i did not want to do anything. But here are pics from the first session before I got upset and didn't want to do anything.

Troy's 3rd b-day

MIA

So I have been MIA from the blog and for very good reason. MY DADDY FINALLY CAME HOME FROM DEPLOYMENT!!!!! We all have been on cloud 9 w/ him home! We missed him very much! Here are a few pics to catch you up to date.



FINALLY TOGETHER AGAIN!!!


THAT'S MY DADDY!!!



ONE OF OUR SIGNS



WAITING FOR DADDY'S SHIP TO PULL IN


MY FAMILY!!!




WINTER SNOW STORM 2009




THROWIN A SNOWBALL




I AM 3 YEARS OLD NOW!!!


MY THOMAS THE TRAIN BIRTHDAY CAKE!!


ME AND THE EASTER BUNNY


HUNTING EGGS


ME AND K-K HUNTING EGGS


WAITING FOR THE GO SIGNAL TO HUNT EGGS



I'M GETTING A BABY BROTHER!!!!!!!!



IT'S FINALLY WARM ENOUGH FOR THE BEACH!!



BEACH BUM!



STATIC HAIR



FUN @ THE PARK