And so it goes..

Well, the Rhode Island said time's up and that they need Dave more than we do. We lucked out & got an extra day with him rather than him leaving Saturday, but the boat got underway yesterday. So here we go again - round five. Such is life as a Navy family. We miss him already, but we've made it through four, we'll make it through this one too. Everyone knows that I can't specify when we think he'll be home, or anything along those lines, but I'll make sure to let everyone know when the information becomes unclassified.

To continue with the Navy news, Dave has decided to re-up. He's going to make a go of it & do the full twenty - or at least that's the plan as of right now. He will be reenlisting while underway. This leaves us on the RI for at least another two years, & then he'll be on shore duty. We're hoping for shore duty here, or in Jacksonville if not Kings Bay, so that we don't have to sell the house or change Shelbye's school. Of course, trying to plan anything with the Navy is about as productive as nailing Jello the wall, so we'll see what happens.

Shelbye is, as always, doing great in school. She's looking forward to Halloween, especially since she'll be using her little brother's cuteness to score extra candy. She has a plan, & she's already made it known. As you can tell from the pictures, she's still the same little bookworm. We should be getting her report card here soon. She's growing like a weed & has almost caught up to me in height, as if that's a big surpise! :)

Chase is getting bigger by the day. He now has a whopping eight teeth & is working on another. He's a little over 20 pounds now & is in 18 month clothes at 13 months. He's doing lots of "big boy" things, & even went so far as to give up his bottle just after his first birthday. He's been on the big boy sippy cups ever since. He's figured out how to use his spoons & forks, but sometimes still prefers his hands. As of right now he still isn't walking, but he did stand up on his own for any significant amount of time yesterday - almost a minute! It figures, the day Dave got underway, bless his heart. Chop will be walking before we know it & then it'll be game on. I'll never be able to catch him.

Everything else is still the same ol'. School is.. well.. time consuming to say the least. One of my four classes will end next week. I have my final Thursday night. I've only gotten one B so far, so I'm pretty darn tickled. Then I'll be down to three classes. Oh what will I do with all that free time? LOL I've started *trying* to quilt again. Thanks to Grandpa Jack telling me Grandma Ruth's secret of sewing it inside out, I might actually make some headway this time! Shelbye & I will be working on lots of fun winter crafts this patrol to keep us busy. The baking has already begun with the cute pumpkin & ghost Halloween cookies we sent underway with Dave.

That's pretty much all the newness with the Gladdens. Hope everyone is having a good Coumbus day!

Craziness..

We're nearing the home stretch of this deployment. Things have been SO hectic since Dave left. We've been incredibly busy, which has really helped the patrol pass quickly. Well, as quickly as can be expected, anyway. In the two months that Dave's been gone we've done so many things. I finally have a few minutes to sit down & fill everyone in. I've painted the living room, Shelbye & I have started a garden, & we've gone to Atlanta for Easter & spring break.

Our living room is now a terra cotta reddish color. I think it's pretty neat. Dave & I picked out the color before he left, but we'll see what he thinks when he gets back. :) It's only paint, after all.

Our garden is coming up quite nicely thanks to all the rain we've had the last couple weeks. We're looking forward to fresh corn, lima & green beans, tomatoes, squash, & watermelons.

We visited my family in Atlanta last week. It was definitely nice to get away for a little while. The kids were great on the drive up. Shelbye was a wonderful co-pilot & Chase slept the entire way. We got there late Saturday night. Shelbye went to the lemonade days fair & the Atlanta Zoo with her Aunt Kristy. I enjoyed a nice dinner out with a friend without the kids, which was awesome, but I wasn't sure quite what to do without having to cut up someone else's food or without seeing chicken nuggets on the menu. Wednesday my friend Allie & I took the kids to the Georgia Aquarium. That was Shelbye's second visit to the aquarium, but my first. We had a great time watching all the animals. Shelbye was especially in awe of this HUGE fish with eyes just as big. Shelbye named him "Big Eyes" & picked him as her favorite. The beluga whales were mine. It was definitely a little weird to stand in a tunnel with a ton of water over my head full of sharks. We made sure to take a turn at petting the sting rays & bonnet sharks before we left. Saturday we went to the Georgia Renaissance Fair with Aunt Kris & Uncle Adam (my sister & brother -in-law). It was a lot of fun. Lots of things to see & do. Shelbye got a fairy crown & I bought a pair of super fun stripey socks. Good times were had by all.

We're definitely glad to be home, though. The cats were awfully glad to see us back too.

Thankfully there's not much left of this patrol, & we'll be so happy to have Dave home. We're all really excited for summer & our upcoming trip to Maryland. We won't be able to pin down the details until after Dave returns & we figure out when his stand down will be, but he's mentioned in the last few emails that we should be able to get away the last part of June.

For those of you who are interested in the latest Navy news, Dave made E5 in November. He was frocked then, but actually became a second class petty officer March 15. The time has come for Dave to decide whether he wants to turn this into a career or to get out after this first enlistment. There are several deciding factors, such as the bonus involved, whether he'll go to C school for further training, & whether he'll end up on another boomer or on a fast attack. C school would be in either Kings Bay or Groton, CT. Another boomer would mean staying here or transferring to a boat out of Bremerton, WA. School in CT would mean a fast attack, which would put him on a boat that is stationed out of several possible bases, including CT, VA, CA, or HI. If the school is shorter than 6 months he would have to leave us behind. If it's longer, there's a possibility we could go with him. Thanks to Obama, we're having some issues with the reenlistment process & Dave has decided to hold off until the end of this tour before making any decisions. As of right now, we'll be staying put here at Kings Bay indefinitely.

Pictures of all of our above mentioned adventures soon to follow. :)

4/23 - Edited to add:
I got another email from Dave two nights ago saying he isn't sure if he's going to reenlist right now or not. The window will close on the 30th, so he'll have had to made his decision by then & I'll let everyone know something as soon as I do. It looks as though things might be in the air a little longer.

Say Cheese!

We our first family photos taken last weekend. With the exception of it being really windy, it was a beautiful day & I think we got some great shots. A good friend of mine, Heidi Holloway, was our photographer & she does some really amazing work. I only hope my photog skills will get to be close to hers with more practice. She sent me a few of the proofs from the shoot, so I'll post them here. These are only 20ish out of over 200, so there will be more to come as I get them.