Christmas Time is Here

I think this is the longest that I have gone without updating all year.  I had so much going on and not much going on all at the same time.

The last week of school was pretty crazy.  It was spent cramming in the last bit of testing for report cards and completing all of our holiday activities.  I have two students in my class that don't celebrate Christmas so I had to make a special effort to do holiday/winter themed activities rather than Christmas themed.  In the past I have done a unit on "Christmas around the World" and then another one on just "Christmas."  This year I just extended the Christmas around the world unit and implemented a couple of my Christmas themed activities.  It was definitely a learning experience for me.

After putting the kids onto the bus, I definitely sighed in relief knowing that I could breath again.  I needed this break more than any other in the past.  It has been wonderful.  I asked Travis if it was sad that the thing I was looking forward to most about break was wearing comfy clothes and not doing anything all day.  He just laughed at me.  He will never understand what it is like.

I had a couple of days to get things cleaned up and organized before heading down to my parents house.  We left on Saturday morning and apparently we just missed the bad weather.  When we left, it was 22 degrees.  When we arrived in Georgia, it was 56 degrees.  It was a welcomed change!

That evening, after dinner, Nathan brought up that he was speaking in church the next day.  He tried to rope me into taking a portion of his time but my sweet husband knows how much I hate speaking and stepped in for me.  On Sunday I went and listened to dad, Nathan and Travis all speak.  They all did a great job even though I laughed at them all for crying.  I was reminded during that meeting how lucky I am to have such amazing men in my life!

Like usual, the rest of Christmas break was spent hanging around the house.  This year though, it was full of competition.  Travis has been trash talking my dad and my brothers joined in on the fun.  They had a ping pong tournament, bowling tournament, wii bowling, mario kart, and basically anything we did turned into a competition...even family games.  There was no clear winner or loser in anything.  I never won anything but the only thing I came in last place was mario kart.  I am proud of keeping up with the boys.

Dad and Nathan playing ping pong

 Christmas eve we did our normal traditions eating hors d'oeuvres for dinner, reading in Matthew, putting Jesus in the manger and opening pajamas.   Here is a picture of Andrew, Travis and Nathan in their pajamas.  We joke around about their height and Travis being so much shorter so here he is exaggerating the difference to be funny.  

Christmas morning, we were all woken up by Andrew.  I love that he still gets so excited for opening presents.  I think it is mostly because Santa always brings some sort of shooting toy (marshmallow guns, nerf guns, rubber band guns, etc.) that the boys end up playing with all day.

Andrew

 Nathan

 

Mom and Dad opening their favorite gift from their favorite child!

 

I guess now I have to start cooking for Travis

 Travis: These are those things that you attach to your legs and jump around.  Travis saw them at the Circus and has wanted them since.  We were so surprised by this gift.  I will have to get some pictures of him wearing them. 

 

Lindsay, Cameron, Owen and Sam were not able to come down from New York.  We are excited for everyone to get together this summer at the beach.  It will be the first time since our wedding that everyone will be together again.

Dad also fried a turkey for us at some point that week.  I still need to master the art of frying a good turkey.

I can't think of any other big excitement from the week.  My parents are trying to kick me out of the house now that I am going to have a basement.  We came home with a car full of stuff!  It was fun looking through some of my old keepsakes and notes from friends.

Not only did we come home with a car full of keepsakes, but we came home with a car full of clothes for baby girl.  A girl can never have too many clothes!  A family friend was moving away and wanted to get rid of her girls' outgrown clothes.  I reaped the benefit of mom always looking for a good deal.  I am so appreciative to Heather for giving me the clothes!  She will never know how much it means to us.

We are now back in Ohio and I have a few more days before going back to school.  Those days will be spent mostly at home since we were welcomed back to Ohio by 8 inches of snow.  It is beautiful, but I hate being cold and I am even more scared about slipping and falling now that I am big and preggo. 

Color Selections

Are you sick of house updates already?  If you are, sorry.  This whole process is so exciting to me that I can't help but share.  Also, I love this sort of thing.  I have looked at TONS of other blogs for color or decorating ideas even before I was ever married or considering building a house.  One of my favorite things to do is look at houses, so this is like a dream come true!  I love it!

We have picked out all of our color options for now.  I still keep going back and forth on the siding.  I thought last week was our lock-in date, but I think we still have a little longer.  Since choosing the outside was so difficult for me, I thought the inside would be the same way but it was a breeze!

Let me just stay on the outside selections a minute though.  We liked the darker colors, but kept going back and forth between grey or brown.  We kind of have to base our decision off of the stone since our options are limited.  The stone we wanted is used on the house across the street, so we are left with these 2 choices.  (There were other choices, but we liked these two the best.)

The style of this stone is the same as the one we like, but the colors are different.

After talking with our Agent, we ended up going with this one.  It looks more brownish/redish in this photo than it actually is.  These are the colors of the stone we like, just rounded.

I am just not in love with the round stone.  We ended up choosing it because we know the colors look good with our siding color choice.  My concern with the stone in the first photo is that the whole house would end up looking the same color where this one has more contrast.  I really need to get a more accurate picture of the color!

To give you a better idea, this is what the colors look like on a house.  Our stone won't go all the way up.  It is just a small wall like on the right of the picture by the garage.  What do you guys think?
While we are on this picture, our siding and shutters are the same as this picture.  (Pebble clay-shake, Sandy tan-siding, winestone-shutters)

 

Here is a random Ryan Home with the rounded stone.  What do you think?  Our house is the cottage style, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad?  I am just really struggling with this decision! Travis is also second guessing the decision thinking that maybe the browns look better on a one level house and greys on 2 stories.  I seriously would love to hear your opinion!

Ok, now we can move on to our other selections.  Last week we went to RiteRug to pick out flooring, counters, etc.  I was surprised at how fast we made decisions.  I think it was made a little easier by the selection.  For each option (carpet, tile, hardwood, laminate), it was grouped by price.  We knew our budget so we only looked at options in that area.  It made it a lot less overwhelming!

Let's start with the main level.  

Cabinets (kitchen and bathrooms):  Tahoe Cherry Bordeaux

Carpet (Great Room, Office):  Level 2-Capri

Laminate (Kitchen, Morning Room, Foyer, Mud Room and Powder Room):  Mahogany

Kitchen Counters: Laminate, Butterum

Carpet (Dining Room, 2nd floor):  Level 1-Rockport (I didn't get picture)

 Fireplace: Ubatuba with white mantel

 

Stairwell:  Metal Balusters with Black Cherry Stain

 

Laminate (Spare Bathroom and Laundry Room):  Level 1,  Initiator

 Tile (master bathroom):
Floor: 12x12 Fidenza Cafe
Shower Wall: 9x12 Fidenza Cafe
Listello: Universal

 Last but not least, a picture of our lot!  They just broke ground on the house being built next door to us.  It is going to be crazy with two houses going up about the same time!

Pregnancy Update

I haven't done a pregnancy update in a while.  I am now 26 1/2 weeks pregnant.  That means I only have 13 1/2 weeks left to go...95 days to be exact!  That is CRAZY to me!  That doesn't seem that long!  I feel like it really has flown by.  I think that working, building a house and being in young women's has helped everything fly by.  I am always doing something for one of those things, so I don't have time to think about the length of my pregnancy until someone points out how long it has been.  The other day, my friend Jannie said she felt like I have been pregnant forever.  I was a bit surprised because I don't even feel like it has been that long.  When I asked why, she said it's because she has only known me as a pregnant lady and she feels like she has known me a while.  That was crazy for me to think about.  I can't wait for her to meet non-pregnant Amber!

I do have to admit though, I think I am a pretty good pregnant woman (knock on wood).  I did throw up at the beginning, but I have friends that threw up their entire pregnancy.  I go through ups and downs of being tired, but I keep moving along fine.  It may just be tiredness from teaching kindergarten again full time.  I haven't had any food aversions or cravings (except when I pretend just so that Travis will give in and get it for me).  I have been able to continue working out without a problem (besides frequent bathroom breaks).  My migraines have improved dramatically and I don't think I have been emotional or moody.  I am pretty lucky I guess!

So, at 26+ weeks, I am feeling great!  I haven't had time to stress about the fact that nothing is ready for the baby room.  I have gotten lots of flowers for her hair and some outfits for her to grow into.  We are pretty sure that we have picked a name (but we aren't telling! hehe)  And I can't wait for Christmas break to just chill and bum around in my sweats! 

I will post a picture in a couple weeks when I am officially in my 3rd trimester.  (WHAT?!?!  Third-trimester in 2 weeks!  Where is the time going?!?!)  My belly has definitely popped!

It's Official...

Travis and I are buying a house (I started writing this post before I wrote the last one, so most of you already know)!!!  Ever since moving to our new place, we have toyed around with the idea of actually buying a home rather than renting.  Since our lease will be ending in just a few months, we thought it was time to start thinking more seriously about it and start looking.  We walked through lots of homes and looked at another hundred online.  We have spent our Saturdays driving around and peeping into empty homes.  We finally got it narrowed down to two options.  One house was located close to our old apartment and the other is close to where we are now.

The first house is a huge, bank owned home so it was a great price.  We went and looked at it and it was in pretty good condition (besides being dirty), especially for it being bank owned.  We saw some pretty trashed homes throughout our search.  The only thing holding us back was some of the damage.  It looked like mold on the ceiling in the living room and water damage in the kitchen.  We were wary because this could only lead to bigger, unseen problems.

The second house I fell in love with was the model home for Ryan homes development.  Unfortunately, it was $260,000...not a great price and WAAAYY out of our budget.  We tried figuring out a way to get the price down, but we would have 0 upgrades so the house would be totally different than the loved model.  We began to look at other floor plans and found one for a great price with great incentives.  The agent told us there was a model being built in Beavercreek so we decided to take a look.

As soon as I walked in the home, I knew it was the one.  As compared to the other home where I just felt stressed, I felt so happy as soon as I walked in the door in this one.  I have to remind you that it was just dry wall so my mind wasn't clouded by all the fancy interior design elements.  I loved the floorplan!  Travis loved the basement!

This was our house so we scheduled to meet with an agent to go over pricing and options.   Everything has happened so fast! Let me give you an idea here.  November 24th is when we walked through the model and knew it was our house.  November 27th we met with the agent, Kellie, to initially go over options and pricing.  At that meeting, she let us know that prices on this particular floor plan were going up December 1st.  We had to make a decision and do it fast!

November 30th we met again with Kellie to edit/finalize our option list and sign a contract.  I was excited from the beginning, but Travis was a little stressed because of it being such a big and quick decision.  Now he is just as excited as I am.

Ever since this meeting, we have been meeting with everyone involved in the process.  It is so crazy how much goes into building a house.  That has been our life the past couple weeks.  It is so fun/exciting, but stressful at times. 

I will post more as we go and as we get pictures.  We have met with the loan officer, finalized our exterior look and structural elements and picked out our flooring and counters. This week we are meeting with Guardian to do our cable stuff.  It is so much fun and I am sooooo excited!  I can't wait for this beautiful home to be built! 

Christmas Parties

This past week, Travis and I went to two different Christmas parties.  One was his work party and the other was with a group of friends.

Travis' work party was at Carabbas.  I have only been there a couple times and it was delicious!  Something I enjoy about other people paying for my food is that I am more willing to try new things.  I couldn't decide on which chicken dish to get so the waitress suggested the chicken trio platter that had all three things.  It was so good!  I know next time I go back which one is my favorite!

After dinner, we did a white elephant gift exchange.  Travis and I brought in a bottle of wine that had been given to us by our landlord and an Optimus polo that was too big for Travis.  His boss ended up getting our gift.  It was funny because he is the one that gave Travis the polo.  We came home with a bottle of sparkling cider and beans.  The most popular gift was a Starbucks coffee package.

After the exchange, we watched a video that everyone put together as a goodbye to one of the guys that is opening the Columbus office.  Travis won the award for best acting!  It was pretty funny.  I was excited to see it because Travis kept telling me about it.

We feel really blessed that he works at such a great place with a bunch of amazing people.  I tell him how lucky he is all the time.  I don't see these people very often, but when I do they treat me like family.  Initially Travis took this job because of the people working there and that is why he wants to stay.  They really are so amazing and would do anything for each other!

This weekend we had our friend's Christmas Extravaganza!  We were told to wear our ugliest Christmas sweaters and bring a tacky white elephant gift.  When you give us a challenge, we take it.  We definitely had the ugliest Christmas sweaters!  We borrowed the one I wore from Travis' boss and Travis made his.

Santa used to be a toilet seat cover.  This sweater was so comfy!

 We sat around a talked and ate yummy treats for a while before doing the gift exchange.  This exchange was a lot more entertaining than the work one.  People stole gifts from each other and others tried their hardest to give theirs away.  We brought a ceramic snowman that lights up and a crazy feather hat.  Surprisingly, the hat was a hit!  The most popular gift was a mug shaped like Darth Maul and one shaped like Chewbacca.  I ended up getting salt and pepper shakers shaped like reindeer heads and Travis got some batteries and milk duds.

Kent and Leisy ended up with the feather hat.  

Besides me being a little under the weather, it was a fun night!  I seriously have the best friends here!  The reason I love Ohio is because of them.  I don't know what I am going to do once they move.  Thanks Leisy for the fun night!

New Perspective

Yesterday's tragic event in Connecticut brought new perspective to me.  Whenever I hear about school shootings, I am saddened but not struck full of fear.  Why?  Because I teach at an elementary school and something like this would never happen.  I always thought that those sort of things only happened at middle and high schools. I never had reason to fear.   I think of situations where people are bullied by their peers until finally they break. 

Travis texted me at lunch yesterday and told me that there was a shooting at an elementary school.  I was in shock.  Not knowing any other information, I wondered what happened or what would compel a student to do such a thing.  After school, we had a staff meeting to discuss the issue.  I found out that 27 people were confirmed dead and it was an adult man that did the shooting.  When I got back to my classroom, I checked my email and had a message from Travis' brother.  The school is located 25 miles from him and there are students in his stake that attend that school.  (one of them being a kindergartener that did not survive)  It kept getting closer and closer to home for me. 

As I drove home, I called my mom to find out more details.  It was a kindergarten classroom.  Kindergarten!  That's when I broke down.  I can not imagine all my little kiddos being faced with that situation.  What would I/could I have done?  Would I have tried to stop him?  Would I freeze?  Would I stay calm and try to get my kids to safety?  What would I say and do to the shooter and my kids? 

As I was glued to the tv the rest of the evening, all I could think about were the teachers and students at that school as well as my own.  I am impressed with the reactions of the teachers.  They stayed calm and tried to keep the children's minds occupied with good thoughts.  They tried to protect them from the images and reality of the situation.  I am impressed with the students.  From what I understand, the students stayed calm and listened to their teachers.  They did not yell or scream or run.  They walked single file over to the fire station. 

My heart goes out to all those students and staff that lost their lives in this tragic event.  It has brought new light to the reality of the situation and made me think about what I should do if this ever happened at my school.  I am grateful for the wonderful staff at my school and I will definitely hug my kids a little bit tighter as they leave me for Christmas break this coming week. 

Help needed!!! Our Palermo!

Ok guys, I need some help.  I was planning a creative blog post to announce this but sometimes life throws you a curve and you have to go with it.  We are building a house and I need your help!  (Yes I am very excited! I will do an official blog post about the experience later, but I need help now.)

Tomorrow we have to finalize our exterior colors and I don't know what to do!  The colors that I debated about and finally decided on, based on other homes in the neighborhood, are no longer an option.  So, please tell me your opinion.  We are leaning more towards one, but are still unsure. 

Sorry for the bad quality, it is the only picture I can find with our particular elevation.  It will be exactly as seen.  If you look, it has two types of siding.  There is shake-over the porch and garage then beaded siding on the rest of the house.  We HAVE TO choose two DIFFERENT colors.

 These are the options that we have it semi-narrowed down to.  We are using the type of stone in the picture (Conestoga) because our top choice (Bucks County) is used next door so we can't use it.
On the left side we have our greys.  The lighter one is silver mist and the darker is graphite grey.
On the right we have our browns.  The lighter one is Natural Almond and the darker is Pebble Clay.
The shutter/door colors we narrowed it down to are navy, black or maroon.

 Or you can tell me other options you like.  Maybe Pebble Clay and Sandy Tan?

 I am a very visual person, so here are a few houses (not our plan) using Silver mist (lighter) and Graphite Grey (darker).

This last house uses Pebble Clay and Sandy Brown I think. 

So please, comment on what you like and don't be offended if we choose something different!  This is just a huge decision and I am feeling indecisive since my favorite option is out!  Thanks for your help and I will post more later!

A Little of this and That

(I have more pictures, but it says my storage space is full and wants me to upgrade and pay for more storage.  Does anyone know how to fix this problem?  I didn't know I had a picture limit.)

I have been crazy busy lately so my poor blog has been neglected.  These are a few random thing that I want to remember but don't really have time to post about.

Back a couple months ago, Travis and I went zip lining with our friends, Alison and Jeff.  It was so much fun (Alison may tell you different though)!  We went zip lining through the rainforest of Mahogany Bay on our honeymoon I was nervous it wouldn't be as exciting.  Although the zip lines weren't as high or long, this course had obstacles to go through.  The obstacles were my favorite part!  We had to do things like walk across a tight rope, jump from one suspended plank to the next, climb rope ladders and so on.  I loved it!


Something that I love about Ohio is all the street fair they offer.  We have had the chance to go to several the past couple of months.  They are very popular, so we end up driving to some quaint town and walk the crowded streets looking at home made goods.  Most of the time there are booths with bows and other girly things, ethnic wraps, wood carved decorations, candles, jewelry, paintings, stained glass, food and so on.  I love seeing all the culture that is brought in!

I made it through parent teacher conferences!  They only do them once a year in my district, so we are done for the year!  Wahoo!

Although I didn't spend Thanksgiving with my family this year, it was still amazing!  Several of our closest friends got together for the day.  Travis and I even fried our very first turkey (we still need a little practice)!  The day was filled with delicious food and great company.  It is great to know that even when family isn't close by, we have our friends to lean on!
The desserts with my big belly.  (Thanks for the picture Leisy!)

Travis went Black Friday shopping and ended up coming home empty handed.  I opted to sleep instead!

We have been spending a lot of time looking at houses lately.  Our lease ends in May and we have been looking at buying a house.  Yes, that means we will probably be here for a while.  Now if we can only figure out a way to get all our friends to stay (the husbands are all in the air force doing residencies so it isn't up to them where they go).

I can't believe it is December already!  Before we know it, Christmas will have come and gone.  Then three months after that I will be having a baby!  Crazy!

Speaking of baby, I have been feeling great!  I get tired in the evenings but I can deal with that!  I am feeling her kick a lot more and Travis can feel her now too!  It is pretty exciting!

We have started all our holiday shopping.  I love all the holiday decor and sparkles!  I find myself wandering over to the clothes department to look at the clothes I will one day be able to wear again.  Feeling cute is the hardest thing about pregnancy at this point.  I know it is worth it, but sometimes I have clothes envy. 

I think that pretty much catches me up.  Only two and a half more weeks of school and I get another amazing break! 

Happy Birthday Travis!

Luckily Travis and I were brought up celebrating birthdays pretty similarly.  Neither of our families went all out on birthdays, but we did do something small.  For my family, the birthday person would pick what/where to eat for dinner and we were able to bring 1 friend.  We would do small gifts, a cake and that's about it.  I remember having one big birthday party when I was 8, but that's about it.  While it is a special day (and I love being spoiled), I don't expect anything big.

That being said, Travis had a VERY low key birthday this year.  We both had work and unfortunately I had a headache that evening so we didn't do much.  We went and tried a new restaurant, got dessert and that's about it.  We agreed that we wouldn't get anything for each other for our birthdays this year because we bought nice bikes earlier this year as our presents. 

I still wanted to do something so at school that day, I had my kids make him some birthday cards.  They are too cute not to share.  These are some of my favorites:

This is one of the best as far as writing goes.  I love kid handwriting!

 I love how detailed she was.  She wanted to know Travis' favorite color so she could make his shirt that color and she drew my blonde and brown hair.  So cute!

I love how all the kids drew pictures of me and Travis together.  All I told them was to make a birthday card and that's what they came up with.

 This is Travis' favorite.  He said he looks like a monster.  I see it in a more developmental way.  She is more advanced because the arms and legs aren't just sticks and she drew details on the face.  It still makes me laugh though.

This one is probably my favorite.  She asked me what color hair he had and then she said she wanted to give him a mohawk.  Since he was at work, she drew a tie on him.  Up above us is our baby girl.  haha

I hope Travis felt loved on his birthday even though he didn't have a big party and lots of presents!

20 Week Update

Well, I am officially more than half way through my pregnancy!  I am doing everything a little late, so my picture is from 21 weeks and my ultra sound is from almost 22 weeks.  According to babycenter.com, I have 126 days or 18 weeks left to go.  I can't believe how fast it is going!

Here is the lovely pregnant pose.  I am large enough that strangers are now commenting on my belly and asking when I am due.

 I went in for my "20 week" ultrasound this past week.  I was really looking forward to this ultrasound because it has been 7 weeks since my last one and I wanted to see her growth.  Last time she was measuring big and this time she is measuring small.  She can't seem to make up her mind.  I am hoping she will be big so they take her early.  My due date is 3-23-13 and I want to have her 10 days early on 3-13-13.  We will see if that happens.

The pictures aren't as clear as they were last time.  Here she is, once again, sucking her thumb.  Doesn't she look so much bigger?  

The doctor said that everything looked great.  We even counted all her fingers and toes! Right now she is breech, so I like to think that she just wants to stand up and move with me.  I didn't realize how big/where she was located.  Her head is a lot higher than I thought.  At the level she is and the height of my students, she is getting tons of hugs everyday! They did a 3-d ultrasound and Travis thinks she looks more like me.  I can't really tell, but he thinks she has my turned up nose.  I really just can't wait to meet her and kiss her little face!

Here she is wedged in tightly.  She is in the middle with her head up and a fist by her chin. 

Just to help me remember, here are some things about my pregnancy lately.  You can skip this!

*I am once again sleeping through the night!  I don't have to take the frequent potty breaks for now.
*My migraines have not been very frequent.  One of my biggest concerns about being pregnant was not being able to take my migraine medicine and getting migraines on a daily basis again.  I have probably only had 4 or 5 since being pregnant.  The only bad part is that they are more intense and last longer than normal because I can't take my strong medicine.
*Even though I feel really fat, I am at a stage where I am still comfortable moving and doing normal things.  Exercising is harder with all the extra weight, but it helps motivate me to be conscious about my eating choices.
*I started feeling the baby kick on a regular basis at about 19 weeks.  Travis felt her for the first time at 21 weeks.  We started seeing it at just over 21 weeks.
*I am not having morning sickness anymore.  I only throw up when I have migraines now.
*Besides my belly, the areas that has grown the most are my thighs and bum.  As of Friday, my jeans officially couldn't fit because my bum is so big!
*I have a lot more energy.
*I still haven't had any food aversions or cravings.  I have a hard time resisting sweets, but I did before I was pregnant too.
*I am feeling healthier because I don't have to eat constantly to prevent nausea.
*I officially weigh more than Travis.  :( 
*Occasionally I get REALLY bad lower back pain.  It is mostly if I have been really active and then stop to rest or when I wear heels all day.

Helpless

Today was the most beautiful day ever!!  After all the cold this past week, weather in the mid 60's was like heaven!  I opened all the windows in the house to get fresh air before we have to lock up for the winter.  I felt an urge to clean and did for a while, but then I just had to enjoy the outdoors. 

Since I still wanted to be productive, I decided to rake our leaves.  I would be in the sun and be productive at the same time, it was a win win situation.  After raking for a while, I decided to take a little rest.  Bad choice.  I laid down on our freshly raked grass and soaked up the sun for a while.  It was so relaxing and enjoyable...until I had to get up.  When I went to get up, I couldn't move.  My lower back was KILLING me!!  It was so painful!  I was on my back with my knees bent.  I couldn't even straighten my legs because the pressure on my lower back was so intense.  I tried to roll over, but that too was excruciating!  I sat there helpless trying to figure out what to do.  I tried moving my legs a little at a time or arching my back or moving my weight one way or another.  Nothing helped.  Finally I had to suck up my pride.  I pulled out my phone and called Travis.  I simply asked him to come outside.

Travis saw me laying there and asked what I needed.  When I told him I needed help getting up, he laughed.  I told him I was being serious.  When I laughed at myself, that hurt too.  It was so pathetic.  He had to carefully move one leg at a time.  Then once my legs were flat, he slowly pulled me to a sitting position.  It was so painful.  Please tell me that other people have experienced this.  After I got up it was better, but still not normal.

After getting a few other things done around the house, we decided to go on a bike ride.  It was gorgeous!  Just the perfect thing for a Saturday afternoon.  We even got to look at some houses for sale!

Went to the Beehive Conference, cleaned the house, raked the leaves, went on bike ride, looked at houses, put stuff in storage, went to Anna's baptism, bought a turkey fryer, and spent quality time with Travis.  I would say it was a very productive day.  Now time to relax with a movie. 

One Post on Politics, Then I am Done

I try not to get involved in political discussions of any sort.  Whether it is in person, on the phone, or through facebook, I try to avoid it.  I whole-heartily feel that everyone should be entitled to their own opinion and we should respect each others opinion.  I have seen too many people hurt or offended by opinions of others so I try not to get involved.

That being said, I have a few opinions about the 2012 elections.  (since this is my opinion, on my blog, please be respectful)  I don't like politics because I feel like it brings out the worst in people.  On Facebook, I would say 85% of my friends are republican and voted for Romney.  Of that 85%, I would say 80% of them are LDS.  I was so disappointed to see the reactions of my friends this morning when I saw the election updates.  They were downright awful in some cases.  It made me a little ashamed to be a republican and member of the church because I didn't want these opinions to have an affect on what people thought of me.  I try to live my beliefs and that includes lifting others up...not tearing them down. 

While I may not have voted for Obama or believe in his policies, I am going to support him.  Afterall, it was the majority that won so the majority liked his platform.  I was brought up learning to respect authority/others.  That could be anyone from a teacher, instructor, policeman, president, or the elderly lady next door.  I don't care who it is, I will respect them. 

At this point, there is nothing to do to change the outcome of the elections except to support and pray for our President.  He needs people to lift him up and not tear him down.  As I got on facebook this afternoon, I saw this quote by a prophet of our church and thought it summed up my feelings. 

"We teach our people all over the world, regardless of the countries in which they live, to sustain the policies of their governments....
"If executive officials have been elected by the vote of the people, after that vote is complete and the majority has spoken, we have the obligation to support and sustain those who have been elected by the majority, and not bring about disharmony. It tears down government when opposition is raised....
"I would hope that as members of the Church we can stand fast on these principles by supporting and sustaining our governments wherever we may live and by sustaining the officers of those governments with our prayers as well."
- Howard W. Hunter

This is what our church believes.  For those of you that are not members, I encourage you to go to LDS.org to see what we believe.  Please do not base your opinions off the ignorance of others.  Please feel free to ask me any questions.  I will do my best to answer them. 

OK, that is my opinionated, political post of the year.  Now I am done. 

More Kicks!

I have been feeling our little girl start to kick more and more.  It still isn't super strong, but that is definitely what it is.  I want Travis to be able to feel her sooooo badly!  This evening I felt her kicking a lot so I put my hand on my stomach.  A second later, I felt her kick from the inside and outside!!!  Travis was sitting next to me and just laughed because I was so excited.  I had him put his hand where the kicks were coming from.  Unfortunately little baby girl decided to stop kicking so he never felt her.  At least now it is possible for him to feel.  It won't be long until he feels her.  This is really the coolest/weirdest feeling ever.  There really is a baby inside me that is alive and moving.  According to BabyCenter.com, she is about 10 inches longand 10.5 ounces!

Oh, and speaking of BabyCenter.com, it keeps track of my progress and I am officially 20 weeks today!!  I only have 140 days to go!  It has seriously flown by!  The second half is probably harder, but I feel like it is not going to be long before she is here!  I guess I need to take a picture to show my half-way belly.  I will do it tomorrow after church, because let's face it...I am in sweats and a t-shirt right now. 

Intercom

The other day, one of my students kept asking me over and over if he could be parent pick-up instead of a bus rider.  I told him over and over that I needed a note from his mom if he was going to be parent pick-up.  After a few minutes he said, "if the ceiling talks to you, then can I be parent pick-up?"  I assured him that if the ceiling talked to me, then he could be.

It is interesting to see how young children perceive things that they are not familiar with, like an intercom system.  It gave me a good laugh!

Holiday Excitement

It seems like this year I have been more excited about the holidays than in the past.  It may be that I like buying new decorations for our home or that I actually have a home to decorate. Although I have been excited for Halloween, it doesn't feel quite right.  It is on a Wednesday this year so it is almost being treated like any other day.  The kids aren't allowed to dress up for school and we aren't having a class party.  All that we are doing at church is a Trunk-or-Treat.  I haven't been to any haunted houses or Halloween parties.  I don't even have a costume this year.  I feel like there isn't as much hype this year.  It seems like it is over before it has even happened. 

At this point, I am just looking forward to Thanksgiving.  Typically I am always with family on Thanksgiving.  This year, Travis and I made the decision to stay here for Thanksgiving.  The trip down to Georgia is kind of long (especially for a pregnant lady) and we just have a short weekend off.  Since we are not going down, a group of us are getting together to do our own feast.  I am actually super excited because it will give me and Travis a chance to think of what traditions we want to start for our family.

One food tradition that I am definitely passing on is frying a turkey.  I can't have it any other way!  I just hope it turns out as good as Dad's.  Other things that we always have are homemade rolls, sweet potato casserole, mac 'n cheese, green bean casserole, pineapple casserole, stuffing, cranberry sauce and olives.  I can't remember what desserts we have besides an assortment of pies.  I may start my own dessert tradition for that. 

For Thanksgiving dinner, my Dad always says the blessing.  Some years we have said things we are grateful for, but not every year.  The rest of the day is spent laying around, watching football and snacking on leftovers.  I am interested to see what traditions my friends have that we can continue down the road. 

Tough Mudder

A while back, Travis started showing me these videos about a race that he wanted to do called the Tough Mudder.  Every time he would show me a video, I would tell him he was crazy.  He would just reply, "it looks awesome!"  If you know Travis well, he loves to do crazy, adventurous, adrenaline boosting things.

Since we have been married, he has calmed down a lot.  I think part of it is that he doesn't have "his guys" here to do these things with him and I am not as daring as him.  So when he told me there were some guys at church that wanted to do it, I happily consented to his plea.  It was good to see him get so excited about something and get involved with this group of guys.  Most of them are the husbands of my friends, but the guys don't get together often.

Travis and his buddy Jake started working out together on a regular basis to train for it.  Then, I blame this idea on Jake, they decided to be tough they needed to grow out their facial hair.  Neither of them shaved until after the race.  The other men couldn't participate in growing out their facial hair because they are all military men (lucky for their wives).

The day of the race came and this is what Travis looked like!  Mountain man?

  I have to say that I am glad the race is over because he has finally shaved and he came back uninjured!  I knew he could do it, but I was a little stressed that he would hurt himself. 

The group of guys got up and drove down to Kentucky the morning of the event.  Once they got there, they duct taped their shoes on and put on battle paint.  Travis got a GoPro camera basically for this race, so we have lots of pictures and videos.

For those of you that have never heard of this before, this is the websites description of it:
Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. As the leading company in the booming obstacle course industry, Tough Mudder has already challenged half a million inspiring participants worldwide and raised more than $3 million dollars for the Wounded Warrior Project. But Tough Mudder is more than an event, it’s a way of thinking. By running a Tough Mudder challenge, you’ll unlock a true sense of accomplishment, have a great time, and discover a camaraderie with your fellow participants that’s experienced all too rarely these days. 

Travis loved it!  He said that it was really tough.  There were parts where his legs would cramp up due to the intensity and freezing cold.  He described one area as a battle ground because there were people sitting/laying down from the intensity.  He said people were wrapped up in space blankets just massaging their legs so they could make it through.

Now for the pictures!

Before the event started with his warpaint!

 Photo-op in the mud!

 I don't know all the names of the obstacles, but this one you had to army crawl under the barbed wire.  I think that is Kent.

 

Mud from crawling on his tummy!

 

 The group of guys.  (starting from the left and going around)  Kent, Jake, Justin, Ryan and Travis.  They are missing Bishop, JJ and the Colonel in this pic.

 More mud...just thicker now.  They walked through a mile of this!

 Justin and Kent about to jump into a dumpster of ice water.

 Bishop on the rings.  They had to stick their whole arms through or they would just slip off.

 Jake going into the trenches.  

 

So much mud!  Gross!

 Other obstacles included climbing over a huge wall of stacked hay bales, running through live electrical wires, jumping through fire, jumping off a high plank, running up a half pipe, carrying a log 1/2 a mile and the boa constrictor. 

The boa constrictor would have stressed me out.  You crawl through this tunnel and can't see a thing.  As you go down, it starts to fill up with water.  You come out into an opening of muddy water and then crawl up the other side.  I would have freaked!  I can't handle small spaces, especially if you can't see and water starts filling up!  I will get the video of this obstacle as soon as Travis gets home. 

I am glad everyone made it back alive and mostly unharmed.  There were minor scrapes and bruises, but nothing broken or stitched up!  I did have to laugh at them at church the next day as they limped around!

Kicks

I have finally really been able to feel our sweet little baby kick.  Every time it happens, I get so excited and tell whoever is around me.  I know at some point the kicks will be painful and a burden, but right now they are miraculous!  Every time I tell Travis, he tries to feel her kick too.  I even tried to lay on his hand because I feel her more when I am on my tummy.  Unfortunately it is too early, but his time to feel her will come soon enough. 

Yesterday I got to hear her heartbeat and my doctor had to chase her around to keep a consistent heartbeat.  She said that Baby Barlow kept moving all over the place.  The same thing happened at both of my ultrasounds.  She kept moving and kicking and turning. (I guess it is good I can't feel every move!)

I was telling my parents this and my Dad said it is my fault.  He said it's because I jostle her around all the time at the gym.  I don't know if she is fighting back or if she is just active since I am always on the move.  Either way, I am going to soak up each moment I feel her.  Hopefully in the coming weeks Travis will be able to feel her too!

Cry Baby

Do you remember the little girl I talked about at the beginning of the year in this post?  I was so afraid she didn't like school until one day she skipped away to her bus with a huge smile on her face and said, "see you tomorrow Mrs. Barlow!" 

We are now on the 40th day of school and I know she likes it.  This past week she has been absent a lot due to the passing of someone close to her.  Unfortunately she lived with this lady so that meant that after the lady passed away, she had to find a new place to live.  Unfortunately she moved out of the district and Friday was her last day of class.

All day she kept telling me how much she loved our class and school and friends and that she didn't want to leave.  Every time she said something, I would encourage her saying that she would make new friends and love her new school but it seriously broke my heart!

At the end of the day, I gave her a big hug and said I would miss her being in our class and good luck at the new school.  This time she didn't skip away to the bus.  She waited for her older sister and slowly walked away to the bus.  Minutes later, I see her and her sister walking back towards the school.  She had huge tears in her eyes and said she wanted to give me another hug.  It was all I could do to hold it together.  I had her sister a lot last year, so I gave her a big hug too and said good luck.  As they walked away, hand in hand, I couldn't help but cry.  I wish I could blame it on pregnancy hormones, but I know I would have cried anyways.  I am already dreading the end of the year.  These two sweet girls were such a joy in class.  I know they will do great at their new school, but I have a hard time saying good bye.  It is amazing how quickly you get attached to these little people that you work with everyday! 

Baby Pumpkin

Yesterday, one of my girls brought me a baby pumpkin. I put it on the corner of my desk as decoration. Today all the kids were obsessed with the pumpkin. They asked me where it was from, who gave it to me, why it had paint on it, how it was so small and the list goes on!

At the end of the day, all my kids were cleaning all the scraps up off the floor. One girl found pieces of a math game from centers. I told her to put them on my desk and I would put them away. After walking all the kids out to the bus I went back and started cleaning up my room. That is when I noticed this:

 My pumpkin is now a Jack-o-lantern. It made me laugh. Sometimes it takes a small child doing a small thing to bring a smile to your face!

Bowling

Travis has been begging me to go bowling with him for months.  For some reason or another, we have never gone (mostly because I wasn't in the mood).  So when Alison asked if we wanted to go, I said yes right away.  I knew Travis would be excited.

On Friday, 5 couples got together and bowled a couple games. Travis walked in with his bowling bag and own shoes like he was a pro.  He was in heaven.  Now he is convinced he needs his own ball.  I had a lot of fun, but after one game I start to lose interest and would rather talk or take pictures.

Overall, Travis had the highest single game score and came in second for the two games combined.  Me...I did pretty good...Ok, I didn't do great but I didn't come in last.  My first game was actually pretty decent.  It's just my second game was awful and everyone else suddenly started getting strikes and spares.  I did get the first strike of the night on my very first frame.  Beginners luck I guess.

I love getting together with friends and doing fun things.  I need to start planning more nights like this while we can still get out without worrying about a baby!

Favorite Activity

I have a new favorite activity!  Buying baby girl clothes!!!  I thought that I loved shopping for myself, but shopping for our baby girl is a thousand times better!!  Not only that, but I have been introduced to the Nickle Auction.  About once a month, our ward puts on a nickle auction.  I went for the first time a couple weeks ago and had a blast!  I got so much for so cheap!!!  This is what I came home with!

8 pairs of leggings, 11 onesies, 4 jumpers, 7 shirts, 3 pairs of pajamas, 4 skirts, 3 shorts, 3 pants, a pair of tights, 1 sun hat, 3 pairs of shoes, 3 board books, 2 pairs of pants and a shirt for me...and the grand finale...a car seat and stroller!!!

I showed everything to Travis and then asked how much he thought I spent.  What do you think?  You were probably wrong!  I spent a grand total of $2.50!!!  All that for $2.50!!  Can you believe that?!?  That is why it is my new favorite activity!  I came off with an amazing deal!  A lot of the stuff is 12-18 months, but that is ok.  I just had a hard time bidding on the smaller clothes knowing that other people needed it sooner than I did.  There were a couple things I really wanted, but didn't want to bid against someone.  That was the hardest part for me!  I don't want to hurt or offend anyone.  I will get better at bidding for the things I really want though.

Since nothing was smaller than 6 months, Travis took me shopping the next day for an outfit.  This is what we ended up with.  Can you guess which outfit Travis picked out? (answer:  the puma stuff.  He wants our girl to be athletic)

Fur vest for winter, cheetah pants and cardigan, birdie dress, puma onesies and leggings, and cheetah print shoes.

Travis said that I have a problem.  I just love all the tiny, adorable, girly clothes.  I still don't have a newborn outfit, but I do have 3 months.  I guess that means I have to go back and get more.  :) This is going to be fun! (FYI-I got everything on sale!  I have enough control to not spend all our money!)

Not only do I have a problem, but my mom does too.  Apparently she started buying girl clothes before I even knew what I was having.  (My sister is pregnant too, so she figured her chances were high to have at least one girl.)  When she came up this past weekend, she brought a couple things.  I LOVE this little purple outfit.  She said she had to get it because it looked like something I would wear.  Little did she know that I have a gold shirt a lot like it (just with ruffles...no flowers).  Now I need to start making some hair accessories to match her clothes!