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!