Good Job!

I have talked to Kyle for about 5 minutes each night since he left for school. So far things are good. He didn't meet the weight standards (according to him, its my fault, I cook for him) so he had to be taped. He passed the tape which he was really excited about. He was 1% over as of Friday, and was concerned because he didn't really eat any less, probably ate more than usual over the weekend! I had a message on the house phone when I got home from school saying he did good on his Army Physical Fitness Test today also. He has been having a hard time with push-up form. He will do like 75 push-ups and only get 40-60 counted....talk about annoying. So, these are the two things that he was most worried about with this school. So, hopefully the rest of school is smooth sailing. I am glad he got the part he was worried about out of the way! Good Job Kyle!!!
Oh yeah, he also thinks I can come and visit him. He is like a prisoner. I go to the chow hall and they will ask if there are visitors for each company. When the call Bravo Company, I have to then let them know his student number 220 so they can call him out of formation to visit with me. I then get to eat with Kyle and spend his dinner hour with him. Haha, I will be really embarrassed, but oh well. I am thankful that I get to see him even if it is only for an hour. To bad it is a total of 4 hours in the car there and back for an hour worth of a visit. Luckily I have some friends that live around where his is at school so hopefully I am able to go and see them too!

Hurry Up and Wait

Today has been a memorable Veteran's Day. I got to spent it with about 23 soldiers waiting. This morning I thought I was dropping my husband off to go to WLC for the next 30 days. I decided I would wait with him for the bus, so I could spend as much time with him as possible before he left. Plus, I had the day off, so its not like I had anything to rush home to. We arrived at his work around 10 am. It is now 1800 (6pm) and I just got home. Apparently the bus didn't get the memo about picking them all up. So, as it seems to happen ever so often in the Army we hurried up just to wait. He was released at 1300 and told to come back at 4 tomorrow morning so we decided to go get new tires put on the car while the mechanics weren't busy. While we were getting tires put on Kyle was called back in. So we rushed the mechanics (hopefully the tires don't fall off or anything) and got Kyle back to work in a hurry, just in time to wait another 4 hours. Well, I was hoping Kyle might get to come home tonight, but no such luck, I just said goodbye, so now it is me and the dog for a while. Please pray for Kyle and these next 30 days, he is going to school for non-commissioned officers, I don't think it is going to be much fun.
Now as far as veterans day is concerned...Being a military wife has really made me appreciate the sacrifices that veterans have made. I think life is hard as a spouse now, but I can't imgaine what life was like without cell phones and internet. The most I have ever had to go without talking to Kyle is about 3 weeks. I can't imagine going a year or longer with no communication, maybe an occasional letter. The scarifies the soldiers and their families made is unfathomable. I also appreciate those serving today. I am amazed to all that goes into being a soldier and all the little and big sacrifices they make every day to protect us. So today, I just wanted to say "THANK YOU VETERANS." Saying "thank you" really isn't enough for all they do, they deserve
so much more.

-Kyle on top of a mountain in Afghanistan.

A Crazy Week

It has been a crazy week. Kyle has been preparing to leave and I can't believe everything he has to pack. He is leaving for a month for a non-commissioner officer training. I spent two night in with him at work helping him pack. We went back to his work after dinner and worked on finding and packing all this stuff until after 2200 each night. We have heard WLC is like basic training for NCOs. Haha, it should be lots of fun. All I know is that a lot of money has gone into this school. His stuff getting stolen could not have come at a less inconvenient time. Being in Germany presented a couple problems finding replacement gear. We have ordered a lot off the internet, but of course it doesn't get here that quickly so he is borrowing a lot of stuff. We aren't really excited that he is going to be gone for a month, but it should hopefully help him get a long awaited promotion. His school is about 2 hours away and we have heard rumors that I can go and have lunch and dinner with him. I hope this is true, but we will wait and see. I am at least hoping I can drive up and have Thanksgiving dinner with him in the chow hall. We were suppose to have a bunch of company, but now it will just be me at home alone if I can't go see Kyle. And I won't be making Thanksgiving dinner just for myself.
While Kyle has been preparing for WLC, I have been preparing for the dreaded Parent/Teacher conferences. I always say I have to come up with nice ways to say not so nice things about people's children, their pride and joys. I never thought after last year, a class could get any worse, ha! I was wrong, this class is like 5x as bad. I have decided that I will be honest with everyone and say something like "You know, your child is out of control. Being disciplined at home would really be helpful. Have you ever tried spanking?" I wish I could say something like that, my aide suggested stratigically posting the Bible verse Proverbs 13:24 "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." To bad I would lose my job if I did any of these things, and some parents might think I am for beating children! I am pretty worried, because by the end of the month, I will have 3 girls in my class and 16 boys in my class. I will need some major prayers come December. I really do love these kids, they are just really naughty, and way to many boys plus I have been in need of this little break. By the time I see them next I will have had a 6 day break, which is so sweet!

Well, I just thought I would share about our ever exciting lives. Oh yes, we have decided nothing to serious must be wrong with Kyle, the doctor's have yet to get back to us.

Sneaky Kids

For those of you who don't know, I teach kindergarten. It is a very interesting group of children, I have a very wild group this year. I have never meet so many children who just don't care, and that their parents don't care either.
Well, I always knew kids were sneaky, but this group is particularly good at it. Today I was casually talking to a parent and to end the conversation I said "well, I look forward to seeing you on Monday for conferences." This mom stopped and gave me a very puzzled look, and I reminded her about the conference and thanked her for returning the form saying she would attend. She looked at me more puzzled. She explained that she never signed a permission form much less even saw one. She said her daughter empties her folder before she gets a chance to look in it and whenever she looks in it, it is empty. (This explains why homework is never done, something that was going to be talked about at the conference.) I informed the mom I would send home a permission form again the next day.
When I got back to the classroom I looked at the returned forms and found the one from this particular student. Sure enough it had "yes, I will be attending" checked, and it had a date. The date was more interesting... in about 5-7 year old handwriting it said 11/03/08/2008. Then I realized there was no signature. I checked them off quickly that morning as I received them, I guess I wasn't looking at the signature section to carefully. So, I am concluding that Ms. Sneaky Pants returned this on her own. She has been in some trouble lately and I believe to avoid getting in trouble at home she takes my notes out before mom and dad see them. She is smart and can read, but I am amazed that she was smart enough to keep the top half, check yes, and date it. Her parents need to watch out, once this girl masters their writing they won't know anything that is happening. I have decided emailing and calling her parents will be best in the future.
Aren't kids so cute???

Quick Pettit Family Update

In one day I will officially be done with my first trimester! Thank goodness, I am hoping that means the sickness will soon go away. I also have a cold which doesn't help.
Today we had our last first trimester doctor's appointment. The doctor said everything looks great with our alien baby. I don't have to go back for another month so that is nice. I included two pictures from the ultrasound today.

I hope this doesn't mean our baby is going to be a thumb sucker!


The 3-D photo of our alien baby!

Other than baby news, life has been interesting here. On Wednesday Kyle got over $1000 of military gear stolen out of his locker at work. It should be tons of fun replacing it all. I have a feeling he will be getting gear for Christmas!
He also went to the doctor because of his cold, plus he has been having these horrible night sweats. I wake up to go pee and I am usually soaked in his sweat. The bed feels like he had an accident come morning time. The doctor had such positive news regarding this. He said it could be one of three things...
1) Tuberculosis. Kyle has been a carrier of TB since his last deployment to Iraq. But just because you carry it, doesn't mean you have the disease. Well, apparently night sweats is a common sign that the disease is no longer dormant.
2) Malaria. Three of the people Kyle was deployed with and worked closely with in Afghanistan have already come down with this disease. So this is a very possible answer also.
3) Thyroid Problem. Now, this is a more positive outlook. It's not good, but better than the other options.
I am sure you can all guess which option number we are hoping for. Plus they can't do anything for this cold until they figure out what is wrong with him. He had blood work today, which could take up to a week to process. Jokingly I told Kyle that with his luck his results would be "well you have malaria, which weakened your immune system and then allowed tuberculosis to become active, and yes, you also have a thyroid problem." I just say that because he has horrible luck with everything. The doctor also took back x-rays because they think he has fractured vertebrae in his back...oh the goodness is just overwhelming.
We also found out great new that Kyle will be leaving Nov. 12-Dec. 11. I am pretty bummed that he will be missing Thanksgiving, but "thankful" he will be back in time for Christmas. He is going to Warrior Leadership Training for a month.
Even though life is a little rocky at the moment we are trying to stay strong in our faith and continue to pray that God will see us through it all. It is hard sometimes to understand why with have to go through so many unpleasant things at times, but we know that God has a reason for everything. (I just wish He would fill me in one the reasons sometimes)

Weekend In Garmisch.

Kyle and I had a fun weekend down in Garmisch. It really was a last minute trip, that ended up being a very relaxing time. Friday night we went to a late dinner with some friends after arriving in town. We ate at the Edelwiess Lodge and Resort which is for the US military and we had American Hamburgers that were awesome! We got to sleep in then we walked around downtown for a while. After lunch we went out to the lake to see about renting paddle boats which were out of season, so we walked about 20 minutes and found a nice place on the shore to take a nap. We slept for about 2 hours before waking up just in time before the sun went down. I was very surprised at the nice weather...I guess we went just in time before the snow hits. I must say there isn't much better than waking next to the lake surrounded by the mountains!
The picture of Kyle and I was taken right after we woke up from our nap.

What? A Baby!

Today our secret was told...by a six year old.
It's true, Kyle and I are expecting our first child. We are in about the middle of my 11th week. We have been keeping it pretty quiet, just telling family and close friends. Plus I thought I needed to tell my boss because I am always sick. Other than that no one really knows. I am not showing yet, (I feel fatter, but apparently I don't look that way yet) so today when one of my former students came up and hugged me, looked at me, then touched my stomach, and really loud says "Mrs. Pettit, you have a baby in there!" everyone was shocked standing around. His teacher started to correct him and tell him that was an unkind thing to say, I told him that it was okay that he was right, I am actaully pregnant. I figured there was no sense in him getting in trouble for something that he was right about. I suppose I could have played it off, but I figure that it is okay to start telling people now, plus I really just love this kid and didn't want him to get in trouble (he is always in trouble, so I didn't want to add to him problems).
We are very excited, and I am so looking forward to second trimester when everyone says you start feeling better! I included our two pictures of Baby Pettit.

7 Weeks


10 Weeks

Spiced Pumpkin Waffles

So Kyle is a huge fan of this season for one reason...Pumpkin Pie. We even have pumpkin pie candles throughout the house. Well, I am always trying to find other pumpkin recipes that he will like, which really isn't a challenge (he likes just about anything), but this weekend, he told me he now has a new favorite. Saturday morning is really the only day I get to make us breakfast as Kyle leaves at around 5-5:30 every morning. By the time he gets home from PT, I am at school, so he is on his own for breakfast. Then Sunday, we usually eat something fast on the way to church as we like to sleep in as long as possible. So, this weekend, I tried a new recipe for Spiced Pumpkin waffles. I am not as huge of a pumpkin fan as Kyle so I was skeptical, but they really were yummy, so yummy that I thought I would share.
This recipe is from Country Living.

Spiced Pumpkin Waffles
Serves 8
Ingredients
2 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
4 large eggs
2 Cups buttermilk
1 Cup Pumpkin Puree
1/2 Cup dark brown sugar
1/4 Cup unsalted butter (melted)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
1) Preheat a waffle iron. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cloves in a large bowl and set aside.
2) Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, pumpkin puree, sugar, butter, and vanilla in another large bowl until smooth. While whisking, add the flour mixture and blend until smooth.
3) Generously coat the waffle iron with vegetable oil and book the batter in the waffle iron as recommended in the manufacturer's instructions. Repeat with the remaining batter.
4) Serve with hot maple syrup and fresh sliced pears.

Our visit to Prague, Czech Republic

Kyle and I went to Prague, Czech Republic this weekend. We ended up having an interesting experience. Due to traffic jams, and road construction we ended up on dirt roads for about 22 km (20 on the way there and 2 on the way home)of our trip. I was surprised our GPS even knew that these roads existed. The roads in the Czech Republic were bad enough on the highway; huge pot holes, bumpy, and just awful, so you can only imagine what these dirt roads were like. I was not sure that our car was going to survive the trip. However, while I always tell Kyle what a horrible driver he is, I can tell his time in Iraq and Afghanistan helped in bad road conditions. He was very good at dodging those pot holes, however, I am pretty sure he was on the lookout for IEDs too! I can't say to much, as I was positive some big Czech guys with guns were going to come out of the the trees and rob us.
Upon arriving in Prague Friday night, we had the exciting test of finding our hotel. We knew it would nothing to fancy, but it was pretty close to awful. We had to put our beds back together before we could even lay on them and breakfast was served in a dirty little bar in the basement of the hotel. The neighborhood was very scary (at least for me), everything is so close together and so run down, I guess that is what happens from a war torn country that is recovering from years of communism. On the positive note, there were no hookers around the hotel that we saw. They were hitchhiking all throughout the city and highways. We had been warned about all the hookers and theft in the Czech, we couldn't even rent a car to take, because of the auto theft rates in Prague.
Also, upon arriving in the country we started seeing villages of homes that are about the size of our bedroom. We thought the might be abandoned, but there was lots of laundry hanging outside, so I assume people are still living in them. I found this very sad and interesting, I wish I had been able to take a picture of them. However, I doubt they really would appreciate a tourist taking pictures of their home.
While Prague is a beautiful town with a lot of interesting sites, and history, I can't say it is a place I would ever go back to. I am thankful for the experience, and am reminded of how thankful I am to be an American.
Here are a few pictures of our trip for your enjoyment

-Part of the dirt road our GPS took us down.

-Beth with castle in background

-The world's largest inhabited castle

-Totally Europe. People kissing everywhere.

-Kyle standing with the church of St. Peter and Paul in background

-View of Prague Castle and Charles Bridge

-Kyle standing with a foggy Prague behind him.

-Beth standing in front of the Prague Castle

-Old Town Hall and astronomical clock

-Jewish Cemetery. Over 200,000 Jews were buried here, the oldest stone dating 1439. Hitler was going to put a museum in Prague about the extinct race of the Jews.

A Fall Wedding in Germany

Beccy and Barrett

From the Church overlooking Zeil am. Main

Beth standing in front of the church.

Kyle, Barrett, Austin, and Will

Kyle and Beth overlooking the city after the ceremony.

Kyle and I went to a wedding yesterday. Our friends Barrett and Beccy had their German wedding. It was in the most beautiful setting at a church on top of a hill overlooking the city Zeil am. Main. Because it is fall the colors were just beautiful. After the ceremony, which we attended, but understood none of, we went to the reception. There we really had a great time. Kyle had a good time driving there in the convoy honking his horn at everyone. At the reception we were surrounded by wonderful people, all of who spoke some English. Most of them spoke very good English, we were very impressed. So we enjoyed great company, good food, and German's have great wedding games. Our favorite was one we both participated in, it is like musical chairs, but when the music stops an object is shouted out and you must find it before you sit down. Examples are: belts, id cards, tie, purse, 2 euro coin, and the most interesting was toilet paper. There is only a small bathroom in the restaurant and about 11 people are running for it. The catch was after you got out, you had a penalty card, and on the cards were different jobs that you do for the bride and groom. Kyle has to wash their car and I get to take their dog for a walk. The winner is being taken out of dinner for the bride and groom. The wedding was at 3pm and we got home at midnight and the party was still going, we were told the party would go on for most of the night. Thank you Barrett and Beccy for letting us share in this special day with you both!

Shared Living Quarters

I am so thankful for a nice roof the military provides for over my head. But... sometimes the frustrations of shared living areas are so annoying.

Right now I am doing laundry. Someone decided to start some system where you mark your washers so people know who is using them and if you leave your clothes down there to long, they will come knock on your door. Which has been helpful because usually when I do my laundry I end up finishing someone else's because they don't come and put there clothes in the dryers. But it was also created because the nasty people that live around us like to leave dog/cat feces in the washers. Isn't that what we all want to wash our clothes with? Tonight when I was doing laundry I opened a washer to find the lovely gift of vomit. And guess what? They didn't put their sticker on it to let us know who it was. I am not exactly sure why we aren't able to clean up after ourselves. But more than that, I am not exactly sure why we are vomiting or putting cat/dog feces in the washers in the first place. Nasty people.

My dishwasher is also being complicated. Luckily I have my own and don't have to share that...haha. It isn't getting the dishes clean anymore. It is very sad, I have really enjoyed having a dishwasher, and that word not meaning "Beth." Today I washed the dishes by hand while Kyle "fixed" the dishwasher, washing by hand reminded me how thankful I am for that appliance in my home. I am know attempting to wash the same dishes for the third time I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will work.

I can't just complain about military housing or shared living, because we really are fortunate to have all be do, and I must say they have given us nicer housing than I expected, plus we get the following:

1. No electricity bills (however, that means that the military turns off the heat when they feel like it and turn it back on when they feel it is cold enough.)

2. No water bills

3. No garbage pick-up bills

4. No rent

5. Free maintenance and up-keep. That means if something breaks, we call and they come and fix it. Also we have this cool thing called "self-help," it is a free store. You can get light bulbs, paint, nuts/bolts, basically anything you could need to help take care of the home.

6. When it comes time to move (which is all to often) they pack all your things and move them for you at no cost. Plus they unpack them too!

Alright, well I guess it is back to the laundry. I really let it pile up and think I will be staying up later than usual to finish/fold it. Luckily I got about a 3 hour nap today.

Back to the Grind

Well, playtime is over and it has been back to work for Kyle and Beth for about two weeks now. This means the alarm is back to going off at 5:30 in the morning...yuck! Luckily we both are really close to work, so we don't have to get up any earlier. I (Beth) am back in Kindergarten at Schweinfurt Elementary School. It has been a crazy start to the year. I have one student who is pretty wild. Any day I am not physically assaulted by him we consider it a good day...in two weeks this has only happened once (a half day). I have a class of 14 boys and 6 girls, by the end of this week I should be up to 8 girls. So many boys makes for a crazy time. But I really do love them all and hope that this year I can make our classroom a safe and stable place for them as their dads get ready to deploy. All but two of my kids have dads getting ready to leave for another year long deployment. Oh yes, I have already gotten a nasty virus and am currently fending off a sore throat, I have to get back into the habit of washing my hand constantly with those little germ carriers. Kyle is back doing whatever it is he does. I am not really sure what they do all day, I know they have PT in the morning and I think the rest of the time he just sits around. He did take a driving class last week, which he wasn't to thrilled about. He is busy studying for the promotion board and just found out he has a slot in pathfinder school so now will be studying for that too. Just in case you didn't know (like me) Pathfinders are paratroops who are dropped into place before a major operation in order to place and operate navigational devices to assist the primary drop of paratroops. It is suppose to be a very difficult school...they have a test every day. He is also working out extra hard hoping to go to Special Forces selection or Ranger school. To sum it up...he is crazy.

Visit to Pottenstien

Yesterday Kyle and I went to a little village called Pottenstien. It is a little over an hour drive from our home. We went to check out the Teufelshohle Cave (Devil's Cave). This cave has been part of legends and folklore around our area for centuries. Inside the cave they have found prehistoric animals including bears, and a mammoth. We really had a good time. We were told that their would be an English tour via a speaker system. I thought it would be one of those things that you put up to your ear and listened to, not to disturb anyone. But when we arrived at out tour, it was all in German, I asked the guide about English and she instructed us that she would play the English version for us after she did the German part and we would just meet them in the next room. So our English tour came on the loud speaker and echoed throughout the cave, it was like..."HELLO...American's are here!" It didn't exactly say that, but it might as well have.
After the cave we got a chance to ride the alpine coaster and the toboggan run. They were so much fun. Kyle and I rode together hoping that the weight of the two of us would make us go faster. It helped alot, we always seemed to be catching up to the people in front of us, at which point we would have to slow down so we didn't run into them. Once you get in your coasterbob you get pulled up to the top of the mountain, then at the top you get to control how fast you go and at any point you can hit your breaks. We used our breaks as little as possible, at times I was sure we were going to go flying off the tracks.I have included a video that shows both the coaster and tobaggan ride down. I have also posted a few pictures from the cave. Enjoy!