Wacky Wednesday

We are having Read Across America week at school! Today was Wacky Wednesday. We had to dress wacky and my kids also got to play wacky games based off of Dr. Seuss games for about a hour and half. It was a fun day, tomorrow we wear green and I will be serving my kiddos green eggs and ham, yum, yum!
Here is me dressed wacky.

Apparently I offended a lot of my fellow co-workers today. First off, my top was not wacky to them, they all loved it and told me they wore stuff like that when they were young. My kids don't think wearing rain boots is wacky at all, even if its not raining. Almost everyone one of my kids told me how beautiful I was today..."I love your dress Mrs. Pettit and your boots are so cute!" Things you can't see in the picture are my seashell necklace and my non-matching earrings. I also only curled half my hair, but you can't really tell. I tried, but apparently wasn't wacky enough for everyone's liking! I felt silly walking around in that outfit, that has to count for something.

Slates

One of my good ol' high school friends was looking for a new hobby. I am someone who has few hobbies and started decorating slates this last year when Kyle was deployed. It helped keep me busy. Kyle thinks I should make an instructional video to put on here of me making a slate, but I will settle for written directions and not having to hear myself on the video camera.
Please know that I am one of the most non-crafty people in the universe. I cannot paint at all, and my kindergarten students make fun of my drawings on a daily basis. No painting talent is needed, just a little patience.
When it says napkins it is not talking about everyday dinner napkins. It is the fancy, fun kind that you buy at at craft store, we cute designs and pictures on them. This is a great craft to do with friends, so that you can swap napkins. My friends and I here go crazy anytime we see pretty napkins! Just be warned that if you start making these, you will become a crazy napkin hunter!

Slate Making

Items Needed:
Roofing Slates
Power Drill
Primer & Finisher
Napkin
Modge Podge-Matte Finish
Folk Art Acrylic Paint
Paint Pens
Leather Cord or Wire
Paint brushes
Paint trays

Directions:
1.Scrub the slate to get excess bits of slate off before you start painting. If you don't scrub the slate, after you are finished painting some specks might fall off and ruin your finished product.
2.Drill Holes in the Slate. Place holes where you would like to place the leather cord or wire to hang from.
3.Spray the slate with white spray paint. If you don't have a white background on the slate the colors in the napkin will turn to pay.
4.Most napkins have three layers. Usually the cheaper ones are only 2 ply. You need to take the all the layers off the napkin so you have a very thin, one layered napkin.
5. Tear the napkin or cut out the design you want to be on your slate.
6.Place your napkin on the slate and carefully modge podge down. Make sure there are no bubbles in the napkin and that it is laying down flat. It is best if you start is a corner and work your way up the napkin. (The napkin will rip if you are not very careful)
7.Once the napkin is glued down and dry you are ready to paint. Paint around the napkin and/or on the napkin to make it personal. You may also use paint pens to write a message or saying on the slate.
8.Once you are satisfied with your slate spray on a Crystal Clear finisher.
9.Put leather cord or wire through the holes you drilled.
10.Enjoy your new piece or art.

Here are a few samples of slates that I have made:





I guess I have never taken a picture of my welcome sign. It is my favorite slate that I have done. I will have to get a picture of it. There is no paint on it, just all napkin!

Eyes and Food

Kyle and I returned from Landstuhl this afternoon. It is such a long drive, I was hoping to make it home for a half day of school, but a 2.5 hour drive turned into about a 5 hour drive with all the road construction and traffic jams. We made it home safely and really that is all that matters.
Kyle had his last eye appointment that requires us to drive so far today...thank goodness! The doctor said things are looking good, but we won't know how his vision has changed for another 2 weeks or so. Right now he can see, its just blurry, his eyes are still healing. He goes back to work tomorrow, but with very limited things he can do. He doesn't even have to show up until 9am...not 5:30 like usual, yipee. Most the guys are out in the field so it should be a couple easy weeks for him.
I was reading that the Ramstein military base is the largest concentration of American's outside the Continental US with about 48,000 Americans. They even have a Chili's there! We had planned on eating there Sunday evening after we arrived, but we couldn't figure out where it was on the huge base, and settled for sandwiches instead. I guess we were to embarrassed to ask for directions. Oh well, they also had a Cinnabon that I planned on getting dessert from after dinner, and we were right by it, but I my stomach had no room after dinner. But just knowing they had them seem more like home. I can't believe Kyle hasn't been to the US in over 2 years, and it has been a little over a year since I have been there!
I have had a difficult time sleeping the last two nights, so I am hoping that tonight I get a good rest! I am going to need my rest, tomorrow I start my Master's program online. I am already dreading going to class and it hasn't even started yet, luckily going to class only requires logging onto the computer!
We are still waiting for our BMW to get fixed and/or the Ford to arrive. Hopefully not to much longer, right now we are car-less. Kyle gets to ride his bike to work tomorrow, I am thankful I work right across the street!

Cars, Cars, and more Cars!

Well, we have ordered a new car, which will be here in 7-14 days and are paying to get our BMW fixed. It's just money, right? (Kyle keeps telling me that, if only I felt like it was that easy)
This is the first time since we have been married that we will have had two cars. We have always just had one, I don't know what we will do with ourselves. We bought a 2009 Ford Escape, which we will be taking back with us to the states (whenever that may be). This is the first new car we will have had since being married, we have only had used cars before. Exciting, yet scary to spend all the money! Here is a photo of something similar to what we will be cruising around in soon.

We talked to the mechanic today and he checked the entire car out and told us he could fix everything that is wrong; wipers, head gasket, ball joints and water pump for 1000 Euro. That isn't cheap, but is WAY cheaper, like $1500 cheaper than the place on post! So we are thankful for that. Plus we couldn't really sell the car for anything when it doesn't even run. Poor little BMW!
(This isn't actually our car, just a picture of one kinda similar off the internet, I think blogs are so much more interesting with pictures. Please note our car is much cooler ;))

For now we are in our sweet rental car. We will return it Tuesday morning, we are sick of paying for it, but had to have it to get Kyle back and forth to his doctor appointments. Since the military is paying for the eye surgery, we figure that paying for a rental and hotel room for 3 nights is alright.
We are driving a totally sweet Opel..haha, it is very European, but it gets us around, so we could care less at this point.

Kyle's eyes seem to be feeling better today. He said they don't hurt hardly at all, everything is just blurry. We were told that today would be the blurriest day. Hopefully by the end of the weekend he is doing a lot better. His next appointment is Monday morning at 0730, so that means another night in a hotel so we don't have to leave our house at 0300 to get there in time!

Bouncing Belly

Well today, I am pretty sure I freaked the kids out at school. Today we were playing a game and I sat down on the carpet with my kiddos. I'm not really sure how much longer I am going to be able to do this, but so far, I at least get down on the carpet with them once a day. As I was sitting there, Gunnar really starting moving and grooving in my tummy. The child sitting next to me happened to look over and said very worried "Mrs. Pettit, your belly is moving." It really was shaking, it looked like he was really beating me up. The kids thought it was pretty funny, but they also were very concerned about me and the baby. The decided that the baby just wanted to play the game with them.
Yesterday I stopped by school to *smile* for our class picture. (I wasn't at school because of driving Kyle back from the doctor.) As I was walking back with the kids after the picture one of the kids looked at me and said "Mrs. Pettit your belly is getting so big, I think the baby is going to make it explode. He just keeps getting bigger and bigger and pretty soon, BAM, you explode!" My aide told him that he thinks he is watching to many alien movies, which is probably true!
I think this is quite the experience for a lot of the kids in my class. They are all very excited about the baby, they just don't really understand that he isn't going to be coming out ready to play and come to school with me.
--Kyle is in a lot of pain today. His eyes are really bothering him. I don't know that he got out of bed other than to get food and use the restroom the entire time I was at work. I only know he had food because there was not only evidence on his shirt, but also on the bed sheets (BUSTED). When I got home he said "hey I picked up the house, but I can't see anything today, and my eyes hurt." I thought that it was quite the concept, he cleaned, but he can't see. If only I couldn't see, I am sure I would think the house is clean too! In his defense he really did try, he cleaned up the baby room some more after I was home and I even caught him playing with Gunnar's mobile. I love seeing Kyle get excited about the arrival of our little guy, I know he is going to be such a great dad!

Laser Surgery

Kyle and I left Monday after he got off work to head to Landstuhl military hospital where he was having his eye surgery. We got to our hotel at about 10pm. At least we thought it was our hotel. We called and they said they would be down to unlock the door in 5 minutes. We called 35 minutes later after no one came, only to discover we were at the wrong place. Same name, same owners, just the wrong one. The other hotel was only 10 minutes away, so it wasn't to bad, just frustrating after a 3 hour drive. It felt like grandma and grandpas. I think we were the only people staying there, but it was close and convenient and way better than driving 3 hours each way to the hospital.
We got up at 5 on Tuesday to be at the hospital at 6. When we got to the hospital the optometry didn't open until 6:30 so we went to the chow hall for some breakfast. We went back to the clinic, sat and waited, Kyle went back at about 7:30 for a briefing. The escorts were given permission to leave, but I had no where to go, so I just sat around the waiting room. I even managed to take a nap sitting there. Unfortunetly Gunnar decided that my ribs were a cool new playground, and he made things quite uncomfy. They had all the laser eye surgery appointments get there at the same time, and surgeries started around 10. Kyle was second to last and we didn't get out of the hopsital until about 1300. A long day for a 15 minute procedure.
We grabbed some lunch and went back to the hotel and took nice long naps. We had to be back at the hospital at 7:30 this morning, so we left the hotel around 6:40 and went and grabbed breakfast at the chow hall again. I figured out that the fattening stuff is the cheaper food so I filled up on bacon and biscuits and gravy...eat fruit, pay more!
It was a long drive home for me, as Kyle slept the entire 3 hours of the trip. He seems to be doing okay, his eyes hurt tonight, and he is very sensitive to light, so we are hanging out like a couple of hobbits.
We also went and got a new car today! It is so hard to spend the money for me, but I know we will be happy once it gets here. It takes no more than 14 days to get here...so until then it is rentals, bikes, and buses. So hopefully it is more like 7 days. We are still waiting to hear about our poor BMW, but it might be time for it to go to car heaven.

Mandatory Fun ~ Boy's Night

Well, Kyle is off to some Mandatory Fun. His platoon sergeant is having a party at his house and everyone is the platoon is required to attend (I don't know why it is mandatory, maybe if it wasn't no one would come to his parties). So, Suesse and I are home hanging out, while Kyle is doing...who knows what! I am actually scared to know what a bunch of infantry guys do with not a single woman to supervise. Luckily Kyle drove himself, so hopefully he can leave whenever he chooses. I should have sent him with a camera because I can imagine there are going to be a lot of great photo worthy moments, on second thought, it is probably best that whatever they are doing is not being documented!
I feel like I should be sitting here watching a good movie, pigging out on junk food. However, I have heart burn so bad, I can't even slightly lay down and I doubt junk food is the cure for it! Plus I totally forgot I would be home alone and didn't think to get a movie while we were out today and it is to cold to walk to the video store. Instead I think will sit in an upright position and hopefully find something descent to watch.

Nursery

It is feeling more and more real that a baby is going to be coming into our house in the near future. We are both really excited and have had a fun time picking things out. We didn't have a hard time finding a nursery set, once we saw this one we both fell in love with it. I received it in the mail a few days ago and can't wait till the crib arrives so we can set up the nursery.

Kyle has been had a great time finding the model airplanes and helicopters for the room. He also found some little paratroopers that he wants to hang from the ceiling. This kid is going to have one cool room. We are hoping the the helicopter theme is something that he can keep for a while...like at least 10 years. Haha, maybe not the same sheets, but the theme needs to stay.
I know that a lot of family and friends have been sending emails asking if we are registered or what we need. I don't even realize how many of your guys read this blog, but we are registered at both Target and Babies-r-us. You would need to look under Elizabeth or Kyle Pettit for us.

28 weeks

Today I had my first 3rd trimester appointment, I can't believe it!
My doctor's appointment started out with drinking the wonderful sugary water for my glucose screening. That isn't an easy task on an empty stomach. I actually didn't mind the taste as much as I thought I would, it was just difficult to keep down once I drank it. I made it through the first hour great, but then I started sweating, felt like I was going to throw up, and then everything started to get dark. I informed Kyle that I wasn't feeling well and that I was about he pass out, he took one look at me and quickly got a nurse who took me back to a room to lay down. They also gave me some water, and after a few minutes I felt good again. I was thankful I passed the test and made it through without hitting the ground.
Everything is looking good with baby Gunnar. The doctor said that there is little risk for pre-term labor and that Gunnar is weighing in at a whopping 3 pounds. He didn't look so skeletal anymore, which was less frightening to me, he looks a lot more like a baby now!
Instead of a picture this time they gave us a short video of what Gunnar was up to. He wasn't moving around to much during the ultrasound, but he really started getting going when it was over.

On a sadder note, our car is very angry with us. We have been talking about getting a newer car, something bigger and more reliable. Well apparently our lil' BMW heard us because about 100 ft. from parking at the doctor we heard this loud noise and then steam was coming out from under the hood. The radiator hose or something related decided to take a big poop. I am not sure if I already wrote, but our windshield wipers stopped working a while ago and they said it would be $1400 to fix. So, we have been driving without them...in the rain and snow (we are very safe, obviously). So I am anxious to see what Kyle found out about getting the newest problem fixed with the BMW today. I guess now we will be getting that new car sooner than later. I would love a new car, and we can afford a new car, I just really hate putting that much money into anything, but I suppose it is time. Plus we only paid $2000 for our BMW, so I guess $1000 a year for a vehicle and $12 a month for insurance isn't bad...it has taken us on a lot of great trips, it is a well traveled car.

Valentine's Day

Today Kyle and I ventured out on a crib adventure. We drove about two hours to go to a furniture store that was on another military post. It took a lot longer than we had planned because there was on accident on the autobahn and it was really backed up. Thank goodness for GPS because after a bit of being in the crawling traffic we were able to detour and get around it. We made it to the furniture store and we found a crib that we liked and was reasonably priced. I have been really worried about finding a crib because the one they have here in our PX is just flimsy and really ugly, and the German cribs are different sizes so the sheets we ordered wouldn't fit. So we found the crib and luckily they had it in stock! We went to see about getting it delivered and it was about $170. Which isn't bad for a 2 hour drive away. However, we can do a store transfer for free. So we are actually going to go in to our PX tomorrow and buy the crib from them, and they will have the crib sent to their store. It will be much easier to put the crib in the car for a 1km drive vs. a 2 hour car drive. We were thankful the weather was great and it turned out to be a good day.
We ended up getting new cell phones too. We had the cheapest cell phones before and they were so cheap they were hard to use. So I guess our Valentine's Day gift to each other was cell phones. :)
I guess it is time I get busy. I am taking a course online and I have 3 assignments due Monday and I haven't done any of them. Hopefully it doesn't take to long! I rarely procrastinated in college, I am not so sure what is wrong with me now.

A hint???

Now, I am no expert, but I think someone is trying to give me a hint. I found this sitting on the counter when I came home from school today...

Maybe I will make his pumpkin pie for a Valentine's Day gift. However, I told Kyle gifts were off limits. We had planned a trip to Rome, but had to cancel because he has to work this weekend. Really I am just to lazy to come up with a gift so I banned them all! I know I am very romantic.
Please note that a pumpkin pie is not a seasonal food for Kyle. He loves it and just about every time he goes to the store with me he will ask if we have the stuff at home to make it.

A busy week!

We have been some busy people this past week. I feel like just about every night we had something going on.
Kyle has been really busy working on getting packets together for different military schools and his application together for Warrant Officer. When you first join the military you take your ASVAB test which then determines your GT score. Well Kyle was one point to low to apply for Warrant Officer so he had to retake the test. After not being in school for 6+ years it was a little stressful. He studied hard, took classes and did a great job! He was really nervous about it. Now, he has to take a flight aptitude test, I believe on the 26th. He is nervous about this too. With both tests if you don't do well, you have to wait 6 months to take it again, so that puts some added pressure on him. We have run into a few road blocks with his Warrant Officer application. We found out that Kyle's eye sight is just barely to bad. So, he was going to do this anyways, but that means he has to have laser eye surgery and be healed from that before he can actually put in his application. Right now they are saying he will have his eye surgery in March, so he is getting everything else ready so as soon as he is healed from surgery he can turn his packet in and hopefully get picked up quickly. I should also mention that Kyle took Suesse to the vet yesterday for a shot and was told what a horrible owner he was. We apparently don't comb her enough, we don't brush her teeth enough, we don't clean her ears enough, and we need to regulate her eating schedule. Pretty much, she told Suesse that she had the worst owners in the universe. I reminded Suesse that she is a dog, lucky she gets to sleep inside, and oh yeah, did I mention she's a dog! I told Kyle the vet on post here was mean that that I wasn't taking her this time, he found out that he really didn't like them either.
Here is a video of what Kyle and Suesse were up to last night. She has this big stuffed bull that she never plays with. She doesn't like it because she can't destroy it in 5 minutes like the other stuffed animals. So we have been trying to get her to play with it. Last night Kyle had her practicing attacking it.

As for me, I can't believe I am a week away from our Third Trimester! Where has the time gone? My kids at school are very curious about my belly and all now know that I am going to have a baby. They want me to bring the baby out so they can play with him, and feed him. They worry when I cross my arms that I am hurting my baby, and they tell me that my baby is crying all the time. A few are very fascinated by my growing stomach and I will catch them trying to touch it. They crack me up! Luckily I haven't gotten to many questions from them yet, I think they are all scared to ask because one of my darlings told them that I ate my baby and that is how it got in my stomach. Maybe they are scared that if they ask I will eat them too!
Here is a picture of me this morning, at 27 weeks. I can't believe we are a week away from trimester #3!

Kyle brought these home for me the other day. They are some just because flowers...to bad they smelled like stinky feet.

Friday night Kyle and I babysat our friend's 6 month old cute little girl. They wanted a night out so they could celebrate Nick's birthday and we were happy to watch little Scarlett. She was a good girl, got mad at us a couple of times, but she really loved Suesse. Whenever she was upset I would just set her up so she could see the dog and it would stop her crying. Suesse doesn't like the crying so when Scarlett would cry Suesse would whine back up at her. Scarlett also liked pulling Suesse's hair, apparently Suesse didn't mind because she kept on moving closer and cuddling up to her. Scarlett wasn't to sure of Kyle, but honestly, who is? I handed her to him when I had to go to the bathroom and she wasn't to happy. Poor Kyle, but I think he probably pinched her or something!:)
Here are some picture of Scarlett and then of her playing with Suesse.


Kyle and I were planning on going to Rome next weekend for the 3-day and Valentine's Day, but instead Kyle found out he has details (raising and lowering the post flag, things like that), so we have to stay close to home. I am so glad I hadn't bought our tickets. I was so close to buying them and then couldn't figure something out on the website and gave up until he could help me. Thank goodness I ran into problems.
Right now we are enjoying a lazy weekend, yesterday consisted of sleeping in, naps, a trip for milk and movies, and then watching the movies. Kyle isn't feeling well, so we will see if we get around to doing much today.

$3.09

I love milk! Tonight I really needed (its probably more like a want) some milk around 1810. Kyle and I walked across the street to the commissary and discovered that on Saturday they close at 1800. So we walked home and drove to the Shoppette. It ended up being a very expensive trip; we decided to rent a couple movies only to discover we had two late fees (we returned our movies after 1200 apparently) and then to top it off a 1/2 gallon on milk was $3.09!!! At the commissary a half gallon is something like $1.39 (plus we usually the stuff that is close to the sell-by date, so we get it for a $1). So, tonight I poured myself a glass of expensive milk! It really is the only thing that helps with my heart burn so I drink tons of it. One of our friend's was over for dinner the other night and kept watching me pour glass after glass and ask if it would be cheaper for us to buy a cow to have our on porch!

--In case you were wondering we really do have our own special Army milk. On the sides it even reminds you to reenlist. They like to start the propaganda first thing in the morning as you pour yourself cereal.