"Who has a baby?"

Thursday was a great birthday...number 27 for me. Travis and my friends at school did and awesome job, and I have to say this was the best Nashville birthday yet! I always miss my family on my birthday, but this year I had PLENTY of birthday wishes. Our Assistant Principal always announces the teachers' birthdays in the morning announcements, "Today is Mrs. Wolfes' birthday, so if you see her in the hall wish her a happy birthday!" Let me tell you that kids take this seriously...they may not hear anything else that is said all day, but they are going to listen for the birthday announcement dead gummit! So to say that I heard "Happy Birthday, Mrs. Wolfe!" 200 times would be NO exaggeration!
It was also a fun week because Tuesday we got to hear our sweet baby's heartbeat! 162...my sister is predicting a girl. Everyone asks me if I have a feeling to which I answer yes, nausea! It hasn't been too bad, but I can definitely tell that big business is going on inside me! We found out Oct. 12th, but wanted to wait a while to share our news. To say we are excited would be an understatement but I must add shocked and nervous as well. My dear friend Paula assures me that God gives you 9 months for a reason. I agree. So far everything looks healthy, but we certainly covet your prayers. Oh, I almost forgot to write about telling my students. I have been stuffing my face in class for weeks now...food is the key to avoiding the puke for me. So since I reached 12 weeks on my birthday, I thought it would be the perfect day to tell my kids. We have been playing "Shark Attack" which is my more politically correct version of "Hang Man." I usually get them to guess the title of a book, so a sentence was a bit of a stretch. Well, Rontaz finally guessed it with one letter missing..."I have a baby in my t_mmy."
Rontaz: I have a baby in my tummy.
Rontaz: (2nd time more fluently) I have a baby in my tummy.
Rontaz: Who has a baby in their tummy.
Me: I do, I am going to have a baby!
Class: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! (16 kids went NUTS!)
It was awesome! They were so excited and wanted me to bring it to school...Uh, hello, it's right here. They were a little disappointed to know that Baby Wolfe would not make his/her appearance until after we get out for the summer. They want to see him/her when they come back next year...are you kidding? My child will not be visiting that germ factory! I am already looking into getting my dad to build me a sanitation chamber at the front door. Speaking of, can you guess what I got for my birthday from my school friends? Six bottles of Bath and Body Works moisturizing antibacterial hand soap. They know me so well.

Rip!

That is the sound that I love to hear when I pull one of my student's teeth. I LOVE to pull teeth. I think I missed my calling as a pediatric dentist. One of my kids asked me to pull his front tooth today...imagine me grinning with delight while singing "I'll Be Your Dentist" from Little Shop of Horrors. Don't worry, I only pull really wiggly ones...clad in latex gloves of course!

Domination

I know it has been a while....a long while. I don't know if anyone even reads this any more, but I have big news!!! Mrs. Wolfe's first grade class dominated the first grade tug-of-war challenge. We took home a sweet blue version of this little baby.
Rontaz and I arm wrestled today...we took a break from guided reading. He lead our class to a victory, and that is only one reason why I love that kid. More from room 127 another day. Until then, I must get my sleep to make it through another 12-hour day!

Marathoner!

I know it has been a ridiculous amount of time since our last post, but hey, we have been busy. So if anyone is still reading this, allow me to take a minute to brag on my studly husband. This post is way late, but I am procastanating finishing report cards. 3.5 days left...whoop, whoop! I have a pep in my step that I haven't had in years. There's just something about a summer vacation, but back to Travis. At the end of April he ran his first marathon, the Country Music Marathon. 26.2 MILES! and he ran the entire way. Tyler and Katelyn saw him at miles 12 and 18, and I caught up with him at mile 20 and the finish line. I was so stinking hot! I was miserable, so you know Travis was sweating it running in that kind of heat. He finished in 4 hours, 53 minutes, and 34 seconds. I am really proud of him considering he didn't start training until January, and we had some cold nights this winter....he ran one night when is was below 10 degrees! There is just no way that I would ever do that!!! ever!!! He stuck with it, and Maggie deserves a little credit too. She was his running buddy for part of the training. I wish I had a picture of them in their matching reflective vests that I bought for them. I ran with him the first night, got mad at him because he wouldn't wait on me, and never ran with him again. He really stuck with this goal, and I am so proud of him for accomplishing something that I could not nor would not ever want to do! He has already put his name in the lotto for the London marathon next spring....Motherland, here we come!


I am not going to show Maggie this pic. I think she would be a little peeved to see Belle, her cousin, at the finish line when she did all the work training her dad! And, I know I am so pale that I am almost transparent, but that is just the way God made me. You got a problem with it take it up with Him! Katelyn and I look like pilgrims and Indians!

Conversation

I went for a walk around Vanderbilt the other day during lunch. I decided to call my sister to see how they were doing...MP got on the phone. This was our conversation:
Me: hey MPers what are you doing?
MP: making a Food Network challenge cake...
Me: oh wow! what does it look like?
MP: it is big, but I still have to do the green and pink layers.
Me: what else do you have to do?
MP: I still need to make my sugar showpiece for on top...
Me: wow, a sugar showpiece...what will it be
MP: a star...a beautiful star...a beautiful pink star with twirlies...
Me: what flavor is the cake?
MP: chocolate and vanilla
Me: oh wow...will you mail me a piece?
MP: no, Wawa, it's just pretend...(my sister told me they were making it out of Styrofoam(sp?) and decorating it with construction paper and stickers.

this will be MP in a few years...


this kid cracks me up! Then she asked me why the valentine window stickers I sent her stink....
Me: I don't know, I didn't make them.
MP: they smell like dead flies!

Happy Early V-day and Goings-Ons

Just hanging with my sis...



Mom, this is getting old...



I can't handle this....where is my bottle?!

really can it get any more precious!? I'm terrified that our children will not be this cute...I talked to MP this morning. Uncle Webby is there, so she is in heaven! She needed to give me a recipe. That's her thing, when you call she gets on the phone to give you a recipe. This one was actually edible. Salad: lettuce, bacon and Italian dressing, but she reminded me not to put carrots in Dadu's because he doesn't like carrots. I wanted to say that carrots were not in the recipe, but I thought I would cut her some slack. She is 4. She is really funny when she gives you directions!

Life is moving right along. We had a great weekend last weekend visiting Hunter, Emily and sweet baby William. He is just the sweetest thing. Such good manners and so well behaved! :) Josh and Emily Blades joined us and we had fun with them as always! I was just thinking in church last Sunday how blessed we are to have such wonderful friends! Josh and Emily stayed at Mom and Dad's with us and were not too disturbed by Woody's constant vomiting! That's right, my hairy little brother was under the weather...and more so than we could have imagined! We found out Monday after his emergency surgery that he had managed to get his paws on a corn cob which he proceeded to swallow blocking his intestines! Sounds pleasant! He is now back at home after terrorizing the doctor and nurses at the vet. He was not a good patient. He is sporting a cone around his neck, but other than that is on the mend. He gave us quite the scare! That's pretty much all for us. I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines...I plan to enjoy a meal with my sweet husband. I leave you with these verses that my youth kids read on Wednesday night:

"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,* but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly,* but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13

Updates

Well, all is well in the Wolfe house. Travis and I spent this past weekend with our youth group at Warmth in Winter. A good time was had by all, but it is painfully clear that we are getting old. This precious freshman girl had on a t-shirt that said, "Wiggity, Wiggity, Wack!" We asked her if she knew what it meant, no was the answer we received, so we proceeded to educate her on the musical stylings of Kris Kross. Another girl said, "Oh, I know who they are. I saw them on VH1 'I love the 90s'"....ugg, we are old. Here are some new pictures of our nephew, Wade. I can't get over the red hair! Never would have dreamed he would be red headed! And his zealous appetite seems to be catching up with him. He looks good with 2 chins, don't you think?

A New Brother!

My parents became parents again today at the ripe ole ages of 58 and 68! Here is my new brother, Dagwood!


They got him from Good Dog Rescue in Memphis. He is a Dachshund, Spaniel mix. They may call him Woody because Dagwood is a mouthful. I called Mary Peyton to tell her she had a new uncle. She said, "Dagwood, that's a terrible name. I'll call him Floyd." Welcome to the family, Dagwood. Can't wait to meet you, buddy!

A Wolfe Pack Year in Review

Hello All, let's be honest...If anyone even looks at this thing anymore you know that it is rarely updated. We are just not as on top of it as we should be. So I figure I will try and do a quick Year in Review through pictures I have on my computer. As bad as we are about blogging, Laurette and I are even worse about taking photos (seriously, we have 2 photos of us from our Honeymoon!). So here is my best effort at trying to give you an update.

Christmas 2007

Yeap, That is me with an 18 inch knife along with my fellow partner in crime Web. We got these weapons of mass destruction as Christmas gifts from Laurette's cousin AB who is a missionary in Africa. He didn't want us to ask how he got them through customs. Anyway, last Christmas was spent in Aberdeen, MS and pretty low key other then the blade of death and teaching my niece Mary Peyton how to make an apple pie.

January 2008

New Years Eve was spent in Memphis, TN with the Cantrell's, Butts', Laurette's rockin Sis and Jake. It was a fun night of sushi, fireworks, and most importantly champaign fountains. Caleb and I very much enjoyed the fountain that evening.

February 2008

In February I started a new job. It was an answer to many prayers and I have loved it from the moment I started. Challenging, rewarding and I work with great great people.

March 2008

We had a big month in March, to start things off my brother Tyler got engaged to his high school sweetheart. This photo was taken a few weeks before he popped the question as he made his claim to being a 4 star server at Cracker Barrel back in High School.


I also came out of retirement and performed in a play for the first time since my glory days back in high school. I was a Roman Guard for our church performance during Easter. I also made a trip to Little Caesars the night of the show to pick up a pizza. The woman thought I was from a hidden camera show.

April 2008


April had to have been the crown jewel of photo taking for the Wolfe family. We took our only vacation of the year and spent 3 days in Gatlinburg. That's right folks, I know how to treat a lady...I promised Laurette I would work on that in '09 and we would take more trips. We went to Dollywood, I couldn't believe it but it really was one of the best theme parks I have ever been to. Laurette talked to all the crafts people and I loved the roller coasters. We highly recommend it if you ever get up that way. The other photo is a bonus pic of me on the Barrel of Fun.




I also had a birthday at the end of the month. We celebrated by going to my favorite German restaurant in town and dancing to Omm Pah music. As you can see in the last picture we celebrated with my newly engaged brother and a great time was had by all.

May 2008

In May, we went with my parents up to Indiana for the Indy 500. That is right folks, the greatest spectacle in racing, over 250,000 people, Danica Patrick and not 1 photo from Travis and Laurette. This is a Wolfe Family tradition that we continue to enjoy. I get to cry when Jim Nabors sings "Back Home Again in Indiana" and eat cold fried chicken from a cooler while Laurette gets a thrill out of the cars racing by and the smell of burnt rubber.

June 2008 - August 2008
We will do a quick fast forward through the summer...

June we celebrated our 3 year anniversary...Again with the theme of no pictures. This is a photo of the stained glass at the church where we got married. We celebrated with a night on the town then back to work for me and back to school for Laurette.
In July, Tyler and I went to Lebowskifest in Louisville, KY. This is a celebration of one of the greatest movies ever made "The Big Lebowski." We dressed up as roadies from a Metallica tour. It was based off a single line from the movie and believe it or not we were not the most obscure costumes there at all. We have already began our planning for next years event. Laurette deserves credit for our great looking T-shirts!

August brought our favorite event of the year. The Wilson County Fair! I was humbled in 2007 when I entered an Apple Pie and placed last, so I took a year off and just decided to enjoy the fair. This year a friend and I spent about 30 minutes trying to convince our wives that we were accidentally put under a spell by the hypnotist. It didn't work so we bought them some Big Bubba's Horse Churned Ice Cream for their troubles.

September 2008

Laurette actually started her student teaching in August, but was deep into it by September. I have to admit, it was great getting to hear her stories every night about the kids and how they were learning from her. Here she is teaching them about Bird Feeders...Go figure.

October 2008


October was a fun month for us. We started off great with our local Oktoberfest celebration in Nashville and ended at a wonderful wedding in Mobile. Lindsey's wedding was awesome and I LOVE Mobile, AL. I could find myself sliding into the coast lifestyle very easy. Caleb & Tricia, be sure to check out the crab soup at Felix's Fish Camp!

November 2008


In November, my wonderful wife finished her Masters in Education after 2 long years of hard work. We also celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents house this year. The great thing my parents do is always invite the Clark's over for the dinner. This year after the turkey we worked off calories in my Dad's man cave playing his Wii.

December 2008



During the holidays this year we made a trip over to Virginia to see our niece and brand spankin' new nephew. It was a great time spent drawing, refilling bottles, and playing with play-doh. We also made it over to Jxn, TN to ring in the New Year with my family.

Hope this catches you all up, and Laurette and I both wish you and yours the very very best in 2009.