Hello, Summer!!

As of Thursday afternoon at 2:30, summer officially started for Mason and I! Although this year was a bit rough at times, it's great to have another year of teaching under my belt. This was Mason's first year as a para and he really enjoyed it. It has been really nice just relaxing and not having to worry about anything these last few days. Although, we did go on a field trip to Silver Dollar City with several of my NJHS kids the Saturday after we finished school. With only a few minor set backs, it was a great day and the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves.

Thursday, however, I'll have my nose back to the grindstone with the start of summer school. Luckily, they are only half-days and I'll be finished by June 22nd, which isn't bad as far as I'm concerned! Mason will actually be going back to work with his old boss for the summer. We figured that since he still gets paid through the school it would be nice to bring in a little extra money to prepare for this little bundle that will soon be greeting us! Plus, Mason is in the process of getting a different truck. It needs a little work, but it is in significantly better shape than the Nissan. That poor truck has seen much better days..

There's been so much going on lately that I'm pretty sure I've forgotten a lot of it. The one major thing I do remember is that my little sister, Laura, has officially graduated high school! Mason was unable to make the trip to Iowa with me because his cousin got married that same weekend and we wanted to make sure that at least one of us was at each event. Plus, I made a long weekend out of my trip and Mason didn't have any sick days left! ; ) It was a great time and it was wonderful to see everyone and spend so much time with them. I'm really excited for Laura because she earned some scholarships and will be attending my alma mater, the University of Northern Iowa, this fall! Go Panthers!! Here are a few pictures from her graduation:

Mason also ran his second 5K, yesterday actually. They had a fun run here in Rolla on Memorial Day. Mason has been working hard to get back in shape and he decided another 5K was in order. He wasn't thrilled with his time, but he ran the whole thing which he was very happy about. The last time he had to stop because he was having a hard time with his breathing (he has asthma and allergies), so he did very well!

Otherwise, we've just been doing some random odds and ends around the house to try to prepare for Baby H. His/her room is pretty well ready to go and we have a massive stockpile of diapers, thanks to everyone's generosity! I even did my first couple loads of baby clothes yesterday, which was weird. I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose all the baby socks before he/she even arrives! I'm already going to the doctor every two weeks, so it won't be much longer now! I am also excited to report that I do not have gestational diabetes. I failed my one-hour test, so I had to go in for the lovely three-hour where they take your blood four times instead of just once! It definitely wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world for someone who gets light-headed when they take my blood, but I survived, and had a good outcome! So no complaints here!

We are also looking forward to the end of June, when we will celebrate our one year anniversary! I can't believe it's already less than a month away. I'm not exactly sure where the time went, but it definitely flew by! We decided that we are going to spend a weekend in St. Louis, have a nice dinner, and do some shopping and exploring. We've been to St. Louis several times, but considering I'll be a little over 34 weeks at that point, I didn't really want to go much further away than that. Though I'm sure I'll be a blimp, I'm very excited!!

Like I said, it's been so busy I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but those are the main highlights! I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend and had a great kickoff to the summer with friends and family!!