Summer Begins

OK, so it already has and I've been behind on the postings, but we are in full swing! This is starting out as the most awesome summer EVER! I don't remember ever being this excited for a summer break even as a kid and it's shaping up to be all that I had hoped for! Jansen is extremely active and doesn't like to nap unless I lay down with him so I haven't gotten much accomplished but I am loving every harried second of being home with him! I haven't had a summer off since I was 13 so that is a treat too! I'm looking very forward to having company next week (Kim, John, and Austin - AKA: Texas Parentals and my first born from another mother) then Gramps and Steve & Deb the following weekend to add to the bunch! We will have a full house, but there's plenty of floor space for blow-up beds and love of family to go around!! Anyone else wanna join us?!?! We could make it an entire family reunion all in my humble abode!! WaHoo!! Then we are off to Vancouver to visit more family, but this time Richard's side and we're trying to figure out if there will be an opportunity to squeeze in a Wisconsin/Chicago visit for me and the boys (Richard has to work-bummer), and then My Baby Sister is taking her first all-by-herself vacation since all the kiddos to come see me!! We will have a full summer, but so delightful!

Jonathan just finished school this past week so he got to stay until Monday this time around, which was really awesome! We got an extra day to do secret Father's Day stuff without Richard looming over our shoulders since he had to work. Excellent!! Now we don't have to get all sneaky in just a day next visit! He also got ***drumroll please*** "commended" on his reading state assessment exams. That is the highest rating you can get! He even got a medal for it at school and everything! We are sooooo very proud of him! I asked if he also got the award for "the naughtiest student" for his class, but he assured me that went to a different student, so we are all good on the school front for Big J and headed to FOURTH GRADE (can you believe it?!?!) in August!!

Jansen is crawling as of May 24th and cruising within the same day. It was like once he figured out how to move forward there was no stopping him. I'm sure he'll be walking, if not running, by the time he heads to daycare **sniff, sniff - wipe my tear** when I go back to work. Since there are plenty of visuals for him I guess I don't need to go into too much detail on him here!

Richard also gave me a gorgeous ring on May 23rd. I was waiting to say anything until all immediate family had been notified, but the story was so very... well, me. Here's the scoop: We went hiking at our favorite spot as a family and Richard & Jonathan were a little ahead of me and Jansen on the rocks. They hid the ring in a crevice and those sneaky little devils lured me right on top of it and kept walking like there was nothing there. I had not suspected it was coming at all since we have talked many times about how we couldn't get married for a long time because of my student loan debt (Ugh! Another whole story in itself). So I had actually thought someone had gotten ticked at an ex and tossed the ring over the top of the mountain and into the rocks! Seemed logical to me at the time since I too have a temper and could be impulsive like that in the past. Silly me didn't even think about the fact that it was perfectly placed and balanced there! I snatched it up all ready to return it to the jewlers for the poor guy that had a moment of rage in case he needed the thing back. When I turned around I actually said to Richard,
"Hey this thing looks real! Wanna marry me? Ha-ha! " He looked at me all indulgent (because he knows me so well) and said, "Ummmm... that's for you." (Huge pause while I drop my jaw and stare stupidly at him.) "Jonathan and I have been planning this for months and we finally got you up here. We snuck ahead to plant it so you'd find it." I'm still staring at them.... duh-like. "Oh my GOD!!" I say and try to put it on. Well, he had actually bought it a while ago and sized it to a ring I wore pre-Jansen so since I still haven't lost the baby weight, I have to wear it on my pinkie, but I'm not having it resized. I'm simply committing extra hard to losing the weight so it will fit my proper finger! What an incentive, eh? No date set yet, probably will be a long engagement because we want to save a healthy chunk of change first, but it is exciting to be able to call him my fiance'!

That's us for now! Enjoy the pics and vids. With me staying home these next couple of months and all the visits we have planned I'll probably have lots more to add, it will just be finding the time to get them on here!!