Tuesday, July 24, 2012

reunited and it feels so good.....

I can't possibly express my gratitude to my many blog friends who have been so patient (& forgiving!) with my recent absence.  To those who took time to contact me and check to make sure all is well, I owe an even bigger THANK YOU!

My last post promised a look at our new family portraits, so here you go:






So, the biggest new development in my life is one that I don't technically have hubby's permission to blog about yet, but I will definitely be letting that cat out of the bag SOON.  The second biggest new development is that my daughter is BACK!



Many of you already know the story of my daughter, AKA 'Airhead', leaving 4 1/2 years ago, and you also know some of the hurt this caused me.  I've missed her SO SO SO much, and can't tell you all how fantastic it feels now to have her back in our lives!  Seeing her, speaking with her, HUGGING her.....best feeling EVER.  We had dinner as a family in early June and it was so incredible to see her playing with little Bobblehead as if she's known him his whole life.  Since then I've gone wine tasting with her a couple times (yes, I love having an adult daughter!!!) and we're going to get pedicures together later this week. LOVE!




I was overjoyed to be reunited with my long-lost daughter, but just imagine my sheer happiness to learn that she works at one of our local wineries, and can get me in FREE for tasting at almost any winery in town!  Does it get better than this???? Yes, actually it does, but like I said I can't talk about that yet....still a SECRET for a little while yet.

My boys are all ecstatic to have Airhead back, too.  Bonehead passed his proficiency test to finish high school, so I finally paid off his senior pictures (will post those soon!) He's hoping to enlist in the Navy, but we won't know for a couple more weeks if that's even possible.  Knucklehead is enjoying his summer, getting ready for school to start in a few weeks. This is his second year in Middle School, and he is now my ONLY child in school.  Well, not counting Bobblehead, of course.....but he's in preschool. PRE-preschool, in fact, in the toddler program.  But in a few short weeks he'll be two years old and will move into the class I've been teaching since March, which means I have to move OUT of that class.  Not sure yet if I will be in the Infant program or the Pre-K, but either way it will be a huge adjustment for me.

My doula business is going very well, though that new secret project I'm not allowed to talk about yet is going to put the doula thing on hold for awhile.  I have three more births already scheduled, and am not taking on any more clients for the time being.  I'm also getting better with photography, which brings me to my next point - have you entered the Shutterfly Facebook Photo Contest yet?  Check it out:



Long Live Summer – Facebook Photo Contest details (US residents only) 7/9 – 8/12 Multi-week summer themed photo sweepstakes with instant win prizes. http://bit.ly/sweepS
Win a trip for four to The Bahamas and a professional photo shoot so you’ll remember your vacation forever.  All you need to do is upload your favorite photo and caption based on the theme of the week.  Get a gift from Shutterfly just for entering! You can enter at any point during the 5-week sweepstakes period.
PHOTO THEMES
•       Week 1(7/9): Americana - ended
•       Week 2 (7/16): Great Outdoors - ended
•       Week 3 (7/23): Water Fun – current week
•       Week 4 (7/30): Sports & Activities
•       Week 5 (8/6): Parties & Celebrations
PRIZES
       Instant win prizes just for submitting a photo!
       Weekly prizes (contestants can enter one time/week)
       Weekly featured photos: up to 5 weekly entries will be selected from the gallery and featured on the Facebook fan page.
       Grand prize: trip for 4 to Bahamas, 4 nights, family photo shoot

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