Wow! So July & August are over and not a post was written. Sorry to those few people still poking in here to see what I've been up to! Check me out on that space that begins with an "F" for daily input, though it's not too much better!
The summer flew by due to a combination of my day job being very busy with a rewrite project on the billing system that I work on, spending time with Sophie & Linda, training for a 52 mile bike ride that Linda & I will be participating on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, and just a bunch of other day-to-day things.
Sophie spent time this summer at the day camp that she went to last year. It's local (next town over) but there were not a lot of kids this year that she connected with until the last 2 week session and by then, she was pretty much done with it. Due to her grandfather (my ex's Dad) living with them for a few months and my ex taking vacation days/work from home, Sophie really only went to camp a few days a week. I'm hoping that next summer will have her at sleep-away camp for 4 weeks and home for the other 6 doing some local stuff. We'll see.
Sophie turned 11 on August 7th and celebrated with 2 of her 3 best buds (Tori & Kayla. Bridget was away) by having the girls come to my place on Saturday the 6th for some swimming in the afternoon, then Linda & I brought the girls to meet up with my ex for dinner at the local pizza place, followed by cake and a sleepover at my ex's house. All in all, a great birthday weekend!
The rest of August passed much too quickly and here we are already finished with Labor Day weekend!
Linda's photography business had no Mitzvahs in the summer, but she did get a request to take pictures of an almost 1 year old, to put pictures on his birthday invitations. This was from a family member, but it allowed Linda to expand her gallery on her website. She was also asked to take pictures at this 1 yr olds' birthday party - which is coming up on Sept 10th.
We attended 2 baby showers in August. My niece (on my ex's side) who pretty much lived with us growing up, and her husband of 3 years are expecting their first child (a girl) around Halloween. That same weekend, we also attended a baby shower for a lesbian couple friends of ours who are expecting their first child (a boy!) on Sept 10th! We offered both couples, as our gift to them, their child's first photo shoot!
The lesbian couple asked Linda if she would take some maternity shots of the expectant Mom before she gives birth, so last Saturday (just mere hours before Hurricane Irene came pounding on our shores!), Linda shot her first maternity pictures! It was very cool and and we got the Moms-to-be in the nursery , outside their home and even with some tiny booties on a very large bare tummy! It was a fun 2 hours for all involved!
We've had inquiries about some other baby shoots, so we'll see if these types of 'shoots' will fill in the time between Mitzvahs. So far we have a Mitzvah in September (our first Bar Mitzvah!) and twin girls being Bat Mitzvah'd Thanksgiving weekend. Hoping to get some calls for more bookings as people get back into the swing of school and such.
In the meantime, Linda & I have gone on long bike rides every weekend for the past 5, gearing up for this 52 mile bike ride that claims to be the flattest century in New England (or some such nonsense!). It starts in Dartmouth, MA and goes into Rhode Island and back. After the 1 year old's birthday party, Linda & I will head to Dartmouth to stay over night, as the ride starts at 6:30am on Sunday 9/11. So far we've been able to average about 10 miles an hour, so we should be done by noon!
This past Saturday, we did 45 miles in 4.5 hours and those last 5 miles about killed me! Here's hoping that I can get to the gym at least once this week to do about 1.5 hours on a stationary bike. My bike is having a tune-up this week and I won't have it back until Friday.
Linda is finishing up the maternity pictures this week and will post some of them on her website. If you'd like to check out her work, please do so at: www.etanaphotography.com She's also on Fac*b**k. And if you need any headshots for resume's or websites or family portraits for holiday cards, please feel free to contact her via the e-mail on her website.
Shiloh update: She is still very much a puppy at the tender age of 6 months old, but has peaked at about 36 lbs and has just recently learned how to sit and give her paw, making her even more cute and irresistable!
Sophie starts middle school tomorrow (school was delayed starthing from Sept 1st to the 6th due to the many people and some schools who lost power throughout the town for multiple days) and she's pretty excited about it. We've had long talks with her about her 'job' being getting good grades and having some fun while learning. She is going to go out for the track team, which we're very excited about. She has never joined any team activities before and I think she'll gain some confidence by doing so. It's amazing the apparent change in her going from 10 to 11. It's remarkable.
The teachers smartly separated the 4 buddies as 6 elementary schools merge together into this Middle School, so it will enable the girls to make some other friends as well as focus on schoolwork, versus talking!
The hurricane Irene and the threat of coastal flooding had my my parents spending 2 nights at our no-dogs-allowed condo for 2 nights! Yes, of course, they brought their dogs. And also my sister's dog who they were dog sitting for! Yep, 3 dogs and 3 cats under the same roof. My sister's dog was the only one who had the 'live and let live' attitude. But we all survived in the dark for 2 days together. At least we had our iPhones to somewhat stay connected to the outside world! It was pretty tough, not having access for that time period. But we did survive.
Thankfully it's a short week this week...
Dang gurl!
That was really newsy!
Happy to say I get to follow y'all on fb!
I am also on there so much more than writing in my blog now. It's just easier plus you can keep up with most everyone each day! I'm glad you made it thru the storm. What a trip, huh?
Posted by: KMae | 09/06/2011 at 10:43