The Many Hats I Wear

I've read those emails that try to make moms feel better about staying home with their kids - like they need some reassurance that there's value in "just" being a mom.

I know.

That's silly.

But, it's true we wear many hats as moms.
Chef, chauffeur, nurse, teacher, maid, referee {grin}...
I can't even list them all.

As you can see lately, it appears "Blogger" has just about fallen off that list for me. There is so much around here that is just not getting done that I feel guilty getting online and writing a blog post.

I like having my blog though. I like feeling connected to my long distance friends. And, I like having a record of our lives we can look back on. (there's another thing that's not getting done - scrapbooks. ugh!)

So...here's what we've been up to lately.

We celebrated our very first Gotcha Day on August 24th. Yummy Ethiopian food!


Tate started tackle football. (hmm. that's was about when I stopped having time to update the blog. I'm starting to see a connection.) {wink}


Bear just turned 7 on September 10th.

Car Turned 9 on September 11th (yes, the very next day)

And, Gid fell in love with the tractor

Pucker up...Look at that pucker!


SMACK!

You're Welcome

It has come to my attention that not everyone knows about the awesome, free blogging software...Windows Live Writer. It is SO easy. And, it's FREE. It doesn't leave weird spaces between the lines, it's super fast uploading pictures, as a matter of fact, you can just choose all of your pictures at once and upload them one time.

I don't have a lot of time to blog (like any of us DO), so it really drives me nuts when I have to mess with the software too long. I want to type something, upload a few pics, and move on with my day.

I had to share.

Seriously.

Go here to download it.

Did you catch that it's for freeee?

It doesn't work with Macs and I miss it. It's made by Microsoft for Windows...that should have been my first hint I wasn't going to be able to use it on an Apple. I really think I'm going to do all of my blogging on another PC in the house just so I can keep using it.

Let me know if you try it. You'll thank me for it.

Time to Breath

We've been running non-stop around here lately. We worked hard to hurry up and finish our quarter so we could take a break in school. We started our first week of summer with Ellie heading off to camp.

For Six nights!

I don't have pictures because she took one of those disposable cameras that you have to take someplace to have developed. How did we do that in the olden days??? I'm not sure when we'll see those pictures.

We welcomed her home and then Tony and Tate left for a mission trip for a week. Tate loved it and wants to go back next year. They did a little VBS during the day and then had community block parties at night. Tony said it was hard work with little play and the kids did great.

Knocking on doors, inviting the neighborhood out to their block party each evening.

Having a mini VBS time with the kids.

Now, we are ready for a little R&R. I'm not sure what R&R stands for. I do not think it means what I think it means because I painted all day. Well, we did take a break for a quick swim.

Oh, and a quick update on the kittens.

I think they're here to stay.