Looking Back on 8 Years of Blogging

November 23, 2008-- I wrote my very first blog post, right before we moved to California.  Over 8 years ago now.  Sometimes it astounds me that I have been blogging that long.  So many things have changed in both my life and in blogging.

I honor of my "blog-anniversary", I am going to share my most popular, based on page views, posts from each year over the last 8 years.  Since I started blogging at the very end of 2008, my blog years will be from November through November of each year.

--Click on any of the titles to take you back to the original post--

2008-2009

How to Make a Lego Cake

This year I made Lucas a Lego cake for his birthday, it wasn't super easy and well it really wasn't the prettiest either, but he loved it and it by far has the most page views of any of my posts in 2008.

2009-2010

My Preemie Baby is 6 Months Old

Oh my this post, the memories, the feels-- it was really just a update 6-month post, but for some reason it got a ton of page views. This preemie baby is now 6 years old!  So crazy!  And oh my old Photography Logo-- glad I updated that!

2010-2011

Painting Laminate Furniture and Picture Frames

DIY tutorials, especially since the advent of Pinterest (which did not exist when I first started blogging), definitely gets a lot of pages views.  I still have this table and these pictures frames on display today.

2011-2012

Easy School Lunch Ideas

This was a big year for my blog.  I had several posts that have well over 100,000 page views; this particular post comes in well over 200,000 page views for this post alone.  I often refer back to this post myself when I am getting in a school lunch rut.

2012-2013

Best Broccoli Salad Recipe

This really is the best broccoli salad recipe.  I still make it all the time and everyone always asks for the recipe. It is so good!

2013-2014

The Four Part Apology

This-- this post is parenting gold.  Since we taught our kids about the four-part apology, it has made a huge difference in our home and how our kids say and show they are sorry.  Definitely read and pin this one!

2014-2015

New Years Interview Questions for Kids

This is very timely, as it is almost time to ask these questions again to my kids.  This wasn't the first year I started this tradition with my kid, this year it just had a lot of page views. I am so glad we started this tradition and it has been fun to see their answers over the years.

2015-2016

What I Hope For My Son's Teenage Years

This actually seems kind of fitting to end this recap with this post, as when I began my blog, this almost teenager was only 4-years-old.

I truly am grateful for my blog and for the memories, pictures and part of me that it has and I have shared over the years.  I often wonder what direction I want to take with this blog, how much longer I really want to keep doing this.. then I look back over old posts like this, and I never want to stop.

To those who have read my blog over the years, thank you.  Thank you for following me on this journey of life and for allowing me to share a little piece of me.