Usually on Sundays we reflect on the last week and talk about what we learned or observed, but this past week was kind of different - we started a whole new year (never mind a week)! The start of the new year is a time that people reflect on their last year and think about what they want to do in the next year. As a blog, as three moms writing together, we've got a lot to reflect on. We did some awesome things in the last year.
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| A year in review! |
As a Blog
First of all, we came together. In August of 2013 Robyn and Lisa joined Liz in the adventure of blog writing, and the blog went from MamA to MamaS Around the House.
We grew our readership and our social media communities like mad. Prior to August, most of the blog posts had 20 or fewer views. After Lisa and Robyn joined up and we were posting more consistently, those numbers doubled and sometimes quadrupled. We went from 184 "likes" on Facebook to almost 3,000. We're working to "talk" more to our readers through Facebook and Twitter. Come join the conversation (or give us a "like").
We started building our Pinterest (and someone...ahem...Robyn) became addicted. We're constantly trying to figure out what would be interesting to pin, so look forward to seeing some new boards from us in the coming year.
We caught some people's eyes. Every day people are emailing us, asking us to promote their product or something similar. Sometimes we find some great things we want to share with you, but it leads to a lot of email.
We wrote some pretty good things. Our top ten posts from the last year included...
Robyn:
I became associated with the Civil Service world through a new job offer. While on leave, we took the family on a 5 day road trip to Disney World. Our original trip was a cruise that was booked, but the Carnival Triumph got stranded in the middle of the ocean. Therefore, Disney World was our plan B. I was then able to work through June and nest my house from top to bottom. I won a scholarship through the Air National Guard and then Reagan was born in July. We took her to her first pro baseball game at 1 month. She slept through the entire night at 4 weeks. Sean and Kasen got to ride in a helicopter as a birthday present. Bailey started high school and has kept busy running from school to ROTC, and Boyscouts. Mike took several bike trips to Ft. Worth, Corpus Christi, and Oklahoma during his short break in between classes for his almost finished masters degree. We ended the year with taking the family on a cruise as the kids' Christmas present. 2013 was the year of making memories by living out our dreams!
Lisa:
We've had a busy year here. The happy highlights: we were able to get a diagnosis for the Banshee, Pixy has developed a knack for singing, Sailor is doing much better now that he's sleeping with a CPAP for his sleep apnea, I began to write with Liz and Robyn, Cubby!, moving to a new house, reading...you name it. We have had our sad moments too, but without those, we wouldn't ever learn anything about life and the universe, right? :) We are happily setting off at our usual crazy pace for 2014 and getting things done, all while managing to Carpe Diem as much as we can. We're happy you're here for the ride!!
Liz:
We've had a lot to be happy about in our house this past year. My husband graduated with his Associates in Fine Arts and got a "real" job (after working 19 hours a week and going to school part-time for five years). Sage started sleeping through the night (praise to all gods) and started walking. Silas learned to use the potty. I finished my dissertation and graduated with my PhD (yay student loan payments). We added Lisa and Robyn as authors to the blog and I've enjoyed working with them on making this an amazing blog. Overall a very good year and I'm looking forward to seeing what 2014 has in store for our house.
Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net "New Year 2014 Calender" by Danilo Rizzuti
We've had a busy year here. The happy highlights: we were able to get a diagnosis for the Banshee, Pixy has developed a knack for singing, Sailor is doing much better now that he's sleeping with a CPAP for his sleep apnea, I began to write with Liz and Robyn, Cubby!, moving to a new house, reading...you name it. We have had our sad moments too, but without those, we wouldn't ever learn anything about life and the universe, right? :) We are happily setting off at our usual crazy pace for 2014 and getting things done, all while managing to Carpe Diem as much as we can. We're happy you're here for the ride!!
Liz:
We've had a lot to be happy about in our house this past year. My husband graduated with his Associates in Fine Arts and got a "real" job (after working 19 hours a week and going to school part-time for five years). Sage started sleeping through the night (praise to all gods) and started walking. Silas learned to use the potty. I finished my dissertation and graduated with my PhD (yay student loan payments). We added Lisa and Robyn as authors to the blog and I've enjoyed working with them on making this an amazing blog. Overall a very good year and I'm looking forward to seeing what 2014 has in store for our house.
We'd love to hear from you. Tell us what you did in the last year that you're the most proud of or that makes you all smiley inside.
Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net "New Year 2014 Calender" by Danilo Rizzuti
What a great year for you ladies! Liz, didn't know you had a PhD. Will be calling you doctor from now on. Going back to read posts from 2013!!
ReplyDeleteNo need Susannah! I only make my students call me that (not even). :)
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