A Year in the Life of My Blog

September 1st, 2007. Inspired by my friends Jen and Pam, I started a blog of my own. It seemed like a fun thing to do.

I went back to the beginning, and read my very first post, which made me laugh. Not because it was all that funny, but because I admitted to being a slacker mom, or a beta mom, if you will, before I even knew what that meant.

It's been an interesting year. I've made some friends, discovered a whole bunch of funny people, and learned a little about myself along the way.

In honor of my one-year blogiversary (I know that will be a word according to Webster soon, like ginormous), I decided I needed a new picture of the kids. One that wasn't so formal, and that truly reflected their personalities.

Last night, I told them I wanted a new picture of them for my blog, and I wanted it to be silly and fun. They wanted to know why. So I told them it was the one-year anniversary of my blog. After they laughed at me and called me a total dork, they agreed to a little photo shoot. It was...well, it'd probably be better if I just showed you.

I thought this one was cute, except that Danni didn't look particularly thrilled.

This is one of the ones I was considering using. I like this one. See, I knew you all had good taste. I'm using this one instead. It's just the right amount of silly.

This one...not so much. Danni looks like a deer in headlights, and Shannon...well, actually that's pretty much her normal, everyday expression. You know, like she wants to kill you.

This is the one I decided to use. I like how Danni's looking at Kylie like she's a little nuts, and Shannon's just laughing.

I'm not even sure what was so funny, except that they really think I'm a dork.

Hold it, stop everything. Shannon got a text message. Don't worry...I'll wait.

That's a nice one of the back of Shannon's head. Would you believe she has curly hair? Her straightening iron is her life.

I like this one too, because it's so representative of what actually goes on in my house. Kylie and Shannon bugging each other and Danni looking on in amusement. Unfortunately, you can't really see Kylie's face.

This one was in the finals too. Shannon nixed it because she said she looked like a monkey. But I like it.

Trying to get these three all looking at the camera at the same time is challenging.

This was also one of the finalists, but I was kind of creeped out by Shannon's huge smile as she points her finger-gun at her sister's head.

Another finalist, but again with the finger gun, and Danni said she looked like a beaver. I have no idea what that means.

So, that was our impromptu photo shoot. Which one is your favorite? I need to know if I picked the right one.

I know a lot of people mark this milestone with "100 Things About Me", or something like that. I may write some things about me (probably not 100) a bit later in the day.

Also, I just have one request. After 1 year, I have approximately 15,000 hits on this blog. I did some math (with Danni's new calculator, thank goodness I bought that!), and discovered that it averages out to about 40 hits a day, more or less. And I know it wasn't that many in the beginning, so it's actually more than that per day now.

I think the most comments I've ever had on one post is 13. So what I want to know is, who are you people? I know the people that comment, but who are the rest of you? I wanted to have a contest and give something away, entering everyone who comments in the contest, but unfortunately, that's not in the budget right now.

So come on now, be a pal. If you normally sometimes ever read my blog but never comment, just say hi! If you normally read my blog and do comment, please do so again. Even if you've never been here before and just happened by somehow, you say hi too! Please? Then I'll come say hi to you on your blog. It'll be fun! Some day I'll have a contest, I promise. I just need something to give away. Hey, how about a kid? Anyone want a moody 13 year-old? Just kidding! Sort of. No, I'm really kidding. I promise I won't make you take her if you leave a comment.