A Year In Blog-dom

Well, it's been a year.

I posted my first blog last January 28, 2013.

Much to the credit of two of my "real life" beautiful friends - Maz (a novice blogger herself back then) and Colleen (a "professional" blogger as I like to call her) - I was encouraged to go off the deep end start blogging about what was going on at La Casa de Williams. :)

I remember reading their blogs with so much joy at seeing what was going on with each of their families... but I personally had no idea what to do, how to begin, what to post, etc. (I still struggle with all of these).  It's been over a year and I haven't even finished my main blog page yet, but I guess that's always going to be a work in progress… I just knew I wanted to start tracking what was going on with our growing family, from milestones to the "every days."

Why the name?

I think the name is pretty self explanatory - Casa Williams, referring to what goes on in nuestra casa.  Maybe it's not the most creative, but I currently speak Spanish to Addie (and Jumie too), so that's where the CASA part comes in.  And I've also ALWAYS loved this sign in my mom's kitchen - I just kept thinking about it when I needed to chose a blog title -

 

It sits beneath Mary on the wall out to the side porch.

Why Blog?

To scrapbook.

I don't know if I had a real reason for starting to blog other than to Scrapbook (is that a verb?).
In the past when I had the time, I loved to put together pictures from an adventure, a summer, a big trip, a year of school, etc. in an actual book and then go back and flip through those wonderful times periodically.  It was a way to really remember the good times.

And now, I feel like if I didn't take so many pictures and record the things we did, than everything might just run together - one activity, one day, one week after the next - and that I might not really appreciate all that we are doing together and how much the girls are growing and changing.

And that leads to some other reasons for blogging that I've discovered in the past year - 

To reflect.

“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.” -Margaret J. Wheatley 

There's a good friend of mine who I respect very much and who has lived an unbelievable, amazing, and crazy life working with and among the people of El Salvador.  He's the kind of person that could tell stories and stories for weeks on end; but when asked if he'd write a book about all of his adventures, he (up to this point in his life) has always said, "No, I don't have time to write because I'm living too much."  Although I see what he means, I have also come to value the importance of reflection.  In addition to creating a way to remember what's happened in our home by scrapbooking, I think that reflecting and "journaling" has been important to remind me of the value and importance of this time in our lives.  Because I'm home with the girls and being with them is really what I do "full time," blogging has really helped me appreciate my role in our family.
It also helps me to slow down more often and really live in the present before I'm too far in the future to remember the past, you know?

For our families.

There is a cute blog that I came across last year called, A Bog For My Mom.  And I always think, yea, that's totally why I do this thang - for my parents, and my grandma, for Bill's family, and friends and family who live miles away or who are close by.  For anyone who wants to see the girls and what they're into.

For our girls.

I hope that our kids will someday like looking back at some of these posts and get a good chuckle. (And it can be a good reference for me when "mommy brain" is in full effect and I can't answer their questions as to when one of them started walking or got their ears pierced or what Christmas morning 2013 was like).

For me.

Blogging has been such a great way for me to be creative.
It has also helped me to be more organized with pictures and to keep track of what we're doing- again, so that time just doesn't keep flying by without really appreciating where we are at.
The times I am blogging the most are the nights when Bill gets home at 9:30 after working a late shift.  So after the girls go down at 7:30, I try to grab my computer and tea by 8:30, and then that day, for a moment, slows down.

For Fun.

There are times I realize I should probably post more serious things, but I think there are also times to not take life so seriously (hence the posts on red carpet dresses).  Who cares about that stuff, I know, but that's the point - because it's light, and fun, and silly.  Which I think is okay, too.
And because it's for fun, I don't want to feel guilty about the times when I'm not able to blog and only post every- so-often, which happens more than I'd like to admit, but that's okay too!

So there you have it.
A year in the books and hopefully plenty more to come.
Thanks for being a part of Casa Williams!
Lots of love from our family to yours,

SSW