This space has been eerily quiet for the past year or so. There are a lot of reasons.
In early 2022 my daughter, Iris, and her two sons moved in with us, from New Zealand. Chuck and I were thrilled to have our grandsons (and daughter) in our home daily. But, the move did require some changes to our house…which meant some frantic rearranging, painting, and flooring.
In July of 2022, I traveled to New Zealand for the birth of our fifth grandchild, Silas. While I was in NZ, our son-in-law finally made it over from New Zealand, adding another adult to our house. The next month one of our daughters (still living at home) gave birth to our sixth grandchild…adding another family member to our house. In less than six months we went from zero grandchildren in the northern hemisphere to three in our house.
So, yeah, a lot of transitions. In January, our daughter and son-in-law bought a home of their own and moved out with their two boys, once again changing the dynamics of our household.
Sharing stories and images of my grandchildren online requires an extra layer of discretion and permission…and often times by the time I remember to ask, I have moved on to new projects and adventures, and don’t end up posting them at all.
When I saw this vintage LEGO ad, I begged Tilly to recreate it with Juniper.
In addition, blogging has changed a whole lot over the last decade…now bloggers are supposed to be brands and influencers. And you know what? I don’t want to be an influencer. I don’t want to be a brand. I want to share stories and photos (because I am, at heart, a storyteller). I want to share mom hacks and products I love…but the whole influencer vibe just isn’t for me.
All of these factors leave me wondering what and how I want to share…so I’ve been taking time off of social media to consider all of this. I want to be active in this space. I want to share photos and stories…I am just trying to decide how I want to share those things. How do I share without turning my family into a brand and my feed into a shopping mall?
I will be slowly filling this space again. And I can promise you this.
My reviews are honest.
If I say I like and use a product, you can take that at face value.
Why are most of my reviews positive? Because reviews take a lot of time and energy and I rarely put that into a product I don’t love (unless someone has asked me to review a specific product…in which case I am still honest).
So here we go. I am going to continue to share like it’s 2007. So buckle up and enjoy the ride.
I don’t really care for reviews.
I’d love if you’d reflect on things you did when your kids were younger like homeschooling, cooking routines, challenges and positives of raising teens, etc.
I’ve enjoyed your blog since I found it in 2008 (and I went back and read from the beginning!). So many family vloggers and bloggers are taking steps back to reassess how and what to share. That’s good and it’s needed. I admit to being curious about your family as they grow, and then I remind myself that it’s not actually my business to know! I remember when you were going to review each book you read in a year, and you did the first few. I thought that was a great way to share. I’m not super interested in reviews, but I’m definitely interested in books! Thanks for sharing your life all these years.
Did Adalia change her name to Iris? It looks just like Adalia, she used to babysit for us. I miss those girls!