It's been two years since I first started this blog.  I've covered a lot of ground in that time, documenting our family and sharing stories about our lives.  It's been really good for me - using the audience (and by that I mean you) as a driving force to write and take pictures and then put them all together.  It's made me feel creative, and it's given me the incentive to write, which I never made time to do before.  It turns out, two years means a lot of writing - here are the stats:
- 536 entries
- Average of 5 entries a week
- 795 photos
- 178,078 written words (not including the ones in this entry)

I was especially surprised by that last number, it just seems so massive.  So, I looked back a bit to see what it is that I've been writing about over the past two years.  Here is a recap using the first line of the first entry of each month:

February 2006. It's pretty embarrassing, but the last time that I updated our family site was almost two years ago. 
March 2006. In the book The Little Prince, the pilot as a little boy created a drawing which looks like this.
April 2006. From as early as I can remember through sometime in junior high , April 1st meant one thing - there would be a pony in the backyard. 
May 2006. It's been raining here for the past few days pretty much non-stop. 
June 2006. Yesterday I stopped at a vacuum cleaner store to buy some new bags.
July 2006. We returned from a weekend at my parents with sore arms, happy kids, and shorts that have finally dried. 
August 2006. Over the summer, Martin has grown much taller.
September 2006. This summer I worked hard at catching up on some reading.
October 2006. When Martin woke me up at 4:15 this morning to tell me that my toast was ready, I knew that today was going to be difficult. 
November 2006. Marty's dad called yesterday to tell us that his Aunt Eilleene had passed away. 
December 2006. As we prepared for Christmas 2003, I was so excited. 
January 2007. When Marty decides to buy a major item for the house, there are three things that are guaranteed.
February 2007. Days after graduating from high school (okay, maybe I didn't wait that long) I left home to work at Ruttger's for the summer.
March 2007. This week we've had a lot of snow. 
April 2007. It's hard to say what we've been up to lately that is keeping us so busy, but it seems like I'm just falling a bit behind. 
May 2007. It's been pretty busy around our house lately. 
June 2007. On Friday afternoon the kids and I went on a cemetery adventure, searching for the tombstone for a guy who's name was given to us by my dad. 
July 2007. Every Monday night during the summer, local musicians perform a concert in our library square. 
August 2007. I've traveled across this bridge probably one thousand times in the ten years I lived in Minneapolis or passed through there on my way somewhere. 
September 2007. Martin: Mom, does jelly come from jellyfish?
October 2007. Not for the first time in my life, I wish that MacGyver were a real guy. 
November 2007. Martin: What do you say we have dinosaur meat for dinner?
December 2007. Wednesday night as I was busy preparing the Thanksgiving dinner we'd have the next day, I searched on the TV to see if anyone was playing Planes, Trains and Automobiles - my all time favorite Thanksgiving-time movie.
January 2008. We got out of bed this morning around 8:00, a nice time after having slept in a bit and snuggled in bed.
February 2008. I love the new additions to our family, but I hate this long distance business. 

To summarize: We are busy, we get up early, we read and watch TV.  We go to cemeteries, eat a lot, love our family, watch the weather, and crack jokes.  Oh, and we buy vacuum cleaner bags (that is the most boring single line EVER).  The end.

I've had a great time writing here and greatly appreciate everyone who visits.  Thanks to all of you who leave me comments, its fun to see who is stopping by and to read the ongoing commentary.  I'll keep it up, and hope that you do too.