Blogoversary Giveaway!

Today marks my FOUR YEAR ANNIVERSARY of blogging! It's been fun...and sometimes a pain to keep up with. :o) But as I look back, it's all worth it and I'm so happy I've spent the time chronicling my little ones' developments and activities. Especially since all my scrapbook supplies are still sitting in the closet collecting dust (and irritating my husband). I'm resigning myself to the fact that when my kids leave this house, they will most likely not have beautiful baby scrapbooks to take with them, so this blog will have to do...and, of course, there are thousands of digital pictures they will have too. :o)

But back to reminiscing about the last four years of blogging. I began blogging when Abby was just 4-months-old. My original goal of blogging was to keep the in-laws up-to-date on all of Abby's daily activities and developments, and also as a way to keep in contact with other friends who had blogs too. Not long after, I also started printing it out every couple weeks and sending it snail-mail to my grandma, Kevin's grandma and my aunt who don't have computers. It's a great way to keep them up-to-date since I'm not much of a phone person and rarely call (pictures are better anyway, right? :).

My rate of posting has definitely slowed over time and especially since Jake was born. In fact, 2011 was the first year I didn't post over 100 times (only 84 times) with the height of my blogging occurring the year Ben was born (139 posts in 2009). Commenting has slowed as well, but so has my commenting on my friends' blogs. :) The post that garnered the most comments was Ben's birth announcement.

My blog is open to the public but the content is not searchable on the internet, so my traffic is all direct - either from people who know me or people who visit after clicking on my profile when I leave comments on my friends' blogs. I've had visitors from nine different countries. Some are easy to guess (hi, Becky in the Philippines!), but others I'm not so sure (who in Canada keeps coming here? :).

From time to time I am surprised to hear from someone that they are regular readers of my blog. Since so few of you leave comments and many don't have blogs of their own, I have lots of one-sided relationships with many of you! It's kind of strange really - you knowing all about my family and our daily going-ons, but me potentially knowing almost nothing about you! ;o) So, in order to make our blogging relationship a little less one-sided, I'm going to celebrate my four-year blogoversary with a giveaway so that I can tempt you into leaving a comment! I'm not searching for new readers (I would appreciate you not announcing this giveaway to others unless they know me, please!), but I would love to know who all is currently reading my blog. You do not have to have a blogger account to leave a comment (I've heard from a couple people that this is why you never comment!). To leave a comment, simply click on the "# comments" at the end of this post (do not click on the little email icon - that is for emailing the link of this post to someone else). First, type your comment into the large blank square. Second, under "Choose an Identity," click the option "Name/URL." Enter your name in the "Name" field and leave the URL field blank. Then click "Publish Your Comment." That's it! Pretty simple, eh? But if you still have problems with it, feel free to email me with any questions.

Oh. You want to know what the giveaway is? :) Yes, yes, I'm getting there! I decided to give away a half-case of our very own canned tuna. To enter all you have to do is leave a comment!

This tuna was caught by Kevin, canned at the cannery in Westport, sold at our seafood store and online, and shipped out of our home. If you've never had tuna caught on the West Coast (if it's a main brand, you never have - those are coming from SE Asia!), then you don't know what you've been missing all these years! Six cans of delicious home-style canned albacore tuna can be yours if you just leave a comment. People, that's worth $26.50 plus shipping! The giveaway will be open for about a week or so. The winner will be randomly selected and I will ship it to you (but only in the US - sorry!).

That about wraps it up. I'll enjoying reading the comments to see who has been reading the blog!