Crazy how quickly 2014 has gone by! It’s been an amazing year here at Say Yes, and I wanted to share you some highlights here below but first I wanted to let you know that for the next month posting will be a little lighter on this site. Ashley will still be doing her weekly style and fab finds posts, and we have some great Secrets of Stylish Moms and My Sister My Sidekick posts ready but there will be less content written by me. I’m stepping back briefly to focus on some other creative and personal projects-all for the better of this site though! It’ll be a good little break and I’m excited about the things I’m working on.

Here are the highlights from 2014:

We started 2014 in January and February with the site getting a little design facelift and we made a big change by dropping Hoboken in the name and moving into a new name and url, Say Yes! We shared a clementine vanilla bread recipe, and documented Edie’s first hike down to Mile Rock Beach. For Valentines Day we made some made cheater petit fours for Valentines Day (made from marshmallows!),  Valentines Day tea cloths (which I still use), shared a Valentine’s Day menu printable (image above), and an adorable Valentine’s Day kids craft. I also shared my sister’s perfect whole wheat pancake recipe, and talked about surviving and first three months postpartum. Last but not least, I hired on a new assistant Sara of Alice and Lois whose an old pro by now!

In March and April we started three new series: Secrets of Stylish Moms, Easy Weeknight Meals, and Baby Wearing Adventures (in the first one we explored some favorite San Francisco cafes with newborn Edie tucked away and a wrap). I also shared my 12 wardrobe essentials, my diaper bag favorites, and my favorite postpartum outfit. We posted a tutorial on adding our own leather sleeves to a t-shirt, DIY scrabble magnets, and documented a family afternoon outing to China beach.

Keep reading for more highlights from 2014…

We made some sweet baby DIYs like hand drawn fruit and veggie onesies, perfect polka dot tights (image above), and ended things with some perfect polka dot eggs and the most gorgeous meringue pastel kisses recipe for Easter.

In May and June we embraced the season with a mini series on some favorite picnic ideas starting with a DIY indigo dyed picnic blanket (love that thing still, image above), handmade picnic games, how to put together the perfect picnic sandwich, making a giant watermelon rice krispie treat, and three handmade veggie dips.  We also made a plan for the gender neutral kids room for both Henry and Edie to share.

We made a DIY white brick vase (which is one of my favorite DIYs ever), made some first year photobooks for Henry and Edie, some awesome glow stick balloons and healthy 5 minute breakfast ideas. Some early summer post favorites in June were a welcome to summer cousin party, favorite summer hats, a star stamped bandana, and a citrus baby shower (image above).

In July and August we had a summer camp inspired week: built a living room fort (image above), made seed necklaces and flower crowns and shared some classic popsicle stick crafts.  We also started a series with Target on everything newborn, shared some pictures from our epic trip to Fire Island, interviewed my brother in law about the incredible treehouse he made by hand, and shared a recipe for peaches and cream bars.

We also shared some tips for camping with kids, this DIY for braided binkie clips that we still use today, and my favorite DIY for the kids shared room:  this pom pom rug that we still have and love (image above). In back to school fashion we interviewed Henry and his friend Harper about going into first grade (one of my favorite posts this year), made DIY notebook tea cloths, and shared easy + healthy after school snack ideas.

In September and October we started three new series: A weekly Tuesday Tips,  After School Kids Crafts, and My Sister My Sidekick (speaking of, we’ll have more of those coming up in January!). I shared an oversized wall photo tip, our DIY family adventure map (that we still use and love!), a peek into our caotic bedtime routine, and some ideas for backpacking with kids. It’s not fall without some yummy recipes like apple fritter bites (image above), jack-o-lantern cookies, pumpkin soup served in mini pumpkins, monster s’mores, and marshmallow monsters.

For Halloween we shared my favorite series of all time and 3rd year running: couples costume ideas. We also added family costume ideas this year too which was a huge hit! We made ping pong eyeball lights, and I shared Henry and Edie’s batman and robin costumes I made with a lot of glue gun + felt (image above). I also started doing some video projects with two fun Halloween tutorials: DIY Spider Bucket, and candy corn favor bags.

In November and December Edie turned one! I shared some final photos of our shared kids room (image above), a 12 month update, and three fun party games from her big day: paper Edie dress up, giant pin a party hat on Edie game, a month by month photo garland, and the best homemade confetti cake. We also shared a lovely Thanksgiving knotted updo, a super easy no sew kids apron (Henry made 5 of these this holiday for Edie and friends!), my family’s homemade wassail recipe, and my favorite adventures with baby video yet: a trip up the coast to Stinson beach.

As for holiday DIYs we put together a festive table for only $5, a minimalist baby’s first christmas ornament, and mini cranberry wreaths (image above), the easiest tree mittens (image below) and fresh mini trees made from recycled tree lot scraps (reader favorite!). Ashley continued our seasonal gift guides and we teamed together to collect some ideas for the best toys for one year olds.

So much fun to review some highlights from 2014. Excited about what’s to come in 2015! Thanks again for reading and all your support and love the last 8 years (!!).

xoxo, Liz and the Say Yes team