Happy Thanksgiving!

We wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving! We are having a quiet day at home together for Thanksgiving, and then we are headed to Thanksgiving dinner in Northern Virginia! We have so much to be grateful for this year. We hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving today!

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” —William Arthur Ward

Below, are some of my favorite quotes pertaining to Thanksgiving!

“Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.” —Randy Pausch

“Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.” —Lionel Hampton

“Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” —Karl Barth

“Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life.” —Rumi

“Be present in all things and thankful for all.” —Maya Angelou

“The more that you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for.” —Norman Vincent Peale

“Be thankful for everything that happens in your life; it’s all an experience.” —Roy T. Bennett

“To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.” —Johannes A. Gaertner

“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.” —Henry Van Dyke

“Forever on Thanksgiving the heart will find the pathway home.” —Wilber D. Nesbit

“Give thanks not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day of your life. Appreciate and never take for granted all that you have.” —Catherine Pulsifer

“There are only two ways to live your live. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other as is though everything is a miracle.” —Albert Einstein

“Appreciation us a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” —Voltaire

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” —Marcel Proust

Preserving Your Child’s Creative Works

I recently made a book of all of Alex’s pre-K artwork, including her artwork from summer camp this past summer. Last year, I made a book containing all of Alex’s preschool artwork! I found making a book of her artwork is a great way to save her artwork without holding onto every piece of her artwork, which can be prone to damage. So, I used some white foam board and used my iPhone and photographed and edited the pieces that I wanted to save, to include in this book. I made a 110 page book of all of her pre-K work, including summer camp, approximately 220 pieces of her artwork, via OnceUpon, and I selected the matte paper option. The book turned out well, it is simple in design, and a little less expensive as compared to some other places.

The best part is — I printed one of these books for Alex, again, as she loves looking at all of the art she created via this book, and it is also a great way to keep encouraging her to keep making her beautiful art, which she loves to make, regularly! She is extremely independently creative little person! The arts are really important, and we hope to keep fostering this love within Alex. I hope to make yearly books of her artwork as a way of preserving her artworks! I am still making our family yearbooks, but I am a year behind, so I will have to find a way to catch up!

Below is a selection of Alex’s artworks from pre-K and summer camp!

Happy Halloween from our Dinosaurs!

Happy Halloween!  Halloween is one of our favorite times of the year!  We love the fall season!  This is Alex’s sixth Halloween! Victory is a dinosaur this year for Halloween along with her little sister, Alex, shown below! Victory (along with Alex) was a rainbow last year; peacock two years ago; Crayola red crayon three years ago; Super Woman four years ago; a unicorn five years ago; Wonder Woman six years ago; a fifties girl seven years ago; a lioness eight years ago; a butterfly nine years ago; and a ladybug for her first Halloween, ten years ago. And Alex had a wonderful Halloween celebration and parade at school today! We hope you have a safe Halloween tonight!

Here is Doug and Alex’s pumpkin, which they worked diligently on this year, shown below! Alex picked a spooky design to carve this year, but Doug did most all of the magical pumpkin work!

Additionally, here are links to other pumpkins carved by Doug: last year; two years ago; three years ago; four years ago; five years ago; six years ago; seven years ago; eight years ago; nine years ago; ten years ago; and eleven years ago!

Here is a short video of the lit pumpkin that Doug carved for us this year! He did a great job, as always!

Further, here is a look back at Victory and Alex over the years on Halloween!

15 Years In

15 years of marriage. 19 years together, almost two decades together. 5 years of parenting a little human together. 10 years of loving and taking care of our fur girl, Victory, together. You are my favorite human being. You are always by my side, and supportive through everything.  You are the greatest gift of my life, and each day spent with you is truly a gift.  I look forward to many, many more years together, knowing that we can get through anything together. Most of all, you are an incredible Daddy to our girls! We are all so incredibly blessed and grateful for you. Happy fifteenth wedding anniversary!

And, we recently celebrated this milestone, along with celebrating Victory being with us for 10 years, (tomorrow is the day we adopted Victory 10 years ago from the Michigan Sheltie Rescue), and Alex’s love of horses, in Lexington, Kentucky. It was a really fun time, and the city is very dog friendly, so Victory was able to go with us on most of our outings together, and Victory went nose-to-nose with a Clydesdale horse!

Get Comfortable Feeling Uncomfortable

Happy Friday! I love this passage from Lisa Congdon about being comfortable while feeling uncomfortable, especially during those times you are embarking on something new! I feel like this very often!

Nearly every day, at various moments, we feel uncomfortable. There is no way of avoiding it. Someone says something that makes us feel insecure. We have an awkward interaction with a friend. We fail to achieve something that feels important to us. When we feel discomfort, we naturally want to make it go away. Sometimes we do that by distracting ourselves with food or alcohol or scrolling through our phones. Sometimes we do that by putting on a smiling face, stuffing our feelings down, and pretending that everything is okay. Sometimes we become defensive. But when we ignore discomfort, we ultimately only gain anxiety and obsessive thoughts and we lose out on learning and growth. Conversely, when we sit with the struggle, enter darkness, and get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable — and we ask, “Why am I feeling this way right now?” and “How can I work through it in a way that is kind and gentle to myself and others?” — we are able to see patterns in our behavior or choices that are holding us back or causing us pain. And when we see these patterns clearly instead of ignoring them, we have the opportunity to work on and change them. Get comfortable feeling uncomfortable. It’s what leads us to the light.”

We Are Back!

It is almost officially autumn, our favorite time of year! I am back to the blog after taking off part of the spring and the summer, which I had not initially planned on, but it was nice really enjoy our summer together!

Alex finished up pre-K, in June, which she greatly enjoyed. Alex participated in camps this summer, which she also enjoyed! During this spring we did strawberry picking together, which we all loved! We celebrated Father’s Day together! Alex, Victory, and I went to Mackinac Island with my parents, and we we had a great time together staying on the island together, even little Victory loved it! We spent some time with my parents in Michigan as well. Alex had some of her friends over for child-friendly fireworks for the Fourth of July, which she loved; and we made our annual trip to Pennsylvania to procure the fireworks, which Doug always spearheads! Alex continued her horse riding lessons, and we are changing stables, this fall, and we look forward to Alex learning even more, and possibly doing competitions! We celebrated Alex’s fifth birthday with a family birthday celebration, along with a trip to Dutch Wonderland! (Alex’s favorite ride is still the Frog Hopper!) We took our annual family vacation to Rehoboth Beach, which we loved, including Victory, who loved walking on Dewey Beach every evening! Funland was also a hit this summer with Alex! My parents came to visit us just prior to school resuming. We enjoyed time at the pool, and Alex can swim freestyle all on her own now! We enjoyed dinners out together, which included Victory! We recently enjoyed the Anne Arundel County State Fair, and Alex had a great time with a friend, and she enjoyed getting her face painted! Alex enjoyed parties and play dates with her friends throughout the summer! Victory is doing well; and she has two new vets — one in Maryland and one in Michigan, and we are so happy to have these great vets! I spent the summer finishing up my manuscript for the publisher for my book and getting everything turned into the publisher in final form, which is now being copyedited! Now, I am working on the next phase of shepherding this book out into the world next fall! This summer, Doug received a promotion and he began a new leadership position at work; and Alex is now in Kindergarten, which is difficult to believe! She loves her teacher, class, and school — we are very fortunate! A snapshot from this time away from the blog is shown below!

We look forward to apple picking this fall; our annual trip to the pumpkin patch with our beloved Victory; celebrating Victory’s birthday together with a special cake this year; a trip to Lexington, Kentucky; celebrating our 15 year wedding anniversary, and we just celebrated 19 years together this month, which is crazy how quickly the time goes by! And, of course, we look forward to Halloween, especially Alex! And, Alex and Victory already have their coordinating costumes ready!

Happy Fall!

Gone Fishing . . .

I hope that your spring is going well! The pools are open and school just let out for the summer! We have been doing a lot of swimming; and Alex has been doing horse riding lessons, which she loves. Victory is doing well, too. I feel like the days are going by way too quickly! How is the year already half over?

I am taking a break from the blog for several weeks to visit family; soak up our days together; rejuvenate; and just be. (I plan to be back here to the blog sometime next month.) I want to thank you, as always, for being here. Whether you are a recent reader or have been following the blog for awhile, I am honored you take time to read the blog.  I am truly grateful. 

Meanwhile, if you are in a blog-reading mood, you are warmly invited to visit the archives — the links are shown below.

Dog Related posts

Dog Rescue posts

‘Dog-Centric’ Artists Interviews

For Artists posts

Photography posts

Personal posts

Victory Related posts

Alex Related posts

Happy almost summer!