The Trials of Tessa, Part 1

“I wonder when I’ll adjust to this new family, Cooper,” I say to McKenna’s Labradoodle. We’re sitting on the heart, bored. Cooper, because he hasn’t gone for a walk today. Me, because I have no idea what to do to entertain myself in this new house with my new family.

“Hey, Tessa!” McKenna calls, materializing next to me in that creepy way she does. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing much,” I tell her. “Just hanging out with Cooper.”

“Ohhhhhh,” McKenna sighs. “I see. You’re bored, you have no idea how to fit in with your new family, and you think we have nothing in common.”

“How did you know?” I ask, shocked. Can McKenna read minds in addition to appearing out of nowhere?

“Trust me, I’ve been through this with four other sisters. You would think I would understand the signs by now,” she explains.

“Oh,” I say. “So . . . they went through this too?”

“Absolutely. And the best way to cure it is to do something fun together. Hey, I’m about to head to the gymnastics center for open gym time. Wanna tag along? I have a gazillion extra leotards that would probably fit you,” McKenna offers.

I ponder this for a few minutes before nodding my head. “Sure. It’s worth a shot.”

It’s not like there’s anything else I can do.

“Watch and learn, sis,” McKenna says forty-five minutes later. We’re at Shooting Star gymnastics, and my sports-obsessed sister is about to show me a few moves on the bar that I’ll (hopefully) be able to do.

McKenna flips herself upside down, her legs reaching the bar.

In one swift motion, she’s on top of the bar. “That was pullover,” she explains. “The most basic bar move. Wanna try?”

That was basic? I think, as I step up to the bar. I replay what McKenna did in my head, hoping I can do the same thing.

A few seconds later, I’m on the ground.

“Um, maybe bars isn’t your thing so much,” McKenna says. “Why don’t we move on?”

We step over to the beam, where McKenna hops up and positions herself. “Watch this. It should be simpler for you.”

McKenna flicks her arm out and I step back. With just the right amount of sass, she begins to walk down the length of the beam.

A few minutes later, McKenna hops off. “Why don’t you try now,” she says. “Gymnastics have to look confident, and walking on the beam is the best way to practice that.”

I hop up, McKenna watching from behind. “Go for it, Tess.”

It doesn’t go quite as McKenna’s did. My legs begin to wobble instantly.

I fall off the beam, crashing into McKenna. “Owwwww,” we moan in unison.

“Ya know, Kenna? Maybe gymnastics isn’t my thing at all.” I say.

From behind me, McKenna says, “Yeah. Maybe not.”

-End of Photostory-

Did you guys enjoy the beginning of an informal little photoseries? I think it’ll be around three or four parts, once each week. Kind of illustrating Tessa’s journey in becoming a part of her new family. Sound good? Is there a specific sister you think Tessa should follow around in the next few parts? Just leave me a comment down below!

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Twelve Days of Christmas, Day #8: Christmas is . . . Charity

Okay, everyone! It’s time for Day #8 of TDOC! I can’t wait for this one!

“Hey, everyone, it’s Emily. I’m breaking out of my shell today to lead TDOC Day #8. Why? This post is about a topic that is very important to me!”

“Some of you may know about Operation Christmas Child (I’ll call it OCC for short). OCC is a great organization led by Samaritan’s Purse that gets shoeboxes full of little presents to children in foreign countries. Some of these children are very poor, and the shoebox you pack and send to them may be the only present they get on Christmas. Today, I will be showing you how to pack your shoebox.”

“You can pick up your OCC shoebox at places like your church. At this time of year, it is too late to do an OCC shoebox, but this may be helpful for next Christmas.”

“When you pack your shoebox, make sure to include a “wow” item. My “wow” item is this cute flower purse. Then, you can pack the rest of the box with personal care items, or smaller toys. I am including a box, a pencil, some hair accessories, and a comfy pillow.”

“However, do not pack candy; toothpaste; gum; used or damaged items; war-related items such as toy guns, knives, or military figures; chocolate or food; seeds; fruit rolls or other fruit snacks; drink mixes (powdered or liquid); liquids or lotions; medications or vitamins; breakable items such as snow globes or glass containers; aerosol cans. This information has been taken from the Samaritan’s Purse website.”

“Now, pack your shoebox!”

“My box is all packed!”

“Once your box is packed, take it to an official drop-off location. You can find the locations here.”

“Remember, this shoebox may be the only present a child in a foreign country gets for Christmas. Do you part and help make a child’s Christmas special!”

“Alright, that’s all for now. My sister will be back tomorrow with a super-cute photoshoot!”

Hey, everyone, it’s AGs in Alaska. I just wanted to let everyone know that I did not mean to offend anyone with my giveaway rules post. I hope no one thought I sounded too harsh, I promise I was just trying to make sure everyone who wanted to enter could get the chance to. I am super excited for the giveaway, and I want as many people as possible to enter! So I’m very sorry if I offended you. 😦

See you all tomorrow!

Countdown to Christmas: Four days!

Twelve Days of Christmas, Day #6: Christmas is . . . Sledding

And . . . we’re back, with TDOC Day #6!!!!!

CHRISTMAS IS IN SIX DAYS PEOPLE!!!!!

In the meantime, here’s a cute photoshoot of Grace and McKenna!

“Ahh!”

“Erm, Grace? I’m still here!”

What is up with her hair???

See you guys tomorrow! Hope you enjoyed the photoshoot!

Countdown to Christmas: Six days!

The Twelve Days of Christmas, Day #1: Christmas is . . . Decorating

Okay, merry reindeer! This is the moment you have all been waiting for!

CHRISTMAS POSTS!

I’m sure you have all been thinking, “When is AGs in Alaska going to post Christmas stuff?” Well, never fear, that day has finally arrived!

For Christmas 2017, I am doing The Twelve Days of Christmas. Two things: one, I am not copying anyone else who does The Twelve Days of Christmas (TDOC, because typing the whole thing out takes, like, three extra seconds), I have actually been planning to do TDOC for a while now. Two, I am aware that the actual TDOC are actually after Christmas, but I don’t want to do twelve Chrismtas posts after Christmas.

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, we’re going to get started with TDOC Post #1!

Presenting . . .

Our Christmas Tree!

This is the bare tree, before we decorated it! It went from an ordinary tree from the forest (okay, Michael’s), to a lovely decorated tree in thirty minutes!

I don’t know why this picture is blurry. #c’estlaphotovie

Anyway, Crystal is stringing lights up on the tree. She used mini twinkle lights and they are soooo pretty when it lit up!

Also, some of these pictures are super dark and some of them aren’t. It’s weird. 😦

I swear the lights were on in my the girls’ room when they did this!

 

Time to start putting on the ornaments! Michael’s has a great selection of mini Christmas decorations. Or at least they did when I the girls bought their supplies. At this time of December, they’re probably all out.

Here, Morgan and Molly are placing the little balls on the tree. (Again, the lights were on, my curtains were pulled back, and I had a lamp for extra light! Grrrrr. At least you can see how pretty the lights are!

WHY IS IT SO BLURRY????

Crystal: AGs in Alaska, stop taking over! We get it that you don’t like the bluriness!

AGs in Alaska: Don’t you sass me, young lady!

Crystal: (dramatic sigh) Fine!

And this is Crystal putting the topper on the tree! Isn’t it beautiful? Notice how it’s more like zip-tied and less of “put on” the tree. That’s because Crystal bought a topper that was was too heavy for the tree!

Crystal: Hey, all girls make mistakes.

Time for presents!

And this is what the finished tree looks like! For our first-ever tree, we think it turned out pretty great. What about you guys?

AGs in Alaska: Okay, I’m taking over now.

Crystal: Noooooooooooooooo!

Okay, everybody, that’s it for our first TDOC post. We will have one every day until December 25th, when I will do our epic Christmas photostory. And trust me, it will be epic.

Toodles for now!

Countdown to Christmas: Eleven days!

While I Was Away . . .

Prepare yourselves, people. This is going to be one big blog post.

Remember how I had all of my posts scheduled for the month of November? Because of that, I was unable to do tags or awards. Now that’s it’s December, I can do the SIX awards and tags I’ve been nominated for!!!!!

That’s right! SIX!!!

Like I said, long blog post.

However, there is one tag I will not be doing until later on this month. It is The Holiday Tag, and I was nominated for it by the Blogging Doll Sisters. The reason I am not doing it today is because it involves having holiday decorations up and mine will not be revealed for another week or so.

Because I have five entire tags/awards to do, I may not be able to nominate/tag the specified number of people for each one. Sorry about that. I’m aiming to select two-three people for each.

Without further ado, let’s get started with the Blogger Recognition Award!

Here are the rules:

Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Write a post to show your award.
Give a brief story of how your blog started.
Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
Select (up to 15) other bloggers for this award.
Comment on each blog to let them know you nominated them and provide a link to the post you created.

I wwas nominated for this award by Bella. Bella is a super-sweet blogger, and I love to read her posts! If you haven’t already checked her blog out, it’s definitely worth your time. 🙂

I started American Girls in Alaska right after I finished my previous blog. I really wanted to have a blog, so I got my mom’s permission and started thinking about what kind of blog I wanted it to be about. I was trying to decide between a pet blog or a doll blog when Loren from Happy House of AG inspired me to start a doll blog! I realized how fun it would be to do one.

My two pieces of advice are  . . .

DON’T let blogging take up all of your time. You can easily get sucked into your WordPress reader and notifications bar, replying to comments and whatnot. Get all of your schoolwork/chores done FIRST.

DON’T let other blogger’s blogging styles make you feel like you should change your own. Don’t compare your pictures, writing styles, etc. to yours. You are a unique blogger – don’t change!

The bloggers I choose to nominate are . . .

The Blog Dolly!

and . . .

Twintastic AG!

Congrats, girls!

My next one is a tag. It’s called the Fall Themed Tag, and I was nominated for it by The Blog Dolly. Thank you so much, Jenna! Jenna has an awesome blog that just got a new customization, so definitely go check it out. 🙂

Here are the rules:

These are the questions Jenna is asking me:

Q: What is your favorite fall drink?

A: Vanilla Chai tea. I drink this year round, but it seems to fit best for fall.

Q: Apple cider or pumpkin spice?

A: Pumpkin spice!

Q: Pumpkin pie or apple pie?

A: Apple apple apple!

Q: Red, orange, and yellow or yellow, white, and orange?

A: Yellow, white, and orange.

Q: Scary costumes or cute costumes?

A: Definitely cute.

Q: Your favorite part about fall is…

A: The chill in the air, promising that snow is just around the corner.

Q: A football game or football shaped cookies?

A: Since football is less interesting than watching paint dry, I’m going with cookies.

Q: Favorite fall outfit?

A: A cozy sweater and my favorite pair of jeans, with some fuzzy socks.

Q: Do you love the colors or the scents of fall?

A: The scents.

Q: Pre-made fall crafts or DIY ones?

A: I’m not super crafty, but I’m going with DIY.

Q: What is your AG dolls favorite fall outfit?

A: The one Emily is wearing here.

Okay, that’s alll for the questions!

I have decided to tag The Blogging Sisters and AG Doll Adventures and Lizzy!

Have fun, you guys! Your questions are . . .

1. What is your favorite color of leaf – red, orange, yellow, green, or brown?
2. Have you ever done a fall photoshoot?
3. What is your favorite doll sweater?
4. What is your favorite part about Thanksgiving? That is, assuming, you live in the US.
5. Pumpkin pie, apple pie, or pecan pie?
6. Did you know that there was no pumpkin pie until the second Thanksgiving?
7. Do you like Halloween or Thanksgiving better?
8. What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?
9. Did you go anywhere for Thankgiving?
10. Did anyone visit you for Thanksgiving?
11. Was there snow on the ground where you live for Thanksgiving?

Okay, that’s all for the Fall Themed Tag!

And now, we’re moving onto the New Blogger Tag!

I was nominated for this by AG Doll Dreams. Thank you so, so much! The rules are:

1. Thank the blogger that nominated you and link their blog

2. Answer the questions they gave you

3. Nominate at least 3 new bloggers

4. Ask at least 5 or more questions for them to answer

Her questions are:

1. What do you like most about AG dolls?

Their hair and facial features, as well as their unique personalities.

2. Why did you decide to start a blog?

I have blogged before, and I love connecting with my followers!

3. Do you shop on Etsy?

No, I never have. But I have checked it out before.

4. Do you follow any non-AG blogs?

Yes.

5. What’s your favorite jungle animal?

Cheetah!

6. Indoors or outdoors?

In the summer, outdoors. In the winter, indoors.

7. Do you like being tagged?

Of course!

I am tagging:

Kaitlyn

Dazzling Dollies

The AG Homeschooler

My questions for you three are . . .

How do you come up with ideas for posts?

What is your favorite type of post?

Who/what inspired you to start blogging?

Is it difficult to manage school, family stuff, chores, and blogging?

Why is blogging important to you?

Have fun, girls!

Now, onto the Blue Sky Tag! I was nominated by The AG Homeschooler – thank you so much! The rules are:

Thank the person who nominated you.
Answer the 11 questions.
Tag 11 new people.
Give them 11 new question to answer.

Q: Do you like Lab Rats? If so, what’s your favorite episode?

A: No, I have never seen it.

Q: What are you wearing right now?

A: My PJ’s.

Q: Would you rather have the power to rewind time or pause time?

A: Rewind! Definitely rewind! I would go back and fix embarrassing mistakes and relive happy moments from my childhood.

Q: What job would you be absolutely terrible at?

A: Politician/President of the United States. I am really not very commanding and I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings.

Q: If you ruled your own country, who would you get to write the national anthem?

A: I would probably write it myself, since I’m a writer.

Q: Would you rather have a unicorn horn or a squirrel tail?

A: Oh, geez. A squirrel’s tail, because I could probably hide it.

Q: What one thing can you not live without? (Besides the necessities)

A: Books! BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS!

Q: Would you rather be an adult your whole life or a kid your whole life?

A: Wow, this is a really hard one. I’m going to have to say a kid, because you have less responsibilities.

Q: Would you rather be locked in an amusement park or a library?

A: I think this was pretty much covered in the one thing you cannot live without question. XD 🙂

Q: What’s the grossest food combination you can think of?

A: Froot loops, milk, and ketchup.

Q: If you were challenged to a duel, what weapons would you use?

A: A sword, and probably a long-handled broom.

Okay! Those were really fun to answer! I have decided to tag:

Sam

Clara

You get the following questions to answer:

What is your favorite thing to drink?

Hors d’oeuvres or a five-course meal?

Have you ever flown first class?

What was the scariest thing you have ever experienced?

Do you blog on a computer, phone, or tablet?

What is your favorite part about your blog? (Comments, design, post types, etc.)

How many followers would you like to have by the end of the year?

What is your favorite type of shoe? (Heel, sneaker, flat, pointe shoes, flip-flops, etc.)

What is your favorite sport?

What is your favorite holiday, and why?

Do you think it’s okay for older teens/adults to like dolls?

Have fun with the questions, everybody!

Lastly, I was nominated by Jenna, The Blog Dolly, for the Versatile Blogger Award! (VBA for short.) Thank you so, so, so much!

The rules are as follows:

Thank the person who gave you this award.
Include a link to their blog.
Select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
Nominate those 15 bloggers for the VBA.
Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

Okay, I cannot nominated fifteen people, so I’m going to do as many as possible, and then anyone else who wants to do it is welcome to.

Madi Grace

Stuffie Adventures

Emmie

Samantha

Jewel

Olivia

AG Doll Dreams

Bella

Okay, everyone! That is it for now. Wow, this post took a long time, and if you read it all the way through, A HUGE CONGRATS! And if any of you are unable to do any of the tags, my feelings will not be hurt. If any of you who weren’t tagged/nominated want to participate, go right ahead. 🙂

I’ll be back on Monday! See you guys soon!

-AGs in Alaska-

Name That Doll #3 Results

Hey, everybody! Can you believe it’s December?

And on that note, I’d better explain that y’all should forget I even HAVE a posting schedule this month. With Christmas right around the corner, I’ll be making some adjustments with my posting. More on that later.

Anyway, the real reason you’re here is to see what name was most voted for our lovely doll here, TrulyMe #49. Unless you already read the comments and counted what name was most voted for already. In that case, I don’t blame you. I would have done the exact same thing. 🙂

(The picture is from the AG website.)

The names to choose from were:

• Amari
• Rachel
• Marielle
• Victoria
• Alexandria

The winning name was . . .

A tie between Alexandria and Amari! They both had four votes. Victoria received two votes, as did Rachel. Poor Marielle got one vote (although, if I could vote in this, I would have voted for Marielle).

Thank you so much, eveybody, for participating in Name That Doll #3. Would you like to see more of these in the future? Let me know in the comments!

Have a fantabulastic week!

-AGs in Alaska-

A Day in The Life: Emily

Um, hello, everyone. I hope you’re having a nice, uh, day. (Crystal, what am I supposed to say??? Oh, alright.) Crystal says I’m supposed to tell you about a typical day in the life of me, Emily Louise. My days are pretty much all the same, unless we’re going someplace interesting. Having an ordinary life is fine by me – I don’t like excitement. Anyway, let’s get started.

7:00 AM – I wake up at this time every single day. My alarm clock comes on playing soft, melodious symphony music. Yank jumps up and licks my face until I get out of bed, laughing. I take him for an early-morning walk. Each morning it’s slightly colder when we go through this routine.

8:00 AM – I pour myself some granola and milk. I generally have dried fruit granola. I like peanut butter granola the best, but we can’t have it in the house since Molly is anaphylactic to peanuts.

9:00 AM – It’s time for school. I do my school in my bedroom, since it’s my favorite room in the house. It has a lock on the door, so Lindsey can’t come in and beg me to do a jigsaw puzzle with her. I like jigsaw puzzles and all, but they really should be saved for after school is over.

12:00 PM: I take my first break at this point and have lunch. McKenna, Grace, and I bike over to Wendy’s to have burgers. We do this at least once a week. When anyone asks us why we aren’t in school, Grace usually comes up with a snarky comment, like “Why aren’t you?” (she has said this to adults before) or “I’ve never heard of school before. What’s that?”

2:30 PM: I finish up my schoolwork and head over to tap dancing lessons. Molly and I both take tap and we love it. We’re rehearsing for a Christmas show this week. I get stage fright like you wouldn’t believe, but once I’ve started dancing, I’m able to zone everyone out and just focus on the music and my dance steps.

4:00 PM: Molly and I get home and I tutor Lindsey in math. She’s really, really awful at it – a fact she refuses to admit. It’s quite irritating, actually. She just doesn’t like that a younger sibling is helping her with algebra.

5:00 PM: Time for dinner! Crystal made her family-famous meatloaf with home-grown shredded zucchini and also home-grown bite-sized potatoes on the side. For dessert, Grace serves us chocolate éclairs. That girl really knows how to bake.

6:00 PM: My whole family goes to see Wonder Woman at the movie theater. The bloke selling tickets asks us if we’re all sisters. When Morgan tells him yes, he says that he thought three sisters was three too many. I roll my eyes and follow the girls into the theater.

9:00 PM: We get back from the movie theater and get ready for bed. I read The Mysterious Benedict Society until my eyelids start to droop.

9:30 PM: I flick the light off, kiss Yank good night, and crawl under the covers. G’night!

The Big Birthday Bash (A Photostory)

Morgan, Grace, and I stroll briskly down the sidewalk. We’re on our way back from returning some books to the library. I would rather not be running errands today – it’s my birthday, and walking outside in Alaska in November isn’t the most fun thing to do. Especially not when you’re finally a teenager!

“Why’s it so cold?” Grace moans. “I want it to be summer again.”

“Well, it is the middle of winter,” Morgan points out. “Technically it’s still fall, though, but whatever.”

We walk up the street and turn the corner until finally we reach our home.

The three of us step inside the house. We’re greeted by a blast of warm air . . . and very dim lights.

All of a sudden, the lights flicker on and our sisters jump out of the shadows. “Happy birthdays!”

My sisters and I, jackets hanging half off of our arms, can barely process what just happened. Is this a . . . surprise party???

“Wait. Did you just say birthdays? As in more than one?” Grace asks, confused.

“We sure did,” Lindsey explains. “Today, we’re celebrating all of our fall birthday girls. You know – Emily’s birthday is November 28th, and she’s thirteen, Morgan’s birthday was October 3rd, and she’s thirteen, and Grace’s birthday was September 15th, and she’s twelve.”

Molly, Lindsey, and Crystal walk forward and place crowns on our heads.

Each crown is light pink and has our names spelled out on the fronts.

We’re lead down the hall into the next room, where a huge surprise greets us.

“Oh my goodness!” we gasp.

A huge sign proclaiming “Happy Birthday!” in giant lettering is taped to the wall underneath a table with a couple of presents on it.

“Do you like it?” Lindsey asks.

“I love it,” I tell her.

“We have presents for you guys to open,” Molly explains.

“And you’d better be quick about it too, or I may have to open them for you,” McKenna warns us.

Lindsey hands the first present to Morgan.

She pulls out a flowery green frog. “Aww! It’s so cute!!!” she exclaims. “Thanks, guys!”

“This one is for Grace,” Molly says, handing Grace something wrapped in pink tissue paper and tied with a silver ribbon.

Underneath all the wrapping is a pretty throw pillow. “This’ll be perfect for my room!” Grace tells us. “This is so sweet of y’all. Thanks!”

“Just one more present,” Crystal informs us.

“Yes. Close your eyes, Emily,” Molly adds.

I happily oblige.

“Open,” Crystal commands.

Standing in front of me is my eldest sister holding a beautiful pair of bright white ice skates wrapped with a taffeta bow.

“Wow,” I breathe, after Crystal places the skates in my lap. “I’ve been wanting a pair of these – thank you, thank you, thank you! This has been the best birthday ever.”

“And I’m about to make it better,” Lindsey says. “Who wants cake?”

End of photostory!

I feel like a terrible doll mom – I completely forgot about Morgan’s birthday – October 3rd – and Grace’s birthday – September 15th. Fortunately, I remembered Emily’s and decided to do a three-in-one birthday post. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Also, don’t forget to wish them happy birthday in the comments!

In case you were wondering why I’m doing a Tuesday post, it’s just in honor of the birthday girls. I will still be here on Thursday.

Bye for now!

-AGs in Alaska-

 

 

The Dog Blog: Bonbon

Bonbon the French bulldog

Morgan: Welcome back to the Dog Blog, everybody! Today I will be interviewing Bonbon, who is Grace’s French bulldog. We’re thrilled to have you here, Bonbon!

Bonbon: Bonjour, Morgan. I am very, how you say, thrilled to be here, too.

Morgan: I’m sure all of our readers would like to know a bit more about you, Bonbon. Why don’t you tell us about yourself?

Bonbon: My main passion eez making Grace feel loved, but I also like to support her culinary efforts. I sit by her in zee kitchen while she bakes, and I sample her pastries when they come out of zee oven. Plus, I am zee mascot of her baking business! It eez a lot of work for one dog, but I manage.

Morgan: Now, Bonbon, is it true that you are fluent in both French and English?

Bonbon: Zat eez true indeed, mademoiselle.

Morgan: Does that make it tricky to communicate with your owner, Grace?

Bonbon: Non, not at all. Grace and I both understand another language – the language zat comes when a dog and her owner share a special bond.

Morgan: That is so sweet, Bonbon. You seem to truly love Grace. How would you describe her?

Bonbon: Ah, my Grace eez a wonderful owner. We are zee best of friends. Grace walks me and plays fetch with me toujours. She never forgets to feed me and brush my silky locks of fur.

Morgan: Do you have a good friend in the family other than Grace?

Bonbon: Well, I wouldn’t call us friends, but I’ve always admired Coconut. Zat dog really knows how to live zee chic life.

Morgan: I see. Is there a special activity you enjoy doing with Grace?

Bonbon: Zat would have to be our daily walks to zee dog park. I have many friends there. Grace understands that I need to socialize with those who are of zee same species as me. I also enjoy baking with her in zee kitchen.

Morgan: She doesn’t let you sample any of her chocolate pastries, does she?

Bonbon: Non, non. Grace is too good of an owner to let me eat anything chocolate. Not only is it bad for moi, it is entirely too fattening. I must maintain a slim figure. I am Grace’s mascot, after all. I’m a public figure!

Morgan: Thank you so much, Bonbon. That’s all the time we have today, folks. Check back soon for another edition of the Dog Blog!

A Note from AGs in Alaska: I have 40 followers! That you so much, peoples!

Grateful (A Photostory)

Happy Thanksgiving, lovely virtual friends! Today is a day of joy and celebration, of food, and, most importantly, thankfulness. Today I challenge YOU to list . . . hmm . . . twenty-three things you are grateful for, since it’s November 23rd. I know you have at least that many. Here’s my list:

• Jesus!
• My blog
• A computer to write on
• Essential oils that smell amazing
• All of my friends I have from blogging
• My dolls
• My rabbits
• My dogs
• My chickens
• My family
• Living in the beautiful state of Alaska
• I have a camera to take pictures of beautiful Alaska with
• My house
• My warm, cozy room
• My warm, cozy clothes
• Books
• Delicious food
• The outdoors
• Pretty pictures of the outdoors
• Cute clothes for my dolls
• School
• Friends
• Orange-scented bath products

That last one was a little random. Sorry.

Now, let’s get on to the fun part of this post. I have for you my first-ever Thanksgiving photostory! And, at the end, a little bonus behind-the-scenes explanation of the making of the photostory.

Enjoy!

“Thanks for dinner, Grace. It was delicious,” Morgan tells my younger sister.

“Oh, you’re welcome. It was my pleasure,” Grace responds.

“I have an idea,” Molly begins. “Why don’t we go around the table and say what we’re grateful for and why? For example, I’m grateful for my education because I’ll be able to get into a good college. Now McKenna can go.”

“Oh!” McKenna exclaims, looking a bit surprised that Molly picked her to go next. “I’m grateful for my gymnastics coach and teammates. They inspire me and help me to work harder. Um . . . Emily.”

“Me?” Emily squeaks. “Well . . . I’m grateful for my piano and flute because . . . I love music. Morgan?”

“I’m grateful for Chocolate Chip and the other dogs,” Morgan tells us. “They make me so happy and bring me so much joy. Crystal.”

“I’m grateful for my beautiful clothes, because when I look good, I feel good,” Crystal says. “Grace?”

“I’m super-duper grateful for all of my baking supplies,” Grace says. “I love being able to surprise people with yummy treats. What about you, Lindsey?”

I look across the table at the shining faces of sweet Morgan, intelligent Molly, shy Emily, and fashionable Crystal.

I glance over to my left at spunky Grace and sporty McKenna.

“My sisters,” I finally say. “I’m grateful for my sisters.”

-End of phostory-

I hope y’all enjoyed that photostory. And now, onto the behind-the-scenes of Grateful (A Photostory)!

First, I placed two chairs across from each other in our hallway downstairs.

 

I placed benches on either side of the chairs.

Next, I placed books on the chairs.

I then took this yet-to-be-set-up chicken ramp . . .

And set it on top of the books.

Voilà! The perfect Thanksgiving table setup! Since the set took up the entire hallway, it was a bit difficult to get back and forth to either side, but I managed by squeezing behind the narrow gap between the dolls and the wall and climbing on the benches. Of course, that mussed up their hairstyles a bit, but it wasn’t too terrible.

My original photostory idea was to have them eating and then praying and then sharing what they were grateful for, but I could not make doll food, so I had the photostory take place after dinner.

I want to know how your Thanksgiving went. What did you have for dinner? What are you grateful for? What is your favorite Thanksgiving food and/or tradition?

Happy Thanksgiving!

-AGs in Alaska