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The Holiday season is quickly approaching and I wanted to write a quick article about what Tinyprints has to offer in terms of Holiday cards and gifts. This year, Tinyprints really offers a lot of unique and exciting products, from custom photo cards to pop-up cards or even photo montage cards . And since Holiday is also about gathering and parties, this discount can also be used for Holiday party invitations , and many more great products. All these cards, whether standard or more innovative formats, go through the same level of internal review before they are printed and shipped, to ensure the highest satisfaction. I encourage you to browse Tinyprints to find out for yourselves which card or which collection will work for you this Holiday season. Tinyprints ships to the US and Europe too. If you are interested for a 30% coupon code, email me at isabelle AT isabelles DOT net for specific information.

My in-laws visited us from Germany for about a week, which was great. We hadn't seen them since May, and we enjoyed catching up. Plus, they took good care of Daniel, introducing him to new places, bringing a lot of toys (probably not necessary, though) and teaching him a lot of new German words. They also did the shopping for us and cooked dinner every night... It felt like a vacation! As a result, we felt well rested over the weekend to do a "big" excursion, to Pinnacles National Monument. The park is well know for the rock formations and cliffs (very popular with climbers) and some caves. We decided to take the short trail (about 1 mile each way) to visit Bear Gulch cave, which is one of the biggest caves in the park. Due to a misunderstanding with my husband, we had forgotten the baby backpack at home. At 21 months, Daniel is actually a good walker, and he didn't seem to mind hiking, even as we climbed up the mountain. The issue, though, is that he loves to explore

... I love it! It hasn't completely changed my world, and I haven't discovered a completely new wisdom for my life. But I like having the daily reminders to see the positive in all situations, good or bad, and appreciate what I have. It's so refreshing. What has become clear is that I cherish the time with my family and friends more than anything else. Even when I complain about Daniel starting to show signs of the Terrible 2 phase, or when I think my husband could do more to help, I know this is nothing against the joy I have to spend my life with them. And when I get distracted from calling my friends because of some trivial reason, I am reminded that they are important too, and that I should keep in touch. Everything else can wait. So, here is to 2 weeks of Gratitude Challenge. I look forward to week 3 and what I will discover/be reminded off in the last stretch.

Today's Gratitude Challenge task is to focus on one of the 5 senses and be grateful for it. I thought it would be an easy task. I am so happy to be able to see the world, and witness beautiful things with my own eyes: sunset by the beach, the fall colors on the trees, beautiful card designs from Tinyprints , my son smiling and happy , etc... However, upon further thought, I realized that I appreciate all my senses equally, and I can't really isolate one from the others. They are all so important to me, and I am so grateful to be able to enjoy them all. Take hearing for example. I enjoy listening to music a lot and I definitely think music enriches my life. As my readers already know, I am so excited to witness my son's language development . And then, there are the random sounds of the rain falling on trees, waves by the ocean, birds singing in the early morning, laughter of friends, etc... I can't imagine what life could be without hearing. So here, I am grateful for h