It's my birthday!

It's my birthday today! I'm so excited!

I'm 6 years old today!

I love my birthday because I always get a pup cake, presents, a special dinner, and, if it's even possible, extra love from Mama! I'm such a lucky puppy! I decided it would be fun to make a movie for you about Life with Toffy so far! Mama wasn't so thrilled about the idea because neither of us knew how to make a movie yesterday. I told her that if she had kept my 3.500 photos better organized by each year of my life, I could have done something simpler, like a collage of the highlights from each year. But that wasn't possible, which shocked me because my mama is the most organized pawson ever! So I've learned that no one is perfect, not even my pawsome mama, and everyone makes mistakes, and that's ok.

That's when I came up with the idea to make a movie that would not have to be year-by-year. My movie is about all the things I've loved to do my whole life, and it didn't matter what year it was. So that's what we set out to do! But here's the behind-the-scenes story about my movie. Neither mama nor I were the Director or even the Producer. Mama was the Director of Photography, and I was the Screenwriter. And I've watched enough TV to know that without a Director and Producer, there is no movie. And we didn't have either yesterday. We had our photos, and we had our script. We even had our music, but no movie!

Until I remembered that my friend Pete knew how to make movies. So, I put my best-ever puppy-dog look to work, and Pete said he'd help us with my movie! I was so tail-wagging, zoomie crazy happy; not only did we make Pete the Director and Producer of my movie, but he's also in my movie. Mama reminded me how important it is to thank friends like PETE, especially when they go out of their way to help and support you! So, in honor of my 6th birthday, I wanted to thank Pete for helping me make my movie, and I wanted to thank my Fun 2nd Family! You'll see them in my movie, too.

So many of the fun outings in my movie are with my FUN 2nd FAMILY, so I wanted to thank them for loving me so much, for being my mama, my papa, and my brother, and for creating so many fun experiences for me! I'm the luckiest pup in the world to have you as my Fun 2nd Family, but you're really like my Fun 1st Family! We love you! Mama says this is what she means when she says, "It takes a village"!

Now that I'm 6, I understand! I see how our little village has the best family and friends that we could ever wish for, and they ALL make our lives better because they're a part of our little village, just like you are! Mama says that's the secret to having a happy life. It's about having a special group of people around you who will always be for you and who are kind, loyal, and loving. Family and friends who only want the best for you, who'll stand up for you even when you don't know you need them to, and who'll always be by your side in your good times and hard times and even when they might be having their own hard times, they stay by your side. Mama says we all need a village filled with Toffy's. She said I should write a Dog Blog about what it means to be a "Toffy" in life. Mama also said to remember that sometimes, the special people in your village might not actually live in your village because sometimes they live in a village that can be very far away. But they're still a part of your village, and you're a part of their village. So no matter how far apart your villages might be, it doesn't change how important you are to each other.

The special people in our village who we love so much are definitely not all here with us, and like mama said, some are very, very far away. Some are in Maine, and some are in Canada, some are in South Africa, and some are in Israel, some are in Australia and, some are in California, and some are right across the street, and some are just down the street! But we know that wherever they are, they love us, and we love them!  I think this might be why mama said Toffy's Dog Blog had to be mawbile friendly.

I hope your village is filled with very special people like mine because it can make the hardest times easier and the best times even better.

That's why I was SO excited when mama explained that without me knowing, I'm starting to build my own little village right here with special people who like what I like and who are kind, generous, and supportive! This makes me so happy I could just keep wagging my tail all night! So, I wanted to thank you so much for joining my little village. I hope I can share enough light, love, and laughter with you to make your life and your little village even happier like you're making mine. I hope you love my birthday movie, Life with Toffy! And I'd love to know what things YOU love to do and what you love about my movie! Mama says you can write your comments below this Dog Blog. Sending out special birthday hugs today!

Toffy xoxo

#lifewithtoffy

PS! If you liked this edition of Toffy's Dog Blog, please share it with your friends and family and help me share my message to live*love*play!