End child hunger with Upworthy and This Saves Lives. A snack for you will feed someone in need.

Shop
 Explore 

10 things that made us smile this week

uplifting, happiness, hope

Upworthy/Instagram

Looking for a reason to smile? Here are 10 of them.

Feeling blah? Need a little pick-me-up? Having a "no-bones" day? Unsure of what a "no-bones" day even is?

No worries, we've got you covered on all counts.

Each week, we round up 10 tasty morsels of joy to help you hop through the weekend with more pep in your step. If you're feeling even a little bit blue, here are 10 doses of dopamine to flip that frown upside down. (Trying to see how many cheesy colloquialisms I can squeeze into one intro. Forgive me. It's Friday.)

Enjoy, friends!

1. First, let Noodle the pug predict if it's a bones day or a no-bones day.

@jongraz
plan your day accordingly 🔮🦴🔮 #nobones #bonesday #noodletok #pug

Noodle the 13-year-old pug has become a huge viral sensation with his daily fortune telling. If Noodle stands on his own four feet, it's a bones day. That means a day filled with energy, productivity, ambition—all the things! But if Noodle flops back down onto his bed, it's a no-bones day. That's a day to take it easy, practice some self-care, leave the hard stuff for a bones day. "No hard pants on a no-bones day," as Jonathan says. Read more about Noodle and his predictions here.

2. Ever seen a baseball player do ballet on the field? Now you have.

See on Instagram

The fact that there's actual baseball being played in the background while Zack Frong dances ballet is hilarious. But that's intentional. The Savannah Bananas are a bit like the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball, selling out all of their "baseball circus" home games since they formed in 2016.

Check out the amazing story of how the Savannah Bananas got their start, thanks to the vision of one man:

3. Sweet puppers anxiously waits for her bestie to get off the school bus.

That tail wag, though! She can hardly contain her excitement, even though this probably happens every day. It's too dang much.

4. Speaking of cute puppers, this chihuahua is the cutest bather everrrrr.

Don’t forget the earplugs when it’s bath time.. 😊 https://t.co/9X0PxjP84w
— Buitengebieden (@Buitengebieden) 1634533699.0

Why is this so cute? Why? Literally everything about it makes me want a dog, and I'm 100% a cat person.

5. If you need a boost of confidence, just watch this pony overcome a humongous, enormous, practically insurmountable hurdle.

Thinkin’ about this pony working up the courage to jump over a tiny step https://t.co/CwtSzc46XT
— Nerd Girl Says (@Nerd Girl Says) 1634387591.0

Can't you just hear the pony's internal pep talk? And that little"Yes! I did it!" dance at the end! If this pony can push through her fear of That Big Gigantic Step, you can do anything.

6. Son being surprise-woken-up by his dad who had been on deployment—PHEW.

See on Instagram

Sorry to make you cry when we said we'd make you smile, but tears of joy borne of love totally count. Father-son love is a beautiful thing.

7. Keep that tissue handy, cuz here comes another good dad tears of joy video.

This is one lucky, lucky baby girl.

8. Squishy the chipmunk. Enough said.

See on Instagram

Squishyyyyy! (Seriously, though, how does a mouth that small hold so many nuts that big?) Brad the human has a page where he shares videos of his chipmunk friends he's made in the past five years: Dinky, Squishy, Mooshy, SpongeBob, Boris, Stinky, Bubba, Hershel, Crazy, Chippie, Shooshi, Inky, Squeaky, Hishkabibble, Mr. Fuji, Betty, Squeegee, Cookie, Stubby, SweetPotato and Friends. SERIOUSLY, BRAD? You are the best.

9. 4-year-old called the police in New Zealand to show them his toys.

How adorable is this? All of the adults handled it so perfectly. And there's seriously nothing cuter than a preschooler with a New Zealand accent. Read the full story here.

10. One more sweet dad-kiddo video, but this one is just pure, unadulterated joy.

See on Instagram

BRB, starting a petition for every flight to have the pilot's adorably proud kid on board from now on. So darn precious.

Hope that brought a little joy to your day! Join us next Friday for another roundup of happiness and hope.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Someone asked strangers online to share life's essential lessons. Here are the 17 best.

There's a bit of advice here for everyone—from financial wisdom to mental health tips.

Photo by Miguel Bruna on Unsplash

Failure is a great teacher.

It’s true that life never gets easier, and we only get continuously better at our lives. Childhood’s lessons are simple—this is how you color in the lines, 2 + 2 = 4, brush your teeth twice a day, etc. As we get older, lessons keep coming, and though they might still remain simple in their message, truly understanding them can be difficult. Often we learn the hard way.

The good news is, the “hard way” is indeed a great teacher. Learning the hard way often involves struggle, mistakes and failure. While these feelings are undeniably uncomfortable, being patient and persistent enough to move through them often leaves us not only wiser in having gained the lesson, but more confident, assured and emotionally resilient. If that’s not growth, I don’t know what is.

Keep ReadingShow less

CEO who makes over $1,000,000 a year vows only to give her kids one Christmas gift

She's setting an example.

via Co-Op and Pixabay

Co-op CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq.

The CEO of Co-op, one of the UK’s largest supermarket chains has made an important statement about excess at a time when many families are struggling in the UK.

The Daily Mail reports that Shirine Khoury-Haq, the head of a company with over 3900 retail locations says she’s giving her twin, six-year-old daughters one present each this Christmas because she could not “in good conscience” give them more while millions of families struggle with inflation and high energy prices.

Khoury-Haq makes over £1 million ($1,190,000) a year after bonuses, so she pledged to give her family's present money to those in need. “It just feels like excess, given what’s happening in the world. In good conscience, I can’t do that in my own home,” Khoury-Haq said according to The Guardian.

“The rest of our budget will be given to Santa to provide presents for children whose parents can’t contribute to the elves,” she continued. “We’re going to go out shopping for those other presents and [we will] send them to Santa.”

Keep ReadingShow less

Woman reunites with her family 51 years after being kidnapped

Melissa Highsmith never even knew her real family was searching for her.

The family celebrate their reunion following a decades long search

In 1971, Melissa Highsmith was kidnapped from her home in Fort Worth, Texas. Her disappearance has been one of the oldest missing person cases in America. Now, she gets to celebrate a long-awaited reunion with her family in what she calls a “Christmas miracle.”

As ABC affiliate WFAA reported, Melissa’s mother, Alta (who now goes by Alta Apantenco) had put out an ad for a babysitter to watch over her then 21-month-old while she was at work. A white gloved, well-dressed woman going by the name of Ruth Johnson responded to the call, but she was no babysitter. After Johnson picked up baby Melissa from Apantenco’s roommate, the two were never seen again.

As any parents would do in this situation, the Highsmiths worked tirelessly to find their little girl, involving the Fort Worth police and even the FBI. Sadly, it was all to no avail. The only glimmer of hope remaining was that there was no evidence of harm, so maybe, just maybe, their Melissa was being well taken care of. And for 51 years, the family held onto that possibility.

Keep ReadingShow less

Cuban immigrant’s reaction to getting his first American paycheck has gone viral

Before coming to the U.S. last year, Diaz made $12 a month as a computer science teacher in Cuba.

via lezumbalaberenjena/Flickr andSteve Baker/Flickr

The Cuban and American flags.

An Instagram post featuring Yoel Diaz, a recent Cuban immigrant, is going viral because it shows a powerful example of something many of us in America take for granted. The freedom to earn a paycheck for a day of honest labor.

In the video, Diaz is ecstatic after he opens his first paycheck after getting a job as a seasonal worker for UPS. CBS reports that before coming to the U.S. last year, Diaz made $12 a month as a computer science teacher in Cuba.

"This is my first hourly paycheck that I feel every hour counted," he told CBS News. "That every hour of work has importance in my life and that I know I can work hard for something. I can't compare that emotion with anything. Because I never had that in my country."

The new job was a big change from life in Cuba where he had trouble filling his refrigerator. He told CBS News that sometimes he only had two items: "Water, water, water, five, ten eggs, water."

Keep ReadingShow less