This is week 15 of the 52 Snapshots of Life photo challenge and the word is “blessings”. This was a real tough one for me! Everyone says they are blessed these days, they refer to blessings like health, family, all the usual things, but I like to think outside the dog kennel. The photo above is my choice for blessings and I will explain why below.
Mom and I are often asked how we do it? Where do we get our crazy ideas? Why do I let Mom put hats, glasses and stuff on me for photos. As it turns out, the biggest of our blessings is inspiration. Mom and I are a well organized team. I inspire Mom and we both love what we do with photos and stories/posts. One day it dawned on Mom why it makes her so happy. It turns out she has been doing what we do on my blog since she was a little girl, only in different forms! The items, including me in the first photo are all blessings which make up Mom’s inspiration!
How do we come to this conclusion? As a little girl, Mom played with dolls and stuffed animals, but she also dressed her stuffed animals and treated them the same as her dolls. She loved to take photos of her stuffed animals in their clothes, and when she finally was old enough for pets, she photographed them in clothes too! The stuffed animal photo is from 1978, Mom’s kitty, Fluffy, in the baby outfit is from 1977, and her rabbit, Sniffer, in the winter clothes is from 1980.
Even more incredible is the family dog, Alfred! His photos are all from 1979, but he is wearing clothes, sitting at a table, and Mom’s most amazing find was the photo of her very first homemade dog bones, and Alfred with one in his mouth. These photos are all very similar to what we do on our blog in 2015! By the way, if you were wondering, Mom’s favorite color as a child was, yes, yellow, and flowers were in!
The final piece to the puzzle of blessings is in the books. Mom loved to read books where dolls and stuffed animals such as teddy bears came to life like people. She had several books from Dare Wright she adored. At ten years old, Mom wrote a book for school, a story about animals in a town where they were the people. It had a super happy ending and they all learned a lesson about fire. She won first place in the book contest for fourth graders.
For Mom and I, blessings are all those pieces of her childhood which came back to her through my blog. It really shows where her heart is at, and I’m super happy to be a part of her blessings and inspiration!
My friends at The Lazy Pitbull had the idea for theΒ #PBSG and #52Snapshots of Life photo challenge. The linky for the current week will be posted on Friday mornings. Be sure to see what other blogs come up with for the word of the week!
You were born to be a pet blogger! π
we often wonder where you get all your props from – you must have a garage full of stuff π
I have my stuff in the basement, but it isn’t all that much. We also borrow from friends and neighbors sometimes.
That is so sweet to be part of mum’s blessings and inspiration. Have a tremendous Thursday.
Best wishes Molly
Thanks. Mom and I are a wonderful team.
Inspiration is truly a blessing.
It really is as so many struggle with getting inspired to do things.
Emma….you and your mom are (wait for it)….BLESSED! It was great traveling back in time with your mom. XOXO Sparkle the PBGV
We were really shocked to see such photos of Alfred! Mom had forgotten all about them.
that was great to read about your inspirations and the way you use this wonderful ideas. Many thanks for a wonderful post, it seems you really live your dreams and that’s a blessing, I’m sure :o)
Now if the “job thing” could just go away, life would be perfect!
She hasn’t changed much then? Those bone treats look great!
No, I guess even before me she was into pics and writing with the pets.
This was a fabulous post!! It was awesome to see things your mom did in her younger days! No wonder you guys always have FABULOUS photos!! Thanks for letting us into your past! Loved this π
α¦ husky hugz α¦ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Thanks. Mom was shocked at some of the photos she took back then and how they are similar to what she does now.
Who knew your mom was practicing her pet blogging skills even when she was a youngun?!? That is SO very cool, Emma. And if I do say so myself…you are a great inspiration for your mom. Your photos are always great and put a smile on my Ma’s face!
Oz
Thank you. Mom always knew she loved to write and love dressing up animals, but when she found some of these photos while working with me on this post, it was pretty fun!
That’s awesome. It’s great when you can do what you love, especially when it’s child’s play in a grown up world. If everyone did that, the world would be so much happier.
Exactly. Now if she could just get rid of the real estate job she isn’t so thrilled about, we would be all set, but hopefully it will happen in time.
So lovely to know a little more about your mom Emma. I think she is “spot on” with her blessings.
Thank you. I know I am a huge blessing and so are my sisters, but we never realized how the past was a blessing too.
That’s why you have such a fun blog
Snorts
Lily & Edward
Yep, the mom is out of the bag…she has never really grown up π
The creativity and wonderful photos always, always make our day!
Thank you. We love to make friends happy.
What a great post, Emma! So interesting!!! Mom loved the old photos! I guess Alfred is your role model and you didn’t even know it! your doodle friend Dash
Mom says Alfred didn’t enjoy being a model like I do, but she learned a lot with him like how to deal with pets who aren’t into the modeling thing. I can’t imagine!
Love this post! Our pups bring out the best parts of us, which not surprisingly happen to be the kid inside us all.
This post made me realize Mom has never really grown up but we like it the way it is, more fun!
I love this. What a great take on blessings, and some wonderful insight into what lead you and your Mom to where you are today. What treasures those old photos are too!
Mom had forgotten about most of them. We were really shocked she photographed the homemade bones and then Alfred with one in his mouth. Almost eery!
What great blessings. Have a wonderful day.
Thank you.
I truly love this post Emma… your mom sounds a lot like me when I was little. You guys have a wild imagination and now I see why! I had stuffed animals and they all had names. I probably still have most of them stored away too and I bet I could remember all of their names to this day. I’d play school with them, and they were my students. Also joining my class of stuffed animals were my cats who I would also dress up. Since I recovered a lot of old photos from my mom’s house recently, I’ve found a lot of the pictures and hope to share them one day.
LOL! So my mom isn’t the only one! The old photos are so fun. Lots of Mom’s photos are slides, but in the mid 70’s she started getting the prints thankfully but the quality deteriorates over time. All Mom’s stuffies had names and were treated the same as the dolls.
Your mom gets FURST PRIZE in OUR Book TOO!!!!! Even though ERNIE has never written a BOOK… BUTT I (F.F.) Have….
Ernie, what’s the hold up? Start writing your book!
This really might be one of your most beautiful posts. I love how the things mom loved as a child continues to this day. It really is a blessing.
Funny how we never realized the full extent of it until recently. It is pretty neat and we know what she truly loves and why.
What a great story. You can really see how and why you became such a great blogger with such a great imagination! Of course the inspiration of Katie, Bailie and Emma certainly help. Good Blessings…I admit I am stumped by it.
Mom definitely has an imagination! Sometimes I have to wonder about her, but we all have fun and inspire each other…a great team.
This is such a great post! I love all your pictures! <3
Thank you. I enjoyed digging up things from Mom’s past. It was fun.
You guys sure are a great team…. we love visiting your blog!
Thank you. We always have a lot of fun with our posts and bringing happiness to our friends.
That is so awesome that you were able to keep those things from your childhood. The book is wonderful and since it is a lesson about fire, I’m glad they had an insurance company in Animal Land! LOL!
The things my mom thought of!
What a creative and blessed mom you have Emma! I’m glad she saved those photos and books! My mom is like that too in many ways, but she’s not very good with computers, so we don’t do blogs.
Blessed Easter season, your friend, Chablis
My mom took to technology like fish to water, but it is not for everyone and there are so many other ways to be creative in the world too!
Just love this….your destiny was laid out right in your childhood!
It was, and the more things Mom thinks about the more things she did early on to help her these days. There really is a master plan!
Its clear that you were meant to do this Joy (You too Emma). You girls are amazingly talented and inspire us!
The older Mom gets, and she is old, the more she realizes how choices she made and things she did a long time ago have really helped in her life now. If you go with the flow, it all comes together eventually.
Lovely photos. My eyes were immediately drawn to those homemade bones/cookies. Have a lovely Friday.
Amazing she was making dog treats at home so many years ago and they didn’t kill the dog either!
Those are blessings chock full of warm memories
Love how you phrased that! So true!
Love it! You and your mom are born bloggers! =D
I guess at some point our stars aligned and this is where we ended up and we are happy about it!
Emma, sometimes it freaks me out how much your mom and I have in common. Some very similar photos exist in my archives as does my first book. While I have thought before that I am blessed to still be writing about pets after writing my first stapled book about my dog when I was five years old, I had never seen in my little kid mind silly prop photos of stuffed animals and my good sport childhood dogs the blessings of still having such fun my pets and a camera. You and your mom rock and I am blessed to know you both!
That is so funny! Isn’t it amazing how things you did so many years ago really shape who you are now and I think if you find out you are doing them again, you have found “your place”. You and your gang are so cool. Mom can’t imagine going out with 3 dogs, a cat, and a bird, but you make it look so easy!
Oh β I really like your interpretation of Blessing! Youβre right; people use it too often and in a variety of contexts.
Thank you. Right now it is kind of trendy to say blessed this, I’m blessed, blah, blah…which is why we wanted to dig a bit deeper.
What a wonderful blessing to have discovered how your past was linked to your future (and present). Thank you for sharing your special photos and mementos from your childhood, Joy.
We always knew I was interested in animals and dressing them up, but I had forgotten about the photos. Can’t believe I thought to take a photo of the homemade bones and the dog eating one. Crazy!
Your book is adorable! π Alfred looks cool on the bed ^__^
Thanks. Alfred was a real piece of work, but we loved him.
Look at me! Look at me! We hab the same books!!
Where’s my picture? I hate the enter nets.
How cool to have the photographic records. I would like to attend that tea party!
Have to say it was amazing finding all those old photos and seeing how Mom had the same ideas as a child that she has now.