Going to MoBo!

Scott and I took the boys to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. It is a beautiful place and we only saw a small portion of it. We spent most of the time in the Children's Garden. Enjoy the photos!

Happy Birthday, Amy!

Sunday was Amy's birthday. After church, she and I went shopping and she bought some summer clothes. Then we met the guys for dinner at PF Changs. When we got home there was ice cream cake. So other than Quinn refusing to eat and making himself barf at the restaurant, I think it was a good day for her. I hope this year is the best yet.

Dragons & Mothers Day

I had a wonderful Mothers Day weekend. Nikki, Josh, & Eli came to visit and on Saturday we went to nearby Lake Lure for the First Annual Dragon Boat Races.

On Sunday the guys took the honored mothers out to eat (Granny, Nikki, Lynn, and me), everyone came back to our house for dessert - Strawberry Pizza. Amy called on Skype (video call on the computer) while everyone was here. I love Skype, being able not only to talk to our Missouri Scoggins but to see them. Granny loved it too! It is really the next best thing to everyone being here.

Remembering Mama

As Mother's Day 2008 approaches, I realized that this will be the 8th Mother's Day since Mama died. I try not to say "when we lost Mama", since she isn't lost. I know where she is. Even though her body died, I believe that love doesn't. When someone gives you love, then it lives in your heart. So as long as those whom Mama loved live, her love lives, too. I miss her every day, but I know that she is watching over us. Even though she was not physically able to be there when Trip, Quinn, & Eli were born, I know she was there. If you knew my mama, then you would know it too.

She came from a line of strong women, her mother, Mattie Lou; her grandmother, Lucinda; and her great grandmother, Lucy and so on. I am remembering them on this Mother's Day too.

When Josh was born, I realized that each baby should come with an instruction manual. They are all different, so one book doesn't cover it. Since this didn't happen, I decided that Mama would be my standard. So through the years, I have tried to ask myself - WWMD (What Would Mama Do)? Unfortunately for my children, I didn't always go with that answer ;)

The following are some Mama-isms that I was thinking about today:

1. If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all.

2. If you act as nice as you look, then you shouldn't have any problems (when going out).

3. There is NO excuse for bad manners.

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Rose Anomaly?

Several years ago, Josh and Nikki gave me 2 rose trees for Mother's Day, which I loved. It was when we lived in Grayson. When we moved to NC, I wasn't able to bring them with me since we were going to be living in a rental for a year while our new house was being built. So I bought replacements last year. For those of you not familiar with rose trees, they do not grow in nature but are rose bushes grafted onto a small tree. Mine are Mr. Lincoln which are a deep red (see catalog picture above). All last Spring through Fall, I had beautiful roses. I noticed in the late Fall that there were sprouts coming up near the trunk of both trees, which I assumed were new rose bushes. This week the sprouts started blooming, but they aren't Mr. Lincolns! If anyone understands this anomaly, please explain.

The first picture is of the new pink roses; the second one is the rose tree with a couple of dark red buds at the top and the new pink roses in the bottom center of the picture.

Eli and G

Eli's day care teacher called Nikki on Wednesday to tell her that Eli was covered in what sounded like hives. The doctor said it was a food allergy. So I volunteered to keep him at home until he had recovered. On Thursday, he was feeling okay, even though he still had splotches, so we decided to get out of the house on a beautiful Spring day. We went to Little Mulberry Park. It is a wonderful place for people of all ages. There is an especially nice playground area. Eli loves the swings, both little and big kid swings. I think he would have stayed on them all day, as long as you push him. He did play on the fort with the slides and the sand area. I didn't think about taking my camera so there aren't any accompanying pics. On Friday we went to the Mall of Georgia and he played on the playground there and then we had lunch with Aunt Susan. After his nap we went for a walk in Historic Buford. I was glad that he felt fine as he was recooperating, so we could still have fun. All of the hives appeared to be gone when I left Saturday morning. Since I didn't post any pictures, I am posting the beginning of a video where Eli is calling me. This was taken several months ago.