Snow!

This past Saturday was wonderful. We woke up to snow and Alabama had a decicive victory over Florida to win the SEC conference. Yea!

Waiting for Fall

We finally got High school Musical and watched it with the children. I think Scott was very inspired by it. Today in Primary the chorister was taking turns with the Junior and Senior Primary. She turned to the Junior Primary and Scott rallied the children with, “Come on lets show her what we got!” Both he and Abigail could be heard over everyone else. Yesterday Sam and I began with a great outline and plan for the day. Sam had to go in and work in the morning and then he would come home. I was making Chicken Parmesan with Scott in the kitchen and Abigail was practicing her piano with Allison when I heard her fall off the bench. She was really hurt. I spoke to Sam on the phone and I was impressed that he was able to correctly deduce that Abigail had a fractured, mildly displaced collarbone. I took her to Sam and he took her to the children’s ER for x-rays. I feel really bad for anyone who has to wait in an ER, but it was nice that they streamlined Sam and Abigail. It was a good thing too. Sam got paged while getting x-rays with Abigail (he was on-call) and called me to come get Abigail. He used the computers in the ER to view the CT scan on the patient he was called on and Abigail was pretty impressed with the “pictures”. Abigail came home with a sling and we just have to be really careful about not bumping or falling for a few weeks. I’m sending a picture of the compost I am trying to decompose aerobically in a garbage can. I found a video on the internet of how to do this. They demonstrate easily punching holes in a garbage can with a hammer and a nail in the video. So I got my garbage can, hammer and nails and started pounding away. Thirty minutes of pounding later I didn’t have much to show and Sam who had been trying to nap inside was not impressed. He came out, shook his head, and said there must be a better way. He reemerged with a hand drill and I was completely finished in probably less than ten minutes. I canned peaches and the children had dentist appointments this week. I was so amused by the dentist’s summary of the children’s reactions. Scott was so interested and involved in what was going on that it made the exam a bit challenging, but at least he was cooperative. Abigail showed immediate signs of distrust and skepticism which made x-rays and the exam difficult. Allison persistently asked them not to put holes in her and once she was satisfied she could trust them she was putty in their hands. I could have written the dentist’s synopsis beforehand so it was rather amusing to listen to. I wish you could see Abigail and Allison play. They are superb examples of cooperative play. They practice musical note flashcards together. Abigail shows Allison a card and says, “what’s this?…..(quietly) it’s A.” Allison, “A!” Abigail, “YES Allison! Good job”. Allison, “I did it all by myself!” Whatever success Allison achieves in this life will have to be in part ascribed to Abigail’s diligent tutoring. She loves to drill Allison in counting, letters, music, stories. It is so constructive I’m amazed. I taught my last gospel doctrine lesson today because I was sustained as the Primary pianist and secretary. I think they will be glad to be rid of me in GD. I would start class by inviting everyone to fill all the seats in the center and front being sure to leave no seats empty between people. It was something Elder Eyring would do while I was at BYU and I figured that if it was good for him it was a good thing for me to do, but I didn’t get the feeling that many people were very keen on this approach.

Beautiful Day

Sam and I went for a short walk in our neighborhood yesterday and it was actually pleasant to be outside. I mentioned this to Sam and he said, “Its horrible!” “What!” I don’t know what is wrong with him. “Sam, why are you contradicting me and being disagreeable. All I‘m doing is commenting on an obviously beautiful day.” Sam is not phased. “You don’t understand Verina. I don’t want nice weather on trauma weekend people go outside and do stupid things and then I have to fix them.” A short lecture on being optimistic and enjoying good things followed. Then a fifteen second pause. A fast vehicle was approaching. We call to Abigail on her bike to stay close to the side of the road. As if to prove Sam right (again) an ATV goes flying by with one unhelmeted teenager driving and three, THREE, more unhelmeted (of course) youth clinging to the speeding vehicle. I wanted to scream at them for their stupidity and of course for proving Sam right. That is not the kind of job insurance Sam needs.

Yesterday Allison in a tone that clearly showed she was impressed said, "Wow Mom your BIG!" Nothing like a two year old compliment.

Health Care Reform

I would love to have the time and ability to create an entire blog devoted to this subject because I really think that the mothers and women I have talked to about this are the ones who really have the answers. What is wrong with all the big wigs?! (Maybe their heads are too big) My sister concisely solves most of the major health care problems our country has in a simple four step approach that would cost almost (at least comparatively) nothing and solve a host of problems with the health care crisis.

Step One: All doctor visits cost $100 - People have lost touch with how much health care really costs. If you never have to pay something (insurance covers everything) it becomes a crutch. Insurance could reimburse people, but this should help people look at going to the doctor realistically.

Step Two: All doctors must post prices for basic fees - When no one knows how much something is it is going to be meddled with. Isn't this how mechanics and other industries work? Why not health care. It will also tell you a little about the doctor you are going to. You get what you pay for.

Step Three: Cap litigation rewards for subjective losses - Obvious. I wonder exactly how much of a doctor's fee is to cover his cost of malpractice insurance. We have already seen and heard of places where people can't get OBs because they can no longer afford malpractice insurance.

Step Four: Get rid of paper! - a short hospital stay results in volumes of repetitive notes and charting that no one is going to look at (except a lawyer years after the fact for litigation purposes). Couldn't it be electronically organized in a better way so that the multiple doctors treating a patient can review it easier, thus cutting down on medical mistakes and the cost of producing and filing and transporting paper.

School

Scott's first day of 2nd grade

Abigail's first day of kindergarten. She was excited to wear her butterfly shirt and take her butterfly lunch box.

Abigail showing Dad what she is doing on the piano.

Abigail loves holding and playing with baby Michael.

At the beach

Before Sam started his new job we took the opportunity to drive to Orange Beach for a little family vacation. Boy are we glad we went! The children loved it. Sam and I really enjoyed throwing the frizbee between the shore and the waves while we watched the children. Michael was excellent and slept most of the time. Abigail loved to run from the waves. Scott loved playing in the waves and Allison stayed as far as she could from the waves.

Rolling with the waves Dude!

I love Tera Firma!

Surfer girl Abigail

Mississippi

Memorial Day and Happy Birthday Scott

Scott really liked his Star Wars birthday cake!

Hiking at Mistletoe State Park. Abigail is our most enthusiastic hiker in the family.
Sam said Allison will be walking next time we go hiking.

Baby Michael is starting to wear his 3-6 month clothes.

Allison loved getting dressed for the hike.

Soo Cute!

Sooo Much Happening

Happy Birthday Abigail

Fun math for the children (sorry couldn't figure out how to rotate the picture)

Scott really enjoyed the play he did with the first grade. He was the Rooster!

Allison is getting good at doing her hair

Good Book

I just started reading this book and I am so excited about it. The preface tells a brief story about one of the original researchers involved in making this book and how it changed her life. She was a Japanese business exectutive of the fast track to success, but after learning what she did from this research she left the business world, got married, and became a stay-at-home Mom who kept a garden and spent time with her children and family. Wow! It sounds like a winner to me!

Dandelions

Allison had to show her beloved dandelions to Michael. As you can see he was pretty impressed.

Allison is in love with Dandelions so I had to get a few pictures.

I finally got a picture of Abigail "bowling" with Michael.

This is how Allison eats all her food.

Michael Ross Scroggins

Michael came hours after I stopped talking to Arletta and Claire on the phone and boo-hooing about how the baby was never going to come. He is very healthy. The children are thrilled to have him here. Abigail is the best baby monitor ever. She gives us a play-by-play of his moves and facial expressions. The only thing harder than listening to a baby cry is to have three other children screaming, "the baby is crying!" "the baby is hungry!" and "the baby wants you!" Luckily Michael is spending more time sleeping than crying these days. Yesterday Abigail wanted to play with the baby. She laid a blanket on the floor so I could put him on it. Then she got the soft bowling penguins and ball that Grandpa and Grandma Scroggins gave Allison. She lined them all up inches away from Michael and then "helped" him play bowling with her. She was so animated and patient with her little brother. I chose to enjoy watching her instead of getting the camera. Sorry! The first thing Scott wants to do when he gets home from school is hold baby Michael. Allison is much less interested in the new baby and seems to be glad for a distraction so she can spend more time unloading and reorganizing any drawers and bags that she decides needs a thorough perusal. Sam is being a great Dad. I am so glad he has this week off to help me. I love sleep, leftovers from the dinners that have been brought, and yoga. How did mothers survivor pregnancy and postpartum body changes without yoga?!

My New Jogging Stroller

The girls were having a great time helping me clean the mirrors today.

I should probably have photos of my old stroller so that the new model can be fairly appreciated, but the greatest improvement is the weight of the stroller and you can only appreciate that if you push and run with the stroller a lot. My old stroller had a steal frame and this new one is alluminum so it is over ten pounds lighter and boy can I tell. I was going to wait to open it until the baby came, but Abigail and Allison were just as excited about it as I was. I told Abigail that baby Michael was going to ride in the new stroller and she said, "but he can just walk beside it." I told her she would need to walk or ride her bike now. She decided to compromise, "We can take turns walking." Baby Michael needs to get here and do some explaining for himself.

Photography class

I went to a photography class last night for Relief Society enrichment. I decided to try a few things today with the girls.

March goes out like a lamb

We sold our home! Relief, but not the end. Now we just need to have a baby, buy a home and move in two and a half months. I have been plagued by a rash from laundry detergent that has kept me up many nights and pushed me to exhaustion. One day Abigail watched the Black Stallion twice, so I could get some rest. When I return to normal life I wonder if I will enjoy it again or will it be too blase. Sam had a conference in Atlanta which is where most of the pictures come from. We were able to tag along and went to the Atlanta Aquarium. It is the largest Aquarium in the world and we were definitely wowed by it. We were facinated by the main tank with over 6,000 species including three whale sharks. I asked how many creatures were in the tank and the aquarium worker couldn't say.

Allison at Corral Reef aquarium

Abigail, Me, Scott and Allison

Abigail at the jellyfish tank. Seeing the jellyfish was a big priority for her.

Scott at the Beluga whale tank