When I was younger, I used to write corny yet sincere emotion poetry. When my grandfather retired, I wrote a poem about how each day he would eat at the table, with his beautiful wife Mable. When dealing with my grandma's death, I wrote about her habit, of smoking like a carrot eating rabbit. I don't think in all those years I ever wrote a poem for my amazing mother! So for this Mother's Day, I am going to see if the old brain still has that corny creativity left.
I often wonder what the world would do,
Without my amazing mom, Betty Lou.
Where do I even start,
To describe such a kind and generous heart.
Birthdays and all holidays she does celebrate,
With 'prizes' that are always first rate.
She puts such thought and care,
In every gift, even Christmas underwear.
She is always there to lend a hand,
PTA, Girl Scouts, Clean City, and across the land.
She taught me about a servant heart,
And in your home is where you must start.
Growing up I wasn't an easy child,
Kind of crazy, maybe a little wild.
But her kindness and patience saw me through,
And showed me exactly what a MOM should do.
She loves us all through thick and thin,
Even when we were late and sneaking in.
She loved me when I put her to the test,
And proved once again as a MOM she is the best!
We miss her when we are apart,
But we see her face with each day start.
Because as I look into the mirror,
More and more each day her face seems to appear.
It really isn't so bad,
To look like the best MOM ever had!
And there is no one else on earth,
That I would want to have given me birth.
And though we tease and joke around,
I hope she knows she is the best to be found.
She has given love and so much more to all,
She deserves her own Hall of Fame wall.
And now as I am older I understand why,
That as she reads this she will cry.
I hope she knows I love her most,
And forever about her, I will boast.
Each day I hope and pray,
That as my children talk of me someday,
They love and respect me too,
As much as I do you, Betty Lou!!!
This is Dawson being . . . well Dawson. He is pointing to the baby tapir. 
Isn't he a cutie??? Some lady was standing there talking to him/her the whole time. Calling it by a name and baby trying to get the tapir to come to her. It was cute. 
The flamigos were very chatty and active while we were there. The girls were cracking up at them. This would be where Dawson got camera happy (similar to Brandon and his elephant stalking). Dawson took picture after picture of the flamingo. 
This lovely goats name is Maddie. She was a hoot. She was really attracted to Sophia's bright yellow pancho and didn't care much for Gracie. She tried to actually head butt Gracie at one point and was put in goat time out by the zoo keeper. One of the goats did take a bite right out of Sophia's pancho. 
Had to ride the merry go round. 
Dawson and Sophia being ??? . . . well, really . . . just themselves! 
And here is the big boys room now . . .
Day 4 found us having issues with the washing machine (grrr)but Super Papa to the rescue and it was fixed. After the washing machine was on its way again, we headed to the Fun and Party Zone for some jumping fun (and time to just slap wear yourself out!). 
Dawson had soccer practice that evening so the girls and I wasted some time . . . shopping. I think I might have done an oops and found someplace where my anit-shopper LOVES to shop. We stopped at Justice because they had some nice one piece suits in the window. Sophia is very very very very picky about swimwear. She likes a one piece and she likes board shorts with it. She wore her last one until the bottom literally wore out. So we had to buy her one quickly. It is a really cute two piece tankini with shorts. However, it was not a suit she liked. SOOOOO, anyway, I stopped at Justice when we saw the suits in the window. Girlfriend found her a suit and shorts . . . as well as this cute outfit, and this nice outfit, and I like this and this Mom! Really?? Now the thing is when Sophia finds clothes she likes and they are 40% off, we buy them because it doesn't happen often. However my apprentice-princess-mini-me-shopaholic was not about to leave a store with cute clothes without something of her own. The store did not have her size but diva found her a 'sundress' (long tank shirt) that fits perfectly and is 'beautiful' too. Yes, Daddy better keep him a good job to keep us girls properly clothed. Day 5 of spring break involved temps in the 40's, rain, wind . . . oh, and the zoo! That's right we rolled into the zoo in the stinkin cold rainy weather. Stay tuned tomorrow for pics of that!
But alas, the good king was overthrown by the sweet queen of the castle and lost his crown. 
Soccer Saturday pictures . . . 
At Sophia's school program . . . 
Warming up for leading worship at Collide . . .
The zoo . . . 
When they were leaving for the zoo, we had a conversation where I told them how wierd I thought it was when people took pictures of the animals at the zoo. I get the pictures with someone else in it to say "hey look at us we went to the zoo". But if I want to see a picture of an animal I can google it and see a picture of an animal. Guess what I have on my camera? Tons of pictures of animals. It appears that Brandon might be an elephant stalker as there were quite a few pics of the elephants.
