Hay Happens and Hay's Happen

We couldn’t say goodbye completely, so we signed her up for just 5 or 6 days this summer to go to camp at Paradise for Tots. Ms. V and Coach Matt were going to be there after all.

So, thanks to Doug for providing an adorable shade over her face, she was off to camp. Can you just never get enough of that there hat???!!!

While we were there, Ms. V gave Tatum the Bible she was supposed to get on her graduation. Hooray! We finally got it autographed with Ms. V and Coach Matt’s John Hancocks. Now it truly is special.

When we got home, she dove right in, reading to her babies.

I think they are excited to hear about Creation.

I know Tatum is reading with all the feeling in the world.

We love you Father, and I love you Tot!!!!

 

Steph is off to North Carolina to give her English prep tips and study points to prospective GCU students. So proud of her doing this sort of work for GCU.  She gets to use her years of study and experience in addition to her presentation skills and put them to good use in recruiting future GCU students!  While my sweetie is away, I get to have hang-out time with Tatum for two and a half days!  First, we must get Tatum’s things together before we leave for my house. Tatum and Steph made this magnificent collage of different storyboard scenes for me.  Geeze, this thing is a work of art!  You just don’t whip something like this together in an hour.  So honored by you two!

Steph made a Mercedes steering wheel, so Tatum could help drive us to my house.  Ok, I’ll take the help in getting us home!

Oh, the send-off and good byes and kisses (and Coti too!)

We get to my house and have a nice Salmon dinner. Not just any salmon mind you, I made Steph’s world famous (or at least it should be) smoked maple Salmon.  Then we go into the back yard for a little nature walk.  I show Tatum the apple tree (yes, apple trees grow in the desert if you’re careful).  She picked a little green apple – too tart to eat but perfect for baking.

Right away, we get her bed all set up and Steph always has a new pair of jammies wrapped for a surprise with a little love note!

In the morning, we have little scrambled eggs with bacon before we go the Gym.

After the gym, we needed to get supplies for our “Project”.  When Tatum stays with me, we always plan on a project for her mommy. We do this so she knows how much we miss her and love her.  Last time, we planted a tomato plant in a pot to produce little sweet cherry tomatoes. This time, we have canvas paintings to color with messages of Jesus on them.  Now, this is my level of painting – painting (with felt pens) within the lines!

The next morning I had a conference call for work and Tatum was so good while I was in this loooong call. While I was in the call, she made a very elaborate battleship from a carpenter’s box of wood pieces.  How cute is this pic?

We went swimming both days. We also brought a science project to the pool deck with us to make snow! Just add these white crystals to some water and presto, SNOW!  We had to repeat this experiment a few times because it was very cool.  Hehe!

Tatum’s front tooth was loose and wobbly.  It would be her first baby tooth to fall out. We needed a tooth pillow to put it in for the tooth fairy just in case the inevitable happened.  I was really hoping it would NOT come out until Steph got back because it’s kind of a milestone.  Whew, the first one did NOT come out on my watch but the tooth pillow is ready when it does!

Along with the art supplies we saw a perfect Tot sized wicker hat with a neon green band that matched her shirt.  OK, gotta get that too!

Then she decided that Austin the bear should try on the hat!

Well, it was time to go home so we carefully wrapped up Steph’s canvased paintings and put them in a gift bag to surprise her.  We excitedly drove home to meet her and tell her of our time together but mostly we just wanted to see her and give her hugs because the best part about her trip is when we come together and the end.  That’s FAMILY.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alright. Honestly, all this growing up going on…I’m just not ready! This morning, Tatum tells me her front tooth is wiggly jiggly.

See mom?

I don’t believe her because she has been wanting it to be loose. She’s been telling me this for a few months. (All of her classmates are losing teeth). However, this morning, she has me feel it.

By golly, she’s correct-a-mundo.

And guess what? Everyone we saw today knows now too.

I now have to go ask the Tooth Fairy the going rate.

 

Tatum and I already read about 30 minutes per day, so why not make it fun with prizes in the summer?

Clubhouse Jr., the Focus on the Family magazine,  has a summer reading challenge. She must read 1000 pages by the end of the summer. We then send in her log and she gets some type of reward.

As we read, we are logging pages. Now, I understand that many of the books we read have like 10-15 words on each page average, but I figure it still counts.

She colors in each square for each 10 pages.

Nifty!
The summer reading program also goes on through Scottsdale Library, so we just log on after each session of reading and log her minutes.

It’s going to be a fun reading summer: Building good habits while enjoying what we do.

Mama wore her fishy shirt to celebrate the visit. We couldn’t wait to first show her the bathroom. We asked her, “Are you scared?” She responded, “Why? Are there sharks??”
As a matter of fact, YES there are!!!

After surviving the bathroom visit, we headed to the fish. Mama raced right over to the toucans, Ricky and Lucy. They were getting fed which made Mama excited.

I think Ricky likes Mama too.

Definitely adorable and colorful.

The octopus grew since the last time we saw him. What do you think?

Before:

After:

Hmmmm…He’s been eating his spinach apparently.

Well, Mama loved all of the excitement, but we had to head to Tot’s skating lesson.

She couldn’t wait to get her skates on. Bye Tot!!!

She doesn’t need me to hold her hand anymore!

What a fun-filled Friday.

 

I knew I had to make a Dr.’s appt today for myself since I have been having a few problems in some “not-for-discussion-on-a-blog.” problem. It’s for the afternoon, so the morning was ours. Tatum and I needed to make the best of it our early day.

Boy, has this been one of the BEST DAYS EVER with her.

The usual start of the day: Jesus, the gym, and coffee. Then, we were off to see  Bobby and Bob at Bobby’s church in Fountain Hills, North Chapel. I packed a few toys for Tatum to play with so we could just chat. It was great to see him. Friends really do come and go as you progress through life, but Bobby will be a FOREVER friend. Same with Bob. Just solid men. Thank you, Jesus for their presence in my life. Continue to bless their ministries! (especially in the summer when Fountain Hills goes from 23,000 to 11,000: a real ghost town).

I put Tatum’s bike in the back of my CRV so we could find a Lime Bike for me. (These are bikes you rent with your phone and you pay by the mile). On the way to the park, we hit the library. Every summer, they have a reading challenge, so since it starts Friday, we stopped in for one or two books.

Then, it was time to head to Chaparral Park since they have a lake. I’m sure there’d be a LimeBike there.

It was time to sunglass Tot. She needed to look cool of course.

Welllllllllll, we found one, but it was a block from the park. So, I loaded it in the back of my CRV but it wouldn’t fit!! I only had to drive through the parking lot to the next one, so I just let it hang out of my car as we headed to the lake. IT WAS PRETTY FUNNY. Tatum kind of held on to it since I (don’t tell)  didn’t have her locked in and we only had to drive 200 feet or so.

Now we are all ready! I scanned the code and VOILA!

Tatum took my pic:

Off we go (after much sunscreen).

We headed to the lake. Now, Tatum couldn’t take my pic so this is proof I was on the bike:

 

Then it was time for duck stop. This duck met us with excitement. Whatcha got for us????

Hmmmmmm….

Zilch, buddy.

Sorry friends. We have to head back. So, we hopped on and headed for the car. (We did one loop around the lake)

We came home, washed our feet, cooled off, and made lunch.

First, Tatum and Coti prayed. (He prayed for her to drop her lunch).

What focus!

Then she ate.

Sorry, puppy.

We came upstairs to work on a letter, draw, read, and then time to head to the Dr. She was so much fun today. Like a real adult relationship! Very cool.

I couldn’t have asked for a better morning with my lovebug.
Now, I must pray for some healing!

We headed to the Dr. in the afternoon, and guess what you do at the Dr?? You wait.

and wait

 

And put Baby on your head.

 

and oh, here she comes.

OK, so the day was the bomb. Met with my gal pals in the evening for our REACH book group. They all are SOOOO happy for Tot and me. We can’t wait to marry Dougeee.

 

 

While walking Coti this morning, Tatum spied in the sky 5 yellow vintage planes flying in a V formation. They had U.S Army printed on the bottom of their wings. It was a nice loud reminder of this special day.

Upon getting settled, Mama, Tot and I got our supplies out ready to finish the scrapbooks for the Foster kids.

Tatum made photo pages and I finished up the one I had been working on.

Mine was not as fancy as Mama’s, but I was proud of my work. The kids will love them. Mama really put so much time into them. I’m so amazed by her!

Then, it was time to make some flags to commemorate this day. We wanted to show pride for our U.S.A.

After painting our popsicle sticks, we glued them and cut out our blue pieces.

And tada!

We made sure we would pray at 3PM.

To remind us, it was time to wear her slap bracelets. This way, we wouldn’t forget, right?

These things were big when I was little! She loves these things.

Well, it was getting late and time for lunch, but of course, Tatum is into handstands, headstands, cartwheels and anything that requires contortions that make me wince. So…….she wanted me to watch her do her thing:

She’s getting it! Abs girl…abs!

3:00 rolled around, and we were on the way to the pool. We stopped as we were walking and said our prayer of thanksgiving and comfort for our fallen soldiers and their families. We have no idea what they have done for us. It’s beyond belief.

While at the pool, a bee landed on Tatum’s head and then crawled around. After my heart attack, I cuddled her tight. The bee had died, so he definitely stung her.

It didn’t seem to hurt as much as it hurt me, but all seemed ok.

Later, we had a nice dinner and she calmed down with some headstands. I showed her what I used to do when I was little. It’s all in the abs, baby!

I’m exhausted watching her.

Aaaaaahhhh. She is REALLY getting it!!

OK, Tot, time to color and calm it really down.

What a lovely day of art, appreciation, and acrobats. We sure appreciate and honor our fallen soldiers. God Bless America.