Month: July 2016

Doug and I had been planning on taking Tatum to Sedona for a long while. Why? Because it is the BEST place to hike and BEST place to see God’s creative mountains. It would be a Friday when Doug could take the day off.

But, here’s the BEST news. A week prior to our departure, Jocy, my BESTie (see post about…)https://hayhappens.com/?p=2208), called me to say she’d be in Flagstaff during that week. PERFECT! We decided to meet up in Sedona for the day. This way, I could hang out with her and her oldest daughter Audrey; she could meet Doug, and see the TOT. It was all a great plan.

Before our trip, Doug invested in some car entertainment. Tatum is currently obsessed with this character: 

So he came with us in the car as Tatum practiced her webbing, singing “shpow shpow.”  The BEST idea, Doug.

We met up at the Visitor Center and instantly met Smokey the Bear. Apparently he’s still alive and well, speaking his message of cleanliness.

Tatum wanted to hold his hand. Posing.

Then Jocy and I had to take a pose….and then the whole clan.

(Hi beautiful Audrey!)Wait, what about Doug?! Did I mention he’s the BEST boyfriend and photographer E.V.E.R!
Ok, enough pictures! We have a hike to take. Oh, but wait…it’s HOW hot in Sedona today? Jeez. We came to get cooler, but it is 95 or something. So much for that idea. We decided to go to Talaquepaque and shop/see the sights. But first, Audrey wanted to show Tatum some of the wildlife.  Snake – the bronzed version. 

And javelina. Luckily this bronzed version was kind to us. 

We arrived and the water trumped all the shopping. 

The BEST kiss ever with a soon to be prince. 

Doug was focused on the architecture which was beautiful!

And Tatum? The water. She drenched herself.

This whole being outside thing was not…..Wait. What are we staring at?? No clue. I know! We are thinking: LUNCH!

That’s it. We need food. So off we went to Wildflower. And this was what Audrey had in mind for being a wildflower herself! Jocy and I needed a great view pic now. The BEST!

We really need to find some kind of a hike. Doug to the rescue again. He knew of a place that had a creek. That way we could at least be cool. Little did I know we’d be cooled off, but definitely not cool, if you know what I mean (you’ll see).

We headed to a little hotel, found perfect parking and headed down to a little mini-hike sans heat and work. Pure water bliss! Audrey led us through the maze of “what is on the floor of this water!?”

Hi Jocy and Doug!

Adventuring…. It was not deep, but I found out what was on the bottom. Slippage of some sort..

As I tried to help her up, I slipped!!! And she was not stable to hold onto!

And then, more slipping.

She rescued me…

And then I finally rescued her. Mind you, all the others were watching and laughing.
Well we definitely got cooled off.  This was so helpful for how hot we were. Glad we could provide the entertainment!

Finally, we decided to head to the Trout farm and catch some fish! Doug again was the BEST navigator, fisherman, and hook helper (not a favorite for any of us).

And….three seconds flat, she caught her first fish. We have damaged her for life in terms of understanding the challenges of fishing.

Audrey’s turn!She was just as quick, and thanks to Doug, the YUK part was taken care of.

They cleaned the fish for us, and we took home FOUR gorgeous trout ready for cooking.

We drove home with Tot in back, sleeping and comfortable.

Saying goodbye to my BESTie was not the BEST part of the day. Remembering with her is always so special. We were reunited fifteen years ago (this pic is from 2001!)….and she’s still as beautiful as ever. 

Being with my BEST guy, my BEST friend and one of her BEST daughters, and my BEST girl made it the BEST day ever.

Oh what a beautiful morning when you wake up to find your daughter going through the Highlights magazines only to read to puppy.Not bad for 6am.

I decided it was not going to be a typical day, so we went to breakfast! They had these funky wiki -sticks made out of wax wicks. We made spectacles.

Yes, out of ourselves too, I’m sure! Tatum always draws a crowd.

Then of course, we had to play. She loves to go to the play place, but still, she always veers towards the kitchen.

This time, we had to bring Dino. 

She made sure we are all well-fed. Oh, and prayed up too. She insisted we say grace first.

OK…eat mommy!

Love you Tot. Thank you for being such a good caring person to all you are around.

Thanks to the worldwide web, I have ideas for Tatum’s learning.

I came across this blog: www.123homeschool4me.com . She has a plethora of ideas!
I took the candy corn word building for a ride, and it was a hit, thanks to my color printer and dextrous scissor skills.

I had her pick the word first, then the letter, and then the word. 

Success! 

If she could only eat them!

The theme was: And it did not disappoint. We need to celebrate courage in the unknowns of the world. So much of what we don’t notice is true bravery. I’d say volunteering in the Pre-K room was pretty brave! ha! Just kidding. I decided to be a part of two days of camp with Tot. However, they put me in a different room than her because they didn’t want me to just focus on her. Smart move.

I was assigned the 4-year old room the first day, and instantly fell in love with a little girl named Averie. I talked about Tatum, so when the rally came around she  wanted to meet her.

However, before we entered the rally, Tatum saw me with the older kids, and started to cry. She wanted to be with me.

Then once we got in the rally, she just sat with me (and Averie). They became instant friends.

After presenting a skit on one hero in the Bible, Joshua, we learned some fun songs to celebrate Jesus. Hillsong believes kids can worship too! (and she did!)

I loved how they allowed each of us to close our eyes and individually pray.

She spotted Levi, and it was a moment of more JOY!

He’s like a heroic big brother to her.
I left at lunch so she could have some water play, and I could get a few things done. Also, when I am there, she tends to cry since she knows I’m present but not in her room. When I picked her up, two little girls came up to me and told me Tatum was their friend and they loved her. (the are also 3).

When she got home, she wanted to sing the songs and celebrate her fun times. I’m so glad we have a church who celebrates the love of Jesus in such an authentic way. It was real, yet it was FUN too. Thank you, Hillsong. I see Tatum growing into a LOVER of  Jesus. Truly heroic.

Today, I decided to lay on Tatum’s daybed and read a bit while she rested. It was “quiet time” and the last few minutes, I figured I’d visit her bedroom to be quiet with her. She spotted me reading on her bed and asked me why I was staring at the book.

Upon laughing , it was then I realized that she thinks that all reading is done aloud. She asked me if I was going to ever turn the page. I would if you’d stop interrupting my reading. It was hard to concentrate as she kept asking me why she couldn’t hear me.

I told her I was reading with my eyes.

She decided to visit me on the bed and read with me.

She told me she was reading with her eyes, and I asked her how it was working. She told me to be quiet so she could read with her eyes.

Only this morning, I heard her in her bedroom reading her books. Usually, she gets up quite early and comes into me. I told her to go back into her room and play. This is what I saw:

She had read all of these books with her eyes and her voice. She has pictures to enjoy in her books, and it makes it much more fun to read with her eyes, truly!

Meanwhile, I’ll keep reading with my eyes and encourage her to just keep reading with that sing songy voice of hers. Love it.