My hubby makes me feel so special. I received a kind of “promotion” at GCU. They gave me the highest title: Senior Adjunct Professor after I applied. Truly an honor.
Well my sweetie took me to Ruth Chris’ Steak House for dinner; that place is so fancy and special.
He gave me this lovely card!
And get a load of this beauty.
With the shrimp, it even is more delectable. It’s nearly perfect.
What a special evening. I love you, honey. I didn’t feel so hot that night, and by the end of the night, I was a new gal. Thank you for all you do for me HHH.
All week, Tatum had Terra Nova testing. It is her first experience with standardized testing, and now she gets to look forward to this for ten more years. Good to start early!
So, since Friday was a half day, and she had already presented for her being Camper of the Week, we had her take Friday off so we could do some Hay Happening!
I rented a boat at Tempe Town Lake. More on that in a moment. First, we arrived right before our reservation only to be reminded how beautiful and vast the lake is!
What do you think, Tot?
Daddy and Tot!!
We headed over to our reservation….
And waited. Luckily, the weather was only about 75 degrees. Daddy was enamored with Tot’s pony.
Finally it was our turn, and we headed over to our little friend, Swanee. Boarded and headed out. Now, Tot could save anyone in the water, so she was allowed to remove her life preserver when we were out far enough.
And then we started to pedal.
And within 5 minutes, I hear….. I’m pooped!
Oh, Daddy, we only have 55 minutes left! Tot, would you steer?
I took one of me smiling. Do you know why? It was beautiful aboard, and I’m with my family. TobyMac is playing on our phones, and this made it even more delightful
Just look at that view!
Nothing like being out on the water.
After about an hour, we were definitely ready to dock. Pedaling for one hour and Tot steering would tire any family out!
Next stop, Brunch-o-rama at the Daily Jam.
Tot was fixated on the ValTrain on our way.
We waited for our food and enjoyed being together. The wait required us to be a bit silly since there is nothing to do while we wait. We never allow ourselves to be bored because as they say, “Boring people are bored.” Keep that imagination flowing!
We had a nice meal, and then headed home. Lovely morning and afternoon. I love these days off!
We look forward to our next adventure. Until then, truly every day is an adventure with these Hays!
A what?? Yes, a Komp sog na thus. Can you say it slowly? We learned so much about these little Dinos. She was assigned the smallest one in the bunch.
From the Jurassic Period, 150 million years ago, these dinosaurs are the size of a chicken. Yep, only about 11 inches tall and 6 lbs.
She was asked to complete not only a diorama, but also to write an essay.
We had fun creating the clay figure.
He fit perfectly in his little box.
Tot named him Compsoggy. His little smile warmed our hearts, and he adorned our countertop until she decorated the box. Now, Daddy got involved with the extra credit fossil.
He is all surrounded with love in his sunny, cheery environment now.
She worked hard on her report as well. She finished it while Dr. Ruiz was over at our house, so she read it to him. Now, mind you, she was told to add many flowery adjectives and adverbs. I think she accomplished this.
She insisted on reading the whole thing.
Now, this was so much fun to do with her. I can’t wait for her to present it to her class.
Each week, Mrs. Phillips chooses a student to be highlighted and focused upon. This week, it’s the TOT!
We put together some pictures, and she glued them on.
Let’s look closer!
Baby pics.
4 and so on.
And the baptism she wanted to highlight. I love that she wanted to take pics of her walls to highlight her life verse/mission and all the pics I drew for her. MELT.
She wanted to also show her swimming feats. That is in her presentation.
She was also to bring in things about her. She brought “I’m small but I know things” shirt, baby, our engagement book, and two pics: One of she and I from the wedding and one of her and Daddy.
Each day she has brought in items: The blog books, our Piggy and Doggy books we made, cards from Daddy, Mama gifts, the penguin plaque I made, DogMan books….All kinds of things that make Tot the Tot!
She picked them out herself, and what this showed me? SHE VALUES family. She values togetherness. Her heart is about God and family.
On Thursday, she’ll bring in gifts for each kiddo. How kind! Most of the kids just brought candy. Tatum wanted to make gift bags. Gifts and kiddos:
She also had to fill out a sheet:
A mommy and a teacher. MELT. Some may squawk at that, but I say…BRAVO! She is a nurturer at heart. It shows in all she plays with. She’s constantly pretending to be a mommy.
Reading, pink, salad, swimming and TobyMac. Be still my heart!
I love this day; we do this once a month, second Monday for dinner. I have to admit, this month, I had mostly ideas for Tot and me for summer instead of family items. But, the point was to just come to dinner with ideas you have been collecting all month and share! They could be ideas about our home, our family (trips, connections, games..), inventions…whatever! There is no such thing as a bad idea. Just ideate!
First I had to come up with a fun dinner idea. Pork roast, roasted veggies, and a nice salad. This would be delicious! Then, I wrote my loves a poem to set the mood. Now, little did I know that Tatum would have some great news to share with Daddy at dinner. AND little did I know I would too! Stay tuned.
Cooper wanted to be a part of the dinner. As I prepared, he just looked from yonder. Play with me?
Oh, Coopy..
Dinner was a delight! When we first sat down, (In the dining room..woot woot!) I gave them a little poem I wrote.
Each one had a different last stanza. Love my Hay family.
Then, we surprised Daddy with some Tot endeavors.
#1: She got 100% on her tests last week
#2: She moved into the ONE minute club in Math.
#3: She graduated from LOBSTER in swimming. Now she is in Hammerhead! (this is the competitive league at Hubbard!!!)
In 4th grade, she’ll be ready for the swim team at PVCP!! Then, I had some good news of my own. I had applied for the highest ranking Professor at GCU. I didn’t expect to get it, but I hoped I’d get Associate. Guess what?
“On behalf of your college, the dean, and myself, congratulations on the new rank of Senior Adjunct Professor! The documentation and portfolio process are rigorous and demonstrate your commitment to continuing your development as a teacher, mentor, and scholar. Thank you for your continued dedication to our students and the mission of Grand Canyon University.”
WOW! So, as you can see, we all had some good news.
Now it was time for our IDEAS to flow.
Tot began.
Tatum always includes a drawing with her ideas. Golf outing, here we come.
Next, Daddy!
He always always has stellar ideas. No pun intended with his space flight contributions. Case in point: Kite flying!? I mean, how fun is that idea!!!?
Hiking….lighting…building. We are DOING these! Mine? Well, they are summer-bound ideas. Each day of the week, we will plan around the theme. Of course we will do some academics first, but then, the theme of the day! We’ll include a service project each week; we’ll do a dinner or two each month to serve someone, and….we’ll create. Yes, we’ll create! I also want to get Tatum signed up for the choir at SBC. Again, these are all just ideas. They are not commitments (yet!)
So, come May, we’ll do it again. From March, we did do many of Tot’s ideas, and Doug did embark on many of his. We did go on some of the outings I wanted to do. I love doing this to keep our juices flowing and fruity!
