Month: October 2021

What a day!!! Sunday! We love Sundays.

Started out with the usual: Tot and I greet at church, so we wore our costumes. Tot wanted to be an Ace of Hearts, and so Doug and I will be the King and Queen of hearts.

How cute!

Tot, you are full of HEART!

Our shoes are even cute. Mine have Bugs Bunny on them because you can never be too old for Looney Toons.

Vera, one of our favorite other greeters, had to pose with the Tot. She is so lovely! She exudes Jesus’ love.

We loved church today: It was on the 6th Commandment: Do not Murder. Relevant for all of us? YES! Let’s only use kind words to build up. We will not “murder” one’s soul with disrespect or rudeness. …only words that BUILD UP! (Eph 4:32)

When we got home, I made my loves some HEALTHY coconut flour pecan bread. It was a winner apparently.

Love spoiling them.

Austin came over later to help Daddy in the backyard, and Tot joined them a bit. They had a “squirrel” moment when he helped her catch a lizard. Pete (she named the little guy cuz that’s what girl do to make lizard catching fun).

Almost time for our outing in the neighborhood. It’s our FIRST official Halloween in our neighborhood, and really my first one having a neighborhood! Ha!
Let’s look at how cute our King of Hearts looks:

King of my heart!
More pics of our cute Hay fam.

Tot wanted to bring her “kid” who she drew on her pink pad. Ok, sure. (but you have to carry him!)

Full of heart family!

We visited many of our new neighbors and got to know them a bit.
Tot got some candy along the way of course! It was so much fun to visit with our neighbors since our house took so long! We have a following, you see, since it was a Work-In-Progress forE.V.E.R. Now, with the yard and fountain complete (Thanks TO MY HONEY), all are in awe!

We got home around 6:15 for mom to come over. Doesn’t she look cute in her Q of H outfit?

We love you MAMA!
Tot couldn’t wait for the door to ring so she could welcome our visitors! Daddy loved that she wanted to take this job so we could enjoy our dinner.

Now this is the GENEROUS part. WOW> She dumped ALL of her Halloween candy (which she had just received…and it was A.L.O.T!!) into the giveaway candy jar for our trick or treaters.

She also gifted it to mom….but here’s the kicker. We have none of it left! She gave it all away. Luckily I saved a few Twizzlers and Jolly Rancher pops. Love her HEART!!!

What a fun night! This was the sunrise the next Monday morning. Magnificent.

God you are so good to us with your painting. Thank you for creating my TOT, my hubby, and my wonderful mom. XO to you all. (we are ready for November!)

The other day, I gave Tatum a bracelet kit so she could be creative in making some jewelry. Little did I know what she would do with it.

Saturday morning, she came out of her bedroom holding a ton of bracelets and notes. You see, every Saturday we go to Einstein’s and Trader Joe’s, so she would bring gifts this week.

This was her idea; Leave a little bracelet and note on tables (at Einstein’s) or hidden among the veggies/fruits in Trader Joe’s.

Seriously, Tot? I couldn’t believe it! Ok, let’s be off, girl.
We left for Einstein’s first, and as I ordered my coffee refill, she trotted off delivering gifts to empty tables, waiting to be seated by prospective customers.

Next stop: Trader Joe’s.

I love her heart; her heart for Jesus’ love. xxoo, Tot.

Yes, Daddy had this idea for a week. Who would be the most pleasant of the three of us each day for one week. Each day, one of us did win.

OK, so we voted first night. Monday. Here’s our set-up for din-din. We have our gratitude journals ready. Prayer card for Sandrine, and the PRIZE for Monday.

Votes.

Clearly, the Tot nailed it.

Tuesday, Tot took it away again.

Wednesday!?

Go DADDY!

I took the honors on Friday and Sunday.

Tot had the others.

We basically all tied through the week. The prize? TBA; hint: It involves a sweet treat.

Our MOM and Me journal this week asked this.

Now, when Tatum said 16, I thought she was going to say because she could drive. NOPE> What would she do?

She would help Mama. Be still my heart. She knows how much Doug and I do, and she wants to help too. XXOO, TOT.

At SBC these last few weeks (and the next few), Jamie is preaching on the 10 commandments. It is rock solid good teaching! This week did not disappoint. It was on commandment five: Honor Thy Father and Mother.

Well, with that, the children’s choir had recorded a song for this day. Oh wow. It was “There’s nothing that our God can’t do.”

Before service, as usual, we did our usual “greeting” duties. Tatum is truly famous at the early service among all the folks…most of them in the late 60’s and above. The usual crowd was there, but about 7:45am, in walks this man Bob and his wife Carol. Now, about two months ago, we met Bob at Einstein’s. He approached us because Tot and I were doing a devotion and she was reading the Bible to me. He was impressed! The next week, his wife Carol came, and she gave Tatum a rock. That inspired us to make our own rocks! What an impact they had! Well, they came to SBC this week, and their great grandchildren were getting dedicated. They go to PVCP! Small world! Then, in walks my dentist, Dr. Brannon. Bob and Carole are his in-laws. Holy cow. More crazy. The Butterfly effect! We are paying it forward by doing a rock ministry because of the kindness of these two.

The music began. There she is on the screen!

She’s praising HIM!!! Her heart is spirit filled.

There’s no power like the POWER OF JESUS!

Vera, a lady from our church whom we ADORE, took our picture while we were watching. Look at us! We are all so happy (AND PROUD OF HER) to see her up there on that screen. Tot loved seeing herself.

Pat Weide (Mom’s friend) texted me this:

Keep it up Tot. Your heart for Jesus SHINES like the SON!

Amen.

Tatum and I had a great idea! We wanted to have her girlfriends over, and this was a way to do it. We wanted to celebrate FALL (not Halloween), and we wanted to show how being grateful is the key to happiness. As a Hay Family, we spend every night on our gratitudes, so why not pay it forward.

I bought a ton of rocks, paints, and decorations so we could paint grateful rocks. First, here are the invitations:

And I made these for each girl:

Part of coming would be to bring some food to donate to Paradise Valley Food Bank (where Tot and I volunteer).

Look at what we got! Thank you girls!

Ok, so Daddy got the front all ready. So nice!

Out of the 9 girls in her class, 3 would come. Teagan was sick today, so she couldn’t make it so only the 3: Sophia, Ruby, and Carley.

Tot and Daddy got the outside ready and I got the treats ready. (Daddy cleaned up so much!)

And I got the treats ready inside. I made ghost kabobs (edible ink) and Hershey acorns

The table is all ready. We’d make gratitude rocks for them to use with their own families, and extras to give out. We also made some for the girls who couldn’t make it today.

Table all set up.

Sophia came early to play with Tot. We love her!

Then Ruby came

Carley now joins!

They got right to work after I read the card.

Daddy even joined us!

The girls were having so much fun eating, talking and painting.

Have another kabob girls! They were all about the marshmallows!

Look at the final results!

We gave a gift bag for each girl, and we assigned the girls to names of girls in the class so no one was left out.

What fun!

When the gals left, the three of us basked in our own gratitude with the rocks we made.

Later on, Daddy got the fountain working! What a another way to celebrate “FALL!”
It is even more beautiful lit up.

We are a GRATEFUL family, and we are GRATE”FALL” for the beauty of this season, friends, and family. Thank you so much!

Well this little light of ours…Yes. She is truly a light at home (most of the time…SMILE)

And especially at school.

She’s truly my bundle of joy! Well, we had a conference with Mrs. King to go over grades and other.

Immediately, Mrs. King told us how kind Tatum is to all friends. She also is so enthusiastic to learn, and she ALWAYS wants to lend a helping hand. (first one to offer to help…a “servant’s heart” as Mrs. King said.). She also is very compassionate. Example, Mrs. King had some work done on her teeth, and Tatum offered to pray. Then she even followed up to see how she was doing the. next day.

Here are the notes:

She is thriving!

While there, Tot showed us her paragraph about her three favorite places. Remarkable! Go daddy and the fountain!

I love that her home (in three places) are her favorite places. I pray she is always the happiest at home. My goal is to make it the warmest place on earth for my family and friends.

So proud of you Tot!