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!
We went to church on Saturday this year! Why? Well, last year, the whole world shut down due to Covid fears, and so this year, we anticipated a huge turnout at church. Pastor Jamie asked us regulars to come Saturday to keep plenty of seats available for the Sunday crowd. WOW, the service did not disappoint! It was lively, upbeat, and FILLED with hope! So wonderful.
Such a lovely family!
More pics with Bumby!
And look how beautiful my mom looks!
Sunday morning, after I hid the Easter eggs (I had to take pics of them so I wouldn’t forget where I hid them…Cooper had to help me).
My honey, Tot, and I went on a little walk down to our “ocean.” Ducks were alive today of course celebrating the Resurrection, but unfortunately with the wrong end rising up. Mooning us like crazy!
But they were full of joy, and that made us laugh!
Mama showed, and she brought a surprise (or two!) for Tot. Look at this shirt! This was my shirt when I was her age.
Mama, you are full of surprises (and Lego toys!)
I made a full spread of honey baked ham, hot cross buns, fruit, and deviled eggs. All tweaked a bit so they were healthy and tasty.
Oh, and did I mention, Tot found all of the …….
EGGS! (thank goodness she found them. I had forgotten, but Cooper didn’t forget).
.
We enjoyed our breakfast and talking about HOPE!
Resurrection Eggs were next. I do this every year with the family. She did it in school this year, and I loved that there was a verse for each egg.
We do this story every year from Benjamin’s Box book. I love doing this because it keeps the story of the Resurrection front and center, especially with the final egg (the white one) being empty!
I then read the THREE TREES (my favorite book) about the fate of plain old tree wood becoming useful for a KING.
The day was so relaxing. We went to the pool later since it was about 99 degrees today! We finished the day out with a good dinner, but FIRST, a little Exploding Kittens. I exploded early, so it was a duel to the death for Daddy and Tot.
Tot has a plan…..
Sadly, it didn’t work AGAIN. Daddy is just way to sly. He won. A.G.A.I.N. aye!
The guilt must have been strong because he showed up to our dinner with some sweet cards.
Honey! You are so full of surprises!! I love this, and I’m pokey for you too, HHH.
Tot.. You are so loved!!!
Thank you, Daddy!!!!
What a wonderful Resurrection day; May we be reminded daily of His ultimate sacrifice.
It’s the Saturday before Easter. Saturday. The waiting. The joy is in the anticipation and the HOPE.
Hope in someone to play with me.
Hope that my timeout will end soon.
Hope that I can have a few quiet moments.
Hope that you’ll drop some food?
Hope that you will read to me.
Or you’ll take me outside?
We should never give up HOPE.
But, let’s never forget this: Hope in HIM.
He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus . . . —2 Corinthians 4:14
The resurrection of Christ brings hope.
I heard this quote once: “What oxygen is for the lungs, such is hope for the meaning of human life.” (Emil Brunner).
All is forgiven the day Christ gave His life. We can have joy, peace, and security! There is hope for a new heaven and a new earth, and that the Kingdom of God will reign forever and every. AMEN.
It’s not surprising that Tatum got straight A’s again; However, we like to look at certain grades more closely. For example, I look at her improvement in handwriting. I know…it’s not that big of a deal, but since she has struggled in the past with it, improvement is always nice.
ALSO, character. Yes. Character, social skills, and behavior. This is what we look at with a fine tooth comb. Why? Because this is what she is like with authority outside of our family. How does she treat others? How does she deal with authoritative figures?
We were very pleased.
OH, and A/R? Reading? Just so very happy!! 1st place in A/R points.
We decided to celebrate at our favorite ice cream place. Now, we are ALWAYS looking for a reason to have a hot fudge sundae. Easy peasy decision this time!
Cutest card ever.
She wanted her hot fudge on the side, and she asked for sprinkles.
Now, do you think she ate every single one of those bazillion sprinkles?
One would think that the ice cream and hot fudge would be the winner, but no. She really spooned those colorful edibles into her mouth.
It was worth every bite, and she is worth so much more. I love you, Tot. Good grades or not, you are the daughter of a KING.
