Category: Totally Tatum

Church was enjoyed on Saturday night so we had more options on Sunday. Now, I was not at my best on Sunday. In fact, I had a slight fever and terrible stomach upset, but I really wanted to have a fun family time with what we had planned to do.

Tatum and Daddy have been enjoying finding unique rocks AND Kelly, my cousin, gave Tatum an outdoor box to collect things she finds on outings. Especially birds!! (my personal favorite outing).

The first thing we did was drive up to my old house. This house is where I lived from about 6 months old until I was about 3 1/2. I remember it being black and plain. Now look at it! They have added on a garage at the end and that humongous rock is still out front.

Later, we got the park and there were so many others with the same idea: Get outside, get some exercise, and get some tastes of God’s creation.

We collected part of one of the trees we found. I’m not sure of the name. Collected, noted and put in the box.

Now the fun rocks! This one looks like it’s part of a meteor, so of course, Doug picked it up.

I noticed this huge rock which had some orange pigmentation.

Here’s the other side:

And Tatum found some quartz.

We spotted a little ground squirrel as we left the park.

And sadly not really any birds were spotted. I still had a great time, although I really felt awful.

I love spending time with my family on our adventures.

With school and work going on from home, what do we do in our downtime?

Well, for sure, we get out everyday and find God’s creation to capture. This flower was among many others, but when focused upon with our Nikon, it became full of wondrous detail. Even the leaf produced tremendous glory.

Later on in the day, Tatum always plays. She loves to teach her kids as shown here. They are learning their math facts. Cooper was not paying attention, and he was about to go to the think chair.

Finally, every day, we do something together as a family. This day, we headed to Costco to buy a dinner for a family. We chose Costco because we figured we could buy enough for leftovers. This family lives next to us at the condos. The parents, who both work at restaurants, have lost their jobs due to the Coronavirus quarantine: They have two young children too.

Tatum made this card for them:

We bought two rotisserie chickens, a couple of containers of mashed potatoes, a large caeser salad, and a large cherry pie. I think they really appreciated it, but I think I enjoyed helping them even more. We received this text later in the evening.

What a special day.

An okapi. Yes. This would be Tatum’s animal for her rainforest report. She worked so hard on it. We found four resources, and wrote out her bullet points as a sloppy copy. It was so fun to do it together. I also enjoyed watching her pay such close attention to the finest details in her printing. God made these animals so special.

Learn for yourself!

Now, here is the picture:

Giraffe body and zebra legs. For real!

They live on the forest floor of the rainforest in ONLY the Congo.

We immediately checked the oven.

Empty/ Hollow inside! Like He promised. He IS RISEN!

What a grand start to the morning. What made it even better? Going to Fountain Hills for a hike with my two favorite people. Tatum got all dressed up for Easter, and then just tucked her dress in for the hike. (I dressed like an Easter egg of course).

We started out at the Fountain area

, and then climbed up to the peak.

It was a perfect morning to do this. Started here at the turtle, and this was just the beginning of God’s creation we’d encounter. (hey who’s that handsome dude in the mirror!)

We are ready to find some birds too.

I carried the camera and Tot had the binoculars: ARMED and ready!

We had such spectacular views. What a glorious Resurrection Day.

Who’s looking at you?

Well, definitely the saguaros!

Giraffes?

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And of course BIRDS! What did we find? I added them to my bird book after I got home. Let’s see:

This little cutie is a VERDIN.

Then we saw a….?

He was kind of hidden but we found him: a Phainopepla! (he looks like a black cardinal). Who knew!

Finally we made the 2.5 mile loop and headed home for our Easter egg hunt, church, and brunch.

Guess who got a bath when we got home, however? He was not quite ready for this:

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Now let’s find those eggs. Cooper couldn’t resist looking with Tot.

Oh Look! Haylalleuia coupons inside! This way, she can pick a prize from the treasure box.

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She and Daddy found some gifts. After a few robin eggs to munch of course.

It was just about 11am, and SBC was going to start. Now, don’t you love this? They had the choir there!!

Virtually. I LOVE THIS! We sang, praised HIM, prayed, and listened to a remarkable message about the veracity of His resurrection. Also the HOPE we can all have.

Later, it was time for the tremendous brunch. (We all helped!). Daddy got a delicious smoked salmon from Costco.

And of course SUNFLOWERS to adorn the table:

I played a little GOOD MORNING TO YOU (nothing like my nephew can play, but the family enjoyed my mis-notes.

Tatum enjoyed her basket filled with little goodies including something pink to make her smile.

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Daddy fixed some plumbing to warm my heart after brunch.

We enjoyed being low key today. I missed having my mom here, but we made the best of it.

Jesus, you are the reason we celebrate today. May we have a resurrection perspective daily. I love you, Jesus, and I love you, family!

Good Friday was a nice day albeit somber. We spent the day bike riding to the McCormick House, playing at home, and doing math facts! Ha! Yes, we did do math that day. Later that night, we watched the Good Friday service and WOW. The emotional roller coaster of the disciples, and the hope that they had supposedly lost. The service captured all the emotions of anger, sadness, despair and confusion. As a family, we prayed after and thanked Him for His sacrifice for us (and FOR ALL WHO BELIEVE!)

Saturday, Tatum and I got ready for Easter. She was my little buddy in the kitchen. We made deviled eggs. (We switched the name to resurrection eggs). We also made healthy hot cross buns (using coconut flour).

Tatum played the buddy role just fine as she was my official “licker of the beater.”

Later, we made the meringues. They were to represent Jesus death and resurrection.

She started with the beating of the pecans to represent the pain he endured for our transgressions.

Then the sour wine (vinegar) He was forced to drink to represent the bitterness of our sins.

Salt to represent the salty tears we cried as he hung on that cross.

We added the egg to represent the new life we hope for.

And of course, the best part: SUGAR as the sweetness of HIs love and what He did for us.

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Now we get it all creamy as it peaks.

And put them as mounds on a cookie sheet. (place in a warm 300 degree oven)

We now tape it up (seal the tomb). Will they be hollow in the morning?

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We await our Savior! See you in the morning.

As you know, we are including Photography in our daily routine. One of my goals is to find birds also.

Tatum and I decided to bike over to the mortuary Wednesday morning, and these are the special beautiful surprises we discovered.

Hello little crane!

This swan lives here and was sitting on her eggs.

We found a beautiful lesser goldfinch and added it to our book.

We needed our better lens, but here is a closeup.

We hope to do this more often as it stays cool in the morning.

Doug and I woke up to a nice table ready for our devotions. Tatum had set it all up,.

Doug had work to do at our new house (we’ll be in there soon!), so Tatum and I decided to go for a short bike ride.

We live next to a mortuary, and the grounds are gorgeous.

When we got there, Tatum couldn’t believe the beautiful fountain.

We also enjoyed reading about people’s lives. It made me think of my dear dad whose birthday it is today.

Finally we reached the pond, and how glorious it was!

Duckies!

Wanna see him closer?

Then we happened upon many little pokey turtles. They started to come closer to us; apparently the needed some attention.

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They were so friendly and cute.

We decided we’d come again next week and take some bird pics.

When we got home, we had church and communion to celebrate Palm Sunday. I also prayed for my dad who I pray is with you, Father.

We look forward to Holy Week!