Category: Totally Tatum

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!

No, not really. I actually love her grades, but when an “S” is earned, I always want to understand.

S in most of the work study habits was concerning. I asked Tot about it, and she truly didn’t know. The comments said….

Disrespectful? OK, now I need to know. I suggested we go in and talk to her about it so Tatum could be aware of WHAT to work on.

The next morning, Mrs. King was glad to spend time with us. She said, “I NEVER give E’s the first quarter.” She wants to see the kids improve! Oh my, she did get some E’s and with social, that is AWESOME!
She did say, “Tatum, you know you can be a bit chatty.” And Tatum agreed.

But here’s the big deal here: Tatum was WILLING to go in and find out what she could do better. In other words, she CONFRONTED her problems instead of avoiding. What a skill to learn at such a young age.

Tatum, I love that you beat your own drum and you aren’t like other kids.

Mrs. King is so proud of you. She even said how respectful and kind you are to ALL.

Tot, I’m so proud of you. Courage, kindness, and introspective. I love you.

WE LOVE OUR SCHOOL! It was the picnic this year that brought us all together again. This was a great opportunity for Tot to hang out with friends and for us to meet other families.

When we first got there, we met Panther!

And then the fam….. Tatum was ready to RUN to see her friends, so we had to first stop and pose!

I like this one too.

Tot was off, and honey and I found the pumpkin patch. We had the opportunity to pick one but first, he’s so handsome.

Sophia and Tot came to visit us, and how cute are they!

Tatum looks up to her and Sophia looks up to Tatum; such a kind girl, and together they are great friends.

She also got her hand painted with Isabelle. Another good friend.

She had a blast sliding, jumping, running, and playing.

Doug and I enjoyed our “date” at the picnic tables. Perfect.

I had to. I had to make her a pillow for those nights; we all have them! She gets scared, or she has a bad dream. I wanted her to know that she can be assured that God is surrounding her bed with angels and that I love her so.

I even had it put on a pillow so it would be a continual reminder and perhaps leak into her brain.

We say this every night before bed: (Ps 4: 8)

Sweetheart, I love you so. We also make each other laugh! That is the best. (The latest Mom and Me entry).

A day of fun with Tot and Ideas at dinner. What more could we ask for?

The weather has been turning nice and cool, so we decided to dust off our bikes and pump up the tires (thank you DADDY!), and head to Butter’s for breakfast.

and me!

Hay’s are happening!
We made it!~

What a nice chat. We also did our devotion and just enjoyed each other: GIRL TIME!

Look at this gal. The one on the right is pretty special.

When we got home, she was caught playing HARD in her bedroom! Caught having too much fun (wink wink)

Later, we went to the park and played frisbee, and I watched her play on the jungle gym.

We also visited mom and took her some fresh shortbread that I made.

Idea dinner is around the corner, so I prepped for dinner when I got home.

Sautéed shrimp in pesto with cauliflower mash and roasted broccoli.

I absolutely LOVE to spoil my family. Look how CUTE they both are! That smile (on both of them brings me so much joy!)

Here are our ideas. Which ones will we do?

I love the cookie decorating ideas and the picnic. TOT, we are doing them!
Here are Daddy’s. He always has great house ideas.

Yard games, scarecrow, house improvements.

And mine!

Mine were somewhat repetitive from last month. I’m now going to transfer these ideas to my planner so they happen because HAY’S HAPPEN!