Category: Totally Tatum

It’s your first Father’s Day as Tot’s OFFICIAL daddy since you adopted her last year on July 9th. This is a big day!

I never was really into Father’s Days since for me it was kind of bittersweet. My dad was never really involved in my life as a true daddy, so for me, Father’s Day was kind of just another day. I love to celebrate my TRUE Father being my Lord and Savior.

Ok, so of course, I wanted to start it a day before so he could preview some scents. My honey smells so delightful, but we wanted to up the ante with some new ideas. Which one would he choose? I got him some Dolce and Gabana Light Blue and Curve. Not sure how they’d work on him, but that didn’t stop us from trying them on too!

The verdict is still out. My HHH will have to try them both at different times. In the meantime, we all enjoyed covering our bodies with both…especially the Tot.

Sunday, we would truly celebrate. Tot and I performed a puppet show, but Cooper wanted a part. OH boy. Piggie, Elephant, and Scaredy Squirrel were the stars, but Cooper hopped up and stole Elephant mid-show! COOPER!

What? What did I do wrong?
Don’t let this face fool you.

Ok, back to the extravaganza.

Honey had to sit in his chair so we could shower him with…..first, cards. Tot gave him like 50 of them. Let’s review.

They have a bond with boats and water so this was appropriate.

More..

.

Still more? Yes! She wanted to frame a picture of them.

AND she wanted a picture of Daddy and me together. Her two biggest fans!

We are so cute together.

Ok, then we made a BOOK for the Daddy. WHO IS DOUGLAS HAY really!???

Let’s go through:

“D”ependable.

“O”ne of a kind….other men? Triangles. My honey? a heart.

“U”nique…not many are both number smart AND creative!

“G”od’s Child. Look at that arm of God’s wrapping around my honey.

“H”onorable. …yes he even takes out the trash.

“A”ble! He is so strong and fixes everything.

“Y”oung. How does he keep that youthful glow!!?

He loved it!
Then, I bought them BOTH some Dawgs since they are the “dawg!” of a Daddy/Daughter team.

What a fun evening. We enjoyed taco bar and some games to end the evening.

Your girls sure love you!

Everything I wrote is T.R.U.E, my love.

He is at work at SBC! He is working on the kiddos, and I love every minute of this. Thank you, Karen Montgomery for all you do for our kids.

Tot entered on Monday not sure what to expect.

She met Beverly, Caleb, and Cheryl as her leaders.

Every day she would come home raving about how much fun she had with the leaders, especially Caleb (17 year old nice boy!). (She had a crush on him *wince*)

The boys and girls were to raise money for beds for the needy. Tatum wanted to give out of her save, so she gave $10 and I matched it.

Pastor Karen or Pastor Hank would have to eat some scary food whoever lost. Who would win???

WOW LOOK AT ALL OF THIS MONEY! This was also so exciting because Pastor Hank would have to drink a compilation of dog food, mustard, and various other random nasty foods!

YUCK but for a good cause!

Tatum said many came to the Lord this week. It was so exciting to see her so excited for friends.

I love seeing her heart so excited to learn more about Jesus.

Tatum YOU DO SEE!!! YOU NOTICE IT ALL. I love that about you.

Thank you SBC for all you do for families.

This is our sixth one, and they are going so well. I’m so grateful for my family stepping it up and coming up with some great ideas.

First, I planned salmon burgers, whipped cauliflower, and maple glazed carrots.

Tot was up first. She had so many!

Ok, the lemonade stand I love. We may have to start a business. She wants to hire daddy and me to help.

I also love the mom and me book, although we are doing the mom and me journal.

Daddy was next. He is ALWAYS filled with brilliant ideas.

I love the art idea! I had something similar. Also, of course I’ll make shrimp creole! Lime tree!!? YES!
All of these are great.

Now me.

We are going to now discuss our favs. This means I need to make a note and write these in my planner to make them happen!
Ok, favs…

See you in July! We’ll see what we have accomplished.

Ministry starts at the home. It’s one thing to be a light and love on others when we are out and about; it’s another to be this way at home.

Such was a Hay Happens meeting on Sunday this week. I wanted to do a family craft, but I wanted it to be intentional and purposeful. I set it all up with our mission statement and verse. ALL READY!

We each got two cards: One for each of us to give to the other.

On the front: What you are grateful for that person. In the inside: An encouragement and a prayer for the week.

After much coloring and thought, we presented them to each other. Tot started. She read mine to me.

I love you, Tot.

Now Daddy’s.

She nails it. I love her heart.

Now, it’s my turn to share Tatum’s. This is her cover….grateful for her!

Then the inside: Encouragement and prayer

LOVE YOU TOT!!
Then my HHH.

What does it say inside?

I love you honey.

Now Doug will share Tatum’s first.

Look how cute his drawing is! Tot’s hair turned pink!

And inside:

Now, my HHH will share the one for me, his HHW.

Blue hair? OK!
And inside? WOW.

We all just spoiled each other. Let’s live this this week and pray and encourage each other.

Cooper?
We love you too you sweet little doggie!!

YAY! We get to go out!
And guess what? One of my past students is our babysitter. WOW! Lauren Breakstone, a lovely now 18-year old, was my student back at Tesseract eight years ago. I ran into her at Sprouts, and now she can babysit. She even attended Tot’s first birthday party. (this was in November 2013!!)

Isn’t that cool? I also had her older brother, Gabe, and I went to college with her mom, Susan. It has come back around as now she can hang out with the Tot while honey and I go out. Such was last night.

He’s a handsome dude, that HHH.

What a blessing all around!

She woke up this morning showing me a list she had made for the Balance Landscape boys. She’s been loving on them daily. Donuts one day; Gatorade every day (we went and stocked up so they’d have some goodies to keep them cool); lunch maybe one day. We look at it like a ministry and a way to be a little Jesus.

Tatum’s life verse is Matthew 5:16: “Let your Light shine so that they may see your good works and give glory to God in heaven.” YES! She is living it without me telling her to.

So she wanted to find out what the guys like for lunch:

I asked her to ask them what time they like to eat as well. She goes out there often to check on them. They have become buddies (she and Eric at least).

Later this Friday, we headed to the Paradise Valley Food Bank. I have been volunteering there now for a while and during the summer, I’m bringing Tot with me. This was her first day.

One of the volunteers helped her put together a food box for a family of one.

Nancy then came in and gave her her own name tag.

Next, a family was to come in about one hour, so Tot insisted putting together to food box by herself. I stood back and helped if needed.

She followed the list perfectly! I barely had to help her.

What a life-giving day. On the way home, I asked Tot how often she thought about herself today…like problems or tummy aches…. She mentioned NOT AT ALL. When we are serving others, we forget about our own problems (We are serving Jesus when we serve others). We focus: Jesus Others You. It’s how we get JOY.

I love serving with you Taties. You truly are a joy to be around and everyone notices your giving, generous heart.

Mama always buys Tot the prettiest clothes. She insisted we go to lunch so Tot could wear this dress. Hmmm….twist my arm!

We headed to Cheesecake Factory. Mom got there after us, so we took a few pics before she showed up.

Tot took my pic:

WIth glasses?

Nah….I want one with you, Tot.

We just started to get silly. Tot spied Cooper’s name. Do they have a Coopy too?

Hi Mama! You look so beautiful.

No glasses…. please… we want to see your beautiful face!

Tot had sliders, I had salmon, and mama had a chicken salad. It was perfect. Thank you, Mama for treating us!