Family Fun in The Woodlands

Today we took a little day trip to The Woodlands.  CJ had a class to attend at the Woodlands Center, and it was the perfect excuse for Haylen and I to tag along and have a little girl time shopping while Daddy was in class.  For those who know me, it’s no surprise that I love The Woodlands.  You could say its my happy place…good food, good shopping, Baby Gap…need I say more.  Haylen and I spent the morning leisurely strolling in and out of shops that we just can’t find here in College Station.  I’m so glad my child enjoys this as much as I do!  We then picked up CJ, had lunch, and then let Haylen have fun at the splash pad.  Here are a few highlights of our day…

           
Haylen was having a blast shopping at Baby Gap.  Are two year olds supposed to be this into trying on clothes?  Mini shopaholic in the making???  We might be in trouble!


We had lunch at Jasper’s.  This was our first time to eat there.  We had read that they had amazing ribs so we had to try them out.  They definitely didn’t disappoint.  Everything we had was really tasty! 


After lunch, our little water bug was eyeing the splash pad.  It was a beautiful day and we had extra clothes in her bag, so we let her loose.  She absolutely LOVED it!


A quick change of clothes, and we were off to our final stop for the day. 


All that splashing on the splash pad called for a refreshing drink for the ride home. 

                      
I’m not sure who’s drink she liked more…my vanilla bean frappuccino or Daddy’s very berry hibiscus refresher.  She made sure to get her fill of each. 

Today was such a fun little family trip!  I hope to go back again soon! 

Haylenisms

Haylen’s caterpillar, Heimlich, finally became a beautiful butterfly.  When we were outside going to release him, Haylen says, “It’s Heimlich’s birthday!”  CJ and I both chuckled when she said this.  She looked at us both and replied quite seriously, “Well it is.”


CJ and I were discussing what to make (key word MAKE) for breakfast on our first day of summer vacation.  I suggested oatmeal.  Haylen quickly gets excited and says, “Yes!  From Starbucks!  Mommy, I need my own.”  Oh. My.  This kid and Starbucks…not only does she like their drinks, she likes their food too. 

Driving down the road we approach a traffic light that has just turned red.  From the back seat we hear, “Daddy!   Slow down!  Red means STOP!!!”  We might have a backseat driver on our hands. 

Haylen:  “Daddy, let’s go night, night!” 
Daddy:  “Do you want Daddy to sing you a lullaby?” (Daddy starts singing…)
Haylen:  “No Daddy.  No singing in the bed.  Your singing scares me.”

“Mommy!  I made an H!  Line, line, cross in the middle!”


Haylen had been watching TV in the bedroom.  She comes into the living room where she tells us, “Need to put pajamas on.  It’s almost bedtime.  It’s getting dark.”  She then turns around and goes back to the bedroom.  Several minutes later she comes busting into the living room pointing her little finger at us and says, “Hey.  Four minutes ‘til bedtime,” and then proceeds to show us her four fingers, “Four minutes.”

Haylen was in the bathroom standing in front of the countertops.  She points to the drawer directly under the sink and says, “Fake drawer,” and then points to the drawer in the middle and says, “Real drawer.”  She and I had talked about the drawers before, so I let her know she is right and then told her, “This is a real drawer because it opens.  This one is fake because is doesn’t open.”  Then the teacher in me comes out and I can’t help but ask her a little comprehension question, “What makes that a fake drawer?”  Without skipping a beat she leans in, puts her little pointer finger up in the air like she has just had a major “aha moment,” and whispers to me with confidence, “Pirates!”  Not exactly the answer I was looking for…I was going for it doesn’t open…but by golly it was hilarious!!!

You Are My Sunshine 2nd Birthday Party

Party planning is something I really enjoy.  For Haylen’s 2nd birthday I wanted to come up with something really cute.  To be completely honest, I found my inspiration at Baby Gap this year.  Yup.  I found this yellow eyelet dress, fell in love, and the theme was set…You Are My Sunshine.  I used yellow with grey accents and was able to incorporate my favorite, chevron patterns. 

Here are a few pictures from the party.  Enjoy!

Here is our little sweet station…yellow rock candy, lemon lollipops, lemon drops, sugar cookies (made and decorated by me), and her cupcakes from Cupcakes Couture.  I used grey chevron fabric as a backdrop and made the yellow burlap banner with her name to top it all off.

We got two Chick-fil-a party trays, one with chicken nuggets and one with fruit for the kiddos, and for the adults we picked up Snow’s BBQ. 

I made all the printables with lyrics from “You Are My Sunshine” on Powerpoint and just put them in white frames.  I was super happy with how they turned out!

Sugar cookies for party favors. 

Another burlap banner I made to decorate our fireplace.

All in all, I loved how it all came together.  It was perfect for our sweet little birthday girl!

Haylenisms

Our child is quite the talker, and sometimes the things that come out of her mouth…well, they’re cute, or funny, or sometimes wise beyond her 2 little years, and quite frankly, I just don’t want to forget them.  So, I decided to start writing “Haylenisms” to help us remember just what comes out of her mouth!

 

Here’s one from a while back…if I had to guess I’d say she was about 21-22 months old.  We were watching T.V. together.  I may or may not be a Duck Dynasty fan.  Anyways.  She sees it come on and yells, “Duck Dinosaur!!!”  After I recovered from a fit of laughter, I let her know it was Duck Dynasty to which she looks at me like, Mom…seriously you’re mistaken, and literally proceeds to sound it out for me, “No, Duck Dinosaur…Di-NO-Saur.”  To this day, it is still known as Duck Dinosaur in our house. 

 

While zipping up her jacket before school, I realized that the fabric of her jacket was caught in her zipper.  So, like any good mother, I’m trying to get it unstuck.  While I think I’m being productive and helping her, my husband walks in the kitchen and this comes out of my child’s mouth, “Daddy, you zip up my jacket please?  Mommy’s having trouble.”  Really!?!  She’s doubting my skills already!

 

While trying to use the bathroom with the door closed (something you apparently can’t do with a 2 year old), Haylen begins knocking on the door saying, “Mommy, open up.  I neeeeeeed you.”  I tell her to give me 2 seconds and the knocking continues.  I open the door to the saddest little face on the cutest little 2 year old who gives me a hug like she hasn’t seen me in 3 years (mind you it hasn’t even been 3 minutes) and she proceeds to tell me, “Mommy I was crying!”  I look at her and tell her that she’s fine and I see absolutely no tears.  She then, very seriously points to her eyes and says, “Mommy, the tears were in my eyes.” I guess I should have realized they were in there and could have fallen at any minute. 

 

We were eating out and she was getting a little loud, so I reminded her to use her inside voice so that we don’t bother the people around us.  A few minutes later, CJ was playing with her and being silly and she quickly tells him, “Daddy.  Inside voice please.  No bother the people!”

 

She was playing with her Daddy the other day and the following conversation ensued:

Haylen:  Daddy, what’s that?

Daddy:  A mole.

Haylen:  Why?

Daddy:  Um…God gave it to me.

Haylen:  Where’s God.

Daddy:  In the sky.

Haylen:  (looking up to the ceiling and waving)  Hi God!  Thanks for giving my Daddy a mole!!!

 

To be continued…

Wildflowers 2014

Springtime in Texas might possibly be my favorite season.  The array of colors that line the roads and sweep across the pastures…well, sometimes I feel that beauty just can’t be described properly with words.  So, instead of words I’ll just use pictures.

 

Haylen absolutely loved the flowers.  She ran, she played, she picked flowers, she plucked petals off the flowers one by one…she soaked in every minute we were out there.  Moments like these are priceless.  I’m so thankful to have my camera to capture these sweet moments in time. 

Easter 2014

This Easter, instead of traveling to see family, the family came to see us.  CJ’s parents, my sister, Missy, and her family, as well as my parents traveled up to spend the holiday with us.  We cooked, we visited, and just had fun watching Haylen taking it all in.  The weekend was great, and according to Haylen so were the lollipops and marshmallows she found in her Easter baskets. 

Happy Easter from the Havliks!

My Two Year Old

I can’t believe our baby is two!  Our sweet little girl is growing up so fast.  She is sweet, smart, loving, compassionate, funny, observant, talkative…oh my, the list could go on and on.  Seriously, we just love this girl to pieces. 

Here are a few things that she loves:
Playing chase with Daddy, gymnastics (including the leos she gets to wear to gymnastics), Zoe, Starbucks (specifically her Caramel Apple Spice and Vanilla Bean Frappuccino), boudin balls, coloring, being read to, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, chicken and rice, Baby Gap (she gets so excited when she sees a grey bag delivered to our door), saying her ABC’s (don’t try to say them with her, she will quickly inform you that only Alpha Pig can do that), her stuffed rabbit Andy (fondly named after Andy Murray, British tennis player, not Andy from Toy Story as most people assume.  She named him after watching Wimbledon with us last summer.), her snuggle blankie, jumping on the trampoline, the moon (she swears it belongs to her), moo cows,  Giggle Giggle Quack, counting, music (specifically Ice Ice Baby, which has been a favorite for quite some time now…Roar, the kid likes Katy Perry…Let It Go, she’s also a major Frozen fan…who can forget her lastest, Jump by Kris Kross.  She requests it every time she jumps on the trampoline.  We can thank her Daddy for this one.), playing at the park, Super Why, her Big Bear, Sid the Science Kid, and snuggling with Mommy.

On her second birthday, we met CJ’s parents for lunch in Round Top where I was able to take her two year old pictures.  Enjoy!









Love doesn’t even begin to describe how we feel about our girl.  We are so lucky to be her Mommy and Daddy.