Lion

My sister gave Lucas a lion lovie when he was born and he is pretty attached to it. Enough so that, after a scare at Kohl's, I scoured e-bay to find a back up Lion. It is living in the back of my closet, just in case :)  Anyway, I usually sneak in his room at night or during nap to steal lion away when he needs a good washing, but the other day he got spilled on, so Lucas had to give him up for a "bath" during the middle of the day. I popped Lion in the washer and left. Here is what I came back to find...

Do NOT ask me how my child got up on the washer. He was staring in there longingly and told me he wanted to make sure lion was ok in the bath. Needless to say, that was a long hour for Lucas.

Big Boy Room

So, as I have been finishing up last year's scrapbook (I know, I know...it's AUGUST), I came across my layout for Lucas's big boy room and realized I had never posted pictures of the finished product. It looks kind of white in these pictures, but I promise it is super colorful in person!  I wanted bold colors on a crisp white wall, but I didn't want to go primary. So, his colors are red, yellow, aqua, brown, and a green that I don't know how to describe :)

This is the view from the doorway. That shelf was my parents from when they got married. I have had it since college. We just sanded and repainted it to be bright and fun, and it has been PERFECT for kids toys since he can reach every level and nook and cranny. The balls were from the clearance bin at Hobby Lobby and I had to have them for my little sports guy. The blackout curtains are from Overstock...seriously the BEST curtains ever. Wish I had them in every room of my house. I am on the hunt for a bright red circle or square rug. Please let me know if you see one as I have been searching for MONTHS.

This is my favorite part of the room...his letters!  Most of them came from Canton, and I just wrapped, painted, etc to make them each look different. The bulletin board and hooks are his little school corner. We put his artwork up, hang his school bag and jacket and keep his nap map there.

Here's his bed. There is a quilt coming. It's actually the inspiration for the whole room. But it was the project that killed my old sewing machine and I haven't bought the foot I need for the new one. (Sigh). Anyway...love the bright pillows in the meantime!  The little table holds his turtle (to make stars at night) and his Bible. I made the alphabet wall out of vinyl and scrapbooking paper. So fun!  I want to get a shelf to mount over the bed one of these days as well, but otherwise this is pretty much it!

So that's Lucas's room. I will try to take you on a tour of Shea's room next!

o-WIM-pics!!!

Lucas loved, loved watching the Olympics with us this year. (Which I think is super because I love the Olympics...a lot!) It was fun to observe Lucas while he watched each new sport and tried to figure out how it was played so we could play it ourselves later. Over the course of two weeks, our living room converted into Lucas's personal track, handball court, ping pong table, volleyball court, and riding arena. The bathtub, of course, was reserved for water events. When he didn't know the name of a sport (or couldn't remember), he just made one up. I think I like his names even better than the real ones.

Volleyball = Indoor Volleyball
Beach Ball = Beach Volleyball
Waterball = Water Polo
Stroking = Rowing
Horsie Gonna JUMP = Equestrian
On Your Mark = Sprinting

Note on sprinting: Lucas got really mad at the longer distance runners because they just bent down a little at the starting line and did not properly get "on their mark". He was yelling at them on the t.v. :)

He also became obsessed with saying "Michael Phelps". All. The. Time. "That Michael Phelps, Mommy? Michael Phelps swim, Mommy? Where is Michael Phelps, Mommy?" In honor of the great Michael Phelps, here is Lucas in training to pass up the all-time medal record starting in 2024:

Yay Olympics!  We miss you at our house already!

Ping Pong

Lucas was SUPER into the Olympics this year. (Big post on that coming soon). He loved watching all the sports and "trying" them out for himself. He got us to play handball, soccer, and ping pong with him on his "court". (The floor of his bedroom). He cracked me up  one day when we were playing ping pong when he started blowing on the ball (which is invisible) before he served it. I'm pretty sure he saw a player doing that on the Olympics and decided it must be a rule. "Mommy!  Do not serve yet!  You have to blow first!!!" (Yes...he is wearing a pj top and a diaper. He is into "Lucas no need pants" lately.

Quote of the Day

(overheard by me downstairs in the kitchen as the boys are upstairs playing pool)

Phil: Oh man, that was close. You were ROBBED!
Lucas: 'Scuse me, Daddy?
Phil: Yes, Lucas?
Lucas:  I go downstairs and ask my mommy if I robbed. I be right back.

General Cuteness

Just a little cuteness from the Hlavaty household to brighten your day.

More Rangers

Last month, I blogged about Phil and Lucas's trip to the Rangers Astros game. I forgot at the time that they took our little camera with them, so I just came across these cute pics from the game.

That's a big drink for a little kid!

Showing off his new bat.

Do you think he had fun?!?

Big Boy Undies!

Guess who is working on potty training?!?

We went this week to pick out some big boy undies (with Cars characters, of course), some bribes rewards for successful pottying (M&Ms and "Cars" cars...do we sense a theme here?!?), and a BIG prize for getting to the point where he can wear underwear all the time (Mack...from Cars).

He has actually been going on the potty quite a bit the last couple of weeks, we are just going to try going cold turkey on the diapers next weekend. Wish us luck!  Hopefully, you will see a big picture of Lucas with his Mack truck next week!

San Antonio, Part 3

On our third day in San Antonio, we headed to the San Antonio Zoo. But, first, Lucas had to clean up and shave...



Lucas has loved every zoo trip we have been on, and this one was no exception. I wish this picture were clearer, because it was so cute!  When we walked in, there was a statue with a bunch of lions. Lucas immediately asked for his own lion so he could "show Lion the lions." He introduced lion to all of his kin...love it!

We tried to get a picture of Lucas with the flamingos (in honor of his Aunt Ann), but they were "under construction". Bummer. Funniest zoo memory ever. If you know Ann, you probably know the story!  Oh well, there were lots of other animals to see, and Lucas was especially excited about the zebras. Which is weird because he has recently been having nightmares about tiny zebras coming into his room and walking on his bed.

Doesn't he look like a little man in his cute TCU hat?!?

We also stopped along the way to do some hands on activities. Here he is making paw prints in the sand.

One last stop for lunch...poor Shea gets to get our of the carseat again!! 

On our way out (and right before we got hit by the giant downpour), we stopped in to feed the birds. This was my favorite thing! We got lots of birds to come up close and personal, and only Phil got pooped on :)

We left the zoo and headed for Roundrock where we spent the day with my Aunt Barbara. (I have no idea why we don't have any pictures of her with the kids. That was my bad.) Barbara hadn't met either of the kids yet, so it was great get to see her and spend some time. Our little family of four headed back to Dallas that night, thankful for a great trip and the chance to sleep in our own beds!











Shea - Three Months

Well, I took the pictures on time, but am just now getting around to the blog post.

Shea turned three months old on Thursday!  No doctor's appointment this month, so no new height and weight stats, but I can tell you that she is growing like a weed!  She is filling out most of her 3-6 month clothes (except for the waists on some of the skirts and pants, which are big). We can't get her into 3-6 month pajamas because her legs are too long for the footies. She is wearing some of Luca's old 6 months ones right now, but they are big in the middle :)  We are on the lookout for jammies with no feet!

She is smiling, laughing, and "talking" a lot these days. The first time she laughed out loud, it was at herself in the mirror, and now she can't get enough of it. In the mornings especially, she likes to chat away and tell us all about her night. She still loves her swing more than any other place, is starting to play in her jumper more and more, prefers to be held upright on her feet whenever possible (just like Big Brother), and really loves to hold onto soft things like her lovie, a burp rag, or a shirt. The pre-teething drool has started, so we are in the market for some cute girly bibs!

Of course, she wouldn't smile for our photos, but here are a few from Thursday. She had to hold onto the bear's arm the whole time, which was cute!

And, as always, here is Lucas for comparison...

So. Tired.

Sitting with the family at dinner is hard work.

Seriously, people.

San Antonio Part 2

After our day at Sea World, we headed back out onto the Riverwalk for a barbecue dinner and ride on the boats. Lucas had been watching the boats from our hotel window for two days by this point, so he was very excited to take a ride. I think he was a little disappointed that the tour boat wasn't faster or more fun :)

Family picture near the hotel...

Navigating the bridges on the River...not so fun with a stroller.

This is what Lucas thought of the tour guide's voice:

Lucas and Daddy on the boat.

Lucas "had" to hold Shea on the boat. They were pretty adorable.

After dinner, we took Lucas up to the rooftop pool to swim. He had a GREAT time. But first, he insisted on wearing his swim robe like this....

Strange kid. (Yes, he also has a painted toenail. Mommy has them, so he needs one, too).

The next day, my parents headed out to do "grown up" San Antonio things like the Alamo and shopping, while the Hlavatys headed back to Sea World for a second day. We parked ourselves at the Sesame Street play area and let Lucas run wild in the spray park and climb everywhere. He had a great time and TOTALLY wore himself out!

Daddy!  Let's go over there! And over there!  And over there! (Poor Phil was worn out, too!)

Lucas was TERRIFIED of the Sesame characters. (They are HUGE). Grover tried to take Lucas's Croc and put it on his own foot to make Lucas laugh. Lucas just thought this was mean.  Maybe next time...

Climbing on the giant nets. Lucas decided they were tennis nets and they needed to pretend to play tennis while up there.

Mommy and Shea were there, too!

In line for the teeny tiny ferris wheel.

Hi mom!  I am going to go up high!

Posing with Shamu. I promise he wasn't scared here, probably just asking to get down. For some reason Shamu wasn't scary like Grover. The "real" Sea World photographer stepped in front of the photo where he is actually smiling.

Thank you Sea World!  We had a super time!