Keaton gets a Haircut

Our little boy had his first haircut the morning of Christmas Eve! According to the certificate he received, Keaton has graduated from babyhood. Tear. :( We took him to the one and only Duane (D-wain) at Westwood Barber Shop. Kris wouldn't have it any other way and it turned out to be a fun family outing! I can see why Kris enjoys getting his hair cut at this place. Very old school with country music playing on a small radio in the background. Duane is about as down to earth as they come. Keaton did great as long as he had a peanut butter cracker to munch on!

Waiting for his turn


Goldie Locks


"You do know what you're doing, right?"


One handsome little boy! And trys his first lollipop!

"You look good little brother!"

Proud Daddy Kris

Little Picassos??

The good thing about it being 80 degrees in December....beautiful weather to enjoy painting outside! Sydney added some more art work to her abstract collection! And Keaton was more interested in body art. And yes....this is what we look like when we don't have to leave the house. I didn't look much different. Haha! Don't judge.

Black Bucky

Over the Thanksgiving Holidays, while we were in Llano, you couldn't wipe the smiles off my Popo or my husband's faces. The smiles were stuck. Major things happened. A&M defeated the t-sips. Whoop! And Kris killed the mysteriously elusive Black Buck on our ranch. Fables had been told over the years about black buck roaming through the area. Only my Popo had ever seen one. We were starting to question his eye sight. Ha! This was the man who once told me he walked through a rainbow and had to go home and take a shower to wash the colors off. :) Anyways, Kris had put corn out on several occasions leading up to Thanksgiving weekend. His persistance paid off. Black Buck or as Sydney would say, "Black Bucky" was caught!

Sydney and her Goats

I think the pictures speak for themselves. Sydney LOVES goats. We have a few goats on our ranch in Llano and all Sydney wants to do when we visit is to see the goats. She is not afraid one little bit and I love it! Keaton, on the other hand, is more of a cattleman. He wasn't too impressed with the old goats.

Sydney Turns Three

Sydney Leigh turned 3 on November 14. This is SO hard to believe but I am so proud of the young lady she is becoming! We definitely have our "moments" when I just stare in disbelief at some of our actions, but I know this is typical and something I am defintely not alone in experiencing!

In public, she is typically quiet and a bit timid, but don't let this shy and reserved little toot fool you. She is soaking it all up and will fill us in on the way home! Ever since she was a baby she has been so observant and would study everything so intently! Kris and I are somewhat amazed sometimes at what she can remember. We seriously think she has a photographic memory! She knows exactly what each of her friends gave at her birthday party and is like a human GPS system when driving in the car....even at night!

Sydney definitely fits the roll of Big Sister, although not in size. She likes to tell Keaton what to do and "plays" school with her being the teacher of course. She loves to wrestle with him and I love to hear the two of them giggle together. She gets very concerned if Keaton falls or gets a boo boo. She has a wonderful imagination and I just love to hear her conversations with stuffed animals and dolls. Sydney LOVES Play Doh and we have so much fun with our creations! Recently, we heard a Marie Osmond song on the radio, "No Stoppin Your Heart." I, of course, was singing along. How could you not??? A couple days later, I saw Sydney holding her flashlight and singing, "No stoppin, No stoppin, No stoppin, No stoppin!" She had moves and everything. It was HILARIOUS and made me so proud. She knows good tunes!

I am loving the fact she understands Christmas this year. Kids truly have a way of putting things in perspective. I explained to her that we celebrate Christmas because it is the day that Jesus was born. She then asked if Jesus was going to have a birthday party and if he could have a moonbounce. Well, I don't know about the moonbounce, but she has requested birthday cake on Jesus' birthday! Soooooo, we will be making a birthday cake for Christmas Day and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. He is the reason for the season!!!

We feel so blessed to be her parents and God definitely created a "one of a kind" Sydney.

On her actual birthday we were in San Antonio. We ate lunch at a mexican restaurant in the downtown Market Square. Mexican food is her favorite and she is a pro at filling up a tortilla with whatever is on her plate and rolling it up. This definitely makes her Daddy proud. Of course we requested the mariachi band for a song and they sang Feliz Cumpleanos while she got to wear a pink sombrero. So cute! Ice Cream for dessert and we had one happy 3 year old!

Strike a Pose

He knows he's hot stuff!



Ready for the runway!

Rock n Roll Half Marathon

We did it! After many late nights and early morning runs for 3 + months, Ashley and I completed our goal....running the Rock n Roll Half Marathon in San Antonio on November 14! We had orignally planned on running the Harbor Half in Corpus in October, but kids, business, tropical storm squalls, and unleashed neighborhood pit bulls, delayed our training and we did not feel ready enough for an October run. Our friend and Stroller Strides Leader, Sara, did run the Harbor Half and was such an inspiration for 0ur run! She did fantastic!

Like all accomplishments, I would like to thank (haha!) my husband, my family and my friends for all their support! Seriously, Kris was Super Dad on many occasions. For the most part, I would try to run after the kids went to bed or before they were awake, but like I said before, kids are unpredictable and like the good Daddy that he is, he did whatever he had to do.

We had a fabulous time the weekend of the Half! Two glitches however.....(1) because of the crowds and us having children, we had to settle for a shady pizza joint for supper the night before the race and (2) Ashley and I had to put the kids to bed ourselves and miss out on watching the A&M/Baylor game while our husbands and my Mom viewed it at the Mi Tierra Bar right across the street from our "motel."

Race day was amazing and I've never felt so encouraged and loved by complete strangers who cheered us on along the way. At mile 2 I decided it was time to break out the Ipod, but it would not work!!! I decided to not let it bother me and the remainder of the race I just focused on thanking God for such a wonderful day and experience and enjoyed conversations with many of the folks running along beside me. It truly was a refreshing run for my soul! Crossing that finish line was the coolest feeling ever and I finished in 2 hours 11 minutes and 34 seconds. I averaged 10:03 minutes per mile which was very close to my goal!

We are seriously contemplating the RnR Half Marathon Dallas to take place March 27, 2011. Call us crazy! We are seriously that addicted!

Rockin' it at the Expo the day before the race! Ha!

We HAD to pose with the KISS guys promoting the Hell Run! We didn't quite catch where the run is actually at! I wonder why! Check out our boys checking out the dudes!

After the race! The best family shot we could get!

My Mom was part of the entourage! She is always my biggest fan!

We did it! Neither on of us were very pleased with how we looked in this pic. We had to remind ourselves we had just run a half marathon! Ha!

Celebrating!

Keaton....oh so cute!

Keaton.....oh so tired!

November 14 also happened to be Sydney's 3rd Birthday! We had a fabulous time celebrating at lunch after the race complete with a mariachi band. I will have a seperate post for this special occassion!!! :)

Halloween 2010

Our good friend Lance and cousin Ashlyn met at our house Halloween. As you can see, Lance was the cutest train conductor EVER! Ashlyn was the beautiful Princess Belle and Sydney was the very petite and pretty Tinkerbell. Keaton was good grief Charlie Brown. :) My camera pooped out on me, so Paula was very kind to send these pictures to me! Thank goodness!

A bunch of characters, I tell ya!

Birthday Par-tay!!!

We celebrated Keaton's 1st and Sydney's 3rd birthdays with a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday bash on Saturday, November 6th. The weather was PERFECT and we had a fantastic time celebrating with family and about 20 other wonderful friends. We rented a moon bounce from our good friends that own Emma Lu's Bounce House Rental. We celebrated at the neighborhood park just a block down the street from our house. It was PERFECT! I think I mentioned that already! :)

Keaton Turns 1!!

Keaton celebrated his 1st Birthday on October 16th! I can't believe he is 1 already! He has grown into such a handsome little boy who is oh so close to his very first haircut! I may be biased, but this is one awesome little boy! He started crawling around 8 months and walking at 11 1/2. There's no stopping this guy...he's like a bulldozer who just goes where he wants to.....pushing his weight around with his belly. His belly is HUGE! Despite his 12 month stats of only being in the 10th percentile (20lbs), this is one fat little boy.

We think he may be a lefty! He eats with the left, grabs for toys with the left and waves with the left. I think this is pretty cool.....Daddy does not. Apparently, left handed quarterbacks are not highly recruited. :( Anyways, so far he says, Mama, Dad, Duck and Bye. He eats most everything except pasta and rice. I guess it's a texture thing. He has 10 teeth that I know of! I'm not keeping track anymore.....that's too dangerous!

I was fortunate to nurse him for about 11 1/2 months and in that time I could count the number of times he had a bottle probably on one hand. But since then, he is IN LOVE with his bottle of milk. I know I should probably start offering the sippy cup more, but he is too darn cute walking around, holding his bottle and "turning it up."

On his actual birthday, we just celebrated among the four of us. I made his favorite meal of roast with potatos, carrots, broccoli and rolls. (Actually, this is what big sister Sydney eats the best ;) We enjoyed Garner's Chocolate Cake for dessert and he gave the birthday cake gig a good run.

We had a big birthday celebration on November 6 with friends and family to help celebrate Keaton's AND Sydney's birthdays. I will post that later.

Below, pics from our family birthday! Happy 1st Birthday Keaton James!

Mommy, I'lllllll do it!

So we are a big girl now and don't need Mommy's help anymore. :( Anytime I try to help Sydney do ANYTHING, like unvelcro her shoes, clean her face, brush her hair/teeth, go potty, get in the car, etc. , she confidently says, "Mommy, I'llllllllllll do it." All I can do is throw my hands in the air and say, "Yes ma'm" and let her do her best to finish the task! It's wonderful to see such a confident little person, but I think I can see a stubborn little toot starting to develop as well. Actually, she's always been stubborn from day -2. Who am I kidding?? We tried for two days to get her out into this world, but she insisted on making it hard on us where we had to go in and "get her." WE had to be patient with her just like we do now. But, she is the most amazing challenge I have ever been faced with and I love each new day with her!

At a recent MOPS meeting, we had a wonderful speaker who reminded us how God created each of our children just the way He wanted. God planned our children long before the thought of them ever entered our minds. Isn't that an amazing reminder??? No matter how different our children can be (stubborn or not) they are how God wants them to be.

Parenthood is such a wonderful adventure and how much a child changes within the first few years of life is absolutely astonishing. I think I'm getting a little sentimental since Keaton is about to turn 1 and Sydney will be 3 next month. I'm realizing these years are precious and the changes they go through will pass us by if we don't pause for a moment and soak it all up.

Anyways, I really didn't mean for this post to turn sappy. Just wanted to document a recent example of my child's confidence and show the world how much I love my children! Gag if you want.....you have my permission! Ha!

Who made the Sunshine?

I had the sweetest conversation with Sydney this morning. Just like her Momma, she doesn't do mornings. But today, she actually woke up before sunrise and this was quite out of the ordinary for us. :) We always talk about how at night, the sun goes down and the moon comes out. She is obsessed with finding the moon in the sky whenever we have been out late at night. For some reason (because we are always still asleep), we haven't really emphasized the mornings and the sun coming up.

Well, this morning, while we were getting breakfast together and opening curtains, I pointed out that the sun was waking up and getting ready for the day as well. She literally stared out the window for the longest time watching the sun slowly rise in the sky. It started out behind our neighbor's trees. And as it rose into full view, she yelled so excitedly , "Mommy made the sunshine! Mommy, you made it!" Oh my gosh, I melted! But, we all know who really makes the sunshine, so I had to correct her and say that God made the beautiful sunshine. We said a quick little prayer thanking God for such a wonderful gift and the promise of a new day.

It was a wonderful morning and makes me so thankful to be her Mommy!

Barefoot Books

I recently became an Ambassador for Barefoot Books, a company that sells children's books and toys that encourage a healthful and adventurous lifestyle! As we all know, reading to our children is so important and these books are exciting and colorful and will keep our babies interested on all levels.

I found out about this company on Good Morning America and did a little research of my own and discovered they are also partners with Books for Africa. When you purchase a book from the Books for Africa collection, a book is directly sent to a child in need. I thought that was pretty neat.

I won't lie, I was also interested in the "making money" part of the business. I certainly won't get rich, but I receive a small % on each book sale purchased off my website.

These books are fabulous!!! So, when you have a little time, check out my website at http://Julie-Havelka.barefootbooks.com You can also click on the Barefoot Books box to the right and directly view my website.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Cotton 101

For the past two weeks, all that has been on our minds is cotton, cotton, and more cotton. It is cotton harvest time and I have not seen my husband but only for blurred moments with eyes half open as he comes in around 11 or 12 at night and leaves about 5:30 in the morning. God blessed us with a good crop this year and the farmers have been working their tails off to harvest it all before any tropical wave, depression, or hurricane can ruin it. We are near the end of ours, but Kris will be doing some custom picking for a few other farmers in the area in the next couple of weeks. On top of the cotton harvest, Kris is balancing his duties with Turfco. August has been a busy month for Turfco and although we are all tired and stressed, we certainly have alot to be thankful for and are so grateful for the business. The kids and I are so grateful for Kris and all he does for us! I hope he knows how much we appreciate him!

The kids and I have ventured out to the cotton picken' sites a few times. My sister in laws, mother in law and I have rotated cooking meals for all the workers (8-10) throughout the last couple of weeks and it is certainly a good feeling to know you are giving the guys a good home cooked meal as they work hard overtime hours. Below are some pics of the kids. They love going out to the fields and certainly LOVE seeing their Daddy!

Silly Sydney- I can't ever get a good pose for the camera. This girl is always on the go!

Future Farmer Keaton and Pa- It's amazing how much they look alike!