First 2 months of 2024

Dear Kids, 

Life is busy for everyone at the Havlir house. Since dad got his pilot's license, we are now able to take day trips to the beach. The airport is within walking distance of the beach so we parked the plane, you all brought your scooters and we went to the beach. 

Since this was in January, it was still a bit cold outside, but not crazy cold because this is Texas .

We spent a couple of hours playing at the beach before heading home for dinner. 

When it was time to go home, everyone wanted to come back soon. Hopefully we can squeeze in a trip to the beach over spring break. 

Auntie Momo also sent all of you little onsie pajamas of your favorite animals. This was too cute I had to take a few photos. 

The past 2 months was officially gymnastics season. We drove to 5 different meets in Dallas and Houston and Hannah, I am so proud of the progress that you have made. You generally place right in the middle of the kids in your age group, but 2 times this season, you got to stand on the podium with a bronze and silver medal. My phone loaded the pictures in chronologically, but this is the pictures from the first meet. 

Our gym won first place at this competition. 

Hailey's 100th day of school was in January too, so of course you wanted a shirt with 100 seals on it. You helped me find the seals that you wanted to put on your shirt, and you recruited both Nathan and Hannah to help you. 

Science fair was also this season. Hannah and Nathan, you both picked topics that interested you. Hannah you determined if the cast before a back hand circle affected the power to go around the bar. 

Nathan, you love to play video games, so you did an experiment to find out what distance away from a TV will give you the least amount of eye strain. 

Hailey, we didn't plan on having you do a project, but you saw both Hannah and Nathan have fun with their projects, you came up with your own. I just couldn't say no to that initiative, so I bought another trifold board, and we did an experiment. 

At the dojo, kids have an opportunity to complete fitness challenges to earn extra patches to go on the uniform. Hailey you completed the jumping jack, sit up and push up challenges so far. You are now working on jump roping and splits. 

Before we recycled the delivery boxes that we had, you girls wanted to make a house for your dolls. 

Every Sunday we go to church and it is a arts and craft session. You guys are furiously tearing paper to make origami and drawing pictures. I'm ok with it because I think you guys are still listening while you are working with your hands. 

Hannah's Simone Biles Meet

This year was the final year where all 3 of you kids would be at Baldwin. We had a multi-cultural day and so I partnered up with another mom from Taiwan and we shared with people my culture and served everyone some bubble tea. 

Belt promotions also happened in February. Hailey has moved up to a green belt with a white stripe. Since solid green belt is the highest you can achieve in the little warriors class, Hailey has gotten to be Senpai (which is the highest belt in the class) a couple of times already and you have no problem with telling other kids what to do. 

Nathan, you are now an 8th level red belt. 2 more belt tests and you will be eligible to test for your jr. black belt. You are almost always Senpai during class but you are taking a break from martial arts so that you can play spring baseball. 

For Valentines Day, we decorated some cookies. Nathan, you are not a super fan of sweets (except for ice cream) these days, so you just wanted the cookies plain. 

Also in February, we went to UT's STEM girl day where many student organizations and local companies provide hands on activities for the kids to do all over UT campus. It was a huge event that we only got to attend the events in 2 buildings. 

Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches

Copper Plating Silver Charms 

Building tallest tower challenge

air powered rockets

Giant bubble making

At the end of the day, I asked you guys what your favorite activity was. You guys said "Medical jeopardy" which actually tells me that you guys really like to win because it was me who was answering most of the questions. 

That same evening we got together with some of the families from Nathan's baby group for some cookie decorating. It's crazy to think that we've been friends with these families for 12 years. 

Kids from 3 families. It is tradition that we line up all the kids on a couch and take a picture. Feb 2024.

Feb 2014

The last gymnastics meet was at Houston on a Friday afternoon. We arrived and Hannah, you've been wanting dumplings, so we stopped by a dumpling restaurant and just got a bunch of different kinds. 

This last competition had the least lenient judges, so many of the scores were low. However, Hannah, you performed a beautiful floor routine that was almost perfectly executed, which earned you a silver medal. We drove home late that evening because Nathan had a baseball game and Hailey also had 2 back to back swim lessons. It's a busy life, but I would have it no other way. 

Spring break is coming up and I will try to maybe squeeze in another post afterwards. 

Love, 

Mommy 

 

2023 Quarter 4 Update

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !  

So it has come to this...quarterly updates. What started as weekly updates has now been reduced to this.  It is what it is, so I will just take it. 

The last post left off around Halloween, so we will pick up from then. Grandma and Grandpa came into town to visit, so we went to check out a fall festival at Dripping Springs. They had lots of fun activities for the kids to do. Hannah didn't go because she had her Lego Robotics meeting. 

A giant corn pit was a highlight for Hailey. 

And throwing balls is always appealing to Nathan. 

On the Saturday before Halloween, we went to our school's fall carnival and also had a blast there. Hannah loves animals of all kinds. 

I remember last time Hailey got into one of these petting ponds, she asked for a rabbit or chick, but instead got a lizard and was not happy at all. You were also like 3 years old. 

There were a lot of fun trunks decorated for the trunk or treat. 

We also carved pumpkins, but for some reason I only got a picture of Hailey's. I have videos of Nathan and Hannah's pumpkin, but for some reason, videos don't show up sometimes on the blog. 

This year was the coldest Halloween on record for our family. Usually we are parading around dripping sweat, but this year started out a bit cold, but once we got our blood flowing, it felt quite nice. Our theme was Greek Gods, Goddesses, and Medusa. 

Amphitrite

Flora

Apollo

Medusa

Poseidon

Hannah really wants a pet dog. You beg for one almost each week. But when I bring home a bunch of balloons, you decorated them all like a pack of puppies and drag them around the house like you are taking them on a walk, but then you hang them off the banister...so, still no dog for you. 

We were at our favorite hamburger place and we decided to try out their pumpkin pie shake. It was fun to watch you guys all slurp from the same cup. 

Sometimes I go into witch mode and brew up a batch of potion. This especially happens after I receive my special ingredients by delivery and they usually pack the cold items with dry ice. 

We had another round of belt promotions right before Thanksgiving. Hailey is now a solid orange belt! Nathan is a 7th level red belt. 

For Thanksgiving, we made lots of pecan pies for teachers and for us to eat. Hailey did a great job decorating the one for us. 

We went to watch the 5th grade musical. Nathan was a Narrator who started the whole show. We had a lot of fun watching the play and seeing how big these kids have grown up since they were in Kindergarten may have squeezed a few tears out of me. 

One day we met up with Hannah's godmother and kids. We went roller skating at a rink for the first time. (Although Hailey swears she's been skating at this place before). 

Bedhead is still a thing for Hailey. Very much a thing. 

For Thanksgiving, Dad flew us to Dallas in a 6 seater airplane. It was surprisingly a smooth ride, except when we flew over Towne Lake and it got a little bumpy for a bit. 

Before Take-off, kids getting cozy. 

While in the DFW area, we went to Meow Wolf and had fun exploring the art/fun house. 

Auntie Momo also had you guys make your own signature essential oil scents. 

We took a walk one afternoon and came across some gorgeous fall colors. 

The flight back home, we avoided the lake, so it was much smoother. Steve tried flying a bit higher and faster than he did on the way to the Dallas area, but that made us a little bit uncomfortable. 

At one point, Hailey fell asleep and so we checked her blook oxygen levels to make sure she fell asleep and didn't just pass out because of the altitude. 

When we came home, the kids put up the Christmas decorations and our elf, Bubby, came back. 

One evening, we went to go visit the Maywald family lights. This is an amazing light display put on by a kid who wanted to make a difference. Every year for the past like 10 years, he sets up these lights and collects donations for Make a wish foundation. Last year they were able to fulfill 9 wishes and over the years, I think he's fulfilled like almost 30 wishes! I get teary eyed every time. 

Hailey, you were just entranced with the lights. Twirling and enjoying yourself as we walked through the light displays. I tried to capture you dancing. 

We didn't get to decorate gingerbread houses with the usual gang, but we did invite one of our favorite families over to decorate gingerbread houses. You all came up with drawings and prototypes of your dream gingerbread [insert structure] and I made cookie versions of them for you. 

Hailey had a Christmas party at school and I was able to join in to help build a mini gingerbread house. 

You all got to attend Texas Rollergirls' 20th anniversary party. There was dancing, food, skating and even live karaoke. Hailey you were not afraid to strut your stuff and got out and started to dance with some of the O.G.s!

Hannah also performed at a gymnastics Christmas show. This is a practice run for the upcoming competition season. Your form looks great and you are feeling pretty confident during your events. 

After all these years of avoiding Austin's Trail of Lights, we finally bit the bullet and decided to take you guys downtown to view one of Austin's oldest holiday traditions. We went on a weeknight, and arrived right when the parking lot opened. We had to wait in line for about 45 minutes before the gate opened, but it ended up being a good choice because we walked through the lights with very little crowds around us. I know sometimes it can be extremely crowded. Dad and the girls went on the Ferris wheel and Nathan, you and I went to go buy kettle corn. We also got an order of fried oreos, which were a much better deal than the state fair and just as yummy. 

Nathan's team competed in the first qualifier lego league event of the season. Since we had to sign up for that particular one, we ended up having 3 less weeks than we had last year to prepare. You guys placed this year and earned 2nd place in the robotics design category. 

 

Hailey was student of the week and got to take home Corduroy for a week. 

Dad went to Hannah's class party because I had to work. 

Our church also had a winter festival with a live Nativity, camels, blow up slides and more! 

We are off to Chicago to spend the holidays with family, so we will make a quick update afterwards! 

Until next year, 

Love, 

Mom (though I prefer, Mommy)