2014: A Year in Review

Similar to last year, I decided to review the highlights from this last year:

January - Tyler grew big enough to wear socks!

February - Two years and going strong

March - Tyler learned to roll over

April - Holzgraf family reunion

May - Kylee graduated from preschool

June - My baby had surgery

July - Cornwall Fourth of July Celebration/Family Reunion

August - Kylee started kindergarten!

September - Tyler started crawling

October - Canning, canning, and more canning!

November - Kylee turned six and Tyler celebrated his first birthday

December - Family ride on the Santa Express

Looking forward to an equally awesome 2015!

Freezer Meal Group

For months I have been wanting to start a freezer meal group, and I am beyond excited that I finally bit the bullet and put one together! There are four of us in the group (me, Jen, Jaclyn, and Sally) and we all have small families (3-4 people). Each month (starting in November) we quadruple two different recipes, and then on a designated day each month, we swap meals. That means each month I end up with 8 different freezer meals. I know it sounds silly, but I get almost giddy looking in my freezer and seeing all those beautifully prepared meals :-) And it's fun to try different recipes! Here are some of the meals we've had so far:

• Chili
• Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole
• Saucy Pork Chops
• Minestrone Soup
• Beef Stroganoff
• Chicken Tacos
• Pot Roast
• Baked Rigatoni
• Funeral Potatoes and Ham
• Chicken Soup
• White Chicken Chili
• Cilantro Lime Chicken
• Loaded Baked Potato Soup
• Chicken Alfredo

Hooray for easy dinners!

Tyler - 13 Months

Just a few highlights from this past month.

Tyler:

• now has four teeth
• loves eating yogurt and cinnamon toast for breakfast
• still not walking, but loves walking with support
• loves rubbing his face on my faux fur blankets... he thinks they are "so soft"
• eats almost anything we eat, including roast, eggplant, pasta, soup, and more!
• likes to climb on things to try and get taller (i.e. the base of his activity center, Kylee's bathroom stool, etc)
• misses his sister when she isn't here
• will now (sometimes) give his dad kisses
• is getting more cuddly

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

I can't believe Christmas is less than a week away! I have most of the shopping and wrapping done and am looking forward to spending time with my family.

We started celebrating Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving and haven't stopped!

• We got the Christmas lights up on the house and decorated the tree. Unlike last year, we just put lights up on the bottom peaks... although we did add lights around our pillars and trees! We only put up one Christmas tree this year... and it is in the sitting room so the door can be closed. Kind of sad not to have it in our family room, but it would make me really stressed out to try and keep Tyler away from the tree all day long!

• We put out the other Christmas decorations, including our nativity sets and this beautiful canvas print.

• I made (and mailed) our Christmas cards. Aren't they so cute!?

• We took the Santa Express and visited Santa's Village. It was Kylee's first train ride and she thought it was "awesome". She especially enjoyed coloring in her coloring book on the way to visit Santa.

• Of course we decorated gingerbread houses! Looking forward to next year when all four of us kids will be living in the same town so we can all enjoy this tradition together (missed you Beki and Bryce!).

• We attended the ward Christmas party where we enjoyed a short program, including a 17-piece orchestra of people just from my ward... they sounded amazing! Tyler tried visiting Santa. He wasn't impressed.

• We made a Christmas countdown chain, have watched some Christmas movies, drove around looking at Christmas lights, delivered Christmas gifts to neighbors, and have been enjoying Christmas music on Pandora. We have also been enjoying this beautiful video that reminds us about why we celebrate Christmas. I am so thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ!

Tender Mercy

I've tried not to mention it much on this blog, but over the last couple years there seems to have been a lot of negative energy surrounding our relationship with Kylee's mom. There have been quite a few disagreements over both big and little things - from an 8-month long educational custody battle or our ongoing child support case to disagreements about extra-curricular activities and everything in between. A few weeks ago I was talking to Matt about this negativity. We do everything we can to shield Kylee from it, but it was really bothering me. I felt (whether right or wrong) like Kylee's mom looked for things to get upset about or pick a fight about. I didn't understand why someone would want to have such a strained relationship... a relationship we were guaranteed to be in for another 13 years. Why wouldn't you at least try to get along and be nice?

I had been praying about this for a while, hoping things would get better, and trying to keep a positive attitude from my end. Then, a couple weeks ago, I decided to make this the focus of my fast. As I sat in church that morning, listening to the testimonies of others, Tyler pulled my phone out of the side pocket of the diaper bag. I went to put it back in and saw that I had a text. It was from Kylee's mom. It said, "Thank you for being so good to my daughter. For what it's worth I think you're an awesome stepmom." Wow. Talk about timing. I was overcome with the spirit and tears started rolling freely down my cheeks. This text was an answer to prayer and fasting. This simple text once again confirmed to my heart that we have a loving Father who is aware of us and our needs. He cared about me and knew how important it was for me that we have a better relationship with Kylee's mom. I immediately sent a prayer of thanks up to my Father... and sent a thank you email to Kylee's mom that afternoon.

It's only been a couple weeks, so I can't say for certain that things have changed for good, but I can say that things seem much better! In the last two weeks, communication between us has been more positive. Kylee's mom invited us to Kylee's friend party at her house and asked for input if we thought there were other girls Kylee should invite. We worked together to make tutus as party gifts for the girls and I helped with some of the activities at the party. We collaborated on fun snacks for Kylee to take to school on her birthday, each helping to put them together. We have smoothly coordinated changes to Kylee's typical schedule in order for her to be able to attend a couple different birthday parties. Yes, things have definitely been better.

I hope and pray that the focus can remain on Kylee and what is best for her. I don't think we need to be best friends, but I do hope that we can continue to be positive and work together for Kylee's sake. I am thankful for my Father, for his reassurance, and for that sweet tender mercy in the form of a text that I received after much prayer and fasting.

Kylee is SIX!

Kylee is six! I sure love this sweet, happy little girl. Kylee loves watching Netflix, playing with legos and making Tyler laugh. She is thriving in kindergarten and thinks her dad is the coolest person ever. If I would let her, Kylee would have a friend over to play every single day. She is one social butterfly! Kylee asks me to make her a grilled cheese sandwich every day for lunch and wants to be a chef when she gets older. She is currently in gymnastics and is starting to enjoy that more. Her mom is giving her weekly piano lessons and I am giving her weekly cooking lessons! With the exception of when it's time to do chores, Kylee almost always has a positive attitude and an easy smile. Her giggle is contagious and lately wants to pose in pictures. Whenever she is in her play room, Kylee is listening to music. She LOVES music, and by far knows the words to more songs currently on the radio than I do. Kylee is a people pleaser and gets sad when we are disappointed with her words or actions (which doesn't happen very often - we are quite lucky!) She really enjoys weekly family home evening and is always eager to participate. I am so proud of Kylee and the decisions she is making and the girl she is becoming. And I can't believe she is six!

On Sunday we had a small party for Kylee and Tyler with family and a couple close friends. The "build your own" cupcake bar was a success. I love how both Matt and I have family here in town and that we can get together often. We felt so loved to have so much support on this special day! Kylee and Tyler were definitely spoiled.

We went out to breakfast this morning for Kylee's birthday. I let her pick the restaurant, and it was no surprise she picked iHop. Pancakes are her favorite breakfast food. In fact, she finished her entire plate of five dollar-sized pancakes so I ordered her another pancake on the side!

Tyler, on the other hand, didn't care too much for breakfast and instead busied himself by making a mess with the sugar packets. Surprise, surprise!

I was excited to be able to volunteer in Kylee's class today. Since it was her birthday she got to bring in snacks for her entire class. Kylee's mom and I collaborated to make something extra special. I think her snacks turned out quite cute!

One final picture, just because I have been chuckling about it for three days now. A couple weeks ago for Family Home Evening we talked about being thankful and made a "thankful tree". Each day, we write something we are thankful for on a "leaf" and add it to the tree. We are having Kylee sound out her own words, and she usually does really well. Sunday's thankful leaf, however, was an extra special gem. She asked me, "Mom, does this spell 'birthday party'?" Ummm, close! :-) Haha. I love it!

Dear Tyler - [1 Year]

Dear Tyler,

Wow, where has this last year gone? How have you gone from this

to this in such as short period of time?

You are so handsome. Sometimes I can't stop looking at you because I think you're such a beautiful little boy. You are usually really sweet. I love your cuddles when I'm getting ready to put you to bed and your belly laughs when we tickle you and your big open mouth kisses. Sometimes they are like bites with your two little sharp bottom teeth! I'm sure you'll figure it out soon. Daddy keeps trying and trying to get you to give him kisses, but you refuse. You save those for mama!

Other times you drive me nuts :-) You are super curious and love exploring (which I love). Your favorite thing lately is making messes (which I don't love). Everywhere you go, you make a mess. Your messes also usually involve opening and closing doors or drawers. I swear, all I do some days is follow you around the house picking up mess after mess. I have learned to keep certain doors closed so you aren't tempted (i.e. the bathroom doors stay closed so you can't unroll the toilet paper!).

You also love turning the water on and off. And on and off. And on. And off.

You are a speed crawler! You can get anywhere you want in just a few seconds. You have mastered going up and down the stairs (despite the picture below!). Walking is your favorite, though. You aren't walking on your own yet, but you love pushing stools or chairs around on the hardwood, walking behind them. You are quite the smarty pants, too. When the stool hits the carpet and won't slide anymore, you simply walk around to the other side and push it back on the wood floors! We went to the doctor today for your one year wellness visit and he thinks you'll be walking on your own in the next week or two.

You are a social little boy and want to be wherever we are, doing what we're doing... whether it be playing the piano with daddy or Kylee...

playing Go Fish...

or sitting at the counter eating dinner. Over the last couple weeks I've been transitioning you from baby food to table food. You definitely prefer to eat what we're eating! You love yogurt, cheese, ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, beans, and anything sweet. I am happy that you are such a good eater! You weighed in at 19 pound, 1.8 ounces today (16th percentile). Remember when you weren't even on the charts???! And I knew you were tall - you are 29.75" tall... that's the 46th percentile! I think it's safe to say that in the last year you've caught up, and nobody would know from looking at you that you were premature.

I was really excited to switch you from formula to whole milk this last weekend, and you are loving the milk. I'm trying to get you to drink out of a sippy cup - you do okay, although you still prefer your bottle (which I'm only giving to you now before nap or when you go to bed at night). Speaking of going to bed at night, you've been quite the stinker and continue to wake up about once a night. I do admit, though, that I think I was part of the problem. Out of tiredness, I would get up with you, give you a bottle, and then put you back to bed instead of working with you to just fall back asleep. After a year of getting up with you almost every night (except for that one and a half blissful months from 7-8.5 months), I decided I was ready to be done getting up :-) Last week we started sleep training (again), and you are starting to do better. I haven't gotten up in the middle of the night to feed you in almost a week. Let's keep working on that, though, okay?

As always, you love being outside, but now instead of sitting in the stroller, you like to stand. You get quite grumpy if I make you sit, so I give in. Plus, you are just so dang happy standing there. I love your smile.

We celebrated your birthday (and Kylee's birthday) on Sunday with family and friends. You loved your cupcake (especially the frosting). You weren't really sure about opening presents, but you are enjoying playing with your new toys and reading your new books.

You bring me happiness each and every day. When I am grumpy, I just hold you and think about how much I love you and how Someone must love me to send you to me. I am blessed.

Love,
Mom