Paramount Elementary Christmas Program

When Kylee came home from school one day saying she needed to practice her part for the school Christmas program, I didn't realize she would be one of only a handful of kids in the 1st-3rd grade with a speaking part! It was only one line, but it was still pretty fun to be able to watch her. If you just want to see her speaking, skip way ahead... her line is just before the final song... but the program is pretty cute if you want to watch the whole thing :-)

Tyler is Two!

Happy happy birthday to Tyler! I can't believe it was just two years ago that Tyler joined our family. He has brought us so much happiness, laughter, frustration, and joy over the past couple years. We celebrated his birthday this weekend (and Kylee's) with a family birthday party and dinner at Red Robin.

Want to see what our little cutie has been up to lately? Get ready for photo overload!

• Tyler doesn't really talk much (as in he doesn't say very many words yet), but he does love to "sing". He especially likes songs with hand motions (The Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Popcorn Popping, etc).

• He also likes to dance!

• Tyler loves the iPad. And honestly, I am happy to let him have it (so much so that I thought about doing an entire post just on this topic). I do try to limit it, but it lets me take a shower, make dinner, or even blog :-) And you know what? He actually learns stuff when he watches the iPad. A couple of his favorite channels on YouTube are the Mother Goose Club and Pancake Manor. These channels are full of nursery rhymes, songs about colors/shapes, songs about animals and animal sounds, etc. I think watching some of these has spurred his love of music and dancing. His most recent YouTube love is Peppa Pig - he will watch those episodes over and over! Daniel Tiger is his favorite show on Netflix/Hulu, and I love it! Each show has a theme, such as sharing or "using your words" or trying new foods or calming down when you're angry, and has a little jingle to help you remember what you've learned. I will sing those jingles every now and then when Tyler needs a little reminder about something. Tyler also likes playing games - the Wombi games are some of his favorites (Wombi Ice Cream, Wombi Toys, and Wombi Detective). I think the Wombi Toys game taught him about matching because one part of it requires you to sort legos into the appropriate color bins. It prompted me to play other sorting games with him, like having him put the Go-Fish cards in stacks according to color. His favorite color is blue. He is becoming a little smarty pants. 

• Tyler also likes my phone, but I never let him play with it since he has been known to send text messages, call people, etc. :-) He did manage to get my phone a few times and take some selfies though (you can take pictures without unlocking the phone).

• His favorite food is pizza, but he also likes berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries), macaroni, chicken nuggets, popcorn, cereal, granola bars, soup (mushroom, cheddar broccoli) and anything sweet. Tyler hates getting his hands dirty, so always wants to eat with a fork or spoon. He has only gained about a pound in the last 6 months and weighs in around 24 pounds. He is tall and skinny making it hard to find pants that fit him. Not many pants at this age have the adjustable waist band, so he has still been wearing 12-18 month pants up until recently when I was tired of it looking like he was wearing capris. Now his pants just always fall down :-) We finally transitioned him off a bottle. He was only getting them when he went to bed, but I knew he didn't need them anymore. I just took them away one day, and he didn't complain at all. He does still like milk at bed, though, so he gets it in a sippy cup.

• Tyler thinks stickers are the greatest thing ever. He also likes to color and play with play dough. I just ordered a paint with water book - I know he'll love that too!

• He recently transitioned to a "big boy bed"... mostly because we needed the crib for Bradley! Tyler does well sleeping in it for naps and at night, but we still struggle with him getting out of bed a dozen times when we first put him down (even after several weeks). It's SO frustrating! 

• Tyler likes playing at the park. No, let me rephrase that... he LOVES playing at the park. I feel like I should take him every day. He would love it and it would be nice for him to get some energy out. Unfortunately, I don't take him super often because I have to deal with his fit throwing when it's time to leave. He has become quite the fit thrower and I don't know what to do about it! He throws fits whenever it's time to leave somewhere he wants to stay (the park, grandma's, etc). It's embarrassing and frustrating. I may have been known to bribe him with M&M's when it's time to leave. I do have hope, though. I remember Kylee used to throw fits when it was time to leave grandma's house, and now she's a little angel :-)

• Tyler loves his dad. One of his favorite songs is "I'm so Glad When Daddy Comes Home." He also thinks it's pretty cool to wear daddy's gloves, daddy's hat, daddy's shoes, etc.

• Tyler also loves Kylee. She is his best friend. He wants to do anything she is doing and have any toy she is playing with :-) He also loves riding in the "cars" at the grocery store!

• Tyler recently went to his first movie... he did really well for the first hour. After that? Well, let's just say I'm glad we were at the dollar theater and there weren't a lot of people there!

• Balls are some of Tyler's favorite toys. He always wants to kick, throw, or shoot a ball. I just have to remind him, when he tries to throw other toys, that "we only throw balls."

• Tyler thinks our new fish are pretty cool.

• Tyler gives the best hugs and kisses. He gives them out freely. He also gives kisses when he knows he has done something wrong. It is his way of saying he is sorry.

• Tyler still loves reading books. He especially loves the Pigeon books by Mo Willems.

I sure love this boy of mine. He is my best buddy and keeps me company during the day. I am looking forward to lots more learning and playing with him.

Dear Tyler - [8 Months]

Dear Tyler,

I can't believe how big you are getting! Look at how well you sit! You have gotten stronger this last month, and if you start to tip over (from leaning over too far), you usually catch yourself and push yourself back up. You still have no interest in trying to crawl, but can get pretty much anywhere you want with rolling.

You like sitting out front and watching cars drive by. You also think feet are pretty cool and will put anything you can get your hands on in your mouth (but still no teeth yet!).

Speaking of your mouth, you are loving biting your lower lip. This is how we often find you these days.

You still love food, although you wouldn't eat anything other than a bottle for about a week after your surgery. This last month you tried bananas, squash, apples, and pears, and you've started eating some of the foods straight from the container (instead of only mixed with rice cereal). You are also starting to nap better - hallelujah! You give me at least one "longer" nap a day of around an hour (or more if I'm lucky!). And you have started sleeping through the night, or at least until around 5am. Thanks Tyler!

I wanted to tell you about a couple sweet things you are doing these days. You have started to get a little "shy" around other people. When I am holding you and and someone comes up to say hello, I tell you to show them your smiles. You are usually pretty good at giving a little smile as you almost immediately snuggle your head into me. You also LOVE playing with hair. Since you don't suck your thumb or take a pacifier, I think it is what makes you feel safe and calm. My hair is your favorite - you are almost always petting it or pulling it or running your fingers through it. If you can't find my hair (sometimes I have to pull it back so you stop pulling it out!), you will run your fingers through your hair. You especially do this when you are tired.

You had a couple "firsts" this month. Over the 4th of July you had your first experience camping. The first night was a little rough, but the second night camping was definitely better. You especially liked the walk to the pond.

You also went to the zoo for the first time. The butterflies were your favorite! You really wanted to touch them (who wouldn't?) so I had to hold you back :-)

We love listening to your giggle. It is one of the happiest sounds I have ever heard. For some reason, you really think the word "smooshy" is funny!



Thank you for being so sweet and mellow and pretty close to perfect. I love you tons.

Love,
Mom

Mmmmm, Rice Cereal!

Tyler tried rice cereal for the first time yesterday, and he did better than I thought he would! Here's a little clip of him from today. He seems to like it!

And just for fun, here's a quick look back at the last six months!

Holzgraf Family Reunion

This past weekend we traveled to Rexburg for as close to a family reunion as my mom's side of the family has ever had. My mom's sister Debbie raised her family of 9 kids in Huntington Beach, California and St. Louis, Missouri. Growing up in Boise, we didn't get to see them very often. My family did travel to California in 1988 (before Beki & BJ were even born!), and I saw some of them in 2005 at Uncle Steve's wedding, but besides my cousins Melissa and Katie who have lived in Idaho, I've hardly seen the rest of Debbie's family. When I heard that Debbie and Greg would be traveling to Rexburg on their way to Provo before heading out to Hong Kong as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I decided my family needed to take a little road trip! Katie and Melissa and their families, along with Kristi all currently live in Rexburg, and McKay and his wife Kayla drove up from Provo and Nathan flew in from Texas. My Uncle Steve and his two girls flew in from Washington and my Aunt Kathy drove over from Washington as well. Add in my parents, Beki and Bryce, BJ and Rachel and my little family, and we've got 30 people gathered together for some good ol' family time!

We spent all day Saturday hanging out, and it was lovely. The kids had a blast playing together and especially loved coloring eggs and having an Easter egg hunt.

Can you guess what the adults did? We went shooting of course!

We also enjoyed a beautiful Easter dinner and the blessing of Katie's baby Jace. We didn't have a ton of time together, but I am thankful for the time we did have!

We were also lucky enough to spend some time with Matt's family who lives in Eastern Idaho. We saw both his sets of grandparents, along with aunts, uncles, and cousins. So in addition to my 26 family members, we saw 28 of Matt's extended family! One of my favorite parts was watching Kylee with her Great Grandpa Cornwall. He took her out to see his baby calves, and one even came right up to Kylee!

Roll Over! Roll Over!

You know that little kid song that goes "There were ten in the bed and the little one said, 'Roll over! Roll Over!'"

Well that's been going through my head today as my own little one decided it was time for him to roll over! He actually rolled from his stomach to his back yesterday, but I wondered if it was a fluke. Well he did it several times today, so I think he knows what he's doing! I feel bad because I don't give him as much "tummy time" as I know I should... wonder if he would have started doing this earlier if I would have been more consistent. Oh well. Nice work buddy!

Happy Independence Day!

Last year, I posted about how the Fourth of July is Matt's favorite holiday... and I have to say that I looked forward to the 4th more this year than I ever have before!  We traveled to Inkom, Idaho again this year to celebrate with Matt's extended family (from my count, there were over 50 family members there!).  The 4th was so much fun, with a flag ceremony and program, parade, good food (including homemade rootbeer and a snowcone machine!), and lots of fun activities for everyone.

Kylee waving at a firetruck in the parade.  She got a giant ziplock bag of candy again this year.

Emery getting ready to do a little fishing.

The boys had fun designing water balloon launchers and seeing who could launch a balloon the farthest (Matt's team won, of course!).

I think my favorite part of the holiday weekend, though, was camping.  Matt's grandfather has a couple thousand acres of land not far from his home, so it was fun to have our own private campground.  Matt, Kylee, and I have all been looking forward to camping this summer, and this was our first time out.  Kylee has been especially excited to go fishing.

She had never been before and I wasn't sure how it would go... I personally think fishing is kind of boring.  I mean, you can stand there for hours without catching a thing!  Anyway, Matt's grandpa had stocked the pond on his land, and we went right at the perfect time.  I caught some grasshoppers as bait, and Matt helped Kylee cast her pole.  Within seconds of each cast, Kylee had a fish trying to get the grasshopper.  It was so much fun watching how excited Kylee got (although I think maybe Matt and I were just as excited!)  We were only out there for about 15 minutes and Kylee had already caught three fish!

I love this video... her determination to reel in the fish, her squeals of delight, and dropping the pole to clap at her success!  Don't mind my laughing in the background :-)
Here's a picture of our little "fisher girl".  She's trying to smile, but the fish are a little heavy for her!  We cooked up the fish over the fire for breakfast the next morning... yum!!!

We also had fun shooting, and Matt was in heaven riding dirt bikes and taking Kylee for a ride on the 4-wheeler.  Matt talks to me almost daily about buying dirt bikes, and this weekend won't help that issue!

We're already planning our next camping trip back in Inkom later this month!

Crazy Train

Ever since Kylee saw this Hyundai commercial last year, she has loved the song Crazy Train.  She quickly learned the words to the song, and loved serenading us.  Recently, every time I say "that's crazy", she'll burst into song.  I thought I'd share a quick clip to demonstrate.


A couple other things about my sweet girl:

• She has started doing some more "chores" around the house, including making her bed, checking the mail, folding small towels, watering the plants, and emptying the silverware (or "silver" as Kylee calls it).
• She will play in her play room for hours, blasting Disney music from the in-ceiling speakers.  She often wants to play by herself, banning Matt or me from the room.  One of her favorite things to play is "tea party".  Last month, Kylee came home from church talking about how coffee isn't good for you and how we should eat healthy (she had had a lesson on the Word of Wisdom in primary).  That afternoon when we said something about her having a tea party with her dolls, she informed us we weren't supposed to drink tea.  We told her that when she had a tea party with her dolls it was only pretend because she was using water.  She insisted that she couldn't have tea parties anymore, so we told her she should have a hot chocolate party instead.  That seemed to satisfy her!
• When she sits on her feet, she calls it "sitting like a 'w'".  That makes perfect sense to me!
• Like I mentioned, she's pretty excited about "our baby".  She is starting to come up to me randomly and touch my stomach and just say "baby".  Also, she has started drawing a baby in all our family pictures.

Happy Family

Just wanted to share a quick video with everyone... enjoy!

Signature Line

I spent the last four hours at work reviewing resumes for an RFP that we are about to award.  I was laughing at how some people put their degrees in their signature lines.  Like John Doe, MBA.  I get it if you are a doctor or something, but an MBA?  Maybe I should start signing my name as Kimberly Hudson, MBA.  No, maybe not.  My boss Scott shared this commercial with me that I thought was a nice break on a Friday afternoon!

Bee Swarm

Our neighbors texted me on Thursday letting me know we had a bee swarm in our tree.  We immediately called a beekeeper to come get the bees!

Happy Graduation Little Sister!

I am so proud of my little sister - she graduated on Friday from BYU-Idaho with her degree in Elementary Education.  I know Beki will be a fantastic teacher.  Any kid would be lucky to have her.

Matt, Kylee, and I made the trip over to Rexburg to see Beki graduate.  Kylee was happy to be able to watch movies on the portable DVD player we borrowed from my parents... but she was most excited about the headphones my dad let her borrow.  She didn't want to take them off, even when she fell asleep!  As she was napping, I tried to pull them off a couple different times, but she always immediately put her hands up to push them back on her head!

We stayed Friday night at Sunny's house - I always love visiting with her!  Kylee was super excited about the princess cot that she got to sleep in!

Not only did Beki graduate, but she was student speaker at her graduation ceremony!  Beki did an amazing job on her commencement speech.  For those who weren't able to attend, I uploaded a video of her speech so you could see what a rock star she is (pardon the shaky screen at the beginning... I promise it doesn't last long!).

I was so proud of her.  And speaking of being proud... I know my parents are sure proud.  They are the parents of FOUR college graduates!  Here's a link to my post when BJ graduated from Boise State, and one to when he graduated from the College of Western Idaho.  And finally, a few pictures from the evening.  Enjoy!

Because Jesus Got Born

We've been teaching Kylee about Christmas.  We had this lesson last Monday, and she still remembers :-)  I love her.

How to Stop a Nightmare

I'm going to share something really personal in this post... I have nightmares.  Well, really night terrors is a better way to describe them.  I will literally wake up screaming, heart racing, jump out of bed, flip the light switch on kind of night terrors.  The weird thing is that in these night terrors I always know where I am (laying in my bed at home, laying in my bed on the cruise ship, laying on by bed at the Maughan's apartment in Ghana)... and the night terrors always involve me laying there (i.e. there is a poisonous snake slithering across from me while I'm laying on my bed, there are giant spiders falling from my bedroom ceiling that will land on me as I'm laying on my bed, or the worst one - there is a strange/scary man standing next to my bed).  Sometimes they are stupid and unrealistic (i.e. the giant spiders) but in my "dream" they are so real.  And SO scary.

I haven't had them my whole life... they started probably around 2005.  They got so bad (happening several times a week) that a couple years ago I went to see a sleep doctor.  He suggested that I might have narcolepsy - and that these were really hallucinations.  Another doctor I've talked to since then suggested that my brain doesn't have enough time to shut down before I fall asleep (I usually fall asleep in less than a minute from laying down, and these night terrors are almost always around 30-40 minutes after I've gone to bed).

Regardless of what might be happening in my brain, this is something that I have just learned how to live with.  I still find them incredibly embarrassing though.  I remember having one in 2009 on my cruise with Jen and Brooke.  Jen will still talk about how scared she was to hear my screaming.  I tell her to imagine how scared I must have been!  I try to warn people that it might happen... When we first got married, Matt was "excited" to see what this might be like, but then admitted that my screaming scared him a little as he would come running from another room to try and comfort me. Note of clarification: he had to come from another room because he is awake at night and sleeps during the day because of his work schedule, not because we sleep in different rooms!

And that has been one nice thing (among many!) about having Matt around (at least when he's not working!) - that he can comfort me and calm me down a little faster than I sometimes can on my own.  He has mentioned that a couple times I am starting to have one but that he's able to calm me down before I actually even wake up (and therefore I don't remember them).  I appreciate his love and his patience... so when my mom forwarded this short video, I could totally relate!

Camping at Clear Creek

Matt was working all weekend, so I jumped at the chance to join the Bradley family for camping at Clear Creek, just south of Cascade, ID.  Jen has talked about Clear Creek many times since I met her, so I was excited to see this camping spot where she has such fond memories of camping with her family.

Typically camping is a ton of work to prep for, but this time is was super easy for me... since I was just a tag along, all I had to bring were my personal items, a blanket, and a camp chair!

Most of the Bradleys had been up camping since Wednesday, but I rode up Friday after work with Brooke.  When we arrived, camp was all set up and dinner was ready for us to eat :-) Mmmmm, I love me some dutch oven food.

I took a quick evening 4-wheeler ride with Jen.  I can see why she loves Clear Creek.  The majesty of the mountains, the literal "clear creek" meandering near the road, the perfect 4-wheeling trails, the large campsites right along the creek, the gigantic trees offering the perfect shade on a hot day...

The girls all slept in the trailer with the boys in the tent, and boy did we sleep - nobody got up until 10:30!  In all fairness, I did lay in bed reading for a bit before getting up, but it sure was nice to sleep in!!!

Joe made us breakfast - bacon, eggs, hash browns, and chocolate chip pancakes, then we were off for the first 4-wheeler ride of the day.  After a couple hour ride, we spent time relaxing, reading, took a quick drive to town, read some more, made dinner, then took off for another 4-wheeling adventure.  Rough day, huh!?!  That's what I love about camping.  No schedule.  No pressures.

On our way back from our evening ride, we ran across these cows who were fighting along the edge of the road.  Not sure what they were fighting about, but they didn't look like they were planning on resolving their issues any time soon.  We finally drove around them and let them continue their head butting.  I had to take a video... we were so close we felt like we should have been with National Geographic!

We ended the evening with sitting around the fire, eating dutch oven chocolate cake, reading, roasting marshmallows with rolos, roasting strawberries with marshmallow cream, etc.  Thanks Bradley family for letting me tag along... I sure had a lovely weekend!