mother's day

mother's day was great this year! i got to take my mom to a dinner at church for women who have influenced your life. that was a great time for us, i loved showing my mom off to all my friends. the theme was "hats off to you" and so we got to wear fun hats, which just added to the fun! :) we also went out to a fancy italian restaurant (fancy meaning white linens and a piano player...no crayons or chicken nuggets!) for lunch with my dad and step-mom to celebrate mother's day. that was fun to spend time with them and my aunt and uncle. the kids did pretty well, actually, i was a little worried how they would do. benjamin loved eating everyone else's lunch! then, the piano man played some more music and so, of course, benjamin got up to go dance in the foyer of the restaurant. he has no inhibitions, that kid. jacob went to join the fun as well and watched closely as the man played. when he stopped playing, jacob told him that he could find middle C and the other keys (his aunt bernadette taught him that) that that was fun, the piano man was impressed with how smart jacob was, as we so often are as well. they danced around as he played and he even played a tribute to me..."sweet caroline" which was extra special! ryan and the boys got me a very nice digital camera, MUCH to my surprise. that was awesome because it records video, which we currently didn't have because our other one was broken. so...overall, it was a very fun weekend and i LOVED the dress i wore to lunch, by the way. i felt so feminine and it's blue, so i obviously love that! i am such a blessed mother....i myself have TWO mothers that have loved me for so long, and also to have two kids who are such a joy to me! i have much to be thankful for!

"faith like a child"

these are some fun pics from jacob's "performance" at our church for the Faith Like a Child spring concert thingy. it was fun getting ready for it! jacob LOVED listening to the CD in the van (over and over and over and over and over.... :) and he would talk about how he was going to sing and do all the motions when he got up on stage. because, at Christmas, he stood front and center and didn't move a muscle at all. no singing, no dance motions. he just stood there biting his nails looking forlorn. it was kinda sad, but he loved being a part of it, so we signed him up again. he practiced the motions all the time...his favorite was the "Jesus, You're My Superhero" song because he got to do motions for Spiderman and Batman and Superman. So, the big day came, and we almost had a meltdown because the lady who led them on stage tried to move jacob away (despite him dragging his feet and trying to hold his ground) from his best buddy "koerner landon" and jacob looked pretty lost up there. but as soon as he saw her leave the stage, he just walked over to his friend and got back where he wanted to be. it was so cute! then the music started and he pretty much just stood there, once again, he was front and center. no singing, no motions, nothing....except biting his nails, of course. but, then it got to his favorite part of the song and he flashed the spiderman motion, then back to standing and biting....then he flashed the batman motion....then back to nothing....he went through the whole song not singing, or moving at all during all the verses....but each time the chorus cam around he would stop biting his nails long enough to flash his superhero motion. it was priceless! he was very proud of himself!! when it was all over, he said, "momma, did you see me do some of the motions on the big stage...i didn't sing or do all of the stuff because i only like to do some of the things when i'm on the stage" again, priceless. his little brother, Benji, loved the whole thing and was trying so hard to keep up and mimic all that bubba was doing. he wanted so bad to get to be up there with him on stage. maybe next year. although, i'm a little worried that once we get Benjamin on stage, we won't be able to get him off! we, as always, had the entire front row reserved to watch sweet darling jacob "perform". we were all proud of him! hey...he got up there, didn't cry or freak out....and each time he gets up there he gets a little more brave....maybe for the next Christmas performance, he'll sing a line or two. then again, maybe not. either way, we adore him and think he's just the cutest thing in town!

cute boys!

these are just some cute pics of the boys from May. my sweet benjamin with his full open mouth smile...big boy jacob cautiously wearing a "green-his favortie color" party hat at mal's 18th b-day party...benjamin playing with a huge ball at "koerner landon's" birthday party, he LOVED that thing even though it was twice as big as he is, he'd try to pick it up and say "whoa!" each time.....ok, so look how big jacob looks in this school picture. he got to bring "tippin" his triceratops (he made him at build-a-bear and LOVES him so much. he always says that he's the "daddy of him". too cute!) to school during the last week or preschool, and he was so excited that he had a dinosaur friend and lunch box......this is a great pic of the boys together in our backyard. generally, benjamin doesn't like jacob strangling him for a picture, but he did well this time. bruthas gotta hug! i just look at these pics and can't get over how BIG they both look. where did my babies go????

bluebonnets? what bluebonnets?

ok, so i think i predicted that i wouldn't post again until july...well, ha! it is june and i have a new post. :) life with the holzberger party of 4 is going pretty well. busy little bees, we are, but doing well. ryan is taking summer school and teaching summer school, but he's enjoying being around us all now since all of that is easier than his spring was. he's done in december and i will be throwing a HUGE party!(for him, of course, but for me as well, for making it through my spouse getting his masters while we have two small kids. i DON'T recommend it, by the way!) it's been tough, but we know it's worth it! our sweet boys are getting bigger, smarter, funnier, and MORE independent each day. jacob is a ryan mini-me, and i love it!! he reminds me of ryan every day with his particular nature, cautious silliness, and independent, focused hobbies. he can dress himself now and is just looking and acting so big! i cannot believe he will be FOUR in just another couple months! whew! that is crazy! benjamin is simply a joy. he cracks us all up on a daily basis. he is a mimic all the time now and will often just parrot the last word anyone says in a sentence, even if it is way hard and he has no idea what we're talking about. he just wants to be a part of the party all the time. (i'm thinking he gets that from me) together, they are too cute! (almost all the time:) they get along pretty well, really. they really play together a lot now, unassisted by me. which is fun, but also sometimes a struggle. jacob is the boss and is quick to let benji (or "ben-men", as he calls himself) know if he's doing something "wrong"...i often hear something like, "no, benjamin, we are NOT playing puzzles right now!! grab your cars and come over here!" benjamin pretty much just goes with the flow, but he is starting to stick up for himself more now, which is good. they tackle each other, make each other giggle, shove each other sometimes on purpose, sometime not, and overall have a lot of fun together. they LOVE dancing to latina music (or hard rap) on the radio. (yes, i know, that's horrible. i think our dancing days will be over soon since jacob listens more now and benji is a mimic) but you have to admit that it's hard to break it down to klty. it is hilarious to watch them dance. so fun! i'm doing well, too. working at church and loving it. still having a lot of pain and numbness from the whole meningitis drama back in october (ya, that's right, 8 months ago!) but i've seen specialists and am trying to get it all figured out. trying to stay joyful in my circumstances...God knows i'm not joyful FOR them, but i'm trying to be joyful IN them! we're looking forward to our first family vacation this summer with our dear friends, the koerners. we're going to sea world and we all can't wait!!
here i have included some fun pictures of our bluebonnet photo shoot. yes, there aren't actually any bluebonnets because we never saw them around and waited too late i guess. but, we got all dressed up in our white shirts (much to ryan's excitement!) and headed out anyway. we had fun, sneezed a ton and then packed back up into the mini-van. (all the "cool kids" have one!) it was a lot of fun. and the pics turned out great. enjoy! and here's love to you all until next time. let's shoot for august, shall we? love, love.

more snow pics :)

please read the details of our super fun day...read below!!

let it snow!!

well...i know it has been a very long time since i've posted anything. what i want to know is...where in the world did december and january go?? my sweet hubby is a very busy bee, with his masters work, his family, and oh ya, his full time teaching job....and of course my darling and very active boys, along with my amazing part time work at church has kept me quite busy as well. anyway...i find myself with a small sliver of "free time" (i think that's the appropriate word, i kinda forget the actual definition) tonight and i thought what better time to post the adorable pics of my family in the snow from earlier today! it began snowing/sleeting etc. about noon or so and it was off and on. thankfully, i was able to pick up jacob from preschool without the roads being too bad yet. but, as the boys napped and i worked on church stuff, the snow just kept on coming. huge, beautiful snowflakes that looked like the fake stuff you see in the movies. i always used to look at that and say, "with all the money they spend on movies, you'd think they could make snow look more real. snow doesn't really look like that" but i was born and bred in texas (amen!) so what in the world do i know? this was the most beautiful snow i've ever seen. ( i did see some pretty amazing snowfalls in lubbock while i was at tech(fight raiders fight) but that has been a while and my "mom-nesia" has erased the details of it!) anyway...once ryan got home and the boys woke up from their naps, we all bundled up and trudged outside. it was a winter wonderland! cheesey, but true! there was at least 4 inches that had accumulated over the last couple hours and our corner lawn was covered, up and over the curbs. so pretty!! jacob wouldn't wear gloves at first, but then he freaked out cause his "hands were so freezing, mama" so i calmed him down, put some gloves on him and let him back out to play. benjamin love, love, loved it. he didn't move much. didn't like to walk around much. didn't want to taste the snow, or sit and play with it. but, try to bring him inside and he let you hear about it! that boy has surely got an opinion. he must get that from his dad. (ha!) anyway...daddy shined through as the hero of the evening as he proceeded to build the largest snowman i have ever taken part in building. it pretty much stands as tall as i am. and the funny thing is, we have SO much more snow in the lawn left over. for those of you who are from this area, you know that generally when we get snow, it ain't much. (northerners, like my dear friend, dana, who is a proud indiana native...which i'm pretty sure is north of us... laugh at us texans cause we close school, freak out, and drive like grannies with cataracts when we get more than an inch of snow in 24 hours) and normally, when you do decide to do the whole obligatory "take the kids out to make a snowman" thing (i say it is obligatory because usually it is fruitless and not much fun with that little snowfall we get!), you are scraping every flake from the yard, the sidewalk, the cars, and your neighbor's yard when they aren't looking, just to scrounge enough up to built a 2 ft. tall snowman. even then, when you line everyone up to take a picture around it, it looks funny because there is absolutely NO snow around the entire snowman. ya, it looks a little lame. today, however, was NOT like that. we could have made a whole snowman family of 8 if we had wanted to and if my kid's toes could have withstood the cold. (yet another downfall of never getting this kind of weather, you won't justify actually purchasing clothes, especially for your kids(jacob was wearing his cowboys boots!) for the snow, because you will get a return on your investment about as good as you would selling suntan lotion in bulk to those darn yanks.) anyway...we had an amazing time, the boys had heaps of fun. daddy and i marveled at the fact that our boys are so cute and so fun and so silly. ryan's heart (and ego) bloomed when, while making and throwing snowballs with his boys, jacob shouted, "wow daddy, you sure are the best thrower!" it just doesn't get much better than that. i know i got a little overzealous with my blog entry tonight, but i guess i was just feeling it. i haven't gotten to write much lately, and so out it pours. anyway...enjoy the pics and i will try to not let 3 more months go by without another entry. i will try. i really will. ah well...see you in june. :)

happy halloween!

look at these sweet halloween boys! jacob, was, of course, diego for halloween, because he is basically obsessed with diego. not really, but he does love the show, and all of the tons of books/toys, etc we have that are diego. it was great for me, because he already had the clothes, and rescue pack, and i just made him a badge, watch and my folks bought him a baby jaguar. we wanted to spray paint his hair brown, but he wouldn't go for that. in fact, he told us, "i'm going to be diego with red curly hair!" so cute! and benjamin...just look at that little scarecrow! he is just adorable. he walked all over with his squeaky shoes and smiled at everyone. the costume was one jacob wore when he was this age, and it is just my favorite, so benjamin had to be a little scarecrow too! he tolerated the hat much better than i though he would. he was just so cute! jacob wasn't a big fan of anyone ele in their costume, and it didn't help that the very first house we went to, the older lady answered the door wearing a scary mask. he freaked out, of course. but, overall, he did really well, and we all had such a fun time with the boys!!