The days are still long, but they are numbered. Tyler returns to daycare on August 3rd, and I return to work–at my new job! A friend encouraged me to apply at Niwot High School, and as it turns out, I got the job. I will still be teaching special ed to high school students with cognitive needs, but at a school much closer to my house. As it’s still summer, I haven’t thought too much about the transition other than needing to get my phone to understand “Niwot.” Right now when I voice text I’m given “night what,” “not hat,” “high hot,” and other nonsensical interpretations. Pull it together, Siri. N-i-w-o-t.
We have had an amazing summer which I will blog about more (I hope).
Here are a few things we’ve been up to:
Eating new foods and trying to break 18 lbs.Such as [free] Chick-fil-A……and Sweet Cow ice cream.Swinging at the many parks in Erie on our walks & runs.Crawling through the island……and getting stuck in the hall tree.Exploring new trails with Mommy.And sharing popsicles on the porch.Splashing in the backyard.Learning how to drive.And catching [very few] zzzzs.
Here is a darling video of Tyler’s first real bathtub experience with his cousins Ethan & Emma. He loved it! He learned how to splash…which you can see he now practices nightly in his pink tub on the kitchen island.
I just had (well, a few weeks ago) one of the best Spring Breaks ever. I got to spend TEN days in a row with Tyler. And Eric took some days off too, giving us some excellent quality time.
We went to Vail for two nights and saw lots of friends.
Tyler loves Melissa, especially when we can hang out on the sunny deck at Garfs.
We went to Basalt for two nights for the First Annual Babyfest.
Weston, Tyler, Burke, & HadleySo much pretty.You can always tell a Euchre deck…Floods, Holles, Taylors in downtown Basalt.
And best of all, Nana & Grandpa drove in from Ohio to spend the week with us Tyler! We dined out at Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar on the rooftop deck–the Colorado sunshine was a welcome change from a Cleveland winter and the burgers were OUTSTANDING.
Awake with Grandpa.Asleep with Grandpa.
We visited brewery numbers 31 and 32 for Tyler (Finkel & Garf and Sanitas).
Cool little dude.
We golfed, shopped, walked, and took Tyler to the park. We finally tried the raved-about Pizzeria Locale (delicious).
Lilly gets jealous and sits on benches.
We celebrated Easter.
Spring is finally here!Hadley-bunny.Egg-stra cute, indeed.One of my all-time fave photos of my babies.
And we got very used to having two nannies available to tend to Tyler’s every move all week long! Tyler says he loves his Nana & Grandpa very much and can’t wait to see them again!
Now that the evenings are getting longer, the daffodils are pushing up, and we are on the brink of Spring Break…here’s a long post about Tyler’s first holiday season. In case you were missing all things red velour.
Fourth Annual Happy Holledays Party! Thanks to a hand-me-down bag for Tyler’s awesome Ugly Jumpsuit with Matching Hat.Because the party was on December 6th, our tree was pretty sad by the time actual Christmas rolled around. Here are our gifts in front of the undecorated, half-lighted, dying pile of needles.
We traveled to Nana & Grandpa’s house in Ohio, where my brother David, his wife Heidi, and their two sweet boys met us from Chicago. Talk about a full house…but we had a blast! Here are the grandkids attempting to fulfill Nana’s dream of a holiday photo of her three boys. Lots of credit is now given to the kind people at portrait studios who can actually make babies and toddlers cooperate/sit up/look at the camera.
Judd (3 mos), Everett (28 mos), & Tyler (4 mos)
We opened gifts on Christmas morning in front of the impeccably decorated tree. Nana & Grandpa went overboard for their grandbabies, as was to be expected.
Tyler’s new school bus.Everett’s new weed wacker…he thought this was hysterical.
We enjoyed hanging out at home and gorging on treats and Great Lakes brews. We also got out and about, including a snow-less, muddy field trip to the Metroparks.
Eric and I get cabin fever pretty quickly, so we made an excursion down to Huntington Beach on a gloriously sunny day.
Cleveland skyline in the distance.Daddy’s gift to Tyler is his matching cool CO hat (with ears!)Beer on tap at THE GROCERY STORE? What is this place, heaven?! No…just Heinen’s.
Tyler also got to see his twin buddies, Audrey & Brody.
And no trip to Ohio is complete without breakfast at Bob Evans!
I still love sugar for breakfast…that didn’t go away post-pregnancy!
But the best part of being in Ohio for Christmas was spending time with family. Tyler and Judd are a mere 5 weeks apart in age…this will only get more fun as they get older!
Thanks, Nana, for the matching outfits!
Holding hands in diapers…does it get any cuter?
At age two and some change, Everett is the star of the show. He is such a fun kid–he remembers everything (the magnifying glass in Grandpa’s office!), loves books, and chats up a storm. He always uses your name when he talks to you (“Will you play with me, Aunt Amy?) AND he’s potty-trained. Everett, you’ve set the bar rather high for Tyler and Judd!
And we can’t forget dear old Macie, who will be FIFTEEN in June. She loves the boys, too.
I was excited to find Tyler’s first Halloween costume. I knew I wanted one of those incredibly soft and incredibly adorable animal get-ups, and my mom and I found this crab at Carter’s. I love it. He didn’t mind wearing it at all and I think he was rather cozy. We trick-or-treated at a few select neighborhood homes and then stayed in to give out candy and play euchre. Obviously Tyler isn’t playing euchre (yet!); we had our friends Meghan & Brad and their daughter Penelope over for pumpkin pasta and Halloween Oreos.
The full costume!
We didn’t manage to make it to a pumpkin patch before Halloween (I know…). But after church today, we stopped by Rock Creek Farms to snap some pumpkin patch photos. And we weren’t the only family doing this! On the plus side, we had the giant field almost to ourselves and it was still 70 degrees and sunny on November 2.
One last photo. It just wouldn’t be a holiday without a little spit-up!
I just got back from Washington, where I was celebrating Jess’ upcoming June nuptials at perhaps the most untraditional bachelorette party of all time. We shopped Seattle on Sunday, and boarded a water taxi bound for Blakely Island on Monday, just the two of us.
The beach.
Blakely Island is pure Northwestern bliss. Damp, chilly, scenic, rustic. We stayed in a friend’s cabin and hiked in the sun, cooked gourmet meals, and caught up on life, love, and the latest issues of Country Living.
Sidenote: Do not mock the Country Living. For all you people that like the way our house is decorated…Country Living is my guide!
21.5 weeks
The baby thoroughly enjoyed the trip. We’re both getting bigger day by day, and we both feel superb. I hope it stays this way so I can shop for a maternity matron of honor dress and heave myself down the aisle at 35 weeks at Gilbert Cellars in Yakima, WA.
So first of all, I deeply apologize for any time I might have said, “How hard is it to update a blog?!” or “What’s with people that start blogs and then never write on (in?) them?!” I swear, every night I think about it…and then fold laundry. Or cut coupons. Or watch The Biggest Loser while drinking a milkshake. (That’s for another post.)
We flew to beautiful, sunny Tucson the week after Christmas. Eric’s parents hosted us, Eric’s sister Laura and her husband Andy and adorable son Ethan in from Indianapolis, and Eric’s brother Paul and his wife Colleen in from Sun Valley. We now comfortably fill both the Camry and the Accord when visiting Arizona.
The whole gang. Ethan does have eyeballs, I promise. It’s just that his eyes were closed in the other group photo, too.
The days were spent hiking, going to the park, eating, and reading in the sunshine. Oh, the sunshine was wonderful. Better than wonderful. Satiating. The trip was an amazing way to relax and celebrate the new year!
Welp, it’s that time of year again, time to find our Charlie Brown Christmas tree, and hang the lights up outside. So, after venturing to some sketchy thrift shops in Longmont for gag gifts, we found a Christmas Tree lot. Amy starting walking towards the nice trees when I spotted the cheap ones laying on the ground with price tags on them. And she found it – the best Holle Christmas tree for 2013!
The turkey from Thanksgiving weighed more than this amazing tree, but nonetheless, this is our tradition. This tradition started as one of Amy and my first dates, where I went out with Amy and all her girlfriends to help find them a tree. I stuck around to decorate and drink egg nog, and we have done the same thing every year since. But now we just go to the lot on the corner. Anywho, I managed to put up all the lights outside of the house and it looks nice. Not Clark Griswold nice, but a couple hours of my time nice.
All of this made possible by the fine folks in China, and Walmart, who create lights with a lifespan of less than one season. The little ones aren’t blinking, Clark.
Eric and I flew to Chicago on Thanksgiving Day to stay with my brother and see my parents who were in from Cleveland. We had a wonderful visit at David and Heidi’s beautiful home in Lake Zurich and spent the majority of the weekend chasing after our adorably handsome nephew. There were no turkey mishaps, although after a few rounds of dominoes and and Great Lakes Christmas Ale, my dad did suggest something along the lines of “turkey twerking.” Thank goodness we didn’t follow through with that.
Dad, can you ever stop looking at your grandson?!
And what better place to spend Black Friday than Brunswick Zone? In a typically Mihalik-esque move, my brother was the proud owner of an expired bowling Groupon. So, we decided to head over and see what kind of deal we could strike (pun intended) with the bowling alley employees. The 6 of us ended up with a lane for 2 hours and had a blast. Heidi fittingly bowled three strikes in a row…a Turkey.
![Such as [free] Chick-fil-A.](https://i0.wp.com/welcometohollewood.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/11760356_10205500226199944_2133439295_o.jpg?ssl=1)
![And catching [very few] zzzzs.](https://i0.wp.com/welcometohollewood.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/11422935_10205264414944810_1888597544_o.jpg?ssl=1)
