What we've been up to...

So time is definitely flying! In less than a month I'm turning 30. In less than a month and a half, our little man will be one. (Whoa. That's hard to even type.) In less than two months we will be living in Pennsylvania.

Almost 30 and almost 1!

We've been super busy enjoying the rest of our time here in Florida and beginning to plan for our new life "up north." We made a Florida to-do list for our remaining weeks and have been checking things off one at a time. Zoo, aquarium, beach, Gainesville trip, baseball games, hanging out with friends and family... We are also planning another trip to PA to search for our new home. We are trusting in God to help with the timing of our town home selling and moving to all work out. On top of all this fun and (a little bit of) stress, Chris has also begun his new sales position while still doing his old job.

Meanwhile, I've had two little projects that I have been working on. (Besides my normal job of, "Keep Brady From Eating the Dog Food/Cat Litter/Other Kids at Library Time" Project). I've always been a big fan of meal planning and love "strategic grocery shopping" AKA buying ingredients that can be used in many meals throughout the week, using fresh ingredients up at the beginning of the week, and finding ways to save time and money. Sometimes I like to have theme nights throughout the week to make it easy to plan. In other words, Tuesday is crock pot night, Wednesday is Mexican night, etc. I've also been going back and forth on the idea of trying vegetarianism, but I know that would be hard to do on my own and my Texan hubby has made it clear that "no meat" is "not an option." Also, this girl loves some Chick-fila a little too much to give it up all together. Soooo, I remembered an episode of Oprah I saw where the entire staff tried having a "Meatless Monday" every week. I thought this would be a great way to reduce the amount of meat we eat, focus on consuming more vegetables, and add a new theme night to the repertoire. There are tons of reasons to reduce the amount of animal proteins in your diet such as reducing your risk of diabetes, cancer, obesity, and your negative impact on the environment, so I convinced Chris that we should give it a try. Now, I knew I had to get creative to convince him that he really didn't need any type of meat throughout the day, but we've done pretty well our first few weeks. Here's two of the meals I've made that got a huge thumbs up from Chris.

Zucchini, squash, tomato pasta with garlic pesto cream sauce.

Bean burritos with avocado and sauteed onions and peppers

In no way shape or form am I claiming these to be diet foods. I get that cheese and cream sauce come from animals. But, the goal was to not eat meat and add more veggies to our diet which we definitely did. I'm on the lookout for more Meatless Meals on Pinterest, but I'd love to know if you have any tried and true Meatless Meals that you make. If you want more info on the Meatless Monday idea, check out this website: http://www.meatlessmonday.com/ I'm super excited about it and hope others can get on board to help make a positive change in our environment and health!

OK, so on to project #2...Brady's 1st birthday party! It doesn't seem possible that this is happening next month, but it definitely is so I am in full on party planning mode. Brady has his multiple wardrobe choices all laid out for the party, paper goods are bought, and decorations are, um, a work in progress. Here's a little sneak peek of my attempt to by crafty for this event.

Gotta love chalkboard paint!

Potential centerpiece...oh dear! It will look better by June 16!

So now we just need to pray for good weather the day of the party and for a happy baby who doesn't mind be overwhelmed by tons of people right in the middle of his normal naptime. Luckily there will be cake and the aforementioned Chick-fila nuggets at the party so, it's all good...

Brady A-Z

So our little B-Man has been a busy boy lately. All of a sudden his toys are just "OK" but everything else in the house is AWESOME! Not only do I have a shadow that follows me everywhere I go, but that shadow leaves a trail of destruction behind him. (That shadow is pretty darn cute though!) Here's a little glimpse of how things have been around here...


Dirt was everywhere...plant relocated.

All house plants are fair game.

So this is dangerous...definitely doing some rearranging.

The cat has never figured this door out, but Brady did!

Seriously left the room for 2 seconds and this is what happened!



If this is how it is with army crawling, I can only imagine walking. He just started showing an interest in cruising, and that made me painfully aware of how many candles I have sitting around. It's time for those to go to higher ground!

So since Brady has shown such an "interest" in the world around him, I decided to make a picture/ABC book of the things in his world. I've seen cute, professional looking ones such as:
Shutterfly Picture Book   Buuuut, I'm a momma on a budget and a teacher at heart, so I knew I could come up with one on my own. Basically I took pictures of things around our house to go with each letter of the alphabet- sounds simple enough until you get to "u," "v," and "x." Here's some examples of what I came up with...

I thought this would be a great way to help Brady identify common objects, work on his vocabulary, and eventually phonics and sight word recognition!! After I printed all the pictures (using a Walgreen's coupon-Holla!) I just put them in a small soft sided photo book. The whole project cost me about $4. I'm pretty sure I would have spent more than that on shipping if I had made the other "fancier" kind. Brady already had a photo book of "People Who Love Brady" with pictures of friends and family that he's obsessed with, so I figured this one would be a hit too. Here he is checking out his new book...

He is at such an awesome age and we are enjoying every minute of it! He finds humor in the littlest things, observes everything so closely, and is learning so quickly. I swear he has been trying to say the word "alligator." He says the "aaah" and then follows it up with "gay gay gay" when looking at his Gator mobile. We practice it every time I get him from his crib...Gator brainwashing has begun! We know that the real fun has just begun and we are totally enjoying seeing the world through Brady's (enormous, gorgeous, blue) eyes!

Spring Break! Part 2

The second leg of our trip was to Atlanta. Our good friends Lindsay and Jake get tickets to the Masters every year and Jake invited Chris to come with him this year. This was HUGE. The Masters was on Chris' "bucket list" and is so impossible to get tickets to. Basically Jake made one of Chris' dreams come true- *tear* While Chris and Jake went to the Masters, I got to hang out with Lindsay (one of my college besties) and her sweet little boy Jackson who is just 4 months older than Brady. It was awesome to see Lindsay as a mommy and get to know her little man. He is quite a bit bigger than Brady and more mobile, so Brady was a little intimidated by him at first. Jackson is so loving that he couldn't resist giving Brady lots of "kisses." Brady even had an Oreo colored ring on his forehead after hanging out with Jackson! This part of our trip went too fast and we wished we had more time to hang out with our friends...

Chris at the Masters

B-Man and J chillin' in the wagon

After Atlanta, we started our journey home. It's about 8 hours from Atlanta to Clearwater. Our only stop was in Gainesville (about 6 hours from Atlanta.) So basically we drove 6 straight hours with a 9 month old. That was a little crazy of us, but Brady did surprisingly well on this part of the trip. Again, he only took one short nap but played and ate snacks the rest of the time. You might be asking yourself, "How do you go 6 hours without changing a baby's diaper?" The answer is, yeah, you shouldn't do that. When we pulled into Gainesville, we parked on University Avenue in front of the row of bars that we spent so much time in in college and I had to change Brady's diaper ASAP. It was very surreal being able to see drunk college kids partying on one side of me and Brady on the other. Oh, how life has changed in the past 10 years!

Brady at Grog! I can't tell you how many nights were spent here with my Gator girls!

It was fun to walk around the campus and take pictures with Brady. We even had a picnic in front of my old dorm (because apparently Pita Pit doesn't have high chairs!) Here's a couple of my favorite pics of Brady.

The last two hours of our ride home felt long, but we made it safely and successfully conquered an 8 day road trip with a 9 month old. Whew! Here's my unofficial/ unprofessional tips for traveling with an infant:    
                     *make frequent stops/stretch breaks
                     *buy a few new toys that intrigue your lil' one
                     *pack fun snacks
                     *bring a DVD player/Ipad to play short videos
                            (fully charge before leaving!!)

One last thing...Brady and I played a very silly game to pass the time. Basically I used my cell phone to reflect a light on the ceiling of the car and pretended to chase it around. This entertained Brady for so long and I managed to capture some of the giggles. The link below will take you to the video- hope it brings a smile to your face!

Road trip giggles!

Spring Break! Part 1

Us Smiths decided to take a Spring Break road trip. Well, actually Chris was given an opportunity to go to the Master's (more on that later) and we planned a little vacation around that. On our first leg of the adventure we went to Savannah to visit my dad and step-mom (Grandpa and Nana) but passed through Daytona on our way. Clearwater to Savannah is about a 6 hour drive and Daytona was a good stopping point. We had a little picnic on the beach and let Brady stretch out and play for a while.

The second part of our drive went pretty well. Brady was entertained by a bottle, Elmo snacks, Baby Einstein videos, alphabet links, his photo album of his favorite people, and a short nap. Once we got to Savannah we were able to settle in for about 5 days and feel at home. It was a lot of fun to show Brady some of our favorite spots in Savannah, spend time with my parents, and eat lots of yummy foods. Chris and my dad went on a motorcycle ride one day and we got a couple shots of the boys before they left on their ride.

We also did lots of shopping, eating, and relaxing. I think the highlights of Brady's trip were playing with Grandpa and Nana, visiting the Easter Bunny and playing at the park. He apparently had so much fun that he did not feel it was necessary to nap during the days...yeah... Oh well, he was in vacation mode!



The bunny kinda creeped Chris out, but Brady LOVED him!



After 5 days in Savannah, it was time to head to Atlanta. We were on the road again! More on that after I work on unpacking, laundry, and sorting through Brady's fun new Easter stuff!

B,C & K Movin' to PA!

It's official, so I can finally announce that the Smith family is moving! Chris was offered a job opportunity in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia area.) It is still at Bic but he will be moving to their sales division. He is so excited for this new direction that his career is taking!

There were so many things to consider when making this decision to move. We definitely made our share of pros and cons lists. It will be hard to leave friends and family that we have near, as well as my job that I love, but this is an adventure we can't pass up. Not only is it a great move for Chris' career, but it will make it possible for me to stay home with Brady.

I know what you might be thinking, it's kinda crazy to leave Florida to go up north, but yeah...we are a little crazy. Both of us have moved quite a bit in our lives and you could say that we were starting to get "the itch" to make another change. We are up for an adventure and are so excited to experience all of the great things that the Philly area has to offer. We were fortunate enough to be able to go explore that area earlier this month before making our decision.

*Side Note: Fresh Prince song has been stuck in my head since the Philadelphia talk began.*

We still have lots of things to figure out (like the exact area we will be moving to) but we have until July 23 (Chris' start date for the new position). We know it won't be easy to leave what is comfortable and familiar, but we are trusting that this is part of God's plan for us and can't wait to see what the future holds.

Over the last couple of years Chris and I have had a sort of "theme song" for our relationship when anything challenging or exciting comes our way. I'm absolutely in love with it and it has meant more to me now than it ever has, so I'm posting the link to share with y'all.

"You and Me" -Dave Matthews Band

I will definitely keep everyone posted on the latest and greatest moving news (via my new, cool BLOG!) We appreciate your support and welcome any prayers for this huge transition!


So many more cheese steaks in Brady's future!

Baseball is BACK!

This might be Chris' most anticipated time of year- the beginning of baseball season! Yesterday we had the opportunity to go to an Atlanta Braves vs. Toronto Blue Jays game in Dunedin. Brady had been to two baseball games last year, but this was his first time getting to see Chris' beloved Braves play.

We got so lucky with beautiful (albeit HOT) weather. We arrived early so we could line up with all the other crazy fans and attempt to score some autographs. With Brady strapped on his chest, Chris felt as though he could somehow lure the coaches and players over with cuteness. It kinda worked! We got several autographs and the manager for the Braves even shook Brady's hand. You can't imagine how excited Chris was when that happened!

 After the autograph excitement we settled into our seats. Brady was into the game for the first 3 innings. He actually watched the players running around and seemed to enjoy it. He also enjoyed entertaining some of the people around us- at least the wives who were uninterested in the actual game! Then, it got real hot. We distracted Brady with some lemon ice cream which he really liked. After that we took turns walking around the stadium with him to cool off a bit. There is always good people watching at a game so he did his best to stare down as many people as he could.

Unfortunately, the Braves got killed! Yes, it's just a Spring training game, but it would have been cool to at least see them score a run. Chris definitely is crossing his fingers that Brady is not a bad luck charm for his favorite team! Overall, we had a great time and were so happy to expose Brady to one of Chris' favorite pastimes.

Here's my (unofficial/non-professional) tips for mamas thinking of taking a little one to an outdoor sporting event:
*dress the baby cool, *hat is a must if your baby keeps them on, *get a seat on the aisle if you can,
*find the closest ice cream/popsicle stand, *bring a carrier/stroller

Happy Baseball Season!!!

Give blogs a chance!

So, I'm so out of my comfort zone here, but I'm doing it anyway. I've decided that the time has come to start a blog. I realized that if I enjoy looking at my friends' blogs and even snoop around on strangers' blogs, then maybe some of my friends and family would want to follow some of the Smith family's shinanigans! (Maybe not, but like I said, I'm doing it anyway!)

I plan on using this space to (obviously!) post pictures and stories of our little boy Brady, share cool DIY and re-decorating projects, tell about our family trips and experiences, show my attempts to be crafty/creative, and maybe even just vent about random stuff every once in a while.

As I mentioned before, I'm new to this blogging thing, so bare with me as I navigate my way through the design and most likely have tons of typos! Hopefully you'll check in on us now and then- here goes nothing!!!