Brady’s First Day of Pre-School

Today was Brady’s first day of 3 year old Pre-School. This year he will go Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9:15-1:15. He was so excited about playing with new friends and seeing his teacher, “Miss Cwad-yah” (Miss Claudia.) He specifically requested a special lunch for his lunch box…a bologna sandwich, grapes, and a muffin (a cupcake.) He couldn’t wait to wear his new Gator backpack and his “Vroom Vroom” shirt. I love that he was so brave and ready to take on a new school year!

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Breakfast with Nolan on the 1st day of school

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A little first day gift for “Miss Cwad-yah.”

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His first lunch box!!

I couldn’t help but think how cool it was that over 11 years ago Chris and I met at UF and now, here we are with a 3 year old going to school with his Gator backpack and an Orange and Blue cupcake in his lunchbox!!!

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Nolan fit right in…and couldn’t quite understand why he couldn’t stay and play!

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Had to sneak one picture after we walked away!

Yay for our big boy!

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It’s Gameday, Y’all! {Printable}

Soooo beyond excited for the upcoming holiday weekend. Not Labor Day (I mean, that’s cool too) but, the start of college football! It’s our most favorite time of year! College football means  watching “Gameday” on ESPN all morning, eating delicious food, drinking beer, wearing your school’s colors, singing your Alma Mater’s fight song, brainwashing your kids, and watching football ALL day! We love the Gators around here, but enjoy watching all the games, especially the SEC teams.

I wanted a printable that summed up how we feel on Saturday mornings during college football season, and I thought I’d share what we came up with.

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Obviously my favorite version is the orange and blue one, but we made it in several colors to accommodate people who may be fans of other (not as awesome) schools.

These are mostly SEC teams, but could work for several other schools. Click on the link below the colors that suit your team, download, and print! (Some colors may show up different on different screens, but they should print right!)

 

GamedayUF

GamedayUF

GamedayTXAM

GamedayTXAM

 

GamedayGeorgia

GamedayGeorgia

 

GamedayLSU

GamedayLSU

 

GamedayAlabama

GamedayAlabama

 

Breakfast To Go {Oatmeal Smoothies} – Kids Cook Monday

We have been on such a smoothie kick here in the Smith household! It’s such a fun way to use up all that fruit that’s so ripe at the market these days. Plus, it’s an easy way to get the kiddos in the kitchen helping out with some of the “cooking.” Brady has been in love with smoothies for a while now, but recently Nolan has become addicted.  He takes them very seriously.

With back to school (pre-school for Brady) just around the corner, I wanted to try out an Oatmeal Smoothie recipe because it seemed like the perfect quick breakfast that can be taken in the car…for those days that we’re running late! This recipe is full of oats, fruit, and protein packed yogurt and skim milk. I can’t think of a better way to start the day!

 

Ingredients:

About a cup of chopped peaches (or whatever juicy fruit you have on hand)
About a cup of frozen berries (I had blueberries and strawberries on hand)
1 ripe banana
1 cup of milk
1 small container of Greek Yogurt (I used Blueberry flavored)
1 cup of ice
1/2 a cup of rolled oats (do not cook)

 

All you have to do is throw everything in the blender and blend until it’s smooth. This made enough for about 2 good portions. The oats give it a very thick consistency and make you feel so satisfied!

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Smoothie ingredients (plus a little ice!) I love having frozen fruit on hand. Whenever I realize I’m not going to be able to finish up my fresh fruit, I throw it in the freezer for smoothies!

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Nolan’s face while the blender is on. He HATES it!

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Yummy breakfast to go!

 

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And all is right with the world again.

 

Baby Boy Haircut= Bye-Bye Baby

What is it about getting a baby boy’s haircut that instantly turns them into big boys? It’s. So. Sad.

So, Nolan has had one haircut in his life. It was not a fun experience for any of us. He cried the whole time and I was a nervous wreck thinking that they were taking too much off and transforming my baby into a toddler. 4 months later and his hair was, well, according to others, in need of another trim….

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After much nagging on the part of his father, I had to admit that Nolan could stand to have his hair cleaned up a bit.

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Even though, it felt like we were taking away his mojo, we went for it…

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Where’d my BABY go?!?! Yes, he’s still adorable, snuggly, and sucking his thumb, but there’s just something about those haircuts that’s such a game changer. Sigh!

It should be noted that the hair cut was going fine until they brought out the evil squirt bottle and all heck broke loose! Poor Bubba screamed “All Done!” throughout the entire haircut. Meanwhile, big brother Brady sat like an angel for his!

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Quinoa Salad with Peanut Lime Dressing- Kids Cook Monday

The Smiths are just now venturing into the world of quinoa. Here’s what I’ve learned about this ultra healthy pseudo-grain. It’s great- when doctored up with lots of other flavors. So, that’s what we did this week! I recently found a recipe for a Thai Quinoa Salad. This inspired me to make a similar version with Brady. It has lots of veggies and the dressing has peanut butter in it! Which, admittedly sounds a little odd to me, but actually is quite tasty. There’s a lot of ingredients, but not a lot of work that goes into this salad. It’s colorful and crunchy and Brady described it as, “Yummy! Delicious!” (Future food critic, for sure.)

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Perfect as a side dish (you can leave it outside at a BBQ without fear of going bad!) or as a salad on it’s own. Tons of protein and good for you stuff!

Ingredients:

Quinoa (about 3/4 cup)

Salad ingredients:
One red pepper (diced)
1/2 a cup chopped green onion
1/2 a cup chopped cilantro
2-3 cups of cole slaw mix with carrots
About a 1/3 of a red onion, diced (optional, I may leave it out next time!)
1/2 a cup of chopped cashews (I used lightly salted)

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Quinoa and salad fixins.

Dressing ingredients:
1/2 a cup smooth peanut butter
3 tablespoons soy sauce
juice of one lime
1 Tbs. Sesame oil (optional, just a fun flavor!)
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
1 Tbs. honey

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Peanut Lime Dressing ingredients. Melt the honey and peanut butter for about 20 seconds in your microwave before whisking all the other ingredients in with it.

 

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First we cooked up our quinoa according to package directions. Once all the liquid was absorbed, we put it in a bowl and let it chill in the fridge for about 10 minutes to cool off.


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Then, have your kid clean up all the quinoa you spilled all over the floor…


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While the quinoa was cooking, we chopped up our veggies. I would most definitely use less red onion next time. Or leave it out altogether!


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While the quinoa is cooling in the fridge, start the dressing by microwaving the peanut butter and honey together. Let you kid (or husband) lick the spoon.


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Whisk all the dressing ingredients into the melted peanut butter/honey. Taste for seasoning or consistency. You want it smooth, thick, but pourable.

 

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Here’s what our dressing looked like. Yum!


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Toss the veggies, cole slaw, cooled quinoa and sauce together in a big bowl.


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Ta-Da!


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May he always be this adventurous of an eater!

 

Veggie Breakfast Burritos- Kids Cook Monday

It’s time for my favorite foods to come together…Breakfast for Dinner + Mexican= YUM! And the fact that this meal gets my kids to eat a protein packed meal WITH veggies is a total bonus! This meal is not very difficult to make because it’s mostly just assembling all the parts. Here’s how it went down!

 

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Scramble up about a half dozen eggs. I always make mine with a little milk, salt and pepper, and some American cheese melted in.

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Chop up one green pepper, a clove of garlic, and one onion. Look at my lil’ helper snagging some peppers to munch on!

 

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Rinse and drain one can of black beans.

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Sautee the onion, pepper, garlic mixture in a little olive oil until just tender.

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Add the beans to the onion mixture and season liberally with salt, pepper, cumin, and a little bit of chili powder. Cook until the beans soften and are nice and hot.

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We made a little sauce to add to our burritos. It was just half plain Greek yogurt, half jarred salsa, with a little bit of chopped cilantro.

 

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Meanwhile, make sure your other little chef is not getting into trouble behind you!

 

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Fill a large tortilla with your scrambled eggs, bean and veggie mixture, shredded cheddar cheese, and salsa/yogurt sauce. Optional toppings could be avocado, jalapenos, or tomatoes.

 

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Wrap up all the goodies and enjoy!

 

This meal easily fed our family of 4, but if we make it again (which we definitely will!) we’ll probably make a double batch and freeze a couple for easy breakfasts during the week. I hope you and your kiddos give this meal a try. With all the fun ingredients to munch on during the cooking process, your kids are sure to love it!

Brother (& Sister) Printable

Recently, I took a trip to Florida to have a little Gator girl reunion and help celebrate my friend Maribeth’s baby boy, Bennett. I asked Chris to help me make a printable that I could frame for his nursery. I thought I’d share it on my blog because I figured that I had lots of friends who may have searched for something similar. The original printable was geared towards being a brother, but I asked Chris to make a similar version in girly colors for all the people out there with little girls. Plus, baby Bennett has a pretty awesome big sister (Lynlee) who deserves her own little something!

 

Just click on the word “brother” or “sister” under the picture you like, download the file, and print!

Bennett (2)

Brother

 

sister

sister

Summatime…Smith Style

As I sit here typing, it’s currently about 68 degrees out, raining, and I’m wearing sweat pants and drinking hot tea. It’s hard to believe that it’s August! Thank you, Raleigh, for this unexpected break from Summer weather. With that being said, I thought it was a perfect time to sit and recap all of our Summer adventures. Between family trips, girls weekends, and tagging along for some of Chris’s work trips, we’ve been on the go all Summer. We also celebrated mine, Brady’s, my mom’s, and Chris’s birthdays…along with our anniversary and Father’s Day- we’ve been busy.

I kicked off Summer with a Gator girl weekend in Savannah. That was followed by a work trip (for Chris) that we tagged along for to Virginia Beach. Then B-Man and I headed to Atlanta for my Goddaughter’s 1st birthday. After that we took a trip to Washington D.C., then a long weekend in Oak Island, NC, another girl’s trip to Tampa/Naples, then a family vacation to Myrtle Beach which turned into a staycation in Raleigh/Durham area, and then a week long trip to Savannah.

Whew!! This. Summer. Was. Awesome.

Here’s a virtual scrap book of our travels…

Gator Girl Reunion in Savannah, Memorial Day Weekend.

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Virginia Beach, VA

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Atlanta trip with Brady… playing at the lake with Taylor and Jackson, exploring the Georgia Aquarium, and celebrating Miss Taylor’s 1st Birthday.

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Washington D.C. Mine and my friend Lindsay’s hubbies both had to be in D.C. for work, so we tagged along for some sightseeing fun!

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Oak Island, NC. 4th of July weekend, visiting with our Lancaster buddies!

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Summer also consisted of lots of golf, birthdays, and date nights!

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Gator girl weekend in Naples, FL

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Myrtle Beach, SC

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“Staycation”- Jordan Lake, NC Zoo, and Durham

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Savannah, GA- visiting Grandpa and Nana

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Traveling with young kids is not always easy, but I’m truly grateful for this time in our lives where the kids are not in school full time, I’m not working, and we have the freedom to get out and expose our kids to new adventures. We’ve made some amazing memories this Summer! Even though I’m sad to see this summer come to an end, I’m secretly excited for the structure and routine that comes with Brady starting Pre-School, being home for the kids’ naptimes, and cooking/eating dinner at home. And of course, the fact that College Football is just around the corner!!!

The Life and Times of Nolan Smith

It’s been 3 months since we celebrated Nolan’s 1st birthday (eek!) and it occurred to me that when Brady was 15 months old, I did a blog post to document what he was up to at that age.

http://www.ourblessedadventures.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-life-and-times-of-brady-smith.html

I thought I’d do the same for N-Dawg to help myself remember some of his baby (although less baby-like every day) quirks.

First off, he has just recently mastered walking within the last month. He still has a little drunk man technique at times, but is trying so hard to keep up with his big brother. He always has the bruises to prove it.

Since he took his time getting the hang of being mobile, his focus must have been on language skills because lil’ man has lots of words he likes to use. Some of his favorite words include; ball, balloon, “all done,” “I did it,” bobba (bottle), wawa (water), Brady, momma, dada, pup-pup (puppy), up, down, Gato, moo (cow), foffle (waffle), night-night, vroom, airplane, monkey, moodic (music), outside, spoon, bite, wow!, hot-hot, bubble, pop, bucket, button, book, banana, and the ever so lovely “poo-poo” and “burp.”  Just to name a few…

He’s already fascinated by anything that Brady likes- trains, trucks, airplanes. He even knows the characters from the “Planes” movie…yesterday he brought me a  “Planes” sticker he found and kept saying, “Dusty,” which is he main character from the movie. He loves to make sound effects when playing with anything that has wheels. He gets great delight from coming in the room and destroying Brady’s train tracks and stealing one of his “choo-choo’s.”

The thing I will probably remember the most about Nolan from this age is his love of music. I know, I know, all kids love music. Brady loved music too, but this is like, whoa, demands music anytime he sees an I-Pad, speaker, or radio. He takes his music and his dancing very seriously. There’s a whole repertoire of moves that he uses for different types of music. He loves Hip-Hop and 80’s hair bands. His very favorite song, the one he actually requests by name, is the “Happy Song.” (Happy by Pharrell) If he sees my mom with her Kindle, he makes a bee line for it, saying “Happy Song” and does not give up until she has the music video playing on YouTube. He likes to watch and imitate any dance moves in the video. I can’t make this stuff up….

Since day one, Nolan has been bursting with personality. He is quick to laugh, and quick to freak out and cry. He is always “on” and rarely has quiet or down time. Despite his “on the go” personality, he still likes a quick snuggle with mommy every now and then. His signature move is to snuggle in my neck, pull my hair and suck his thumb. I’ve lost quite a bit of hair thanks to him, but have gotten quite a few cuddles to make up for it.

Nolan keeps us on our toes, but brings us unimaginable joy. He couldn’t be more different than his big brother, but they are still best buds. We have so much fun watching Nolan and being a part of his little world!

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Mouth full of snacks…this is oh-so-Nolan.

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Nolan is a constant sweaty, disheveled, messy-faced kid. Love him!

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Still just rocking the same few teeth he’s had for forever! I think we’re finally up to 6 now…

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My smart, sweet, silly boy!

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Momma’s boy!

Grandma’s Cheesy Lasagna- Kids Cook Monday

Us Smiths have been doing lots of traveling this summer. Between Chris’ work schedule, family trips, and a few girls’ trips of my own, we’ve been all over the place. Even though Chris is out of town again this week, I’m here with the boys and my mom and we’re celebrating Meatless Monday with Grandma’s Cheesy Lasagna. My boys are nuts for Italian food, but this one is especially a hit!

Whenever my mom is around, she makes up a big batch of lasagna for us for dinner. We freeze the leftovers in individual containers and pull it out when we need a quick dinner (usually when Chris is traveling and I’m not in the mood to cook something up for just the kids and I.) It always re-heats so great and is a perfect go-to Meatless Monday meal.

Grandma’s Cheesy Lasagna

Ingredients:
1 box lasagna noodles
2 lg. jars of spaghetti sauce
1 lg. container of small curd cottage cheese
1 sm. container of Ricotta cheese
6 cups of shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 pkg. spinach leaves (optional)
About 3 tsp. Italian seasoning
2 cloves minced garlic
1 onion (diced)

Directions:
-Cook lasagna noodles until just tender
-Add minced garlic, diced onion to jarred sauce (to liven it up!)
-Use a 9’13 pan and begin assembling:
Pour a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan and then begin layering noodles (slightly overlapping them so they lay flat), sauce, spinach, cottage cheese, a sprinkle of Italian seasoning, Ricotta cheese, Mozzarella cheese and then repeat starting with noodles again. You will make about 3-4 layers total. Top it all with a layer of sauce and Mozzarella cheese.
-Bake uncovered at 375* for 25 minutes.
-Remove from oven, cover with foil and continue to bake at 375* for another 25 minutes.
-Let sit for 15 minutes before cutting and eating.

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All the beautiful layers before going in the oven!

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Golden brown cheesy goodness!

 

As much fun as it is to travel, nothing beats being home, sitting together at the table with my boys, and eating Grandma’s (mom’s) lasagna!

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Nolan LOVES Italian food!!

Did I mention she made homemade banana bread for dessert?!

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