coffee date Archives - a mom on the run

Coffee Date

May 14, 2014 · By Kristin Smith · 10 Comments

It’s time to catch you up on what we’ve been up to again! I’m linking up with Jill, Nikki, and Lynda for the ultimate coffee date! I’m late, again, thanks to work. I keep thinking this busy cycle is coming to an end, but then it doesn’t. It’s not as bad as it has been though, I’m actually able to snuggle my little ones and put them to bed at night. Mackenzie kind of broke my heart a little bit the other night. I was finishing up some work while Adam bathed them and when I went upstairs to help get them to bed, she said “Mommy, you have to work? Or is it cuddle time?” I hate that my busy work schedule affects them. I can’t complain too much though, I’m able to work from home most days and my boss is great about letting me take off when I need to.

ultimate coffee date

There’s a lot to catch up on and lets be honest, I can barely remember what I had for breakfast this morning so remembering the details of all of this.. ehh, not likely. Plus, if I told you all about it, it would be a LOT to read and you’re busy too, right? Right. So I’ll just tell you a little bit and show you lots of pictures!

First up – Rex! He’s.. well, he’s a puppy. He’s getting the hang of potty training and only has maybe one accident a day. They’re usually our fault because we don’t see him over by the back door. We’re still working on the nipping and using the kids as chew toys. I hear that will stop once his baby teeth fall out. Fingers crossed!

golden retriever puppy

Way back in the middle of April, the Running Club at Braden’s school participated in a local race. The school with the most participants in the 1-Mile Fun Run received a nice donation from our local striders club, so the four of us pinned on our bibs and had fun! Mackenzie stayed in the stroller and Adam and I took turns running with her and sprinting/walking with Braden.

run to the sun fun run

Later that night, our neighborhood hosted a Family Movie Night and showed Frozen on the big screen. They call it “Floating Flick Night” which is fun, in theory, except the water was still FREEZING. The kids swam until the movie started, then I ran home to get them cozy PJs and some hot chocolate and blankets to warm them up.

kids watching frozen

Easter was fun – we did the usual dying eggs, hunting for eggs, time with family, etc.. We love going to the neighborhood egg hunt, but it was really rainy so it was more of an egg maze. The kids enjoyed it though and that’s all we really cared about

easter

On April 22nd, Adam and I celebrated eight years of marriage! Holy geez, it has FLOWN by. I do not feel like I’m old enough to have been married for eight years. I’m super stoked because some good friends of our got married just a few months after us, so for our ten year anniversary we’re going on a week long trip to an all-inclusive resort. Except that we’re going next year! Due to some work stuff, they won’t be able to go in 2016 so we’re celebrating a year early and I’m counting down the days!

eight year anniversary

Adam took this picture the morning of our anniversary. Shows what life is really like in our house. Mama trying to take a nice picture, nobody else cares, random stuff sitting out, baby gates to trip over. What you can’t see is Buddy two feet away from me, he wanted in on the action and pounced on us just a minute after this was taken. I love my life

real life with kids and dogs

One of Braden’s best buddies invited us to celebrate his 6th birthday with him and his family at the Nickelodeon Resort in Orlando. What a fun weekend!! They rented two cabanas for us and we relaxed by the pool and had dinner with the Ninja Turtles. Braden is usually NOT a fan of characters but he loved them. We’ll definitely be going back soon.

young love

Also, I’m super sad that we can’t be friends with Jenn from Runs with Pugs anymore. Seems that Mackenzie took a liking to her little guy and now he’s her boyfriend. Adam was not pleased and said we can’t hang out with them anymore. I’m kidding! Well, he did say that, but he was kidding.. I think..

nickelodeon resort orlando

dinner with ninja turtles nickelodeon orlando

Since we were in Orlando and the kids loved Animal Kingdom so much when we were there last month with my cousin and his kiddos, we spent Sunday morning/early afternoon there. I love the new FastPass+ system. It’s so nice to be able to reserve our FastPasses before we get there, then plan out our day around them.

animal kingdom safari

Ohh speaking of our friends that we’re doing our 10-year trip with, we had a play date with them and their adorable little ones. I really hope Mackenzie isn’t making eyes at their oldest boy because I’d be really upset if Adam said we couldn’t hang out with them anymore too!

kids playdate

Just this past weekend, my mom and I took a road trip to Athens for my cousin’s graduation. I swear she graduated from high school like a year ago. Why must time go by so fast? We waited ’til the last minute to book our hotel rooms and everything in town was booked. It worked out though, my aunt found this great house on Lake Oconee and there was more than enough room for all of us to stay there. It was a bit out of the way..

dirt road

But you couldn’t beat the view from the deck..

lake oconee

Jordan received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, she’s headed to Ghana, Africa for a medical missionary trip for the summer and starts med school in Athens in the fall. I’m so proud of her and so happy that we were able to be there for her graduation!

uga graduation 2014

She participated in two ceremonies – the first was with just a portion of the biology graduates in one of the lecture halls. It was really nice, they called each graduate up and talked about what they did while they were at UGA and what their future plans were. We hung around campus, took pictures, ate dinner, then headed over to Sanford Stadium for the big graduation. These things are usually not all that entertaining, but we were all pleasantly surprised. Once the processional was complete (which took 45 minutes!!) the ceremony itself flew by.

I really enjoyed both of the speakers (one a student, one a guest — the guest was a Georgia Senator, Johnny Isakson). There were two things that said that stuck with me:

“Always love people and use things, don’t use people and love things.”

I’m not sure if that is a quote from someone else or something he came up with, but what a great way to live your life. Definitely something to think about.

Next he quoted Mark Twain, “Always do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” One of my favorite Twain quotes.

The graduation finished with a big fireworks display and it was awesome. The turned down the lights in the stadium and had red spot lights, played the Georgia fight song. It ended the graduation on a very upbeat and celebratory note.

uga graduation 2014

My mom and I rushed home the next morning so we could make it to Braden’s t-ball game. I’m not a fan of being away from the kids for very long, I miss my babies too much! I wanted to be there Sunday morning too since it was Mother’s Day! B & Mackenzie woke me up around 9AM to the smell of waffles and bacon. Nutella waffles and bacon. Homemade Nutella waffles and bacon. SO GOOD!!

nutella waffles

Whew, that was a lot for one coffee date! So fill me in, if we were having a coffee date, what would you tell me?

Do you know of any all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean we should check out?

How do you celebrate anniversaries?

Have you ever tried Nutella on a waffle? You should, it’s amazing!

What are your favorite quotes?

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Filed Under: Us · Tagged: athens, aunt kathy, coffee date, disney, dogs, easter, family, fun run, holiday, jordan, orlando, rex

Coffee Date

April 11, 2014 · By Kristin Smith · 10 Comments

I started doing coffee date posts a while back. I love that it’s an easy way to catch you up on what we’re up to, without having to write a dozen different posts to keep it all organized, so I was thrilled when I saw that Jill, Nikki, and Lynda are hosting a link up once a month for the ultimate coffee date! Funny thing though, I’m already a week late for the first one.. oops. I can’t remember a time where my work schedule has been this busy, for this long.. but I guess it’s a good problem to have? Better than the alternative, for sure.

CoffeeDateBadge

Actually, a real-live coffee date with my girlfriends sounds AMAZING right now. I met some friends for dinner this week and it was exactly what I needed. It wasn’t a coffee date, but there were margaritas and that may actually be better than coffee.. maybe. I actually used to have coffee dates with one of those girls regularly. Our offices are a block apart and I miss those days! I’m in the office so rarely these days that it’s hard to justify getting out for an hour or so.

Anyway, I’m rambling, if we were having coffee today, this is what I’d tell you.

Is it just me or are there a TON of pregnant people out there? One of my friends said maybe it was the cold winter.. but it wasn’t that bad in Florida and it’s crazy how many of my friends here are pregnant! I’m a little bit jealous, if we’re being honest. I miss having a pregnant belly and feeling those kicks from the inside and the excitement that goes along with the whole growing another person and knowing nothing about who they will be. It’s so amazing. No worries here though, we closed up shop after Mackenzie, so you won’t be seeing any pregnancy announcements around here! I love looking at pictures of my pregnant belly though. Here’s my last belly shot with Mackenzie, on her due date.

40 weeks pregnant with girl

It was mid-July and HOT. Why was I wearing jeans?! I actually miss those jeans! I loaned all of my maternity clothes to Adam’s cousin and I had such a hard time letting go of them, even though I have no use for them at all. They were so comfy and cute too!

I posted this on Instagram, but wanted to share here because I love it so much! We’ve been talking about making some changes to the decor in the house (by we, I mean I told Adam I wanted to) because there is so much dark wood and I want to lighten it up. There are a few local ladies who started shops on facebook where they buy second-hand furniture and refinish it, then sell it. We’d seen a few tables pop up on there but they were always sold within a few minutes. We were laying in bed one night and Adam saw this one and emailed her right away and we got it! I was so irritated with the bar-height table and the kids seriously banged it up. I love the new one (we bought the shutter runner from her too) and love how it looks in our kitchen.

farmhouse table

Speaking of houses, we were riding our bikes last night and went through the neighborhood where we were going to build last year. We dodged a major bullet, holy geez. The homes in there are gorgeous, but they are literally on top of one another. We’ve been spending a lot of time in the back yard lately and it would have been so awful to have built out there, had our mortgage go up by so much, then have even less privacy than we do now (which is part of the reason we wanted to move). I was sad when we decided not to sell, but I guess hindsight really is 20/20.

This is totally random, but if we were having coffee, I’d mention it. You know the Barnum’s animal crackers? The kind that come int he box that looks like a circus train with animals inside? I loved them when I was a kid. I picked up a bag of them at Target a while back for the kids and they were not the same! I was sad, thinking they changed the recipe. Then a few weekends ago, my mom picked up a box of them for the kids (same kind of box she used to always buy me) and they were the same as I remembered. Is it just me, or is it totally strange that the crackers in the bag and box are different?

barnums animal crackers herbal essences shampoo

Speaking of old stuff, I was so excited when I saw that Herbal Essences brought back their old line of shampoo and conditioner. I used it in high school and it smelled amazing and my hair looked great. Still smells amazing, but I’m bummed that it no longer works for my hair. After using it for a month or so, my hair became so dried out and the ends looked awful. I haven’t found anything in a while that I really love. My hair is super thin and straight as a board, so I want something that gives it a bit of body without making it a mess.

Totally switching topics here, but I love that my kids get to grow up near their grandparents. I didn’t get to (my dad was in the Navy) and I was always a little jealous of my cousins growing up, because they got to spend so much time with our grandparents and I didn’t. Braden and Mackenzie love our parents and I love watching them together. Last weekend we were at lunch with my parents and Mackenzie was.. well, she was being two. The place we were at is a little local shop with the most amazing desserts. After my dad finished eating, he ordered a piece of snickers cheesecake and as soon as Mackenzie saw him walking over to the table with it, she hopped up with a big smile on her face and said “Pop, I sit next to you!” then climbed up in the chair next to him and proceeded to eat half of his dessert. And she was in a MUCH better mood. Imagine that, sweets cheering you up.. no clue where she got that from

mackenzie eating cake with grandpa

Oh, we went to the fair last weekend! I look forward to it every year.. not because we like the rides, but because of the food! It’s the one time a year that I let myself eat whatever I want, guilt free. I’ll be honest though, this year wasn’t as much fun as I remember it being in the past. We let the kids ride a few of the small rides (those things scare me, some of them look like they’re going t fall apart!) and we had a few snacks, but there wasn’t a petting zoo this year and Braden loves it. I guess I’d forgotten that they allow you to smoke at the fairgrounds too and I felt like we were in a cloud of smoke the entire time.

clay county fair

We did stop to watch the frisbee dogs and that was really cool. This was even cooler..

kids that love each other

It’s rare that they show it in public these days, they bicker a lot, but they still love each other <3

I think I forgot to mention that on our way to pick up Rex, Braden and I made an overnight stop in Orlando. He was out of school, so we spent the day at the Magic Kingdom.. just the two of us. I love our mommy/son dates. He does too, and that’s one thing I hope never changes.

teacups at disney world

I also hope that he continues to love playing baseball. He’s actually really good at it, especially considering it is his first season playing. I’d forgotten how much fun it is to watch. I need to look at the Jacksonville Suns schedule and see when they’re playing so we can take him to a game.

braden playing t-ball

So that’s pretty much it. We’re still working on potty training Mackenzie (and Rex too) but I feel like that’s a never ending battle. I keep reminding myself that I felt that way with Braden (and Buddy) too and that one day, I won’t be wiping up pee and poop multiple times a day!

I feel so out of the blogging loop — please tell me, how are you doing? What has been going on with you?

If you’re done having kids, do you miss the belly too?

Have you ever tried the Barnum’s Animal Crackers in the bag? Do they taste different to you too?

What kind of shampoo and conditioner do you use?

Any potty training tips – for kids or dogs?

Have a great weekend!

Filed Under: Us · Tagged: adam, braden, coffee date, disney, fair, family, grandpa, home, kristin, mackenzie, potty training, tball

Coffee Date

December 11, 2013 · By Kristin Smith · 4 Comments

When I feel like I need to catch up with my friends, we plan girls nights to get out and try new restaurants or we plan coffee dates. Basically just time for us to chat and catch up with each other and what has been going on with us. I love my girls nights and coffee dates, I love how easily the conversation flows and I love hearing about what is going on in their lives.

I’ve seen a few blogs that I read do virtual coffee dates as a way to update on the little things that are going on, that maybe aren’t really worthy of a post on their own. I sort of do this in the Five Things Friday posts, but sometimes I want to write about random things when it’s not Friday and sometimes I don’t have exactly five things to say.. so, enter the coffee date.

I don’t think I ever mentioned this, and I don’t know how I forgot to mention it because I was so darn excited when it happened.. but a post that I wrote is up on the ZOOMA Women’s Race Series blog! How freaking awesome is that? It’s all about different ways to survive a tough training cycle. When I wrote it, I was in the middle of marathon training and struggling. I’d love to hear what you think about it. (PS — Don’t forget, we have a lot of fun ZOOMA events coming up, starting this weekend! There’s still plenty of time to register for the 5k or half, you can use my code, FLAAMB5, to save 10%!)

Last Friday night, we dropped Mackenzie off at my parents house for a few hours and headed to my high school for a football game. They’re in the playoff’s and I’ve been wanting to take Braden to a game for a while. We had such a great time, I wasn’t sure if Braden would really get it, but he was asking lots of questions about the game and the rules and really seemed to enjoy it.

It was a REALLY good game — totally back and forth, we’d score, they’d score. They went into half-time tied and it literally went down to the last second. Thankfully, Clay won and now they’re off to the state finals in Orlando this Friday! I’m really toying with the idea of taking the day off to go down and watch. I’d forgotten how much fun high school football games are.

Do you feel over-scheduled this time of year too, or is it just me? It’s crazy. I read an article earlier in the week about how we need to focus on the little things – taking walks, snuggling with the kids, and stop putting so much pressure on ourselves to do everything. It was a bit of a reality check. Adam and I try our best to give our kids the best of everything, but it can be so exhausting. I know sometimes all they really need is a bike ride to the playground, a movie night at home with ice cream.. those little things are big things to them. I need to work on remembering that.

I finally got a new camera! I’ve been debating over which one to get for a few months and I finally decided — we got an awesome deal on it too and I’ve been back to snapping pictures like a crazy lady. This thing is incredible — I took the picture below in our room at night with just a lamp and the TV on. My old camera would have given me such a dark and grainy image.

I love how B’s all snuggled up in a pile of pillows with his too-small jammies that he loves and his puppy laying there with him. Sometimes I forget how little he still is.

Did you know I haven’t run at all since the marathon? What a slacker, right? I took a week off to recover, I’d planned to go to yoga on Wednesday but it was cancelled (BOO!) and then I got sick. I have a nasty cough that’s all in my chest so I’m hesitant to run. I have another marathon though in 4.5 weeks, so I need to get my toosh out the door. I’m trying to decide what kind of training to do for it. I think a big part of my problem at Space Coast was that I hadn’t been pushing myself in training runs lately. I need to get back to doing speed work and tempo runs. I should probably do one of those tonight. Thankfully, the weather cooled off a bit. It’s been so warm here.. blah!

Oh, and one last thing — I drew a winner for the Smoothie King giveaway! The winner was Natalie Yusko and her winning entry was for liking A Mom on the Run on facebook! Congratulations, Natalie! Shoot me an email and I’ll get your prize out to you! If I don’t hear back from Natalie by Friday at ‘noon, I’ll draw another winner. I have another great giveaway coming up, hopefully later this week or early next week. A company I’m really excited about sent me their product to review and I can’t wait — I just need to get out the door to run so I can try it out and let you know what I think!

So, what is going on with you these days?

Are you feeling over scheduled too? What kind of training are you doing? Any fun new toys or gadgets? Have you gone back to your high school since graduating? I want to hear all about it!