Year in Review

As today is New Year's Eve, I thought it would be fun to take a look back through the year. Here are some photographs and memories I wanted to share:

If there is one thing I can say about my son, it is that he is always happy. I severely underestimated the joy he would bring not only to my life but all of those around him.

My little Valentine! 

He has been quite the good luck charm as well - especially when it comes to running. I set a PR in ever race I ran this year!

March also brought a big change for us. We moved! This is Phinn's last nap in Purcellville.

I think this will always be one of my favorite pictures of him. That was such a fun phase! 

First bunny cake! One of the many things that I love about having a child is that you get to pass on all of your favorite traditions.

My little foodie! He always gives everything a try to see if he likes it. I think we have come close to trying just about every fruit and vegetable. He has even surprised me with a few of the things he has taken to such as kale, Brussels sprouts, spinach, and mushrooms.

We went from crawling to pulling up and creeping along everything in early June! He also began to look more like a little boy than a baby.

Also made his first of what I am sure will be many trips to St. Louis this summer and got to meet his great grandmas. I feel so fortunate to have been able to take him and he was a great little traveler.

And what baby timeline is complete without a bathtub picture?! Beside the standard words like "ball" and "dog," "duck" was one of Phinn's first words and to this day points out ducks like "Where's Waldo?".

Another favorite picture of mine! My mom made these hats for her and Phinn one afternoon while she was watching him. It made it hard for me to be productive with this cuteness going on in my family room.

Love the joy you can see in his eyes! Phinn has taught me how to be more joyful and find amusement in the smallest things, like the baby giggles that you hear when playing peek-a-boo with a pillow.

In August, he started really playing with his blocks and even learning to stack them. Now it has turned into a game to see how high we can stack them and then knock them over.

Swinging at the park.

Did I mention how wonderful baby laughter is?! Seriously, best sound in the world! 

First bite of a whole apple while we were apple picking.

And his priceless reaction....

We got a little carried away while finger painting.

My baby boy turned one with a Curious George themed party with friends and family from as close as Charlottesville and as far as St Louis.

Happy Halloween! Not a fan of costumes, especially ones that include a headpiece. Maybe next year...

He did enjoy the pumpkin carving.

In November, everything became a phone. Our water cups, blocks, pacifiers, shoes, you name it Phinn has probably used it as a phone. We don't think we talk on the phone that much but apparently that was something Phinn really honed in on.

Gadget man! Has his trusty remote and phone by his side. Also this is the last known sighting of our Roku remote. It has been missing and we are thinking it may have been put in the trash another thing Phinn enjoys doing.

Happy, happy boy!

 Merry Christmas!!

 A true all American boy in his Air Force t-shirt and his (I mean Hunter's...) Cardinals hat.

May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life's passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!

Happy New Year everyone!

One Busy Mama!

It all sounds like a good idea when you get started.

At work, it is sometimes referred to as "newbie syndrome." I think I might have a permanent case of it...

Newbie syndrome is when you are constantly volunteering to do things in order to prove yourself. I think the only person I'm trying to prove things to is myself, and I'm trying to prove - I CAN do it!

Confession - I like to get involved in things. I like to learn new things. I like to mark things on my calendar. (Yes, I still have an old-fashioned paper and pencil calendar!) I like to be busy.

I like to think I like free time and relaxing, but truth be told, I am not very good at dealing with either one.

So, I apologize for not updating you all in so long, but my plate is FULL. Actually, it is looking like your Thanksgiving plate after you have loaded it up and realized you should have made two instead of trying to cram it onto one.

Here are all the wonderful things I have been up to:

Running

I completed the RRCA course, took my First Aid/CPR/AED course, and passed my exam. You may forevermore refer to me as Coach Erin! I'm still determining my next steps in how to apply my certification and new knowledge, so stay tuned!

I have set two PRs in a week.

I swear ever since Phinn was born I have been a running machine. I do not know if it was the months and months I spent during my pregnancy just salivating at the thought of running or if it is just that running races by myself seems like a breeze after completing most training runs pushing BOB and Phinn. My cousin says that training runs with BOB = running races like Kara Goucher! I don't think that's an exaggeration! 

I ran the Chocolate Chase 5K in Charlottesville on October 15th and finished in 24:44. I was shocked to learn that I placed third in my age group (20-29) and won a free pair of running gloves! This was also my first race with other Baby Boot Camp Mamas. We are some tough mommies!!

On October 22nd, I ran the Fall Classic 10K in Charlottesville and finished in 51:09.  I ran this with two of my friends from St. Louis. Mandy has run mostly half-marathons and Lauren is a newbie runner. Lauren gave us these awesome running shirts that matched our personalities. Mine says "Running is My Happy Hour!"

I can't wait to run with both of them again. We are trying to plan a girls/race weekend. If you have any races to suggest, let me know.

Morning of the race in our witty running shirts and me with my good luck charm!

Running has not but all wins though. I will not be running the Richmond Marathon.

I decided this shortly after my RRCA training. I learned a lot about the importance of proper training during my RRCA certification, and how it plays a huge role in injury prevention.

I decided if I am going to train other runners, I need to set the example. I mean I can't lecture other runners on the value of basebuilding, speed work, tapering, and running at the proper pace if I am not willing to do that myself. I still plan to do a marathon one day, but it will have to wait until I can make more time in my life for training. So instead of the full marathon, I will be running the half.


Sewing


I wanted something really cool and unique for Phinn's first birthday party favors. So after some brainstorming, I came up with Halloween loot bags/pillow cases. I picked out some cool Halloween fabric and tried to make them pretty ageless so the kids could get many years of use out of them.

That was about as far as I got for awhile. The fabric sat on our kitchen table for weeks (along with everything else that is waiting for my attention - countless magazines, fitness study materials, etc.) staring me down, but I thought "Hey I am making pillow cases, really how hard could it be?!"

Well, the answer is a lot harder than I anticipated. Luckily I have a mother-in-law who is an amazing seamstress/quilter/crafter extraordinaire who eagerly gave me a helping hand when I called a week before the party and said I don't know that I can do this. We spent a whole Sunday afternoon sewing. And our final products turned out great! I was so excited!! I couldn't wait to give them to our little birthday guests. Now on to my next project for my mommy sewing swap group...

So cute! Definitely glad there were only a few kids coming though!

Henry we have one for you! I just need to mail it...

First Birthday Party


We had Phinn's first birthday party last Saturday. (Yes, the day of the 10K and yes, I am probably crazy!) It was a few days before his actual birthday, but I couldn't resist since Lauren and Mandy would be in town.

It was fun to decorate the house for his big party. I had ordered a birthday banner off of Etsy (My black hole for time and money!) that matched his Curious George theme. I also got some great cupcake toppers too. Lauren volunteered herself to draw Curious George on our chalkboard wall and I added a collage of pictures of the birthday boy.

It was so much fun to go through all of our pictures (I have TONS!! Guess that's what happens for the first child!) and see how much he has grown. Then we just added a couple balloons, and viola!

For dessert, we had a monkey cake and some AMAZING cupcakes (made by Lauren, Mandy, and me). The cupcakes definitely upstaged the cake. I'll post the chocolate cupcake recipe that Lauren gave me. They were some of the lightest, fluffiest cupcakes I ever had! Unfortunately, Phinn did not seem that impressed with the baked goods. He was not quite sure what to do with his cake - after a little guidance he took a few bites, but seemed more content to just mash it in his high-chair and clap his hands! We managed to get cake everywhere!!

He received some awesome gifts - lots of books, toys, and some clothes. I would have to say that the funniest gifts were his pillow pets and a certain jersey from my parents.

Phinn had received a Hokie pillow pet from our friends Dan and Lauren a couple days before his party. He was a little scared of it. I don't know if it was the Hokie or the fierce gobbling noises Hunter made but he would not go near it and if you showed it to him, he would push it away.

At his birthday party he got a Fredbird (the STL Cardinals' mascot) pillow pet from Mandy (who was kind of nervous seeing how Phinn reacted to the Hokie). Well, he absolutely LOVED Fredbird. He gave him hugs and was dragging him around the living room with him!

The other funny gift was from my parents, who gave Phinn a West Virginia University football jersey. There has always been a little in-family college football rivalry between Hunter and my Dad and brother. Phinn already has a Virgina Tech jersey, so I guess my parents thought it would only be fair for him to have a WVU one too. Well, Phinn went straight for the WVU jersey, see Hunter's priceless reaction below...

Phinn had a great party surrounded by family and friends. We feel so blessed to have many wonderful people in our lives.

P.S. Dan and Lauren - Phinn is warming up to the Hokie. He is giving him hugs now!!


And More...


Now that the RRCA certification is done, the bags have been sewn, and the party has been thrown, you would think it would be back to business as usual with this mama, but it continues:

I am starting to study for my AFAA Group Exercise and Baby Boot Camp certifications with the AFAA exam scheduled just a week after the Richmond Half-Marathon. Also, I'm at the height of my training for the half, so I've been running just about every free minute I get. Not to mention work has thrown me a couple busy weeks. I also need to get started on my tote project for my sewing swap. A mother's work is never done! I made Hunter promise not to let me commit to anything else until after Thanksgiving!!

I love Fridays! Fridays are my Favorite!

Happy Phinny Friday to You!!

If that face doesn't brighten a rainy Friday morning, I don't know what will!

Spreading the Love Around

So what's this runner doing this weekend? Running piles of miles? Nope! I will be Erin, Running Coach in Training.

This weekend I am off to Road Runners Club of America's Coaching Certification Course in Harrisburg, PA. Other than the slight anxiety I get when I leave Phinn for the weekend, I am pretty pumped about my training - and as an added bonus, a weekend away with my hubby. I think Phinn is pretty excited for a weekend at his grandparents too.

Packed my running book to brush up on my runner's vocabulary before class on Saturday and packed my new book that I heard of from a new blog I started following - Inchmark. As you can see I'm clearly in denial about how much free time I'll have!

So while my fellow runners will be out there pounding the pavement this weekend, I will be in the classroom learning how I can hook others on paying me to do something I love the art of racing. I am a firm believer that once you cross the finish line of your first race, you are done for! The slight rush from competition; the exhilaration of completing something you have worked hard for; and the awareness that you've gained of knowing what your body can do, makes you want to do it over and over again.

For years, I have been trying to get my friends and family into running. My mom, a former runner, jumped on board pretty easily. The rest though, have taken some convincing (that I am not absolutely crazy for enjoying running). I am excited to say that the majority of my friends have crossed over to the dark side. So many of them have, in fact, that we are even looking into doing a marathon relay as the focus of a girls getaway.

In June, I decided that sharing this love of mine with just family and friends was no longer enough. I want to share it with everyone and anyone, and that is when I decided to sign up for RRCA's course.

This weekend I am going to learn about the fundamentals of coaching, rules of training, physiology, psychology, injury prevention, nutrition, and techniques of training. It looks like my brain will be swirling with new information come 5 PM on Sunday!

When I return home with all this new knowledge, I will be studying for RRCA's exam and also completing my CPR certification.

Once those are completed, I will be Erin Smith RCCA Certified Running Coach. Then I will be spreading the running love around, so get your running shoes ready!

TGIPF

Thank Goodness Its Phinny Friday!!

Hope your Friday is as swingin' as ours :)

Tasty Tuesday - Pumpkin Mmmmmmm...

With the rainy cold snap we had last week and the cooler temperatures that are looming just around the corner, I thought it would be fitting to post some new pumpkin recipes to enjoy this autumn.

I guess this is becoming an annual thing, since I posted on pumpkin last October. What can I say, I LOVE pumpkin! I feel pretty confident that a lot of you do too; judging by the number of overjoyed statuses I have seen on facebook about the return of pumpkin latte season.

Let's start with breakfast. Besides getting your pumpkin fix from a latte, you can also make these delicious and healthy healthier waffles.

Pumpkin Waffles (From Runner's World)


Ingredients:

5 egg whites
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup low-fat soy milk
1 cup canned 100% pure pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
4 tablespoons honey (I subbed with 3 teaspoons granulated sugar so Phinn could eat them.)
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Coat a nonstick waffle iron with cooking spray. Preheat according to the manufacturer's directions. Place the egg whites in a mixing bowl and beat on high until stiff peaks form. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in the soy milk, pumpkin, honey, oil, and vanilla just until blended. Gently fold in the egg whites until just combined. Spoon 1/2 cup of batter on the bottom grids, covering two-thirds of the grids. Close the iron and bake according to the manufacturer's directions. Using a rubber spatula, carefully remove the waffle from the iron. Repeat with the remaining batter. Serves 8.

Next, comes lunch. Tired of your regular old salad? Need something to spice it up a bit? Try these wholesome, amazing roasted chickpeas. Bet you have never heard a chickpea described as amazing, but trust me, they are! Phinn even enjoyed them. Just be mindful of the skin, if you are sharing them with a little one. Also they go fast, so I recommend doubling the recipe!

Pumpkin Spice Roasted Chickpeas (from Peas and Thank You)


Ingredients:

1 14 ounce can of chickpeas, rinsed, drained and patted dry
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl until evenly coated. Spread chickpeas on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring chickpeas every 10 minutes to ensure even crisping.

Finally, what better way to cozy up than with a warm bowl of soup? One rainy Saturday, we stopped in at Whole Foods to grab a bowl of soup, and I decided to try their Triple Squash Soup. I'm so glad I did, and I cannot wait to be serving this up all winter long - it will go perfectly with the pile of books and magazines I have been meaning to read!

Triple Squash Soup (Adapted from Whole Foods Recipe)


Ingredients:

1 tablespoon canola oil
3 cups yellow onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 1/4 cups carrots, julienned
1 cup celery, finely sliced
2 cups butternut squash, cut into chunks
1/2 cup golden Hubbard squash, sliced
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
8 cups water
1 tablespoon clover honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon sea salt
31/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley

Directions:

Heat oil in kettle. Add onions, carrots and celery and saute until all glazed over. Add squash, pumpkin, water and honey and bring to a boil. Add maple syrup, cinnamon and salt. Cook for 30 minutes. Mix cornstarch with the heavy cream to make a slurry. Add the slurry to the soup and mix well. Blend soup in a food processor. Add the parsley and serve. Makes 1 gallon of soup.

So there they are! Some of you may think it's too soon for pumpkin recipes, but I say let's fit in all the pumpkin we can - 'tis the season!

Enjoy :)

Meals Made Easy, Well Easier Perhaps

I have been waiting for my days to switch over to 25 hours ever since I blew out the candles on my last birthday cake --- and we all know that those wishes come true! Since it seems like my wish is not going to be granted any time soon, I have been trying to make better use of the 24 hours I do have.

Meal planning is all the rage these days - especially with Real Simple's Take Back Dinnertime Challenge (I swear it has been popping up on all of my food blogs! Maybe it's the $2,000 prize... wish I knew about that earlier!). I am determined to give it a go. I think it could help me keep my grocery shopping in check and make my weekdays a little easier.

I am trying to carve out time on either Saturday or Sunday when I can do most of the prep work, and maybe even make the majority of the food for my family for the upcoming week.

I was hesitant to do this because I treasure the time we all have together on the weekends. It always seems to go so fast! But I figured if it can give me more family time on a daily basis, it's worth a shot, especially if it means we all get to sit down together for a homemade dinner at a reasonable hour.

Also, since I am just feeding a family of three (well, really more like 2.5 because Phinn doesn't require that much, and still can't eat all the things we do), it's likely that one meal will last two nights ,and maybe even have enough left over for lunches.

I choose at least one dish a week where I can make a batch large enough to feed an army. My poor very lucky husband knows what I am talking about, and is probably having flashbacks to my Red Beans and Rice recipe - delicious, but be prepared to have a LOT of it!

Here are my meals for this week:

Sunday - Summer Squash Turnover stuffed with Ricotta and Mozzarella cheeses (Recreating a meal I had at The Local in Charlottesville. If you live nearby and haven't been there - GO!!!)

Monday- Tomato soup and grilled cheese (for the boys) and soup and tuna salad for me (since I am not a big cheese person)

Tuesday - Risotto with spinach, mushrooms, and sundried tomatoes (I may throw in some more veggies that are hanging out in my fridge just to make sure I use them before they go bad.)

Wednesday-Veggie Burgers from the Farmers Market with roasted broccoli 

Thursday - Risotto leftover :)


Lucky for me, I only have to menu plan through Thursday this week because Hunter and I will be traveling to PA this weekend (more on this soon!), and Phinn will be having a sleepover at his grandparents.

Do you menu plan? Have any recipes this week you are excited to make?

Running Through the Fear

I always seem to do some of my best or at least most creative thinking when I am running. Sometimes I have to stop and make note of my good idea (if possible), and other times I have to remind myself over and over until I get home and can write it down.

Yesterday was no exception. I was running, and it was lightly drizzling. It may even only have qualified as misting. Any way, the temperature was cool and it was heavenly. I was running to a recently purchased song from OneRepublic called, "Good Life." And I got to thinking...

First, I am ridiculously blessed to have a wonderful husband who has been such a source of strength, encouragement, and support, and to have a son who brightens my day with his smile, melts my heart with his laugh, and inspires me with his curiosity and persistence.

Second, I am lucky to have good health and the ability to run.

With these thoughts swirling in my head, I started thinking about the Richmond marathon that I signed up for back in January. As you can tell for someone who signed up for a marathon and blogs about health and fitness, I sure have been quite about my marathon training. And that's because I haven't been doing it.

I wondered where that fire went. Why did I let it burn out? What threw me off course?

While I have been running, I have not made marathon training a priority. I had a lot on my plate this year - new mom, working mom, moving twice, etc. Any time I tried to stick to a training schedule (okay, the only time), I became frustrated when week after week I wasn't getting all my runs in and hitting my mileage. I felt like it was putting a lot of stress on me as a new mom and a wife. I was still trying to adjust to life with a baby and life with a baby and working and to throw marathon training in on top of it was too much for me.

So my plan that I had not formally committed to yet was to switch my entry from the marathon to the half-marathon; however, I have yet to be able to make that phone call. Maybe somewhere in the back of my head I figured things would change.

Well back to my original story, while I was running yesterday and listening to "Good Life," I thought why don't I just try to go for it? What is stopping me?

FEAR. Fear of failure. Fear of injury.

And then I thought about the example that I want to set for Phinn.

Do I want to pass up opportunities or things I want to do because I am afraid? I want Phinn to keep his curious personality and his sense of exploration. Don't I need to show him that it is important to try new things, even if I might fail? Isn't failure just as important as success, if not more important?

I am still not committing to running the marathon. If I think a marathon will only set me up for injury, then I'll change to the half. Otherwise I'll run the full.

But I am committing to running as often and as far as I can and see where that gets me come race time. I am committing to the hard work, and I am also committing to be flexible. I am not going to give up when things interrupt my runs - such is life and you have to learn to work with it.

Look for more running updates from me as I cobble together some sort of training plan and do my best to stick to it. And I am asking you to help hold me accountable. If I am not speaking up, ask me how the training is going. Keep me honest :)

So here is your big takeaway - Don't put off your dreams and goals because you are afraid of failure or you think life is going to get in the way. The risk of failure will always be there, you just have to learn from it and come out the other side stronger; and life, well life will always be giving us little speed bumps and hurdles and you just have to work with them.

Happy running to all you weekend runners! I'll see you out there!!

Phinny Friday!!

Happy Friday (or as they are called in our house Phinny Friday) to you!

Phinn with his Grandpa also known as the Mayor on 9/3/2011.

Down On the Farm

"Oh please, don't stick your hand up the cows nose!" I pleaded in my head as I reached out to grab Phinn's arm as he met Chloe the cow.

On Labor Day, we participated in "Meet Yer Eats" farm tour sponsored by the Charlottesville City Market. Although it was overcast and rainy at times, we managed to squeeze in some fun!

Our first stop was Vintage Virginia Apples/Albemarle CiderWorks.

Both of my boys - Virginia Grown!

Here we did a cider tasting. I am not a huge cider fan, but it was interesting to taste the differences between the various samples. Plus we got a mini history lesson on cider. They are huge fans of TJ (Thomas Jefferson, duh!) there and try to grow various varieties that he had at Monticello (which is just down the road). 

Phinn and I standing outside the beautiful tasting room.

We also listened to a mini lecture by a woman who according to our cider tasting guide is a history professor, wealthy stock investor, and an apple enthusiast. We were able to sample some of the more obscure varieties of apples they grow there such as Winesaps and Golden Russets.

CiderWorks has a great patio with some pretty views. They host various events out there including live music.

Another great thing about Vintage Apples is that they are dedicated to finding the most richly flavored apples (and other fruits) that will grown well in our climate and our soil so that they can use minimal sprays and chemicals. 

Next we went to Innisfree Village. It is a beautiful farm with a very unique mission. It is a residential community for adults with intellectual disabilities. As a community with some assistance from caregivers, they manage a herb and vegetable gardens, a woodshop, a weavery, a bakery, and some farm animals (chicken, sheep, and cows). 

It was cloudy and kind of rainy when we got there, but even that could not take away from its beauty. Those are the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in the background.

We got to tour the farm and meet many of the adults who live there. They even sell their products and have partnerships with some local businesses. I was hoping to find a sweet treat in their bakery but it was closed by the time we arrived.

Phinn did get to meet some farm animals including Chloe the Cow...

Phinn loves to grab noses and Chloe's was no exception! I am just glad we caught it in time, otherwise we would have had a pretty gross situation!

After our farming adventure, I think we were all pretty tired.

We hope to participate in the farm tour next year and hopefully visit a few more farms as well. Have I mentioned how much I love that Charlottesville has so many activities to offer families ;)