The Adventures of a Stay-at-Home Dad of 5
We got a chance to have a little get away. So we packed up the car and headed to North Carolina for a little skiing before the season ended. I used to be an avid snowboarder but I haven't been on a slope since our first kid was born more than 9 years ago. We found…
As a parent, it is vital for you to keep your child safe. When it comes to bike riding, bike helmet safety is essential. There are a few rules that you should keep in mind when it comes to buying a safe helmet for your child. Where To Get A Helmet You will be able…
Earlier this week marked the official end of an era around here. I started my first full time job since 2009, thus my days as a stay-at-home dad have come to an end. I am working at a local Marriott Resort and my official title is Recreation Supervisor. Of course if you had listened to…
My pals Jon and Josh over at the Dad Bros Show podcast recorded their 200th show the other night and they graciously invited me to come on. They are a couple great dads and all around fun guys to chat with. I also publicly revealed some exciting news about myself on the show for the…
Winter is a season associated with curling up under a blanket inside and hiding from the cold in the outside world. However, those habits can lead to bad habits later in life, as people start to fall out of good fitness routines and start isolating themselves when the snow begins to fall. Instead, you can…
Part of my job as dad is to teach my kids to talk good with proper grammar. By my last sentence, you can already tell I'm not the most qualified at this position but some things are obvious to even me. My 2 year old has been notorious for starting sentences out with "me want." Me…
I'm a part of a local neighborhood stroller walking group. It's just me and my kids. Every so often, the kids and I buckle in our babies and hit the streets. We wave at any passer-bys and stop to knock on a few friend's doors. My daughter even has her own baby carrier so she…
Four years ago on October 20, 2012 I was where I am many Saturdays in the fall, in The Swamp, watching the Florida Gators play football. We were playing South Carolina and it was an important conference game. The Gators were doing well. With about 3 minutes to go in the first half, I got…
I needed to go get my daughter's birth certificate today. She's about to turn 4 and somehow I hadn't needed it up until now. But now I did need it, so I figured I'd load up the crew and go get it. I would also get the two younger boys' birth certificates as well since…
There is nothing like a life-threatening category 4 hurricane barreling down on you to make you rethink what you value as important. Unless you were in a coma last week or a foreign country, you are likely aware that a massive hurricane named Matthew was projected to rip through the Caribbean and ride the coastline…
At the start of the summer I sat down with the kids and they brainstormed all the things they would love to do over the summer. It was fun for them to dream up places to go and it was helpful for me to know what types of things to plan. I was rather fortunate…
Well, those lazy summer mornings have come to an end. No more dragging my feet and waiting until mid morning to get the kids dressed and make breakfast. We now hit the ground running at 7am sharp! I want to try and get on top of things around the house so I have decided to…
As the summer is winding down and the kids are starting back to school, our family continued our tradition of ending the summer with a week on the beach. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all take the week off and head over to the beach for a wonderful week of relaxing, good cooking, fun, sun,…
On day one of our recent family road trip we stopped for dinner in Georgia at a pizza buffet. While in the bathroom bending over to help our daughter, my wife's iPhone 5 slipped out of her shirt pocket and landed face down on the tile. She knew before she even turned it over, it…
Wow, where has the time gone? Not so long ago I had the pleasure of getting to be a guest on the 18th episode of The Dad Bros Show podcast. Since then I have stayed in contact with Jon & Josh and just the other night I had the honor of being able to be…
The weather is having some sort of identity crisis around here. It's 78 degrees and sunny one day then the next morning I wake up to ice in the back yard. It's time for Mother Nature to make up her mind. And the pollen is out of control. Everything is covered in a quarter inch…
I wish I was talking about the lasting mark I was going to leave on my children, but alas, I'm talking about the knee that hit my face. As you may remember, I played on a flag football team this past summer which ended up winning the league championship . Well, we got the team…
February means two things for me: Valentine's Day & my annual camping trip with my dad. My wife and I take turns planning Valentine's Day and this is her year. So all I have to do is relax and enjoy my trip with my dad. I look forward to this trip all year long. It's…
One day a while back, I went to wash my hands. I went into the downstairs bathroom and pumped a squirt of soap onto my hands. I immediately noticed that the soap was incredibly watery. I remembered noticing the day before that the soap level was low and thinking I needed to add more soap.…
Now that winter is in full swing here in Florida it means temperatures are dropping into the low 60s. And when it gets that cold, it's hard to get out of bed. Oh, I'm only teasing. Florida winters are mild compared to much of the rest of the country but it can get cold here.…
2015 came to a dramatic end for our family. After the loss of my grandma on the 20th, our attention turned to the impending birth of our new baby. Five days past his due date and with only a few hours to spare in 2015, Finnley David Smith was born on December 31st. We didn't…
I've never been a morning person. Ever. Everyday as a kid getting up for school was such a battle. I can remember dragging myself downstairs to the kitchen table and falling back asleep waiting for my mom or dad to get me a bowl of cereal or a pop tart or whatever I was eating…
My four year old goes to Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) 3 days a week for 5 hours. It's a program our state pays for to get kids ready for Kindergarten. Or in my case, give me 5 hours of a break 3 days a week. The school he goes to is very close and only takes…
Much to my delight, I was invited back on the Dad Bros Show podcast. They saw that I recently had my one year blogiversary so they let me celebrate with them a little bit. If you haven't had a chance yet to catch one of their shows you are missing out. They are a couple…
So much of what I know about being a man and father, I learned either directly or indirectly from my dad. I am very thankful for his positive influence in my life. I recently connected with a guy by the name of Bolaji Oyejide. He started up Brave Little Heroes which are superhero books about…
I like to think of myself as still being youthful. In my mind I don't feel like I should be any older than about 25 or so, but my body is beginning to tell me on a more regular basis that I'm starting to age a little bit more than I want to admit. I'm…
This is a post I wasn't sure I'd ever write. I wasn't sure I even wanted to write it. But with October being SIDS, Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month I decided now seemed appropriate to write this post. We currently have 4 children and my wife is pregnant now. This is her 6th pregnancy.…
Now that school has gotten back into full swing our routine has become fairly....well, routine. Long gone are the lazy summer mornings where I drank 3 cups of coffee and the kids watched some cartoons before breakfast. Now I have about an hour once my eyes open to get 4 kids, fed, clothed, teeth brushed,…
I have only briefly touched on it before in my blog but I am a member of Jacksonville's Mad Cowford Improv troupe . In 2007 while living in Connecticut I auditioned for Funny Stages which was the improv wing of The New Haven Theater Company . I was accepted into the group and over the…
Yes, you are reading that correctly. In December we will grow our family by one more. Four kids had been the plan for most of our married life but somehow after number 4 we didn't feel like we were done with our family; so here comes number 5. We do not know the sex of…
As a stay-at-home parent I feel like I put in 14 hour days almost everyday. It's good for me to find some things to do outside of the house to let me have some fun. The two main things I do for hobbies are improv and sports. The improv I do fairly regularly with my…
Brushing teeth around here is an unpredictable event. Sometimes it's smooth; the kids hold their mouths open, keep still, spit into the sink and then brush themselves at the end. But then there are other times when it's the bane of my existence. There are certain times when, for whatever reason, the kids won't keep…
As many of you know, I have had the pleasure of being on the Dad Bros podcast twice (episode 18 & 36 ). Earlier this week I had the pleasure of also being on the Screaming Dad's podcast . As a bonus it was a video podcast so you can actually see me in my…
Well, summer as we know it officially ended this week. School started back up and my oldest (or is it eldest?) son started 1st grade. There were significantly less tears shed this year as he was getting on the bus as compared to last year. I'm talking about my tears. I thought I was ok…
So Dads everywhere are teaming up to shake their booties and raise awareness for UNICEF. I decided to join in with my monkeys too! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtfoKc5nTFA All you have to do is: 1) Dance, film it, upload to social media using #dothedaddance 2) Tag / nominate as many dads as you can to join in too…
I was once again invited to come on the Dad Bros Show podcast. In case you weren't aware, the Dad Bros are two brothers who are also dads who have a podcast. They chat about general parenting topics as well as general guy stuff. They are entertaining enough that I imagine even a female without…
This group of rag tag superheros is determined to fight for justice, combat evil, slide down slides, save helpless animals and have fun doing it. As long as they can get it all done before nap time. I love my kids so much. They are the most full of energy, rambunctious, sweet and crazy group…
The day started out like many other days this summer. A lazy morning around the house. The kids were playing with their toys and I was drinking coffee. I was formulating a game plan for the day. After a considerable amount of time had passed we all decided that we would head to our neighborhood…
I was never big into the TV show Seinfeld. That puts me in the American minority, but I share a trait with one of the show's characters. George Costanza. He and I have giant wallets. It's almost guaranteed that if I pull out my wallet in a group of 3 or more people someone will…
After our epic road trip we are getting settled back into our normal routines. Which for us, involves regular summer trips to the beach. It was a beautiful day and I was feeling adventurous so I packed up the crew and headed to the beach. I was prepared for the crowds on this gorgeous day…
I recently wrote a post on my Tips for Road Trippin' with a Toddler . Well, this past week I had a chance to put them to the test again. We packed up the car and headed north. We left around lunch time and drove straight through the night and arrived at our friends' home…
The night started off like any other. Our routine consisted of bath time followed by dinner. We finished off with story time then brushed teeth. Prayers had been said, lights were out and heads were quietly on pillows by 7:30pm. It was as smooth of an evening as we've ever had. It had been a…
This is a post I wrote that was originally published on Mamalode.com on June 19th 2015: It was a typical afternoon in the Smith household. Our oldest son was home from school and we were all out in the backyard enjoying the heat. While the kids were playing I remembered that I needed to adjust…
A while back I wrote a letter to Summer encouraging the warm weather to return. Well, the warm weather is finally here. Warm is actually a dramatic understatement, it's punch-you-in-the-face hot. Ninety plus degrees at 9 am hot. Break a sweat walking across your porch scorcher. It's not always this hot, but we've had a…
This post sponsored by Target. When my wife was pregnant with our first, I felt ready. I had read some books, my wife and I had discussed at length what we wanted our parenting style to be, we had registered for all the must haves at Target Baby and we had our house all set…
I participated in a Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for AVEENO. I received product samples as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation. Our family seems to take really great photos. We hire a photographer once or twice a year to take pictures of our family. These pictures always…
The other day my kids and I were out in the backyard like so many other afternoons. They were playing on their playset and I was sitting on the back deck rocking in my rocking chair and enjoying the breeze from my NewAir Misting Fan . When suddenly the kids come running and screaming up…
35 years ago today a woman went into labor at 11pm at night. By 6 am she and her husband had made their way to the hospital. After several hours, at 2:15pm on June 9, 1980 a baby boy was born to this young couple. On that day their whole world changed. The woman gave…
We just went to Disney to celebrate our son's 4th birthday. We had a great time and were able to meet up and enjoy the day with some of our friends that live in Orlando. Our group consisted of 4 adults and 10 kids aged 6 and under. It was a little wild, a little…
I had the pleasure of being invited onto the Dad Bros Show. If you aren't familiar with their podcast, they are two brothers, Josh & Jon, who also happen to be dads. They talk about dad stuff, tech stuff and other things that they find interesting. I had a really fun time being on their…
Like most people who have little kids will tell you, they can say the craziest things sometimes. My kids are no different. They are always making some off the wall and usually funny comment. It also seem that the crazy second child , Greyson, is the biggest culprit. I decided this past week I was going…
When we were headed to the hospital for the birth of our first child I really didn't know what was about to happen. I had read a couple parenting books and we had discussed what our parenting plan was going to be but all of that started after the baby was born. My wife was…
There is a song right now that's quite popular and pretty catchy. It's called Uptown Funk, it's by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars. One of the lyrics that gets repeated a bit is "uptown funk you up." If you aren't familiar with the song you can watch it below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPf0YbXqDm0 There is also an old…
Party Under the Big Top ~ Act Ten Well, here we are: Another week gone by and another Party Under the Big Top in the books. Last week had a lot of really great posts linked up and I have no reason to believe this week will be any different. We've got a little bit…
It's always been interesting to me how different my kids are. They each have the same biological parents and have each been raised together but they are all just as unique as they can be. As I got to thinking about it the other day I realized they were each like a point on a…
Potty training is a necessary evil in every parents life. I don't know anyone who would describe it as fun but then again changing your child's diapers for their entire life isn't going to be fun either. At some point, sooner or later (hopefully sooner) you will potty train your child. Sometimes these things go…
Last week I wrote about my upcoming annual trip to a remote part of Florida with my dad. Well, we are back and I decided I wanted to share some pictures from my trip of some of the unique things we came across. Here is a completely hollowed out log. Here is a fallen tree…
Today's post is all about how a snake gave me a chance at redemption. Here's the thing though, you can't read it here. You have to venture over to Welcome to My Circus in order to read it. I am the first guest blogger in a new guest blogger series The Sideshow . So…
There will come a day when I'll have to have "The Talk" with my boys. The sex talk. The birds and the bees. The "Where do babies come from?" talk. I can't say I'm necessarily looking forward to it but I'm not overly stressing out about it either. I've got a few years before I…
I'm am the undefeated, 365-time reigning LRF Champion. I know the L iving R oom F loor wrestling league isn't as popular as the WWE, but in our house it's huge! The kids come from all corners of the house to take on the champ. They try to sneak attack, they try to double team,…
Training wheels exist for our protection. They give us a safe environment and keep us from great bodily harm. They also hold us back and are only designed to be temporary. Our five year old had shown zero interest in learning to ride his bike without training wheels. My wife and I would talk with…
The 2nd annual Dad's Day Out at the Zoo happened on New Year's Eve this past year. What is Dad's Day Out at the Zoo you ask? Well that's when my good friend Casey and I take our kids to the Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens together. We've gone twice in two years :) He just…
Silence is Golden Trouble. Watching a movie and watching kids are two totally different beasts. Silence really is desirable in a movie theater. I don't want my house to be a screaming chaotic train wreck for 18 hours a day but when the whole house is pin-drop quiet I get uneasy. Allow me to back…
As a stay at home dad, I don't get all caught up in trying to portray some manly macho image to my kids or to the world to counter act the fact that I stay home and do a traditionally female role. It honestly doesn't cross my mind 99% of the time. We have 3…
It hurts so good!
Recently my youngest child hit one of those major milestones. I'm not talking about taking his first step or speaking his first word. I'm talking about being able to sit up in a grocery cart by himself. This may seem like a minor deal to the casual kid-free shopper but for someone who's hauling around…
Saturdays in the South during the Fall are dedicated to one thing...College Football. Last weekend was no different. My family has had 4 season tickets to the Florida Gators for 52 years. I went to my first game when I was 6 years old, I was hooked. Gamedays were a big deal when I was…
We don't do a whole lot of arts & crafts around my house. It's not that I have some aversion to it. I actually enjoy painting and the like, but it's really challenging with little kids. It's usually super messy, set-up & clean up take 45 minutes while the project itself only lasts 10 and…
Trips to the doctor's office are always unpredictable. Thankfully today was one of those days where my wife had off and I didn't have to take all the kids in with me. The two youngest had well-checks so I tossed some extra snacks into my bag and off we went. Both kids fell asleep in…