I’m a Dance Mom! This is NOT a Dress Rehearsal.
I complain a lot about the trip to the dance studio twice a week. It’s not so far, maybe 15 minutes, but it’s all backroads and trafficky. Parking is sometimes a nightmare. The kids that aren’t dancing always want snacks and screens and it’s takes quite a bit of my patience out of me.
But then there’s this…
and this
and this
And of course there is how much they love it.
They really do. My guy doesn’t look forward to anything as much or work harder at anything other than hip hop. Maybe drama. Or legos. Or making up games that nobody else wants to play because the rules are too complictaed and always changing. Other than those, nothing else makes him happier than Miss Twyla’s dance class.
My daughter just comes alive when she’s in her class. It’s like she suddenly realizes she has a beautiful body and takes delight in all the wonderful ways it moves. From an elegant arabesque to a booty shaking shimmy. She loves it. I watch her just smile and move.
They are happy, moving their bodies, and learning. And I get in a good cry at the recital because my heart is BURSTING with pride and love and ALL THE FEELS. It’s a win all around. I need to stop complaining already :-)
It makes them like this for goodness sake…
The boy doesn’t look as happy in this photo as I describe because he has undiagnosed strep in this pic. He felt awful, but still danced. Because, well, he rocks!
Are you a dance mom? Do you love it or tolerate it?
read moreFirst bike ride! (also Glider Bikes RULE.)
So this happened over the weekend!!
WooooooHoooooooo!
She had never tried to ride a bike until 10 minutes before this moment! I give all the credit to me (I have ninja bike riding teaching skills) and glider bikes.
Glider bikes are bikes with no pedals and no training wheels. You just glide along on them. When my third baby was born we brought home 2 gliders bikes as well as their baby brother! The kids got a new baby and new bikes.
This Strider Balance Bike
My daughter didn’t want any part of her glider bike until she was 5. She rode it all last year.
She tried a bike with training wheels but always came back to this glider. She seemed scared on the training wheels. But always seemed to be having fun on the glider.
When we took the bikes out this year I had her ride it for a few weeks watching her closely. I knew she had found her center and she’d be able to ride a two wheel pedal bike no problem. So off we went to the park. The story was almost identical to my older boy’s first bike ride story except he did it a year earlier.
I have no doubt that if I put my 4 year on a pedal bike he could ride it. I’ll keep you posted if I do. But he’s have so much fun on his new ‘big” glider (the one my daughter just moved out of) that I don’t want to take it away from him yet.
The “big” glider is a Glide Bikes Mini Glider
So if you want your kiddo to learn how to ride a bike super easy first time out have them start on a glider bike. We couldn’t love them more!
Glider Bikes Rule! And so do pedal bikes with no training wheels :-)
You can see all kinds of Glider Balance Bikes at Amazon!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclosure: Amazon links are affiliate links!
Getting Fit for Fall
This summer I ran some and I did some barre classes to keep my curves from getting outta hand.
I LOVED the barre classes, but they were pretty spendy. I can’t keep up with that monetary output. I will go again but I need to find something that fits my schedule a bit better as well as my wallet.
All of my best buds are runners. Like marathon runners, runners. That will never be me. It’s just not a goal that I have. In fact I don’t really like running all that much. However, running for a half hour or an hour would be AWESOME. I want to be able to pop out of the house and go for a quick run and get on with my day.
Enter Planet Shoes Get Fit for Fall!
Get Fit for Fall is an online campaign challenging us to accomplish your fitness goals! Whether it be completing a 5k or finishing 10 pushups, it’s time to get fit with the help of PlanetShoes and your fellow fitness fanatics. Join Fit 4 Fall today!
Go to Planet Shoes and see what it’s all about. Set a goal. Join in the discussion. Get off your butt and get #Fit4Fall!
So I’ve got my shoes and I’m ready to go. I just need all of these kids to get back to a regular back to school schedule now. What about you?
What are your fitness goals? Do you like to run??
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This post, and my sharing on social media, was inspired by my participation in in the #Fit4Fall by Planet Shoes.
I have been given a free pair of kicks for my time. All opinions are, of course, my own.
The Bar Method with a side of Adora Calcium- oh and a giveaway.
Last week I went to an event that Boston Parent Bloggers coordinated with the good people at 360PR. It was really well run, food and babysitting (!), and gave me good information and a nice goody bag. These are all things I truly appreciate when I am driving into the city to attend an event about calcium in the middle of the day. They gave us one more thing that really pushed me over the edge to get off my butt and go – an abbreviated barre class. THAT I was really excited about.
I hadn’t attended an event for BPB in a while and I like to represent. The stars aligned, the subject was something I like, nutrition and exercise, and I knew you would too. So there I was mid day on a Wednesday schlepping my littlest into the city.
We had a short talk from a nutritionist working with Adora calcium. I am of a certain age when I need to be considering the amount of calcium I’m getting. The dreaded O-word. Osteoporosis. Nobody wants brittle bones. That doesn’t even sound nice.
First, get your Calcium from food. You can get it from dairy, greens, and if you like ’em sardines are good too! If that’s proving difficult, it’s time to supplement. Which is where Adora comes in. It’s chocolate ladies – Chocolate. It comes in the milk or dark variety and provides 100% of the Daily Value of calcium plus the addition of vitamin D3 for improved bone health and magnesium for optimal absorption. A yummy way to get what you need.
Next up for your bones. Weight bearing exercise. Enter – The Bar Method. After just one class I was totally hooked. It’s like grown up fitness ballet classes except not at all ;-) No classical music or tutus here. It’s a fast paced class with the music that I won’t let my kids listen to in the car. Awesome.
Barre classes work arms, thighs, seat, and abs in an hour. I don’t think I would recommend it for weight loss or fat burning. But for toning – hell yeah. One of the best parts – cozy socks. You don’t need to worry if your feet have gotten a pedi in a while. You can get long lean ballet dancer muscles if you dedicate yourself three times a week. We’ll see, because I just signed myself up!
The GIVEAWAY:
AND THE WINNER IS: Semirah!
How about you? Would you like to give the class a whirl? I have two passes to give away to the Clarendon St. studio, which is gorgeous btw. You and a friend can go check it out. I promise you’ll be hooked after just one class.
Head on over to The Bar Method and take a look at ALL the class times they have! Let me know what time you like to work out.
OR
Are you a milk chocolate or dark Chocolate kind of Adora gal? Let me know.
Additional separate entries for liking me, The Bar Method, or Adora on Facebook.
So that’s 5 entries total if you like. Make each a separate comment.
Remember the studio is in Boston!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Winner has 24 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen. This giveaway will close at 11:59PM ET, June, 19th 2013. Please leave a separate comment for each entry and remember to use a valid email address. The winner will be chosen via the WordPress plugin “And the Winner Is” and will be notified by email and announced here on the blog. As stated above I was given a free class and free samples. All opinions are my own.
Rainbows
It’s almost (officially) Spring and that means more Rainbows!
Chop Chop Magazine and New Balance have teamed up to show you some rainbows in a whole new way. You can Eat the Rainbow and Run the Rainbow :-)
“Eat the rainbow” helps kids get in the habit of eating a balanced palette of fruits and veggies —and, because different colors are associated with different nutrients, it is an easy way to color your world healthy.
“Run the rainbow” in the colorful brand-new 890v3 Rainbow shoe by New Balance.
In celebration of healthy kids and New Balance’s new 890v3 Rainbow shoe, ChopChop and New Balance invite your family to enter our “Run the Rainbow” contest. You can enter your email for a chance to win a monthly prize pack, including a pair of Rainbow shoes, a one-year subscription to ChopChop and a grand prize of a $400 gift card to a local grocery store!
Visit: http://www.newbalance.com/Rainbow-Contest/RainbowContest,default,pg.html for a chance to win!
The contest is now live and will run through May.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just passing along some info on a great mag and some snazzy kicks because that’s why I’m here ;-) I received no compensation for this post. All opinions about how awesome rainbows are, are my own.
My not so resolute New Year’s ideas
Yeah, that’s what I’m calling it. You don’t like it, well how are your resolutions going? Hmmmmm? Still at it? Well I hope you are! Me? I never made it past the first week. I gave them up years ago.
So it’s the first week in January and I have some very definite ideas about what I’d like to accomplish this year. Goals, if you will. I’ll work hard towards them, but I will not name them resolutions. Nuh uh.
I’ve been spending some time with this be-atch the past couple of days…
Gaaaaaaaah!
I’ve also started eating the 4Hour Body way again. Which means my husband is all 4HB again. He’s grouchy ;-) Two years ago I had amazing results from 4HB and I really loved it. I made some modification and kept on with it. Then I started eating chips and bread again, and my tummy is back. Sigh.
I feel stronger already. I have more energy already. Why do I always forget how GOOD eating right and exercising make me feel. WHY?
Being healthier also makes me a more patient mother and wife. And a happier one.
Professionally, I’d like to build the blog more, Hence doing a course called 30 Days to Build a Better Blog. I started in in December but it fizzled out because I had the flu. In case you didn’t notice I was absent over the week around Christmas. Holy Hell was I sick. So I’m starting it again this week. We’re building here people!
I’d also like to do some more video work now that I have a new camera. Wooohoooo!
So there you have it some stuff I’d like to do.
What are you doing with the New Year?
About Me
Hot wife, Mom of 3, Human to #jojothedoodle.
They said WHAT?