Head over to the giveaway page for Crest products.

A few nights ago for Pack meeting, my husband acquired about 20,  #10 cans from the cannery and had the boys make stilts.  Erica, in all her jealousy really wanted to recreate the activity at home.  Except we didn’t have any more #10 cans.  So creatively, she put together a plan. 

She began by announcing everyone needed to help her eat 2 cans of peaches so she could rinse out the cans and use them.  She had Wade punch holes in the side with one of those sharp can opener puncture thingy’s.  Then she threaded some nylon rope through.

What you could do next: Have a race!  (we couldn’t cause we only had one set).  My kids in just a matter of  a few days completely wear these down.  The entire can has collapsed and folded in on itself.  But they sure had fun while they lasted!

Later today, an opportunity provided by Crest. I’m interviewing Olympic speed skater, JR Celski.  My kids had a few questions about his healthy habits.  But I need more!  Any of you have questions I could ask him?

It’s been a great long while since I posted anything about kids and exercise.  Getting them off the couch in winter (or any cold weather) is more of a challenge, than when the sun is shining.  Lets be honest though, its usually not their fault. They would be happy running around in their underwear in a snowstorm, if I would let them.  I however was meant to live in Southern California, where you can play comfortably outside all year long.   Then OF COURSE I would be outside with my kids more often.

But yesterday, I had a reason to get moving.  We got a coupon for a free family day at our rec center pool (indoor pool that is). It expires soon, so we headed out.  The great thing about swimming  in a public pool during fall and winter, is you have the pool to yourself.  Even on Saturday afternoon.

I wish I could say I swam with them. That’s what a good mother would do.  But as soon as I get wet, I get so cold that I want to go home.  I like to blame that on my thyroid.  So instead, I brought my big, awful GRE study guide, and hung out on the side of the pool, book open, pretending to study, but really people watching.

Friday: Exercise

My daughter loves to cut paper into tiny pieces and use them for tickets or money.  But the other day she noticed a roll of 2000 REAL tickets at the store, in the office supplies, for $3.88!  She was super excited, she was about to burst.  With her own money, she bought a roll of tickets.

We went home, and she created signs for a carnival.  Everything at the carnival cost *2 tickets.  She had jump roping, hoola huping (hula hooping of course), resting, tire jumping, long  jumping, a masoosh! (that was massage), and a few others that I can’t recall right now.  When she wakes up I’ll ask what some of her other activities were. The crazy thing is, neighbor kids, and her brothers really do indulge her and participate in the carnival. 

Trust me when I say, she is going to get her $4.00 worth out of those tickets!

And Thanks for the interest in the tofu coupons. Liz and Janine are the winners!

FRIDAY: Exercise

My husband Wade and my 10 year old have been exercising together for the past month.  Wade wrote this post today about their experience:

About 1 month ago I noticed that my oldest son had stopped playing with one of his friends, so I asked him “why don’t you play with Fred anymore”.
“Cause sometimes he is mean to me” he reluctantly told me.

“How is he mean to you?”

“Some times he calls me names” His chin started to quiver and you could hear a crack in his voice that he saves for when he was on the verge of tears.

“What names does he call you?”

“He calls me unathletic.” He was almost in full blown tears.

Do you think you are unathletic?”

“Yes!” He said, And he began to sob.

I realized he was very fragile at the time and I thought I could go 2 ways; I could try to validate him and tell him he was athletic and try to build his self esteem through words, or I could try to help him realize you can choose to become what ever you want in life, and you can change, to a certain degree, anything you don’t like.

Do you want to become more athletic?” I asked

He stopped crying and said “Yes” Looking relieved.

We sat down at the table, and using some semblance of a scientific method, we took his problem and wrote it down. We developed a plan of doing a routine of Plyometrics, core exercises and some kick boxing 3 times per week and the other 3 days we spent playing a sport of his choice. We chose to rest on Sunday.

As our control to measure improvement we chose to run a set of ladders in the back yard and his maximum amount of push ups. His start time on ladders was 24.89 and he did 6 scraggly push ups. He then set goals to shave off 4 seconds on the ladder run and do 14 push ups and gave him self 1 month to affect the change.

During the execution of the plan we added push ups daily and occasional ladder practice runs. All the children participated in their own way and it became really fun as they all tried to best each others times in the ladder run.

After 1 month our reassess day was met with excitement as I think he realized he was stronger and faster than just a few weeks ago. As I wanted him to succeed I mowed the lawn to make the track faster and he put on his soccer cleats to help with traction on the grass.

He warmed up with Ketchup boy and flip flopper and they all dropped to do push-ups.

He pushed out 15 strong pushups and 5 more for good measure. We then went to the back yard and set up the ladder course. After 3 tries he bested his goal by more than ¾ of a second coming in at 20.02 seconds. He was beaming, smiling from ear to ear.

Baby, it’s COLD outside!   Although my kids love playing outside, we need indoor activities as well.  Presenting; The 2009 Winter Games:

Using painters tape or masking tape, we created somewhat of an indoor playground.  This is set up in our family room, so I purposely put it under our area rug, so that I can cover it up when they aren’t playing on it. 

If you are a mom like me, you can just let your kids go crazy and compete amongst themselves.  If you’re an awesome mom, you could have events, judging, and an awards ceremony with homemade medals using this template. 

THANK YOU for your overwhelming response to my plate sale!   Today is the last day you can get a Healthy Habits Plate for $2.99 (the shipping is 0.99 per plate).   Budget a little tight? Head over to Simply Healthful and Heather is giving away a plate (Only until Friday).  Here is part of Heather’s review:

When I served this lunch to him he said,”Mommy the plate says I need carrots too”, I was shocked, he is not a carrot boy.

Thanks Heather!!