A Date that is Great

With two young children it is often challenging to find a babysitter, time, money and energy to have a date night with your spouse. Well, there is no better time than the present! And a present of time is one of the best gifts you can give. Ben and I enjoyed a special night out on the town - together - with no kids! And we had a ball. Every couple needs to plan a date night in at least once a month. Investing in your marriage is one of the most precious investments you can make. Do you spend money getting your car cleaned? Buying lattes? Purchasing the book of the month? How much more important is your marriage? Ask your husband out on a date today!

Celebrate with Friends

Stroller Strides women celebrated the Christmas season together at Fulton Five downtown Charleston in December. Little Black Dress night was a huge success and a lot of fun.

Thankful for Great Family

We spent Thanksgiving in Morehead City with the Howell family. With little kids involved you never know quite what to expect and can't overplan. And it is always the little things you don't expect that make the biggest impact. JT enjoyed eating green ice cream - which turns out to be mint chocolate chip - with his great-grandmother.

Claire played Wii bowling with Mama, her great-grandmother, and together they had a ball. When Claire returned to school that is the best memory of Thanksgiving that she wrote in her Kindergarten journal. Wow. I am so thankful that my children will grow up with wonderful memories of their great-grandmother. How many kids are lucky enough to say that?

Fall Leaves Fall

Every autumn childrens book we have read lately shows the changing fall colors and kids jumping in piles of newly raked leaves. Well, I can't give Claire snow but I can give her leaves. So off we went to a random natural area with a rake......we raked and raked and then jumped in! I was surprised how much fun this really was for them both. Too bad we don't need to rake our own yard leaves.....well, not really. But we may pack that rake in the car and do this again!

Determination

Claire has this amazing little determined personality. She will sit down and work on a problem, a puzzle, a game, a book until she figures it out. Well, the same goes for learning to ride her bike. One day she was ready. And was determined to learn before the day was out. Actually, it took one full trip around the block and she had it. AWESOME!

What a wonderful world of opportunity this opens up for us! We have already been all the way to the park and back. So much fun! I have been wanting her to stay little and have been missing those sweet baby years. Well, this makes growing up all the more exciting. Fun and new adventures are around every corner!

Happy Halloween!

Claire has been planning her Halloween costume for months. She wanted to be a Fairy Princess and the costume really evolved over time as we found a cute tiara here and a beautiful dress there. She has practiced wearing her fairy wings pretty much every afternoon since we purchased them. They are rainbow colored with glitter. What more could a 5-year old girl want?! She was a beautiful Fairy Princess for Halloween and loved every minute of it.

JT on the other hand really didn't want to wear much of a costume. I have a hand-me-down handmade pumpkin that Claire wore when she was 2 that is ADORABLE! But no. He would barely let me try it on him and snap one super-quick and blurry photo. Then we borrowed a cute fluffy cow. When Sissy tried it on first (my lame attempt to outsmart him), JT wanted it big-time! "JT turn, JT turn!" But then again, once he had it on that zipper was getting pulled down immediately. So, JT was a "Go Heel", which is basically just a Tarheel warm up suit. Not the most creative or adorable Halloween costume for a 2-year old, but he was happy in it and had a good time!

Oh yeah, and the wig was just to humor me for the photo. Ben really wore it as part of his 70's dude outfit. Not sure what a blue wig has to do with the 70's but he was looking cool.

Then for the Trick or Treating......We ate a picnic dinner at Claire's friend, Delaney's house, where all the girls giggled and chased each other rather than eat dinner. Then we started house to house. Claire would ring the doorbell and JT would scream "trick treeeee" before the homeowner could even open the door. It was adorable. And cold. But super fun!

Stroller Strides - Stroll R Treat 2008

For the second annual Stroll R Treat, we had a spooky-fun class downtown Charleston and then a Halloween celebration at Hazel Parker Playground. We had a ton of Stroller Strides babies all dressed up in their Halloween costumes and one goofy adult dressed up.....yep, me. But we had healthy treats for kids and lots of fun! What a great Stroller Strides tradition.

And watch the slideshow we put together!

Future Mountain Climber

This is one of JT's new favorite activities. Looks like we will be investing in a big boy bed soon!

Thinking

My little man is almost always in motion. Here is a rare glimpse of him pausing on a pumpkin. I wonder what he is thinking about?

School is Cool

Claire has now been in school for a month and she is loving it! She loves being a helper (her favorite is "wake-up fairy"), art center, computers, book buddies (her reading homework 2x each week) and all her new friends!

My Kids Make Me Happy

Last Days of Summer

Summer is coming to a close and we are taking advantage of all the lowcountry warmth that we can! Instead of heading to the pool, we set up a sprinkler in our backyard and had a little old-school water fun!

Up to our Necks In It

On September 20, I completed the USMC Ultimate Challenge Mud Run and a challenge it was! Christy Schachte, Jodie Cochran, Stewart Harris and I formed a 4 woman team called MOMS ROCK AND RUN. Whew! What an experience. 4.2 miles of wooded terrian. Hills. Climbs. Swims. One ER trip (for Stewart - she is okay). And several days of full-body soreness! But it was an awesome experience for the personal challenge and the teamwork! Our primary goal was to finish and try our best with our secondary goal be to complete the course in 1 hour. Well.....our team finished in under 1 hour - and even better we were only 6 seconds slower than my husband's all-male, all-competitive team! Our official finish time was 59:40 giving us a top 10 finish among female competitors! 8th overall out of 99 teams! Sign me up for next year!

Read the article about our experience! Post and Courier Article

First Day

Today was Claire's first day of school. Kindergarten. She bounced into her class happy and eager. I have cried all day.

I'm pretty sure it's dead now, right?

Claire is getting so big and so funny! Can you believe she starts Kindergarten next week!?!

This past weekend, Claire and Ben enjoyed throwing the crab pot and cast net to catch blue crabs and shrimp off our dock. They had a ball and Claire wasn't grossed out in the least by the beheading of the shrimp or the steaming of the crabs. But as she and Ben were enjoying the fruits of their labors on the back porch, Claire paused with crab meat on her fork and asked her Daddy "I'm pretty sure it's dead now, right?"

Other funny tidbits she has said recently

In the car - "Please turn the music down, Mommy. I am trying to do a daydream."

When exasperated trying to help JT - "Don't just point and scream 'that'! Be more pacific."

Mom and Tot Olympics

To celebrate the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, Stroller Strides and My Gym hosted a Mom and Tot Olympics on 8/8/08! It was so much fun. We started with a flag march with all the kids and moms marching around the room and waving their ribbons. There were mom games - like a wall sit competition - and kid games. Everything from a baby crawl to a mom/child 3-legged race. Moms and kids both had a ball playing in the gym and competing for ribbons and prizes together.

Childhood obesity is a huge problem facing our children's generation. Exercising IN FRONT of your children like we do in Stroller Strides helps them learn by seeing what you do! No matter how much you "talk" health at home, kids actually seeing you be healthy makes much more of an impact. And exercise WITH your kids - like at the Mom and Tot Olympics - help them learn exercise doens't always have to be a "work"-out. Sometimes it is a "fun"-out!

Easy at-home activities to help you and your children get moving together:

• Indoor volleyball game with balloons. Non-helium, of course. Add in a math challenge by counting how many times you can bounce it back and forth before it hits the ground.


• Obstacle course. Use anything in your house you can find. Ex/ crawl over 3 sofa pillows, tiptoe around the coffee table, climb over an ottoman, walk across a balance beam (masking tape on the floor) etc!


• Dance party. Turn your favorite kid music on and dance. Take turns with your child hitting the pause button and "freezing" your dance position in a funny pose!


• Hula Hoop contest.


• Nature/Treasure Walk. Walk around the block with your child and let her search for nature and treasure finds. One of the little joys of parenthood is letting your children show you the beauty in little things, like a white feather on the ground, that as adults we often miss.


• Play games - Hulabaloo and Hyper Dash (both sold at Target) are two quick moving favorites with a preschool educational twist as well!


• Follow the Leader. Walk like an elephant, hop like a frog, slither like a snake, gallop like a horse, march, walk like a robot, etc. all around your house. Let your child be the leader some too!


• Penny Pick-up. Dump a bunch of pennies on the floor. Set 2 cups up far across the room. You and your child race to get the most pennies in your own cup within a set timelimit. To make it harder you can make a rule that you may only collect 1 penny each trip. Count the pennies when you are done. Kids love to time themselves too. My daughter, Claire, will do this multiple times just to try to get faster and beat her previous result! So get a stopwatch. And let your child time your performance too.

Laugh and have fun! If you smile and enjoy yourself, your children will too!

Metro Man

I have a 5 1/2 year old daughter who developed her own fashion sense early. At first it had to be purple. Now pink is the color. I can buy adorable outfits but she will mix and match tops and bottoms to make her own. She is a girl. This is expected. I have learned not to shop without her for approval (or it will just sit collecting dust in the closet) and I just let her dress herself in the mornings.

But JT.....he is a boy. He is not even 2 yet. He is supposed to be easygoing and just allow me to put whatever I want on him. Well, he is turning into a little opinionated fashionista. His favorite shirt is his monkey shirt. It is really just a light blue t-shirt with a screen print monkey on it that his Cat bought him in St. John, but he has grown so tall this summer that now his belly hangs out. So now it is just a pajama shirt. But he loves that thing. Getting it off of him in the morning is torture. I will toss it in the dirty clothes and he will fish it out "monkey, peeeeze. Peeeeze mama. Peeeeze!" With the pleases escalating in urgency with each ask. Then he doesn't want just a plain red or blue shirt. Heaven forbid the seersucker shorts. It has to have something on it. A dog. A fish. A car. An alligator. A whale. A bear. He likes animals and cars. Even his diapers have cars on them (or fish for the pool) and he would rather pull his shorts off so he can see the diaper image than wear shorts!

JT also loves to watch me put on make-up and copy me. His favorites to use are the powder brush and the eyelash curler. And last week when Claire and I were having our "cure" day, he wanted his toes painted too. I managed to distract him with building blocks, but the painted toes are coming for sure.

He also loves to use the blow dryer. As soon as I mention shower he starts attempting to take his clothes off and runs screaming toward the shower saying "shou, shou!". Well, he used to love long showers playing with his car stick-on toys and rubber ducks, but now as soon as we are in the shower, he points to the water and demands "off". He pounds on the shower door " bow dry, bow dry, peeeeze." So, yes, all he really wants to do is blow dry his own hair. I think we need Ben to hang around the house more.

Splash Island

I taught a Stroller Strides class out at Palmetto Islands County Park on Friday and then we all stayed at Splash Island for a playdate. It was the perfect day for splashing and swimming. JT is a wild little man and will approach any new challenge with gusto. No fear. Claire has grabbed this swimming bull by the horns and is getting braver and more confident in the water everyday. JT went down the baby slide about a million times. Claire got so brave that she went down the super slide - all by herself! She even is a confident enough swimmer to conquer the lazy river without a life jacket on. She was so proud! We had so much fun that we stayed for 4 hours!

Catch a wave and you're sittin' on top of the world

A month ago, Claire couldn't swim. Would not even allow her face to go underwater. Not only is she swimming like a fish now, she can also boogie board! How awesome is she! She paddles out, catches a wave and squeals with delight as she rides the wave in to the shore. She and Daddy even rode a few together and would high-5 each other at the crest of the wave. Truly awesome.

Beach Kid

I remember going to the beach in the summers as a child and how much fun it was. I don't remember being too sandy or too hot or too tired. Nor do I remember cousins fighting over Fruit Roll-Ups (which my mom promised is true). I just remember the sunshine and the sand and the water. The non-stop playing outside all day long and the thill of outdoor showers. The BLT sandwiches, watermelons and ice cream. Collecting seashells and playing card games. Summer beach trips are part of my wonderful memories of the best of childhood.

Being on the parent side of that vacation is a new adventure. We spent last week at a wonderful rented beach house on the Isle of Palms. It was a 'stay'cation of sorts for us since we didn't really travel anywhere. But we did pack up and leave our own home to spend the week on the IOP, so it felt as separated as a beach a plane flight away.

We had an absolute ball. Claire made fast friends with her California cousin, Anna, and they were two peas in a pod all week long. Will rented a surf board and taught us all to surf. I even stood up on the board and really surfed. It was awesome and one of those things everyone must do before they die. Put it on your list! The adults had a 'Cousins Night Out' where we went to Fleet Landing for dinner and enjoyed rooftops drinks at Coconut Joe's late into the night. The weather was perfect and we took advantage of all that sunshine. I even taught a Stroller Strides class out on the sand. With up to 19 people in that house at any one time, we enjoyed each others company, got to know each other and each others children better and had lots of laughs!

But being a parent makes the vacation a little more work. Kids don't sleep late yet. Meals must be made. Lifeguarding in the ocean is a must. Showers must be forced upon sandy kids. Cousin squabbles must be officiated. Adult personalities must be blended into a harmonius large family unit. It had its challenges. But watching the kids laugh and play on the beach was so worth it all! And a glass of good Gaddy wine at night and all the adults laughed the night away too.

My kids won't remember any of that other filler either. They will just remember how awesome and fun it was to play at the beach on their summer vacation! Looking forward to doing it again next summer!

Water Day at Stroller Strides

It is hot and humid this SC summer, so I decided to teach a Water Specialty Class for Stroller Strides. Instead of weight balls we used water balloons. For relay races we used buckets of water and big sponges. It was so much fun combining exercise with water play. It felt a lot less like a "work"-out and more like a "fun"-out! We all felt like kids at play - and had one of our biggest laughs at any class when Theresa busted a water balloon directly on herself when doing abs!

We ended up not popping all our water balloons during class, so Claire and I had a huge water balloon fight with the leftovers. I opened the water balloon fight up to everyone as optional, but no moms joined in right away. It wasn't a required part of class but just something fun if interested. Well, come to find out they weren't put off by a water balloon fight. They were just so thrilled watching how Claire and I played together. We were laughing and squealing and chasing each other until our stomachs hurt! And the moms were holding their infant daughters and envisioning their child growing up and playing fun games with them just like Claire and I were playing together. How sweet is that! As a mom you always try to make memories for your children. But in reality it is not the big grand gesture or activity. It is the small everyday laughter in a simple water balloon fight.

SHE CAN SWIM!

At the beginning of the summer, Claire would not put her face underwater. Now she can swim like a beautiful little mermaid! She has even mastered getting toys off the bottom of the pool, a front flip underwater and a cannonball jump! In Morehead City she started practicing her dive! What an amazing improvement in one month! Yeah! We have a swimmer!

Beach Vacation

Claire, JT and I traveled to NC to spend the week with family. We started off in Goldsboro visiting Mama and Frankie. Claire spent her days in Goldsboro at tennis camp learning to play!And Anne dropped in for a few days with baby Davis. He is really developing his adorable little personality! We had a ton of fun with him. Check out those eyelashes~

Then we headed to Morehead City for a long weekend at the beach. What a blast!

Family is the best!

Drive Drive

One of JT's favorite things to do in the world is drive. He wants to sit in the front seat of my car - seatbelt and all - and turn that steering wheel while screaming "Drive! Drive!" Every button will be mashed. The wipers will whirr and the radio will get turned up. He especially likes to turn the heat on in the summertime as hot as it can blow. I even drove around town one hot sunny summer afternoon with my fog lights on because of his special button pushing talent. When it comes time to move on to a new activity he has a death grip on the steering wheel and will scream like I am torturing him! Well, in NC this past week on vacation he finally was tall enough to reach the gas pedal on the red jeep so he could really Drive-Drive. He can't steer but he doesn't care. He runs right into the pinestraw and his plea for help just means turn him around. Watch him go!

True Artist

Claire has always loved art. Art is her thing! She even says when she grows up she wants to be an artist. Well, we spent all afternoon yesterday decorating both her bike and JT's car for the 4th of July neighborhood parade. With her new red and white striped dress on, she pedaled past the judges.....and WON! She was the big winner for the bike category. Awesome. She is very proud of her new ribbon that says "winner" and she is ready to go to Target to find her prize with her $10 gift card. Whooo hooo! Happy 4th of July!

Claire decorated JT's car too. He usually LOVES to drive-drive. But today with all the crowd he was a little hesitant to get in and join the parade. A little donut is all he needed to put this big smile on his face!

Reality of Home

Some silly pics of the kids caught in real life action! If you notice Claire's clothes seem a little tight - they are! She is wearing JT's size 2T outfit. And little man J likes to climb in the sink and brush his teeth. Of course, they both like to talk on the phone!

I love the reality of home. Such a safe place to be yourself and be loved just the way you are. Whatever your weird quirks or silly habits, they are always welcome at home. And family just loves you more for them!