Once in awhile I write a post called “Keepin’ It Real“.  This is where I ask a question via Facebook and Twitter and you respond with your real life issues or answers.   After you read what your fellow Fit Moms have said, I’ll give you a little more inspiration, or easy solutions to the issue at hand!

Today’s “Keepin It Real” topic is Family Fitness in 2011.

I asked you “Fit Moms” what your family fitness plans are for 2011 and here’s what you answered.

“Spring is Track season for Cali! Anthony will be coaching and I’ll hopefully be at practices running too ”  Charlotte R.

“We are more than into our fifth week of stretches, push-ups, prone (up to 50 second sets), sit-ups, lunges, squats, bicep curls, lateral raises and we add more things each week. We do this every day! We did only skip Christmas Day and New Years day! Can’t wait to add more and the boys are really liking it!” Donna B.

“We already plan on doing 2 mini marathons! Both in February… First one is a valentines couple biathlon, and the second is a short 8 mile marathon. We’ll see how we do!” Heidi B.

“When I get the doctors ok, I’m going to do the ‘from couch to 5k’ program with my almost 11 yr old. Get myself back into condition and help him prepare for the 5th grade mile he has to run at the end of the year.” Sharie F.

“After this week’s intensive class, Jason is going to get up with me when Kavin wakes up for his early feeding and go jogging. While Kavin sleeps off till his next feeding and Jason exercises, I am going to spend time alone with God. Then after Kavin’s breakfast, I am going to put him in the stroller and go for a jog myself and take my bands to work in some of the stuff I learned from stroller strides. Ten more pounds to go! Got to do it! I hope by his first birthday I am 10 pounds lighter!” Seanna S.

“To make no goals except to make a daily determination to be healthier and more fit (thank Byron for our new way of “goal” setting )” Fawn W.

“Walk more places with the kids, rather than driving — you know, local errands, within a mile radius, like the library, post office, market, etc.” Lori R.

As always GREAT ideas ladies!  I love that we are ALL shapes, sizes, ages, ability levels, and yet we are all “Fit Moms” because we have decided to make daily decisions to help ourselves and our family members to become more healthy.  This site is for All moms regardless of how much you currently weigh or will weigh in the future.  We all need encouragement, help, and support.   That’s what this site is all about.

Our family is going to walk and ride our bikes around town more.  We live about 1.5 miles from the library which is a perfect little ride on a nice day.  The post office is only about half a mile, and so is the nearest grocery store.  We live in a prime spot to help the environment and our bodies at the same time.  Another thing we’ll do is go on more family hikes, and fitness related fun spots.  We’ll do more laser tag, roller skating, and ice skating.  I will share my personal exercise journey with you on the blog soon.

What family fitness plans do YOU have?

To help you with your family fitness plans we have a great giveaway going on worth approximately $200!! Click Here to go to the contest Now!

Annett Davis, Olympian & Founder of Fit Moms Fit Kids

Once in awhile I write a post called Keepin’ It Real.  This is where I ask a question via facebook and twitter and you respond with your real life issues or answers.   After you read what your fellow Fit Moms have said, I’ll give you a little more inspiration, or easy solutions to the issue at hand!

Today’s “Keepin It Real” topic is Holiday Traditions.  I asked you Fit Moms what your favorite Christmas traditions are and here’s what you answered!

“Making gingerbread houses with the kids. I love to see how creative they get with them.” – Stacie D.

“Cuddling up on the couch and reading Christmas books or watching Christmas movies. Driving around in the van looking at cool Christmas lights and singing carols. My kids would add baking cookies, the ONLY thing I enjoy about baking is that my kids have fun and I get to see the joy on their faces.” – Kathy O.

“Growing up in Jamaica and visiting pretty much everyone on our street to share and chow down on delicious Rum Cake, Sorrel, Curry Goat, Jerk Chicken and much more. Christmas in Jamaica is so awesome! It was always about friends and family and coming together over spectacular culinary delights, and never about giving or receiving presents, at least not all the commercial stuff…just the gifts of companionship and sharing what you did have to offer to everyone.” – Charmaine T.

“We make Norwegian Pepper Cookies. My Grandma would make them every year, and they were a tradition at every Christmas Eve. I love the smell when they are baking, and it reminds me of all of the wonderful memories of Christmas with my beautiful and godly Grams. When she got too feeble to make the cookies herself, I continued the tradition, and she was overjoyed and so proud of me. I just realized that Pepper Cookies have been at every Hansen Christmas celebration for almost 100 years” – Laura C.

“The whole family comes over and we bake homemade sugar cookies. kids get to decorate them. we watch the movie Elf and Chrismas Story. a little karaoke and Wii. it’s just great family time. best part CELL PHONES ARE NOT ALLOWED. We make phone calls, however, to family members…” Mindy C.

“Omar reads Jesus’ birth to all of us, we sing Christmas carols, open presents, and then head out to visit family and friends!” – Unitha M.

“Love everything about it, but mostly going to mass, spending time with the family, and getting ready to start the new year!” – Holly M.

Wow!  You all sound like you have amazing times with your families!  I too love Christmas.  For us it’s important that we remember the reason for the season and that we remind our kids that it is more about giving than receiving.  Usually the week before we have our annual Cookie and Candy Swap.  We invite our neighbors and friends.  In years past the children all brought money from their piggy banks and then they looked through the World Vision Gift catalog and chose things to give to needy families.  In the past they’ve bought chickens, ducks, and even a goat for needy families around the world.  This year we adopted a family or 4 and each family bought gifts for them.

Before our cookie swap the kids and I make our gingerbread houses, and this year we also made and decorated gingerbread Santa sleighs.    Every year we go to church on Christmas Eve which is a special reminder of the birth of Jesus, and the role he plays in our lives.  On Christmas morning we have a HUGE family breakfast that my mom prepares.  This is a one of my favorite times.  We talk, laugh and enjoy a good down home southern breakfast.  After that my hubby puts on the Santa hat and hands out presents.  Later we go to my Mother-in-laws for the best meal ever!  This year we are mixing it up a bit.  My MIL wants everyone to bring a new dish that we haven’t made before.  So we aren’t having a traditional meal, but experimenting.  Sounds like fun to me!

Traditions are usually things you grow up with, something special that you remember forever.  Try adding some new traditions that are special to you, ask your kids what they’d like to do too.  You don’t have to do what everyone else does.  Make it special and unique to you and your family.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TRADITION?

May God Bless You and Yours This Christmas!

Blessings-

Annett Davis

Founder of Fit Moms Fit Kids Club

Annett Davis, Olympian & Founder of Fit Moms Fit Kids

Well I asked YOU via our Keepin’ It Real time, this is where I ask a question via facebook and twitter and you respond with your real life issues or answers.   After you read what your fellow Fit Moms have said, I’ll give you a little more inspiration, or easy solutions to the issue at hand!

Halloween is here, and the question we all have on Monday is…

WHAT TO DO WITH ALL OF MY HALLOWEEN CANDY?!?!?

5.  “We keep all of it in a bin in the pantry and let them pick out one piece as a treat each day. They forget about it after a week or so, then we give it away.”  Matt S.

4.  “I buy it off my granddaughters and they get the money to spend on something they really like. I keep it and let them have a treat once in awhile. Like others mention they soon forget about it and when I offer up a treat they remember and smile over it. The rest gets dumped at the end.” Linda H

3.  “We should start a collection in our neighborhood and mail it to the troops! ”  Tamar V.

2.  The kids chose 5 pieces each, then we took the rest to a homeless shelter. Eye-opening for sure and they really appreciated what they had! Sarah S.

The number one Thing to Do with all of your Halloween Candy!!

1. “Sarah S. has the best idea I’ve ever heard. “The Switch Witch”. The kids get to pick out a certain number of candies to keep. Then, they hang their bags on their bedroom door, and the “Switch Witch” comes along and takes the candy and leaves them a toy (probably a toy they’ve wanted). She even took it a step further and the “Switch Witch” leaves them a note telling them she needs help with her job because she’s so busy and asks them to take it to a homeless shelter to share.”  Katie J.

Great ideas everyone!  My two cents are below.

Check out this short rap video from a charter school that collects candy in exchange for making the kids purple smoothies with a blender operated by bicycle power!  You can get inspired, and exchange your kids candy for maybe 5 smoothie tickets (made by you).

Thanksgiving is coming up.   Why not throw a ton of candy in a jar, make a cute Turkey on the outside made from paper and wrap it around and tape it to the front and give it away at your child’s school or church holiday party!  Make it a guessing game.  Whoever guesses the correct amount of candy wins the jar!

Another good use for the leftover candy is to stuff it into your child’s birthday pinata!!  My daughter’s birthday is in a couple of weeks, and I am doing this for sure!!

I go back and forth with donating to the troops and the elderly, because really, who needs all of that candy?  But, if they don’t eat gobs of is, I guess it is ok.  A wonderful idea that doesn’t involve sugaring up anyone else is using your candy to make crafts!!! Your kids can make necklaces or other “sculptures” using leftover candy.

We’ll be using some of our candy to make our Gingerbread house for Christmas!! This was ours last year.

Moms like me who homeschool, or who are just into “out of the box” education will appreciate this.  CANDY EXPERIMENTS!!!  Yes, you read that right!  Use your left over candy to teach your kids some cool stuff about science!  Acid tests, sink or float, making life saver lights, oil tests and more!  Click here to try your own candy experiments!

If you LOVE to bake like me, you can use some of the leftover candy to make special treats.  Notice I said “special” treats.  Not all of the time.  Use your leftover candy to make “Better for you Candy Bar Cookies“! (the recipe is for 10 dozen, so make sure you click to reduce the # needed!)

Finally, if you don’t care about “wasting the candy”, by that I mean throwing it away.  You can ask your kids if you can “buy” their candy from them.  But, here’s the catch, the money won’t go to your kids, instead they get to donate the money to the charity of their choice!  Of course, you may need to guide them a little (if they are young).  You can first find out where their heart is.  Maybe they have a heart for kids with cancer, or people who don’t have food, or clean water and then go online together and  maybe give them an option of 2-3 charities that meet the need they chose.  I use Charity Navigator to find out how the charities are using their money, so I know they aren’t wasting the funds we give them.

I hope this list helped you out! If you liked these ideas, please share on fb and twitter.  If you have more cool ideas we didn’t mention, comment below!  Hope you have/had a Happy Halloween!!!

It’s Keepin’ It Real, Interactive Thursday!  This is where I ask a question via facebook and twitter and you respond with your real life issues or answers.   After you read what your fellow Fit Moms have said, I’ll give you a little more inspiration, or easy solutions to the issue at hand!

What’s Your Favorite Meat Free Meal?

“Probably my French onion soup made in the crockpot. Beef broth. Does that count?”  Stacie D.

“Soy tacos!!! Made with MorningStar Soy meat!!” Michelle K.

“hands down, my favorite is pinto bean tacos: freshly cooked pot of beans, fresh corn tortillas, fresh guacamole, chopped cilantro and salsa. I could eat it every day, and never get tired of it.”  Lori R.

“Lightly buttered noodles w/ pesto sauce.  Mmmmm & toast!”  Ani P.

“Good old-fashioned, homemade biscuits and gravy. Ain’t one redeeming thing about it–except it makes me smile a lot. I’ve gone so far as to substitute organic spelt flour in the biscuits and almond milk in the gravy–still loaded with fat. Still makes me smile a lot.”  Chana K.

If you read our Mission Monday assignment this week it was to make your best efforts to give up meat on Mondays.  One of our daddy readers jokingly said, “is there such a thing ” (as a meatless meal).  Though he was joking it reminded me of my dad, who truly believed that meals COULD NOT be served without meat.  Over time this proved to be devastating along with other poor food choices on his body’s system.  Oh, by the way, my dad was a professional basketball player in the NBA a long long time ago, but that’s more proof that even though you hear someone is a “pro athlete” like me, don’t assume we all make the “right” choices.  We are just normal people with different talents than some of you, and ALL of us have talents Fit Moms, thankfully just not all in the same areas of life (that’s what makes the world & people special).

Back to Keepin’ It Real.  For me I love anything PUMPKIN this time of year.  So, pumpkin soup is one of my favorite things to eat, and of course homemade pumpkin pancakes!  I am in search of the “perfect” pumpkin soup recipe by the way, so if you think you have it, PLEASE post it or email it to me, I’d LOVE to try it.  With your permission, I will post it on an upcoming “Recipe Tuesday”!

Yesterday, I talked with my cousin who mentioned that breakfast time was tough for her to think of meatless ideas.  One of my favorites is the “yummy “muffin” veggie frittata”. Other vegetarian options I love are whole wheat pancakes topped with fresh fruit and nuts, veggie omelet, organic fruit and nuts, yogurt parfait topped with granola,  breakfast burrito (with veggies like broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, red onions, and red pepper, nix the meat) and crustless veggie quiche.  I almost forgot there are thousands of smoothie combinations you can come up with, get creative and don’t forget to add some protein (nuts or powder).

For lunch my favorite meatless meals are salads.  A few meals I like are tropical fruit salad, “Daddy does it raw wrap”, again smoothies, taco salad (omit meat), tasty cabbage and carrot salad (add avocoado for some yummy healthy fat),  and homemade soup and salad.

Dinner options are the easiest for most people, but here are a few of my favorites.  Sunflower seed tacos, homemade veggie pizza, any type of meatless whole wheat pasta dish, and homemade crockpot stews to name a few.  FYI in case you didn’t know, a lot of the meals that I mentioned above have links to recipes if you click them.

To help you with a 5 day plan if you are really adventurous, eat what we ate.  In August our family went raw for the month!  Check out our “Daddy Does It Raw“ week 3 menu for more breakfast, lunch, and dinner ideas!  I didn’t realize this when I wrote our Monday Mission, but there is actually a Meatless Monday Revolution that is already going on (it reminds me that when I think I have an original idea, that there is nothing new under the sun…lol)  If you’d like to check out the Meatless Monday revolution, click here.  Many of your favorite chefs, trainers, restaurants, and stars are doing it!

If you haven’t taken the pledge to be a Fit Mom with Fit Kids, do so now and spread the word!  We haven’t reached our 10,000 mark yet but we are on our way!  Sign up on the right side of the page.  Also, SUBSCRIBE! We need your help to reverse the trend of obesity in America.  It starts with YOU Fit Mom!  We can do it!

Annett Davis, Olympian & Founder of Fit Moms Fit Kids

photo credit:

veggie tacos- find.myrecipes.com

french onion soup- culinaryschooled.com

no meat- myspace.com