Parenting

Exercise After Baby! – GUEST BLOG by Katie Moore

I am pleased to welcome a Guest Blogger today on The Rebel Housewife Blog! Katie Moore is a talented writer, new Mommy and emerging blogger. I am so happy to have her on RebelHousewife.com — Enjoy!

Exercise Guidelines for the Post-Partum Period

by RebelHousewife.com Guest Blogger, Katie Moore

After the initial fatigue of childbirth recovery wears off, many new mothers are excited at the idea of getting back into an exercise routine. Often, mothers with uncomplicated deliveries experience a surge of energy about three or four weeks after their babies’ births. For the first time in months, they are not experiencing heartburn, backache and overwhelming fatigue, and the idea of working up a good sweat sounds like fun. I was a mom who exercised before pregnancy and couldn’t wait to get back to feeling fit and back to my pre-pregnancy size.

Exercise in the post-partum period does have some benefits. Performing light physical activity can decrease post-partum depression and curb the appetite for sweets and junk food. Exercise can help your body stay flexible so that you can avoid pulled muscles when you get back to your normal fitness routine.

Most doctors tell new moms to take it easy during the post-partum period. After all, childbirth is extremely hard on a woman’s body, and it takes time for the body to heal. It is important to speak to your doctor about your post-partum health and exercise routines. My doctor was so helpful to me during my planning time for delivery, informing me of options like pain management, cord blood banking, and breastfeeding, and continued to be the best source for information about my post-partum habits and health.

Generally, if you had an uncomplicated delivery, there is no reason that you cannot do some light exercise, like stretching and walking, even before you visit your doctor for your six-week check-up.

Most importantly, you should pay close attention to how your body feels during exercise. If at any time you feel light-headed or weak, you should stop immediately. Additionally, exercise should not cause your bleeding to increase or turn bright red. If it does, you have done too much and should take a break for a day or two. A big surprise to me was how tired I would feel after about 10-15 minutes of exercise; its important to give into the feeling of fatigue, rest, and then come back to exercise later. Breaking up my workout routine helped me get in a least 30 minutes a day.

You will want to stick to gentle, low-impact exercises for the first few weeks after childbirth. Walking short distances at a moderate speed is fine. Yoga, my favorite workout, and stretching are also good for the post-partum period. Jogging, high-intensity aerobics and kickboxing will need to wait until the doctor tells you that it is okay.

If you were very physically active before you got pregnant, you may be frustrated in the body changes that pregnancy brought to you—I certainly was! You probably will have lost some flexibility and endurance and gained some weight. You need to remember that you can get back to where you were physically once again. However, this process will take a little time. You should be patient as you work your way back into your fitness regimen. If you try to rush the process, you will simply injure yourself and increase the amount of time that it will take to recover from your pregnancy. For me, it was constantly reminding myself that if I got hurt, I couldn’t take care of my daughter to the best of my ability. Remember that rest and recovery are important first steps before exercise and weight loss.

Caring for an infant around the clock takes more energy from a new mother than many might think. Being unable to sleep for more than three or four hours at a time can sap a new mom’s energy. If you do not feel like exercising for a few weeks after childbirth, that is perfectly fine. You should not feel that you should push yourself to workout if it is all you can do to feed and change the baby. Exercise can wait until your baby sleeps a little longer at one stretch.

The highest priorities for a new mother in the post-partum period should be caring for the baby and rest. If you feel like you have the energy to exercise after taking care of those priorities, then you can safely begin some gentle exercise.

Katie Moore has written and submitted this article. Katie is an active blogger who discusses the topics of, motherhood, children, fitness, health and all other things Mommy. She enjoys writing, blogging, and meeting new people! To connect with Katie contact her via her blog, Moore From Katie or her twitter, @moorekm26.

Asperger’s Syndrome & A New Normal

Logging into my blog account today, I was shocked to discover…
it has been many weeks, months, in fact, since I have finished and published a blog article on RebelHousewife.com. Oh, I’ve started many thoughts, on paper, on post-its, in my head, in TextEdit and Word. There are several waiting patiently on the blog as “unpublished” — wonderful starts about kids, Aspergers Syndrome, homeschooling (kind of), the teenager, the learner’s permit (driving?!) and banishing the XBOX 360 from our home. There are others about books, events, recipes and cost-cutting strategies for family financial survival in tough times.

I seem to have a problem, of late, finishing what I start. I’ve never been a non-closer before and yet here I am…

It has been an eventful couple of months.

I actually logged on today to write a thought about Iceland and Vanity Fair and NPR, volcanoes and economic meltdowns and such, only to make this horrifying discovery. I am going to finish this, and fix the Twitter link on the website and then maybe I can get back to that thought about Iceland…

And maybe that’s the answer. Why can’t I finish anything I start lately? Maybe it’s because, every time I start something, something else comes along to take my attention and focus. The constant distractions of life with a busy entrepreneurial husband, three children and Mocha-the-dog. I don’t work outside the home. I can’t imagine how I would. We no longer have the big house or yard to manage, having downsized to our midtown condo and our one-mile live-work-school-play radius (and loving it!). What excuse could I possibly have to be such a slacker?

We started this school year with three kids in three different schools: 15yo Puberty Angst Boy in 9th grade at the high school; 12yo Drama Queen in 7th grade at the middle school; and 9yo ADHD Phenom started the year in 4th grade at the brand-new elementary school.

Ah, there’s another clue to what’s happened: Turns out, our very bright, very ACTIVE 9yo ADHD Phenom is not ADHD at all (okay, well, that’s a whole ‘nother start that I do need to finish, kind of controversial). He has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is high-functioning Autism, so he is our 9yo Aspy Phenom. Not a lot of people know what that is, or have any idea what Asperger’s Syndrome is (we didn’t), so I have some explaining and education to do on that point, I know.

But before I can explain, educate or crusade for a better understanding of Asperger’s Syndrome, I needed to understand it better myself and live with it for a while.

* * An aside: If you are at all interested in Asperger’s Syndrome, please read the wonderful letter Especially for Grandparents of Children With Asperger Syndrome by Nancy Mucklow. It is appropriate and highly relevant for anybody close to or in the life of a child diagnosed with Asperger’s.

So what happened next: In January, we brought the 9yo Aspy Phenom home. The brand-new public school was on a shake-down cruise, getting all of their new-school processes, programs and procedures worked out. We were on our own shake-down cruise, trying to figure out and adjust to this new information and really-quite-remarkable aspect of our son — finally, we had understandings and strategies that were actually working and helping him, whereas the ADD strategies — including the medication he was on for more than two years — never served him well. The school couldn’t keep up, couldn’t meet his needs academically or provide the structure and stability he needed.

He now attends school from home, although he is not technically a “home schooler.” We enrolled him in 4th grade in the Georgia Cyber Academy (GCA), an online public charter school supported by the Georgia Department of Education. As a public school, the schedule and curriculum is established and GCA provided everything we need to attend school from home: books, workbooks, novels, math manipulatives, even all of the materials needed for science experiments! We have a teacher we work with, mostly online, who monitors progress and administers his IEP (yet another complicated issue for another time). We have an abundance of opportunities for social interaction, with field trips and meet-ups and activities all over, all the time.

And there it is: I haven’t been able to finish a thought in months, or devote the time I used to have to lose myself in reading, researching, writing, reviewing or blogging, because I am teaching and experiencing the 4th grade all over again with my 9yo Aspy Phenom. It has been amazing — not EASY, as this has been a HUGE adjustment for both of us and for the entire family. It has been a very challenging transition, but worth it to have the time and opportunity to work with and get to know this brilliant child.

Now then, that’s not such a bad reason to be a slacker, after all.
I’m glad I was able to finish that thought.
I am hoping there will be more!

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas…

…or is it?!

I’m trying, I really am — and this will not be one of those whining, complaining blog posts about how hard the Holidays are on Mom; how there’s never enough time or money or magic; how everybody’s either looking for donations, cash, checks, party contributions or time on your oh-so-limited calendar…

No, let’s not go there.

The Holidays can be, and usually are, stressful, but there’s also an awful lot of good stuff. I can come up with 10 Things to Be Excited About, I know I can:

  1. The Magic kids still believe in: My older kids, now almost-15 and 12, want to force a confession about Santa, in no small part to “educate” their younger 9-year-old brother. I keep the discussion limited: “If you don’t believe in the Magic, the Magic won’t believe in you…and THE MAGIC can’t leave you a really great gift under the tree or a stocking full of goodies!” (It works!)
  2. Christmas Lists! If my children do no other creative writing all year, I can count on them for something truly entertaining and wonderful on the “Come-on Santa, Bring It All and Make My Miserable Life Complete Request List.” Want to see an example? 9yo Boy’s Wish List
  3. The Giving: Not so much the shopping, but the thinking, the planning, the scheming to surprise and delight, the giving is wonderful, especially when you find Just The Right Thing, big or small, for someone special.
  4. Gingerbread Cookies! An annual tradition in the Rebel Household, we make armies and armies of decorated Gingerbread Men for holiday parties, school friends, teacher gifts and neighbors…
  5. Cold Weather & Snuggling
  6. Winter Break – sleeping in and NO HOMEWORK!
  7. Christmas Cards – love to receive, even the letters.
  8. Decorations & Light Displays – another annual tradition, the Christmas Drive-Around to see all the lights and displays. We drive far and wide, to professional displays (around Atlanta: Stone Mountain, Lake Lanier Islands, Calloway Gardens) and to see everything at homes & businesses in-between. With a Thermos of hot chocolate, a to go box of gingerbread men and holiday music on the car stereo (now XM Radio Channel #23 – Holly) and we are set for several evenings of family entertainment.
  9. Christmas Music – all of it, from classical to elevator renditions to The Chipmunks!
  10. Christmas Classics – TV Shows & Books

That’s it. It’s nice to keep it simple. Of course, there is Christmas Morning and the children’s delight (hopefully) over their holiday haul; visiting friends & family and oh, yes, the holiday eating…

It is beginning to look — and feel — a lot like Christmas…
I’m on it!

Asperger’s Syndrome: I’ll be in my cabinet…

@RebelUpdate Tweet of the Day:
RT @JoanCelebi: New Post: 17 Tips for Calming Your Child with Special Needs http://twurl.nl/fu7y02 (via @aspergers2mom)
26 minutes ago from Twitterrific

It has been a rough week with 9yo ADHD/Aspergers Phenom, 4th grader. The poor kid has not been able to catch a break with homework: remembering to write assignments down in his agenda and bring home everything he needs, i.e. books, worksheets, etc. This, in essence, is the one thing he must do to earn his afternoon “Computer Pass” at home, which is his most-favorite activity and incentive.

He came home Tuesday with *nothing* in his backpack…Oh, Lord…

My #1 task is to STAY CALM, because it is only when I am calm that I can help him get through any meltdown. If I get uptight and upset, if I start yelling back at him, it only feeds the fire. This is one of those home base concepts I have had to learn — probably the exact reason this special child was given to me. So I go into CALM mode, breathe, breathe…

He goes APESHIT (the only way I can adequately describe it):
Full-out on the floor, kicking, screaming, crying, wailing, cursing life and the universe.
He had after-school plans on the computer (a full agenda, in fact — he scribes endless To Do Lists for himself for computer time, just not schoolwork), important stuff to do on his new website and on ROBLOX.com, which is where he currently spends most of his computer time and which is an amazing game and programming environment. But he didn’t have the required “Computer Pass.”

Dramatic screaming and rolling on the kitchen floor (him, not me – staying calm). I *calmly* told him he would start losing time from his bedtime if he continued screaming at me, five minutes at a time. I thought I was going to lose my mind and my cool. He lost five minutes: “Bedtime at 8:25 tonight.” And he stopped. Laying in the middle of the kitchen floor, he just shut it off, which was…disconcerting (eye of the storm?).

He took a deep breath, sat up and, oddly enough, crawled into one of the lower (mostly empty) kitchen cabinets. He then announced, calmly: “Fine. I’m just going to stay in this cabinet the rest of the day, then.” Ummmmm…okay?

I took a deep breath, gave him a few minutes, and then I quietly gathered a few items and set them outside his cabinet door: a bagel, a flashlight and several books. I knocked on the door. He opened it. I removed a basket of plastic storage containers, really the only thing in that cabinet, and pointed to the things I had left for him. He took them inside, closed the cabinet door and said, “Thanks, Mom.”

He stayed in the cabinet, what he now calls his “pantry” (he put up a sign) for a good part of the afternoon and evening, coming out for fresh supplies and a couple of cushions — those kitchen cabinets aren’t really made for butt-comfort, you know.

I’m not really sure what the moral of this story is, except to say: Sometimes, a kid just needs his space — a small, dark, enclosed, peaceful, safe space of which he is in control. For thinking and reading. For calming down.

Asperger’s Resources – The Best – on Amazon.com

Mom, I Have a Boyfriend!

I got nothing done today. Nothing. Twitter will be the death of The Rebel Housewife, I’m telling you. Twitter or our Dear Daughter, 12yo Drama Queen, who announced yesterday, upon our return from a fabulous (and kid-less!) weekend getaway: “I have a boyfriend!”

Oh.My.God.

Let’s not even talk about Dear Son (The Older), 15yo Puberty Angst Boy, who somehow, over the course of the weekend (and yes, they were supervised — we did not leave them alone!) shaved.his.eyebrows. Why? I don’t know. His answer (and I was really trying to be cool about it, to not over-react and set off TTSD)(Total Teen Shut Down): “Because.”

Me: Oh.My.God. (on the inside)
To Him: “Well, honey, are you shaving anything else? Do you need a razor or shaving cream or anything?” Maybe an eyebrow pencil? (again – held that last one in)

So back to 12yo Drama Queen, our tomboy who has thus far spent more time kicking butt and taking names (especially on her two brothers) than noticing the opposite sex…Oh. Maybe this explains the Social Studies grade and how a straight-A 6th grader goes to barely-B average (after you throw that Social Studies grade in there) 7th grader. With a boyfriend.

Okay. Breathe. What does the handbook say?

Oh right. There is no handbook on raising a 12yo Drama Queen. I barely survived 12 the first time, 30 years ago. And here I go again…

Hubby sort of nonchalantly ambled (ran) out of the room at this point in the discussion, so I had to quickly re-group and, as calmly as possible — THINK before speaking — ask the pertinent Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? and “Does this involve kissing?” interrogatives…

Who? Okay, I kind of remember seeing this kid in the Orchestra last year. I think he was one of the ones I yelled at for messing around during practice before the teacher arrived. “He’s really tall and he has red hair…” (hear in the dreamy voice typically used by Cinderella when mooning over Prince (freaking) Charming)

What? (As in: “What does that mean, he’s your boyfriend?”)
Response: equivalent of “Duh, Mom” (blush, blush, giggle, giggle)
Me: “Do you two actually talk to each other?”
(Because my 7th grade “boyfriend” and I never said a word to each other — the whole crushing, three-day romance was managed by our handlers (friends), requiring us only to smile stupidly at each other across the classroom or playground as he played basketball with his buddies (he was tall, too), until he broke up with me (via his handler) for an Older Woman.)
Response: equivalent of “Duh, Mom”

Thirty years later: things are different.

Where? In the cafeteria.
When? At lunch on Friday.
Why? He’s really cute.
<< Extended conversation about the single most important thing in any relationship and what I hope for all of my children in their relationships: He's nice to her, really sweet. And funny. >>
How? He asked me.

Oh, wow. I need a minute.

Holding hands? Yes. [Breathe.]
What about kissing? “Ewww, Mom – no! That’s just gross!”
(Interpret: I just don’t know enough and I’m not ready to try that yet. Which is okay. Fine.)

Summary 42yo Brilliant Mom-advice to 12yo Drama Queen:
1) You know you can always talk to me about anything or ask any questions. You might have to give me a minute, you know, because…well, just because. [Breathe.]
2) 12yo “dating” in our family is group dates only to movies, activities or school events. We are happy to help organize and drive gangs of tweens around — no solo dating until you are older (some as-yet undetermined age).
3) As for the kissing, there is plenty of time, so take it slow. I had my first “boyfriend” in 7th grade, too, but I didn’t have my first kiss until I was…like…25…
No, okay, I was already married by 25…16?

And at that moment, I looked at my beautiful little girl…and I saw the amazing woman she is already becoming. 7th grade. Was I ever this young and innocent? Where did my chubby little ballerina baby go and how did it go so very quickly? The little girl in me looked at the soon-to-be grown-up woman in her and I told her the truth, honestly: My first kiss was in the 8th grade, at the end of 8th grade, and I was 14 years old, almost.

Oh, but honey, take your time.

High School

I am trying to not get all Twitter-distracted today — I have only 1 1/2 hours before the buses start rolling back home (1/2 day!), and then I’ve been finessed by 14yo Puberty Angst Boy (PAB) into driving the 9th grade gang to play paintball up in Roswell, which is OT(F)P – Outside The (Freaking) Perimeter – practically Tennessee, at this point. (We are deeply entrenched in Midtown Atlanta in our little live-work-play 1/2 mile radius with only one car!)

Anyway, I love the kid, and I even like him a lot lately (big distinction), so I will do it. Plus it will be at least 45 minutes, each way, to be a fly on the wall (so to speak) and catch up with what is going on in high school, since PAB hasn’t really talked to the old people much since school started 3 weeks ago…

Everybody asked me, starting early last year: “Is [PAB] excited about high school?”
Response: “He’s 14. He’s not excited about anything, and if he is, he’s certainly not telling us about it.”

Sad, but true. And it’s okay – he’s a great kid, and we are really proud of him. It’s just hard to let go…but not let go too much, too soon.

Middle School – My Third Year

Good Morning!

I am working on a huge new project offline for the next six weeks, so I will be even more random on the Coffee Blog, stopping in to visit for a break every so often, which is the whole point, anyway. I can’t believe the summer is over and time marches relentlessly forward so quickly now. We’ve already been back in school for three weeks! It is time, even giving myself the generous allowance of three weeks to TAKE IT EASY!!! — Breathe — Relax — Recover, for me to get back to work, in some new and different directions, which is exciting.

With the hard-earned experience of three kids, this year in 3rd, 6th and 8th grades, an Atlanta friend asked my advice and reassurance about middle school parenting. I wanted to pass this along and mention my favorite, sanity-saving, most-helpful book for middle school parenting: not much just chillin’.

I think the big challenge with middle school is to help our children develop life strategies to deal with the world and hover as quietly as possible in the background, taking tiny, little steps back so they can make their way toward independence; learning to listen more than talk (or lecture), which is easier said than done; and, sometimes, you do have to jump in and be the Mother Hen (Mother Gorilla?!) to protect and defend, to advocate for your child, whether it is with school or social issues. It is a fine balance and, unfortunately, never perfect. But that’s okay, we really weren’t meant to be perfect — where’s the fun in that?!

Don’t forget to email your entry by midnight on Friday, September 5th for The Rebel Housewife CONTEST/GIVEAWAY – Mom’s New Year! Thanks to those of you who have been sending those in & Good Luck!!

Road Trip Re-Cap – Five After-Thoughts


See Also: FIVE-DAY FAMILY ROAD TRIP!

Two adults/three children, five days/four nights, 1500 miles (roughly), from Atlanta to Cocoa Beach, Florida (to Daytona & back to Cocoa Beach) to Orlando to Daytona (again) and home to Atlanta…

Family Road Trip Re-Cap – Five After-Thoughts:

  1. Long car trips CAN BE FUN — really! That’s not even a set-up to anything, no whining or complaining, we really had a great time. Trip prep helped a lot —
    See Top 10 – Family Vacation Travel Tips – Road Trip!

  2. Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen — I am 40 years old, with freckles and fair skin I have passed down to my children, and I still can’t figure it out: We all came back with uncomfortably painful sunburned faces.
    I am the Worst.Mother.Ever.

    Thank goodness the kids and hubby love their swim shirts, which is the best sun protection for those vulnerable shoulders and backs. Normally, we all wear hats and huddle under beach/pool umbrellas, but that was impossible all day at the water park. We sprayed liberally, with the new aerosol high-SPF sunscreen spray — not only our body parts, but everything and everybody else within a 20 square foot radius — I have decided I hate that stuff and we’re going back to the squirt-on lotion (non-aerosol) that you have to rub in.

    It’s the face protection I can’t get the hang of, especially those ultra-sensitive under-eye regions and foreheads you can’t put anything on because it will drip down into their eyes — we have tried everything, so I am totally up for suggestions on this one — and then what to do after, when everybody is crisped and complaining. I drove out to a CVS Pharmacy in Orlando, searching for Noxzema Cold Cream — do they even make that anymore? I came back with NIVEA “Refreshingly Soft” Moisturizing Creme w/Jojoba Oil & Vitamin E and two different kinds of Aloe Vera Gel (COOLING and MOISTURIZING); as well as our old stand-by, Hawaiian Tropic ALOE After Sun Moisturizer, but nothing provided cool, instant relief without burning around the eyes or drying sticky and uncomfortable.

    Next time, we’ll all wear the hats, waterslides and lazy river floats notwithstanding.

  3. Theme parks are best visited and most-enjoyed AFTER DARK — We found this to be true last year, too, at Universal Studios — easy entrance, thinning crowds, no lines, cooler and exciting, with lights, music, special attractions and, usually, FIREWORKS. The hours from 4pm to 11pm (or closing) are THE BEST!

    On a related note, even though we couldn’t stay until After Dark because we had to get in early, before the park reached capacity (by approximately 10:30am), and we stayed and played hard all day long in the cool water and hot, hot sun, until we were all so exhausted and sunburned we had to crawl back to the hotel and order room service for dinner, after a quick trip out to CVS for sunburn relief products…AQUATICA ROCKS!!

  4. NASCAR is a quickly-obsessive, fatal attraction — Once we started track-touring, on NON-race days/weeks, in Talladega, Alabama, we were hooked. If you have NASCAR fans in the family, the tracks and attractions — again, on NON-race days/weeks — are (relatively) inexpensive, fun family entertainment. I fear any future Road Trip Family Vacations will have to be on the NASCAR track circuit — fortunately, we have THE BOOK.
  5. It will take a full week to recover from our Five-Day Family Road Trip.




CAMP MOMMY 2008 – Perfect Parenting & Girls

Week 4 [only?!]/ Day 17 of 55

Not-so-great-day from the beginning today, but that’s going to happen, every once in a while. I was trying to hide away in my bedroom and just focus on finishing the laundry and reading, but I finished my book. The laundry is still in progress.

Last week, for the first time ever in five years of CAMP MOMMY, we had all three kids camped up in different programs — which required an insane amount of driving time, but it was worth it, because all three (four of us, including Mom) had such a great week and thoroughly enjoyed their camp experiences. That is awesome. (Cost = $615 — and that’s with one of the programs, Jr. Police Academy, FREE — which is why we can’t camp up all summer.)

So this week, 7yo ADHD Phenom is back for his second week at the ADHD Summer FUN Camp, having a great time.

10yo Drama Queen is back at Taylor Camp, with a brand-new tennis racket and real tennis shoes — because she’s good. She is naturally gifted for tennis: strength, coordination and ability, and I’m not just saying that, as The Mom. Her teacher/camp director/tennis coach has been telling us since she played tennis last summer. We got her into lessons this Spring, and now she has been invited to play on a U-12 (under 12) competitive girl’s tennis team in the city league. She is really excited.

But so far, she’s not having a great second week of camp, and I’m not sure why. She came home early yesterday, complaining of a stomachache and all-over misery, yet she was out in the pool, whooping it up with her brothers a couple of hours later, after some rest, reading and computer time.

She was a reluctant camper this morning: not happy at all. This is the drama in our Drama Queen — usually some type of avoidance behavior to get away from someone or something, or a situation she is not happy with. Girls are rough; so complicated. I tried to draw anything out — gently, with love and understanding, but it never goes the way it does on TV, with the perfect parents, in heart-to-heart conversations with their daughters.

Too much pressure with the whole tennis thing? Maybe — but she dragged me out to shop for the new racket and shoes this weekend, which she really needed, even just for camp. We are happy and excited for her, to pursue her own interests and anything she wants to do, and it wasn’t that big of a deal, as far as the money — slightly more expensive than Target-brand, but no mortgage-sized investment or anything. We waited this long to buy new stuff, to make sure she was really interested in playing.

I don’t know. But that kind of started the headache this morning; then a little, minor quibble — a bristle, really — with hubby, as we were trying to get out the door this morning (late), over nothing and over just as quickly — it just put a little ripple in the smooth, peaceful surface of our day, and once it starts, it’s hard to turn around.

I was trying to hide, to shut down and go back to bed for an hour or so, to read, to snap out of it — and here I am, self-analysis by blog. (Thanks for listening.)

The third child, 13yo Puberty Angst Boy is home this week, and for the rest of the summer. I’m working on trying to get him out of the house for a while everyday, on his own initiative: Call your friends, go ride your bike, jump in the pool, get a job, go DO something! But, so far, I’ve only managed to annoy him (and myself) by nagging him, giving him chores to do, turning off the TV (as per the 10am – 4pm rule) and reminding him about his two-page daily requirement of Summer Bridge work (Grade 7 – 8). He’s doing okay, really. It’s only his second day home.

We’re about to go out to lunch, run some errands and pick up the kids from camp. He is on the computer, but he’s got the whole family room set up, with a blue sheet as a bluescreen, the camera and the iMac/iMovie, working on photography effects and a digital movie. I’m sitting here at the computer, writing this, so I really can’t blame him for his tech-obsession.

We both need to move away from the keyboard now…

SNACKS: What do you feed a hungry crowd?

(AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION REQUIRED — SEE BELOW!)

With Summer Break fast-approaching (god help us all!), one of the many issues and concerns will be groceries — and lots of ’em, to feed hungry kids-at-home and all their friends.

My Mom Blogger-friend, Neena at Parenting Tips at NeenMachine.com – Parenting Tips for Busy Moms and Families, mentioned the bugger-boo of healthy snacking on her blog recently:

My kids love to snack. They are always hungry. And being the good mom that I am I buy lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains – stuff that is good for them. Always with the best intentions. I walk through the grocery store with visions of baking healthy muffins and oatmeal cookies, tossing up delicious salads and blending frosty smoothies – all chock full of nutrition and “good” calories. Ha!

I arrive home from the store with bags (reusable, of course) full of healthy snacks – or actually raw materials that have the potential to become healthy snacks – no, really, let’s just call it bags full of work to do. It’s true, the healthiest foods take time to prepare. Pre-packaged snacks are often not as nutritionally sound as foods that take some time to get from fridge to table.

And more often than not, my good intentions go awry when one (or two, or three) week(s) later, I pull out some unrecognizable fruit or vegetable out of my produce drawer.

So now I am on a mission to provide healthy snacks for kids and reduce food spoilage as well. I have come up with a simple one, two method that does take time, but not as much as my original ambitions…read the rest!

Our favorite, easy, healthy-ish snacks are:
(Well, I guess ice cream would probably have to be above #1.)
1. Fresh Strawberries (washed & cut, of course)
2. Fresh Watermelon
3. Baby Carrots
4. Peanut Butter & Crackers
5. Cheese & Crackers

My little one is going through a hot chocolate & popcorn phase, which will probably last through 90-degree weather (he’s just like that). He also goes through fresh or frozen blueberries and little green apples like you wouldn’t believe (usually not together). He’s a huge Cheese Nips fan, too. (I know, that’s not so good.)

I will also admit to the popularity of CHIPS in the house, potato chips and Dorito’s chips, and cookies, on occasion. I will buy those Nabisco “snack trays” with the individual bags of goodies, when they are Buy One Get One FREE at Publix…nobody here is perfect!

While we’re on that topic, do you remember what we used to snack on when we were kids? I know I must have enjoyed healthy snacks at some time in my childhood, but I remember most a whole lot of Pop-Tarts, Hostess Ding Dongs and those chocolate cupcakes with the squiggly white line on the top and the whipped cream in the middle…I’ll still buy Pop-Tarts, the old classics, Cinnamon and Cherry, but you just can’t buy the Hostess cakes anymore — they’ve got this paper-thin little crust of frosting or chocolate now and it’s just ruined the whole experience. Oh, now look there, I have digressed, once again.

So the question is, snack-providing moms and dads:
What do you feed your hungry crowd?
Please post a comment below, or email me at
sherri@rebelhousewife.com.
In preparation for summer, it would be great to have some fresh ideas, wouldn’t it?!