Christmas Time

Christmas is in full swing over here, and I've had more fun this year getting everything ready than ever before. I know having Connor is what has made the holiday season so exciting; watching him experience new things and actually be "old" enough to get exciting is just thrilling.

We've been doing a whole lot of baking, decorating, and yes, still working out.

Our tree is fully decked, and I'm happy to say that Connor hasn't attacked it yet. Pretty much all of our ornaments came in a set, and they're hard plastic. That is KEY with a toddler. If the ornaments were all glass I'd probably be too paranoid to let him play around the tree.

 

I think our mantle is one of my favorite holiday decorations. The garland came pre-lit from Costco, and I used twine to hang Christmas cards from clothespins (that was an idea I stole from my friend Beth).

 

Connor visited Santa, and was NOT feeling it. Honestly though, the Santa was pretty intimidating, so I don't blame him!

 

These picture are pure gold in my eyes. The sheer terror Santa incited is just too much to handle.

 

 

One tradition we decided to start this year, and look forward to the kids taking part in, is baking cookies throughout the season, assembling cookie baskets for friends and family, and delivering them right before Christmas. If you're a friend that I'm getting together with next weekend for a certain holiday party, you *might* have some cookies coming your way ;)

 

So far, I've made: oatmeal chocolate chip, regular chocolate chip, peanut butter blossoms, and gingerbread cookies. My favorite recipe happens to be a new one I found googling. It's seriously the easiest peanut butter cookie, and it is SO good.

 

1 C sugar (you can use brown or white, I do half of each)

1 C peanut butter- I use chunky

1 egg

 

I throw all of the ingredients into my mixer, and let it go until combined. Bake at 350 for about ten minutes. SO GOOD!

 

I also do the Hershey's kiss in the middle directly after baking. Try these, you will not be disappointed.

 



 

And now, you have to burn off those cookies, right? Try a HIIT workout. High intensity interval training. Use the easy formula of 45 seconds work, 15 seconds rest. You really can pick any total body moves for this. Here's a great example of a HIIT workout you can do at home or in the gym. Remember, there are no reps listed because you should be working for 45 seconds, and that could end up being a different number of reps for every person. The purpose of only having a short rest period is to keep your heart rate up, and have maximum calorie burn.

 

HIIT workout- repeat 3-4 times

45 seconds work/15 seconds rest

 

Burpees

Squat jumps

Butterfly push-ups

Plank

Alternating forward lunges with bicep curls

Squat with shoulder press

Bicycle crunches

 





Keep it simple!

Stroller strides has officially moved inside for the winter. To be honest, I totally prefer being outside, and using things like benches and fences as part of the workout. Inside, you're a bit more limited. I've decided to take a more basic approach, and work circuits, just like I do in my group fitness classes.

The nature of a stroller strides class is very different than a group ex class, so the workout will be too.

Today was PACKED and it was so fun! Everyone was really sweating, and it was a hard one for sure. 

The workout:

4 rounds of:

15 jacks

15 squat jumps

15 burpees

15 push-ups

1 min plank

Walking lunges down the basketball court and back

2 laps

The KEY here is to make this as hard or modified as you need. Here's the truth. By the end of this, if you're not dripping sweat, you need to push it a little harder. Full burpees, getting all the way down with the squat jumps, sprinting the laps, full push-ups, get it? On the flip side, if you're really struggling, modify! Reach up and down instead if jumping, push-ups from the knees, etc. Take every workout this way, and you'll always get a GOOD workout.

Something Connor has now been introduced to, courtesy of his stroller strides friends: snacks in the stroller. We can see how well that turned out!