Check out Fitness Rangers Bootcamp at www.frbootcamp.com and then send a short email describing why this is the right opportunity for you to kara@kidaroundmag.com by Friday October 14th.  Entrant must be willing to commit to at least two workouts a week as well as be interviewed and photographed during your journey for Kidaround Magazine.

We can't wait to work out with you so send in your emails today! 

*The workouts are held in East Sacramento at Sacred Heart school and/or in Carmichael at St. Michaels School. 

** Winner to be chosen by FRBC and Kidaround Magazine Editor-in-Chief

Okay soul-sister mommas, I must admit…even though I AM ready for my kiddos to exercise their brains again, the thought of going “Back To School” stresses me out! I know we all need a break from entertaining our kiddos all summer, but does it really have to start out this busy? For me, some of this Back To School running around is for the “angry birds!” I’m a really happy “bird” so please don’t take my words the wrong way, but lately my outlook calendar seems to be hitting maximum capacity with Ava (8) and Max (6) attending a new school this year...eek!

My stress began while roaming the back to school aisles at Wal-Mart as I was scrambling to find all those ridiculous items on the supply list…seriously United States Educational Leaders, can’t we just write a check and order these supplies online?! If we ordered all supplies in bulk we could take advantage of amazing “bulk” prices and save ourselves a lot of time and money! I don’t know about you, but now that I’m a mom, I’m all about streamlining and simplifying my time and responsibilities. Right?? So doesn’t it sound yummy when a mom hears, “bulk prices, save money and time, order online!”

May I ask your mommywood opinion?

Do we really need three aisles of backpacks? What if we took on the concept that Buddha lives by: Keep It Simple and see everyone and everything as ONE. I think we could all tap into our Oneness and celebrate Sameness with having one backpack that works for everyone! After all, we are all striving for acceptance with each other, right? If we all wore uniforms and had the same backpack, we may have more time to actually be with our children in the present moment and not have to worry about material items like backpacks and which color folder to pick out. I share this Oneness outlook with you so you will have peace, calmness and serenity while shopping!

I may have a solution to our mommywood madness! This year, I’m taking on a spiritual approach to going Back To School. I’m not going to stress out about my busy outlook calendar that keeps filling up with Back To School Donut Gathering, New Family Party, First Mass, Meet and Greet Faculty and Friends, First Parent Club Meeting, Uniform Exchange, First Volunteer Day and so on and so on. Don’t get me wrong mommas, I truly live for all this stuff, but this year I’m going to take my calendar responsibilities one yoga breath at a time. No more stressing out about being 10 places at once! And that’s just the children’s schedule, what about me and my career? We must B-R-EEEEEEE-A-T-H.

I have a huge Buddha statue in my bedroom, and he reminds me to embrace the “spiritual” approach to my mommywood madness.  Each day as I leap out of bed to live life as if there’s no tomorrow, I AM watched over by my Buddha buddy! Recently, I founded a Women’s Empowerment Network called “I AM Inspiring Women.” This new network inspires me to make each day rock, and without my Buddha, well, a crazy mama may be found roaming the streets! I really believe if we aren’t growing, then we’re dying, so we must embrace our busy mommywood lives gracefully and cherish each mommywood task one sacred breath at a time. After all, life is just beginning to rev up!

From this day forward, promise yourself that you’ll be more gentle on your spirit and conscious of the I AM’s that you tell yourself! We are women, and we can do it all, but you must love yourself first. I AM ENCOURAGING YOU TO GO GET A BUDDHA BUDDY TODAY and LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE!

By Catalina A. Hillestad
Adjunct Faculty
Sierra College 

My motherhood often feels messy, unkempt and with a perpetual feeling of having forgotten something -- at the same time, it is joyful and pure in getting lost in the hilariousness of my youngest daughter’s love of her Spiderman toothbrush or soaking up the tenderness of my older daughter telling her sister “you’re such a good girl! I’m so proud of you.” These girls of ours are simultaneously angels who inhabit my heart with their utter perfection and are also the little people in my life whose needs and wants I don’t think I could meet without running to Starbucks on a steady basis.

Nothing in my BK (before kids) life prepared me for the reality of the daily balance of a million practical tasks, along with nurturing, disciplining, and teaching little human beings -- little beings whose very existence fill me with an unfathomable love and devotion. The days are defined by shifting from disciplinarian mode to cool-mom mode, back to disciplinarian and teacher, and hopefully ending back in relaxed-mom mode. It is exhausting judging the teachable moments or simply letting “it” slide. The goal is always to love and nurture, but the messiness of my humanity sometimes delivers it as distracted and crabby. The duality of this existence, I’ve discovered, runs true for many moms I’ve met; it is the solitary part of the journey of motherhood, though, that has me thinking about the return to school.

The end of summer marks the end of my Domestic Realm experiment. I teach at Sierra College, so my summers are free from career work, but at the beginning of each summer I gird myself for what challenges and humbles me: balancing full days with two young children and trying my hand at managing the household. Some days are more successful than others, and it feels good to have had fun with the kids during the day and then sit together in the evening with an actual (semi)homemade meal. Those days are great! However, other days are successful if everyone has simply bathed. My family has learned flexibility as the back and forth of my domestic success (or not) plays itself out. Flexibility is a beautiful byproduct of this wobbly journey into domesticity. With it, I am flexible and grace-giving to myself as I get through my days, with love and nurturing as my end goal. With flexibility, my children learn that a woman can try her best and still be “enough,” even if . . .even if . . .even if . . .

As I think about school beginning and the passage of time in a childhood, I am thankful for the external apparatus of school and homework and soccer and work that force me to adhere to a schedule and routine. Order and predictability are old and intimate friends that have been with me since my days as an undergraduate; as a woman who is now on the other side of the lecture podium, summers are a good reminder for me that life is beautiful in the rigors and framework of academics and also beautiful in a life of flexibility. But even in the messiness and unkemptness of much of my motherhood, I see beautiful little-girl eyes who love me and laugh with me and sing with me. And I revel in that. Messily.

Nobody said it would be easy, being a Momma. Monday enters predictably, unapologetically and as abruptly as the week prior and yet for some reason, every Sunday night, I can't just accept my fate.

Every Sunday at 9 p.m., I have the same moment of anxiety where I wonder how on earth I will get through another week. Three small children, who I love more than life itself, a charming and handsome husband who rocks my world (but let's be honest, will always be my “first child”) and a burgeoning fashion styling business, Sister|Brother, that I co-own and run out of the comfort of my own home makes for an incredibly daunting schedule at times. What's funny about this full plate of mine, is no matter how crazy it might get, I honest to God wouldn't have it any other way. I like to think I thrive in chaos. Whether that's true or not, it's all I've ever known.

This Monday was no different. I woke up like the star of a Folgers' commercial, led by my nose down the stairs to my first cup of Joe, thinking I'd get to eat some breakfast, read the paper, and shower before the munchkins launch out of bed with their own personal agendas. Alas no, there, sitting pretty at the kitchen table is my 3 ½ year old daughter Violet, smiling from ear to ear, “I want eggs with cheese, Mom.” Pause. “Pleaaase.” And so my morning began.

Stella and Dashiell woke up next and breakfast was served. Dressed in my comfiest pajamas, listening to “Lemonade Mouth” on the iPod, finishing my third cup of coffee, finishing a Sister|Brother blog post and a Facebook/Twitter dance later and Monday feels like it should be half over... and yet it's only 9 a.m. We finally dress. All four of us. Faces are clean, hair is coiffed and we are off.

After a brisk walk with the dog, where my kids complain over who gets to hold the leash and who gets to push Dashiell's stroller, we load into the car to head to my 9:30 a.m. workout appointment. I run on the treadmill and multitask by sending text messages and emails all the while. Dangerous, I know, but a girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do. We leave and head out to my daughter's tennis lesson and then her sister's hip hop class (where I spend the majority of the lesson convincing her that she needs to actually finish the ½ hour class) and then it's time for lunch. We rush home and sure, I sometimes feel like a short-order cook, but I happily accept menu requests from the peanut gallery, including my father who dines with us every lunch hour. And then the phone rings. It's a client. I take the call and pray nobody asks for a refill of juice, but my prayer goes unanswered. It's okay. It's all part of the package, right?

In the midst of producing and styling Sacramento's premier Fashion's Night Out at Pavilions this September, catering to personal shopping clients and blogging for Sister|Brother, fulfilling my duties as the new Fashion & Style editor of Kidaround Magazine and working freelance editorial jobs, I sometimes wonder how full-time, stay-at-home-Mommy turned so quickly into full-time-stay-at-home-Mommy-who-works-9-hour-days. I can’t honestly tell you how it happened and how it happened so quickly.

I do know this, however, it happened for a reason and I'm happier because of it. I've found a way to be with my children (with the help of a rotating army of babysitters and family) and still do something I love... and sure, my mind is not always 100% focused on my children every minute of every day, but my heart always is and believe it or not, I'm doing all of this for them. I can see them growing prouder of me with every new venture I undertake. I see it on their little faces when they watch me on television doing a fashion spot or when I show them clips from my latest fashion show. They see that I'm happy even though I might be experiencing Manic Mondays more often than not and isn't that what it's all about?

Whether it be Monday or Tuesday or Saturday, there is one thing I know, this is my life and I love it. Regardless of how crazy my day might be, I am proud of my family, myself, and my career. Nobody said being a Momma would be easy, that's for sure... but nothing this wonderful ever comes easy.

Today is the launch of Kidaround's new blog, "Momma Mondays," and boy is today a Momma Monday for me. I decided to take my daughter Charlie shopping for shoes this morning as she has outgrown every pair she owns, but I couldn't find her. I searched the entire house, yard, and neighbor’s house all the while on the phone with Kidaround Mom and Fashion Style Editor Mary Kinney. After 45 minutes, I gave up hitting the mute button every time I screamed, "CHARLIE!!!" 

Eventually, I discovered Charlie had been in the house all along. I was finally able to concentrate, and Mary and I knocked out some exciting details of our next Kidaround photo shoot for the upcoming Fairytale Issue. So off Charlie and I went to Nordstrom and purchased giant new tennis shoes that look suspiciously like they belong to a teenage boy, not a seven year old girl. Charlie wore her new tennies, taking the elevator because there was no chance she could get down three escalators in these new tripping hazards. After getting her to camp on time, fed, and properly attired, I looked at the clock--I had three hours to work, grocery shop, do laundry and maybe shower.

Since my husband and I ate hot dogs for breakfast this morning, I decided that grocery shopping was the priority. As I cruised the aisles, my mind wandered to Kidaround's "What's Cooking" department and how thrilled I am to have Randall Selland cooking with his grandchildren in the upcoming issue. My reverie was broken by my phone ringing with a strange number. "Hello?" I said. "Hello Mrs. Turner, can you please come pick Charlie up? She's not feeling well." 

So here I sit and write, trying not to listen to Snoopy weep in “The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.” My Charlie lays on the couch, feeling better, and happy to be home. There is no dinner prepared, or workout completed, or even worse, a shower to be had. I want you to know that although my “Momma Mondays” blog post is not the inspiring and brilliant work that I hoped it to be, I am a Mom first. 

What I would like to convey here is my gratitude for the community of Kidaround readers. Since July 1, when the new issue of Kidaround hit the streets, the response has been beyond what I expected or even dared to hope. There have been so many talented, interesting and genuine people who have reached out in support of Kidaround and the re-launch. It has been a constant wave of energy and excitement, and I am so grateful that you value what you see.

I hope you will find the “Momma Monday” blog offers the same fun and inspiring content you’ve come to love in the magazine. We’ll showcase guest contributors who will post something that will hopefully entertain, teach or add value to your Momma Monday. 

I can't wait to share it all with you. Happy Monday.

Sincerely,

Kara Turner

Publisher | Kidaround