Show your team’s spirit with these personalized team spirit hair ribbons! You can customize them for your team’s colors, name, sport, or even have your athlete’s name added to them. Each of the Angel Baby Creations’ ribbons are professionally cut and heat sealed to prevent fraying which makes them perfect for everyday wear. They will withstand the high activity levels associated with all sports - including cheerleading, dance, gymnastics, softball, (can be worn under helmet), basketball, volleyball, soccer and more!

The ribbons are made from high quality Grosgrain Ribbon to ensure long lasting durability and all personalized ribbons are professionally embroidered with only the highest quality embroidery thread. All of the Spirit Ribbons are attached to long lasting non-metal Pony-O hair elastic. These are approved for most regional and national level cheerleading competitions, as well as most youth sporting associations.

We ordered a sample for our gymnastics team and everyone loved them! The girls like them because they are comfortable and the moms love them because they look great and are easy to put in.

Gymnastics does a body good! A report at Scientific American states that gymnasts have higher bone density and muscle density than their peers who participate in low-impact sports or no sports at all.

According to the report, the impact of jumping, tumbling, and running on the body actually helps stimulate bone growth. By getting involved in impact sports before puberty, athletes are actually preventing osteoporosis later in life.

Some of the sports that strengthen bones include:

• Gymnastics
• Soccer
• Track
• Basketball
• Martial Arts
• Field Hockey
• Lacrosse
• And other sports that involve jumping and quick direction changes

Non impact sports such as swimming and biking are still considered healthy, but need to include some additional impact type conditioning for maximum benefits.

Image: Flickr

One of the biggest challenges of being the Mom of three athletes, is getting everyone fed - healthy, quick, and something they like.One of my favorite strategies is menu planning. Each Sunday night, I plan the menu for the week. I can make sure we get balanced meals, it saves on groceries, and keeps us away from too much fast food.

Another strategy I have used a lot lately is to make double of our favorite meals and then freeze the leftovers in single serving containers. Since I have one really picky eater, this comes in handy a lot.

Ragu has created a cookbook that is geared toward active families on the go. It is complete with recipes, shortcuts, and other time saving tips. Go to the Ragu website to get one for free.

Thanks to 5 Minutes for Mom for letting us know about this great freebie.