Wordless Wednesday- "Mmmmm... Doughnuts!"

MOMs Club Of Concord- Fall Festival/Open House

Fall Table Decorations

Katy and Connor, enjoying a snack together.

Today was the MOMs Club of Concord's Fall Festival/Open House. Coordinating the Open House falls under one of my "duties" as Membership VP of the club. So, responsibilities were divvied up and everything came together pretty smoothly (I can say that now that it's over :-). The board bought the food and our playgroup was in charge of decorations.

We had 16 moms and all of their kiddies present for the event. Of that, four were visitors- two of which, decided to join. We had about 34 people, total! That's a GREAT turnout for any MOMs Club event!!!!

While things were a bit chaotic (that's what you get when you put that many kids together!), we did manage to play "Pin the Nose on the Jack-O-Lantern" and "Guess How Many Candy Corn." Halloween Bingo never got around to being played- oh well- I don't think the kids missed it!

It was nice to socialize and get to know some new moms.

MOMs Club- Fire Station Visit

Firewoman Katy, to the rescue!

Doing What Katy Does Best- Pushing Buttons! 

(Love the "Danger" sign in the lower right corner)

Fire Safety Demonstration

Katy and Elizabeth with their new hats! (Yay, for a pink fire hat!)

This past Tuesday, we joined the rest of the MOMs Club for a visit to the Fire Station. I couldn't quite convince Katy to don her cool fireman outfit from the Jones Grandparents, but we had fun, nonetheless. The kids were allowed to climb and roam the trucks to their hearts content. They had so much fun exploring and pushing button (literally and figuratively, if you know what I mean ;-P). Katy especially had fun "driving" the big trucks! There was also a fire safety demonstration and one of the women got suited up in full turn-out gear. It was neat to see a fire woman, up close, in a non-threatening setting. We had a good turnout of kids (and moms) and I know that all the kids had a good time!!

Wordless Wednesday- Feeding Frenzy

JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes

Honest- the weather man said that it was supposed to be 82 degrees, today. 

He lied- it ACTUALLY was a chilly, windy 60-something degrees!

"Play ball!"

Today, we joined the MOMs Club of Concord team as we showed our support for finding a cure for juvenile diabetes by walking a 5K for the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes. The temperature was quite brisk when we first met up but after walking three miles, we quickly warmed up. We had fun walking with friends, supporting a good cause and fitting in a little exercise, as well.

In our ongoing mission as parents, we want Katy to learn several things from our participation in such charitable events. First of all, we want Katy to grow up knowing that the world is a bigger place than just her little world. We want her to grow up with a open mind to those around us that are different, that suffer from ailments other than our own. We would like Katy to show compassion and charity to those in need. We also want Katy to realize that we not only talk to the talk, but we also walk the walk- in this case, literally!

Chick-Fil-A Backstage Tour

 

Don't we look cool with our hats, shoe covers and Chick-Fil-A badges?

We took a backstage tour at Chick-Fil-A, today, with the MOMs Club. While going on the tour, we got to see biscuits being hand-rolled and cut, we got to see how their famous nuggets are made, we saw lots of lemons being squeezed for their fresh-squeezed lemonade and we even got to make our own ice cream cones! 

We even learned a couple of things, too! For example, did you know that Chick-Fil-A also served burgers and steaks way back in the beginning (in the 1940s)? Or, did you know that Chick-Fil-A actually came up with the nugget? I was impressed to see all of the fresh ingredients being used (they chop all of their veggies fresh, every morning- no bagged lettuce for them!).

It was fun and interesting to see how some of our favorite foods are made at Chick-Fil-A. Of course, it was also fun to play at  the play place after the tour, too! ;-P

"Hippity, Hoppity, Easter's Come and Gone..."

"I've done this egg hunting before- I'm an old pro."

"Mommy, I see an egg OVER THERE!"

Pretty Girl

Group Shot!

Since the local school district has Spring Break this week, the MOMs Club had their Easter Egg Hunt today so some of the older children could participate. The kids had fun making a craft, eating a snack and hunting eggs. Katy did much better this time- she knew right what to do and got down to hunting kids with the rest of the gang. Her only problem was that because she was holding her bag a little precariously, every time she'd put an egg in her basket, another one would fall out and then she would see it and exclaim, "Look, Mommy, another egg (even though it was the same egg she had just put in the basket moments ago)!" (It could have been a scene out of 50 First Dates). We had fun!

MOMs Club- Easter Party at Jackson and Macy's

"Today, I went to an Easter party at my friends, Jackson and Macy's house. All of my play group friends were there."

"Just like last year, I wasn't so sure about hunting eggs in the grass...Then, I saw all of the other kiddies running around, finding eggs and having fun."

"So, I decided to join in the festivities. Look, Mommy, I found a (plastic) egg!"

"Woohoo! We found the motherlode!"

MOMs Club- Busy Bag Swap

Busy Bag Swap Lineup!

Today, we hosted a Busy Bag Swap with the MOMs club. While the concept is not a new one, it was the first time that this group of friends got together in this capacity. For those who are unfamiliar with the idea, a busy bag is essentially an inexpensive, educational, transportable, quiet activity that can be thrown into Mom's purse and brought out at strategic moments (i.e. think long wait at the doctor's office, church, car ride, etc.) to keep a child occupied and busy.

Each of the seven moms came to the event with seven of the same activity- we signed up ahead of time to make sure there were no duplicates. Then, we traded with the other mothers to end up with seven unique activities. We all ended up with one of each of the following bags:

Color Matching- This is the bag that we made for the swap. This bag includes a mat with six colors printed on it and a handful of pom-poms. The child then matches the colored pom-poms to the coordinating circles on the mat. For older children, you can instruct the child to put a certain number of orange pom-poms on the orange circle, a certain number on the yellow circle, etc. Download the mat template here.

Cupcake Busy Bag- This bag includes felt pieces that can be put together to create "cupcakes." Download the patterns here.

Lacing Busy Bag- This bag includes cut out foam shapes with different colored yarn and shoelaces to lace through the shapes.

Are You My Mother? Busy Bag- Based on the childhood favorite book, this bag includes a pictures of mommy animals and the child must match them with the correct pictures of the baby animals.

Butterfly Counting Busy Bag- This bag includes a mat with pictures of butterflies in varying numbers and number discs. Then, the child must match up the correct number disc to the correct number of butterflies shown on the mat.

 Pipe Cleaner Canister- This fun, self-contained canister with colored holes in the lid includes colored pipe cleaners. The child threads the pipe cleaners through the matching colored holes. This seems to be Katy's favorite one, so far!

Shapes Felt Board Bag- This bag includes felt shapes that the child can use their imagination to create all sorts of patterns, objects and pictures.

It was so much fun to see all of the different bags- lots of creative mamas in our group! The Busy Bags were a big hit with the kids (and the moms!) and we had so much fun!!

MOMs Group Valentine's Day Sock Hop!

24 little ones...

...plus lots of cookies, cake and Valentine's sweets...

...equals this is the best picture of the lot...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Christmas Cookies with Friends

Some of the kiddos decorating sugar cookies. 

Let's just say there was more eating than decorating going on ;-P

Our little Cookie Monster (eating and enjoying egg/soy/nut free cookies, of course!)!

Today, we joined the rest of the moms and kiddos for the MOMs Club of Concord Christmas party. We decorated sugar cookies, painted plaster ornaments, made crafts, played and ate lunch. There was laughter! There was crying (that's what happens when you put together over a dozen kids under five)! There was lots of playing! Merry Christmas!

PJs and a Movie!

Being a SAHM has a lot of advantages- getting to watch your child grow, change and develop, being able to be there for all of the key milestones, creating such a strong bond between mother and baby and many others that are both tangible and intangible (Did I mention that the other day Katy was looking at a wedding picture of Ted and I hanging in our living room and she came up to me, gave me a sweet baby kiss, pointed to the picture and said, "Pretty Mommy." So sweet!). Of course, staying at home with your child also has some disadvantages, too. One of those cons being the lack of adult interaction. There are only so many times you can say the word, "Potty" without feeling like you are five- I'm just saying. So, I decided to join the MOMs Club of Concord to get to know other moms in the area, find some friends for Katy and max out my 3,000 words/day quota (just kidding on the last one- hee, hee!).

The club has lots of different events planned throughout the month- all of them being kid-friendly and low-key. There are play dates and park dates and even Mom's Night In/Out.

Today was our first event- Watch a Christmas Movie in your PJs. The event was hosted at a house right around the corner from us- I'm not kidding!- it took us literally five minutes to WALK there! There were lots of little kiddies ranging in age from about a year to four years old. The kids all had fun playing together (Katy loved playing with somebody else's toys!) and the moms all enjoyed chatting, getting to know one another and discussing such topics as flu shots, school/education, Christmas and vacation plans.