Baby Snuggles

I am a baby lover. I love all babies and everything about them. I love their itty bitty toes and chubby feet, I love their tiny little hands and fingers, I love their little lips and button noses. I love the way babies smell, the way they sigh, their tiny little cries, their big toothless smiles, their adoring eyes... you get the picture.

My babies are not so much babies anymore. I still cuddle them and snuggles them at every chance and I adore everything about them, but they are not so little and anymore.

The great thing about being a part of momstown is the baby train. Someone is always having a baby! This way I get the pleasure of meeting so many sweet babies.
This year seems to be an especially big baby year. I feel like everywhere I look there are pregnant mamas and new babies. Just this week alone I have watched a friend become a grandma, another friend become a mom for the first time, 2 momstown members welcome their second babies, and their first sons, and showered a friend for her third and possibly final baby.


It's bittersweet for me. I love to see the glow of pregnancy on people, especially on my friends. I love to watch the excitement of planning and preparing for the babies, especially when their are little siblings who are just beginning to understand.

The bittersweet part comes from knowing that my baby days are over. No more babies here... at least this is what I have been told by the Mister. I guess you should never say never, but for now, I have to accept that the only newborn babies I will be snuggling are those of others. Don't get me wrong, I adore the snuggles I get from my own kids very much, no baby will ever replace the snuggles I get at home. But there is just something so special and so different when it comes to newborn baby snuggles.


I try to get my snuggles whenever I can. Not to worry though, I avoid snuggling strangers babies, though I must admit that I have been tempted many times to ask random strangers if I could hold their little ones. Of course I never would, but the temptation has been there!

I save the baby snuggling to those that I know and hence I have become "The Baby Hog". Any of my friends that have had babies recently can attest to the fact that I will take their baby and hang on until I am forced to give them back. I have been fortunate this year to watch many friends welcome babies and having all these new babies around is so incredible!! Having a great circle of friends where we have watched each other go through pregnancy and bring our babies into this world together has been amazing, I know it has made me feel closer to my friends and their families and I thank all of my friends for letting me be a part of that and most importantly, for allowing me to snuggling their babies!

It's been an awesome week of babies and I know there are still so many to come in the next few months.

Welcome to this world sweet babies!!!

Birthday Bash Countdown!

momstown is turning 4 years old this August, wow!!!

3 years ago this August momstown came to Barrie, boy does time sure fly!!!



We have been busily planning an amazing Birthday Bash to celebrate our birthday for this August! There will be loads of fun for the entire family!

JOIN US!!
Saturday August 20th, 2011
10am - 1pm
Centennial Beach next to the pavilion

We have some great entertainment planned with Kindermusik and Please and Thanks Children's Hip Hop, crafts, a bouncy castle, and so much more! Not to mention jam packed Goody Bags, pizza, and some awesome prizes courtesy of our sponsors!!

Sponsors for the event are amazing this year and there are still more to come!

Sponsors inlcude:
Presidents Choice
Little Tikes
Smash Box Canada
Kids CBC
Maple Leaf
Green Works
Clorox
Life Choice Foods
Crocs Canada
Hasbro
Sharpie Canada
Spin Master Toys
Fisher Price

and on a local level...
Service First Mortgages
Pickles the Clown
Wendy's
Independent Beauty Consultant for Mary Kay Debby GoldrickBayside Family Chiropractic
and more to come!

We hope that you will join us! Last year was a blast and this year will be even better!!!

Birthday parties are always fun, why not help momstown celebrate 3 years in Barrie!!!

Portholes at the Beach!

It was a windy day, but the sun was shining as the momstown mamas headed to the beach to do some art!

Following our theme this month, we made an ocean themed craft, portholes!

The kids had a chance to get messy with some finger painting!

They painted an ocean on some paper plates. The blue paint was super messy and the kids were all very blue!

Once our little smurfs were done the finger painting and they oceans had a chance to dry, they glued on their little fishies.

The portholes were complete and the kiddies loved them! They were super cute and although the kids and some of us moms were a little blue, it was a great craft for a windy morning on the beach!

It was such a great day that many of the moms lingered around as the kids played at the park, headed to the beach and just ran around in the sun.

Days like this remind me of how awesome summer is and how awesome momstown is!!!

I hope all of our moms remember to VOTE for momstown in the Savvymom Mom Entrepreneur of the Year!!!

Summer FUN!

This week I have been out of town with my oldest daughter while she competes in a World Open Baton Twirling Championship in South Bend, Indiana at the University of Notre Dame. While here my daughters teams have captured 3 World Open Champion titles... all in categories of over 23 teams... and being the only Canadians there!!


It's a fun, crazy and long week. I miss my 2 youngest kids terribly but have enjoyed having some one on one time with my oldest... something we don't get enough of at home!

I also miss all my momstown mama friends! It's been a week with no crafts, no park days, no play time, no care free playing and I really, really missed it!

This summer has been amazing! We have done so much in these first weeks of summer and there is still so much to come!!!

We have gone to the beach, the splash pad, done crafts and just had an awesome time making friends, enjoying summer and letting kids be kids!

I was looking back at some photos of some events we had so far and seeing the kids have fun always makes me smile!

We started the summer with a trip to the strawberry patch to pick some sweet, juicy summer berries! It was loads of fun, not too hot and the kids had a blast!

The kids enjoyed picking the berries and even more so, enjoyed eating them!!!


We have also done some fun crafts! The month of July is all about the beach. So last week we made and Ocean in a bottle. The kids had a blast heading down to the beach and filling their water bottles from the lake.

We added some colourful little ocean creatures (star fish, whales, dolphins and octopus) to the water, sadly they didn't float like we had hoped.

The kids didn't mind though! We added some oil and blue food colouring to the water and voila! A gorgeous, bubble blue ocean with creatures!

I can't wait to get back in town and get together with the mamas! This week are painting in the park, heading to the splash pad and having a pot luck dinner!

Gotta love summer!

Birthday Celebrations All Around!

It's birthday time around momstown! This August marks 4 years since momstown started helping moms connect in the community with moms just like them!

Here in Barrie, we are marking our 3rd year of fun!!

This week I celebrated another 4th birthday, that of my daughter Noelle! It's hard to beleive that 4 years have passed already, time just flies by the older I get and the older my kids get.



This year, like in years past, we asked our friends and family to join us to celebrate our baby girls birthday and that they did!

It was a perfect summer day, sunny, hot and full of fun, and rainbows!

This year I went with a rainbow theme. It was a lot of fun getting ready for the party, especially making the cake!!

After mixing lots of cake batter for our giant rainbow cake, I coloured the batter. Red, Orange, Green, Blue and Purple (yes, I know, I left out the yellow, but did it on purpose for the cake!).



To make the rainbow cake you just layer the batters and bake as usual!!!



Decoarating the cake was fun too! Noelle's favorite candy made for the perfect rainbow, Skittles!



The cake was a great success, and tated great too!!





To help make the rainbow day perfect we were sure to have rainbows for decorations, rainbow fruit platters and table ware and of course a rainbow Pinata!!!



With the hot weather the pefect entertainment was our splash pool for the kiddies... and yes, it just happened to have a rainbow!!

The day was perfect! I couldn't have asked for a better way to celebrate my little girls 4th birthday!!

Be sure to join us for momstown Barrie's birthday this August 20th at Centennial Beach Park. Festivities start at 10am and run until 1pm. There will be lots of fun for everyone!!!

The Ice Cream Games

Today was super fun! momstown Barrie held its' first Ice Cream Games!

It was the perfect day to gather and have some fun! The kids and moms had a ball playing games, shoe toss, water relay and marshmallow golf!


The little ones loved the marshmallow golf, I think more marshmallows were eaten that actually played with! Watching the toddlers with the little golf clubs trying to hit marshmallow was a site to be seen!!!


The shoe toss was just as much fun for the moms as for the kids! The kids had a bit of trouble getting those shoes to fly, but the moms had no problem and many ended up in the trees!!!


The water relay was a bit of a task... the little ones wanted to play in the water and didn't quite understand the nature of the game but loved that they were splashing and getting wet in the water while playing with the big kids!

After all the fun and games it was time to head to some shade and enjoy a cool treat! Ice cream cones and home made popsicles for everyone!!!


The messy faces and sticky hands were a sure sign of the fun that was had!!!

A splashin' good time!!

What better way to spend a hot muggy day than by splashing around in some cool, refreshing water?

Well that's just what the momstown mamas did today in Alliston. We headed to the splash pad to enjoy some time with the kiddies splashing around in the water!!

We spread out blankets and towels under the shade of the large trees and the kids headed straight for the showering water!!


The laughter and screams of joy was the best part of the morning. They ran through the water and chased each other with squeals of joy! The babies found the only mud puddle and happily played in the ankle deep mud, at time taking a taste of their mud covered fingers and toes.


It was hot and sunny out, but the shade of the trees and the light summer breeze made for the perfect morning. It was so easy to watch the kids and chat with the moms, a treat from the crazy parks we normally head to!

Can't wait for the next splish splashin' fun in the sun kinda day!!

Tomorrow is The Ice Cream Games... outdoor games for kiddies, swimming and of course, ICE CREAM!

Story in the Park

We had our monthly Story in the Park this week sponsored by Scholastic Canada.

The location was perfect for this months' book, the beach!!! My oldest daughter joined us this time, now that school is out she wanted to tag along and see all the little kids.

After the event she asked if she could write the blog for this one... so here is her take on the event. My guest blogger, my daughter, Megan.


It was a great day at the park today we started off reading “The Sandcastle Contest By: Robert Munch” everyone enjoyed the book and after we read it we did a raffle for it and the lucky winner was Giulia!


After the story all the kids wanted to play in the park, some went down the slide, some sat in the little metal car they had at the park and pretended to be their moms and drive around town, while others like my brother Nathan, just wanted to sit in the swing, I'm not sure why, but he did, and he was happy, he didn't even care if he just sat in it without moving as long as he was in it.


My sister Noelle on the other hand didn't care about the park at all she just wanted to swim in the water but she didn't have a bathing suit. So she went in with her clothes on and swam away! So did a few of the other little ones, and of course by the time she was done playing and it was time to go home she was soaked head to toe but she didn't care she just had to go home with no clothes on. It was so cute hearing her say “everyone is gonna see me”, she gets so shy but its so cute!

Overall it was a great day and I'm glad everyone had fun!

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day Barrie!!

What a way to start a weekend, a long weekend to exact, but with a celebration of our Nations birthday.

I am proud to be a Canadian. Proud of our history and our culture and proud of our diversity and most of all our freedom.

To start our long weekend and our summer we headed up north to the cottage with family and friends for a fun and relaxing weekend.

My kids were proudly celebrating Canada Day decked out in their Canadian gear waving Canada flags and decorating our dinner table with Canadian tableware.

It was a great start to the weekend, and to the summer.

Swimming, swating horseflies, relaxing and enjoying a few cool beverages made for a perfect day.

We ended the day with some awesome fireworks and cheers from the kids.

What a perfect day!!