We Share Everything!

What a fun book to read with a group of young kids. Robert Munsch books are always hilarious and always get the kids engaging.

This months book, We Share Everything, was perfect to go along with our theme of Mix and Match.

The adapted board book for younger children was great for the group that showed up, many were in daycare and could relate to the story and not wanting to share.

TO hear the giggles and the things they pointed out in the pictures was so funny!

As usual with our Tales for Tots, we gave away a copy of the book. Our lucky winner was our youngest babe today. Olivia, at only 8 weeks old, attentively listened to the story and held her winning book.

Stay tuned for next months Tales for Tots book, How do dinosaurs eat cookies.

Leap Year!

We have an extra day in February this month! Leap year brings us February 29th, something that only happens very 4 years.

I used to get so confused, is a regular year 364 years and a leap year is 365 or does a leap year add a day to the claimed 365 days of the year. The answer I finally researched one day, a leap year is 366 days. Duh! some of you might say, but really I had no idea until I did some research.


I always just took leap year as nothing special, just a year with an extra day, a day that made for great jokes about birthday age for people born on February 29th, a day that in general, meant nothing really.

So one year, I took an interest in WHY we have leap year. Was is just a joke someone decided would be funny for those with birthdays, was it someones laziness in the past that forgot a day on a calendar and decided they would just add it back in one year, why do we really have this extra day??

So first off, Leap Year isn't technically every 4 years, for the most part it is, but there are years that will NOT fall into this (it's math, all math and kinda technical).

So WHY the leap year?? Leap Years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth's revolutions around the sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days – or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds (a tropical year) – to circle once around the Sun.

If we did not have a leap year, after 100 years our calendar would be down to only 24 days! So to keep us on the 365 calendar to make sure we hit our seasons at the right time and that day and night stay consistent, we need an extra 24 hours every 4 years!

Can you imagine a year with only 24 days???

Happy Family Day!

I love spending time with my family and I am lucky to be a WAHM (work at home mom) running momstown here in Barrie. Because of this, i get to spend a lot of time with my kids daily, but to have a whole dedicated to this special time is great!

I made sure that we had a very easy going, relaxed and fun day. No rushing to get dressed and off to school or appointments. No running from errand to errand. No rushed meals or on the go food.


We lazily slept in (ok barely but still), laid in bed and played, had a lazy breakfast and then started the play time. Some cars and a round of house. A couple of movies and some colouring.

It was nice to have everyone home and not feel so hurried.

Tonight we are even ordering in so that I don't have to cook dinner and we can just continue to be chill.

I must confess that the kids didn't even get dressed today. I did change from my jammies to a pair of comfy sweats and a t-shirt, but only because my dad stopped in.

So far it has been a perfect day... a few more hours and then hopefully a perfect bedtime!

Happy Family Day everyone!

If I have to tell you one more time.....

We have all said it. We have all gone blue in the face repeating the same things over and over to our children in efforts to get them to do something.

Nagging our children is no fun for us or them. But on top of the not listening we have the random senseless tantrums, the talking back, whining.... every kid does it at some point and we all deal with it the best way we can.

With my oldest, and only one child in the picture at the time, it was so easy to work through things in a much more calm and sane matter. I could take the time to talk to her, give her the "time out" if needed or if we were out and about, simply head home as part of the punishment


With more children in the picture, it's not always easy. There is tattletales, laughing by one child when another is in trouble and then there are my favourite times when they all decide to act up together and tag team their mama with naughtiness.
Trying to reason with a misbehaving 3 year old while attempting to nurse a starving newborn is not easy. Chasing a 3 year old down that has drawn on the walls while trying to calm a screaming newborn and change a poopy diaper at the same time, not so easy either.

The more kids we have the more trying it gets, the older the kids get the more there is to be done with correcting behaviour and enforcing positive attitudes and fair play.

I always feel horrible for the amount of times in a week I have to say "no", "don't" or "can't". It seems that in trying to teach our kids the right way act or do things, we tend to use a lot of negative words.

I know personally I need to find a way to use more positive words when trying to calm a tantrum, get a child to listen or stop whining or teaching a child to not hit.
.


This month momstown is putting on another free webinar with Positive Parenting Solutions to help with just these issues! If you can relate to anything here, take an hour out of your evening to listen in!

Junior Chefs Valentine FUN!

One of our mamas and tots favourite events is our Junior Chefs program.

Once a month we pick a kid friendly recipe that we can all make together and the kids love it.

This month with a focus being on Valentine's Day, we made some special and super delicious heart treats!


Once again the star of our recipe was Kellogg's Rice Krispies. The kids helped to mix up some Rice Krispie treats and practiced their counting as well as we counted out the scoops to make each batch!


With the batches all mixed and cooled down, the kiddies got to fill heart shaped cookie cutters with the mix.

There were sticky messy hands and lots of nibbling but the kids loved it! Even the youngest of the bunch!


Once the hearts set enough to be decorated, the kids got down to covering the hearts with icing.

Once the icing was on, the real fun began! There were all sorts of sprinkles and candies in red and pink for the kids to use to decorate their treats.


As soon as they were done, the kids dove in and enjoyed the yummy treats... and so did many of the moms!


Stay tuned for our next Junior Chef event in March!

Love is in the air....

February is know as the month of love. The month in which we celebrate Valentine's Day.

This Holiday is another favorite with the kids! There are so many fun ways to celebrate and so many fun crafts to make!

We started out the month with a great Valentine Craft, mobiles, all decorated in pink, red and purple hearts! The kids had fun making these!

The momstown mamas will be getting together on Friday for our Junior Chefs play date and the kiddies will be making some super fun Valentine Treats!

momstown.ca has a TON of Valentine crafts on the Arts and Crafts blog! You could do something everyday from now and until the big day twice over and more!


Here is a little poem to get you in the Valentine mood

Love is a Circle
Love is a circle,
Round and round,
Love goes up,
And love comes down,
Love is on the inside,
Trying to get out,
Love is whirling and twirling about!
author unknow

Make and Take fun with Chapters!

Here in Barrie, momstown has a new partner! Chapters and Indigo Kids! We are so excited about this opportunity as it brings together three of the things that we love and value most, reading, play and creativity!

Chapters recently went through a major renovation and opened a fantastic new Indigo Kids section. The space is bright and big and welcoming, not to mention the perfect place for us to host events!!!


We had our very first open to the public Make and Take craft event and it was a huge a success! I was so pleased to see so many members, past members and new faces coming out to support momstown and Chapters and to have some fun!

The kids were so excited by their surrounding, the opportunity to do a craft in the midd
le of a book store was just perfect!

The craft we made was fitting for this month, Valentine Hearts! The kids took hearts ta ht were cut out of a heavy stock paper and covered it with glue.

They then covered the glue with pieces of red, pink and white tissue paper making their Valentine Heart!


A pipe cleaner as a handle so they can hang it on the door at home and the craft was complete!

I am so looking forward to our next one and to meeting more new people!

Winter Birthdays – Get The Kids Outside!

In thinking about how big this year is with momstown turning 5, I have been thinking about the big birthday bash we will be throwing this summer and about all the fun birthday themes out there!

I find there are so many things to do in the Spring, Summer and Fall, but what can we do to celebrate a birth in the Winter?


So I asked Kate Howes, owner of Take The Party Outside, what do we do in the Winter?

Here are her thoughts in her own words:

Let’s think back to when we were kids. The first snowfall was always the day you jumped out of bed the fastest, and a snow day meant actually playing in the snow.
Ahh, I remember it with great fondness and I can still feel the warmth that the hot chocolate brought to my tummy — the good old days.

Today our kids don’t play outside like we did. I don’t know if it’s because we have them so close to our sides in their protective bubbles or if the video games and TV shows are so much better now, but kids just aren’t outdoors as much. Either way, when people ask me, “What should I do for my son’s birthday, it’s in February?” I always say, “Do something outside, kids love it!”

So, what is there to do in the Barrie area in the winter?


Here are a few ideas if you want to Take the Party Outside:

• Take the kids snow tubing – Horseshoe Resort, Blue Mountain or Snow Valley
• Take the kids snowshoeing – Hardwood Hills, Scenic Caves or Wye Marsh Wildlife Center
• Take them skating – you can rent the ice at any area arena and many come with the use of a party room.
• For the really adventurous, try dog sledding – Windrift Kennel

For those of you who are die hard home-party people, here are some outdoor ideas:

• Play Headless Snowman (from Disney Family Fun website)


WHAT IT IS: A goofy photo opportunity that allows kids to substitute their heads for a snowman's.


WHAT YOU NEED: Camera, props (such as a corncob pipe) and a small stool. The kids we know love any chance to be hams -- especially for the camera. Enter this decorated but headless snowman. As the cameras clicked, the kids took turns mugging as Frosty--
corncob pipe and all. We placed a small, sturdy stool behind the snow body so that the shorter kids could also get into the act.


Thank you so much to Kate from Take The Party Outside for sharing these ideas with us! Enjoy those winter Birthdays mamas!