Countdown to Christmas with Paper Ring Trees!

At our Art and Play before December hit, we got crafty making advent calendars out of Paper Ring Trees.

This was a pretty simple craft to put together, and easy for kids to follow for taking it apart to count down the days until Santa arrives!!

All we needed was 24 strips of green paper and one yellow one.

By gluing all the rings together in the shape of a tree, leaving the yellow one for the star, we ended up with a Christmas tree shape!

As the days of December go by the kids can tear off a ring, the last ring will be Christmas day, the star!

To make it even more fun, you could write little thing on each green strip before gluing them together.  Simple things like, read a book, bake cookies, or watch a Christmas show, will make it that much more fun for the kids to see what they get to do with each ring they take apart!

mama crafting - Felt Christmas trees

Our mamas got crafty and decided to make some big felt Christmas trees for the kids to decorate over and over again!.

This was such a great idea, as we all know how tempting all those pretty ornaments are to toddlers and preschoolers once we get our trees up!

With the felt trees and felt ornaments, the kids can decorate the tree themselves and there is no worry about broken treasures!

Our moms cut out lots of felt ornaments; gingerbread men, candy canes, snow men, gifts, stars and more!

I thought it would be a pretty simple craft, but our mamas really got crafty making the ornaments so detailed. 

It was a lot of fun, and the kids loved the end result.

Swamp Water by Robert Munsch!

Tales for Tots this month was a brand new book from Robert Munsch called Swamp Water.  Thanks to our partner Scholastic Canada one of our lucky moms got to take a copy of the book home with her!

As always, Munsch weaves a fun and wild tale that gets you giggling.  Anyone that has ever taken a kid out to a restaurant can probably relate to this story and find the humour within.

Not only does Robert Munsch do a great job telling stories, the illustrations always help make the funny parts shine through and the kids love pointing things out in the pictures.

For more great titles from our partners at Scholastic, visit them online at www.scholastic.ca, on Facebook, or Twitter @scholasticCDA #scholasticmomstown - See more at: http://momstown-toronto.blogspot.ca/2013/11/tales-for-tots-swamp-water-by-robert.html#sthash.6jaCRb5X.dpuf

Shop Local! Support your local businesses this Holiday Season!

The holidays are coming!  As you sit and make your lists of what to get your loved ones for the holidays, consider shopping local!    Support your local business, make your shopping easy with online purchases and feel good about the holidays!

Princesses and Pirates brave the snow!

The first snow storm of November hit as we got ready to have our Princess and Pirates party.

The snow didn't stop the little ones from bringing their mamas out so they could have some fun!

The little pirates and princesses first made some magic wands.

hen it was on to the handprint pirate ships!  The kids had fun making these.  Tissue paper waves, white crayon clouds and of course, the hand print pirate ship!

The palm of the hand makes the boat and the fingers the masts for the flags!  Anytime we do handprint or footprint crafts, I love watching the kids have fun with the paint and create neat things just from their own little hands and feet. 

It's fun to watch the kids do these over the years to see how their hands grow!

Tales for Tots, McDonald's and our moms!

We were so lucky to get to work with McDonald's this week for our Tales For Tots.

McDonald's has 4 great books that you can find in your child's Happy Meal until November 15th.  These adorable little books talk about different healthy eating benefits featuring cute animal characters.

Our moms spent the morning with their little ones at our local McDonald's at Minets Point.  The fantastic staff, including manager Jennifer, made our morning so much fun!

We did some crafts and played and of course read some books that you can find in the Happy Meals.  The kids liked the fun stories and so did the moms.  It was nice to see everyone having such a great time!

Along with some play time and story reading, we were treated to some snacks from our friends at McDonald's including apple slices, yogurt parfaits, apple juice and coffee for mom!  We were certainly spoiled!

Be sure to check out your local McDonald's and get a Happy Meal!  You wont want to miss these adorable books along with their healthy message!

momstown minds collaborate in Niagara!

Our bi-annual conference took over the Courtyard Marriott in Niagara Falls last weekend.  This was our first, and I am sure not our last, visit to Niagara with the momstown mamas!

The Courtyard Marriott was a great location for us to meet.  Situated in the heart of Niagara Falls, it was a great location to be close to everything and easily accessible from the highway.  The staff was friendly and courteous and the food was great.  The beds were the most comfortable I have had in a hotel in a long time making 3 nights away from home much more easy

It's always such a great feeling to have all the momstown chapter owners come together.  The support from everyone is so encouraging and so inspiring.  We all bring so much to the table and the collaboration of minds and ideas is a great reminder on why I love momstown!

This conference we saw a new feature, our awards night.  This was a fantastic way for not only our Head Office, but also all the owners, to recognize the hard work and achievements of the various chapters.  This was a definite feel good way to kick off our conference.  The steak dinner with the Keg was great too.

Along with some awesome planning, brainstorming, learning and sharing from our head office leaders and guest speaker Shelagh Cummins,  we had the chance to learn from each other.

For anyone that may consider owning a momstown chapter, you can be guaranteed that you will learn lots, be well supported and constantly be encouraged and inspired by our amazing team.

After spending a good chunk of time in business mode, we got the chance to head out of the hotel conference centre and visit Chateau Des Charmes winery.  For me, this was a first.  It was a lot of fun to learn about the wine making process as well as to through a structured wine tasting.

While there, we had fun getting our team photo taken, as well as our new head shots.  Stay tuned for the new pics of our gorgeous team!!!

So with another conference under my belt, I am ready to push forward with momstown and shoot for the stars.  Will you be joining me?