Nanny Robina is coming back to momstown Oshawa - Port Perry!!!

Back by popular demand is everyone's favourite Nanny! This time she is coming to help those of us with toddlers to conquer those "Toddler Shenanigans". Here's the flyer with all the info you need!

 

Please email info.oshawa-portperry@momstown.ca to make arrangements for submitting payment in order to secure your spot in the class!!!

Love Your Cereal!!!

"Love Your Cereal" is being brought to you by Kellogg's and is going to be a fun event happening in many of the momstown chapters!

On Friday, February 11th come on out for a fun momstown social and enjoy a delicious breakfast supplied by Kellogg's, recieve a special Kellogg's gift bag, have a chance to win the Kellogg's Prize Package (which will be raffled off), and simply enjoy the company of other moms and their kiddies!

Breakfast will be offered to all those in attendance and so signing up in advance is particularly important for this event so that we will be able to arrange everything.

There will also be crafts and activities to keep the kiddies busy!

 

For more information, feel free to email
info.oshawa-portperry@momstown.ca

or

login to momstown Oshawa - Port Perry to sign up!!! 

Another Relaxing Mom's Night Out!

We do a lot of fantastic events! There are playgroups, educational circle times & crafts, themed parties, and we go skating and swimming and play in the snow, we always have a ton of fun with the kiddies! Last night though, was all about having fun with the mommies! No kids allowed! A wonderfully relaxing mom's night out!

We started out at Montana's in North Oshawa. What a great restaurant! The atmosphere is very warm and inviting, the staff are very friendly and welcoming, the service is quick and accurate, and the food is just unbelievably tasty! One of the mom's in our group actually works at Montana's and I asked her what she would recommend, what was really really good that I just HAD to order. After she named off more than half of the items on the menu, my decision wasn't made any easier. I ended up with the meatloaf, garlic mashed, and veggies all covered with gravy. It was to die for. Everyone else at dinner enjoyed their meals as well, without a single complaint. When our bills came, there was also absolutely no complaints as the prices are already very reasonable and momstown Oshawa - Port Perry also enjoys a discount of 15% off! A big thank you to Montana's for such a great experience!

After dinner, we all went over to the movies to see "The Dilemma". The movie was good and again, the company was great! The evening was a well-deserved break from a mom's regular schedule and routine, and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

If you would like to participate in our next mom's night out, or any one of our other events, be sure to sign up on our momstown Oshawa - Port Perry calendar!

Happy New Year momstown Oshawa - Port Perry!!!

This time of year is a fantastic time to reflect upon where we have been and where we are going. Many people use this time to make resolutions; changes to their lives that they feel will make them a better, happier person. It is a time of new beginnings and offers a fresh, clean, event-free calendar upon which we can happily begin jotting down all of the exciting things to come!

For me, 2010 was a very event-filled year! It started off with a countdown to the end of my maternity leave and my return to work. A very bittersweet time as I loved my workplace and was looking forward to the social aspect it provided, but was very sad to see the end my relaxing days filled with the perfect, smiling face of my daughter.

Then after a few months of working, I decided that that perfect, smiling face far outweighed my love of my job and my co-workers and I made the decision to find a way to create a better balance in my life.

I stumbled upon momstown...this fantastic community of moms that I had never even heard of. I quickly found out that the reason I hadn't heard of it was that it was not yet in my community and that by bringing it here I would also be given the opportunity to become a work at home mom! So now, I have a job that I love that I am able to do from home and I have something to keep me busy in my community with my little one (who quickly turned into a busy toddler over this past year as well).

Once momstown got started in Oshawa - Port Perry, moms from all around the region began to meet up and enjoy each others conversation on the message boards and each others company at events. We've had many events, well over 100 in just the last 4 months, and it has been amazing! The time has flown by even faster than it usually does in the last few months of the year, and here we are welcoming 2011!!!

There were many changes for me and my family over the past year, and also for this community. Surely 2011 will also bring many changes, which I'm positive will also all be very exciting. In terms of resolutions, I really can't say that I have any. The things that are going to change will do that on their own. As for me, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the wonderful ride!

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you all are as happy with the outcome of 2010 as I am and that you are all just as excited as me to be filling up those 2011 calendars (with family events and momstown events too, of course)!!!

Making Gingerbread Houses!

momstown Oshawa - Port Perry got together yesterday to make gingerbread houses! The kids were excited, and the moms were excited too! We got all the materials out and began the construction. They were looking fantastic, and although mom had to do most of this part, the kids were right in there, ready to help!

 

The instructions on the packaging suggested a wait time of approximately 30 minutes after building the house before decorating! But, we didn't wait at all! We didn't actually read this instruction until after the gingerbread houses were complete, but even if we had read it, can you imagine trying to tell a whole table full of preschoolers that they had to wait? Not after already tasting the yummy icing and candies! It would not have been an option! So we just went ahead and started adding the candy to the houses!

Everyone was working really hard!

The gingerbread houses were starting to look really great!

Until...they started falling apart! This is when the instructions were read! Who knew you needed instructions for gingerbread house building? Well, we hadn't waited for the icing to set before adding candy and so that could have been part of the problem, but the other part was that we didn't use Royal Icing to stick all of the walls together. We had decided to use regular icing because we had just used it a couple of days prior to construct a fantastic Rice Krispies Christmas Tree and it had held the Rice Krispies Tree together like glue! Again, maybe if we had just let it set, this would not have happened...

The little ones were upset at first, which of course is the worst! The last thing you want during a nice holiday tradition is tears! The tears never came though, the kid's all got over it quickly and decided to just go with it! There were a couple of houses still intact, but those that fell apart we simply improvised with!

The morning turned out to be great fun, with a lot of laughs! Memories were made and relationships were strengthened! Isn't that what the holidays are all about anyway? That's what momstown is about too!!!

After the Gingerbread Houses were finished being decorated, the children burnt off some of the their sugar high in the playroom while the moms enjoyed a nice hot cup of tea and shared a few more laughs!

For our next great adventure, that's not so much about the finished product, but more about the process and the memories created along the way, check out the momstown Oshawa - Port Perry calendar of events!

All That Glitters Christmas Party!

Saturday, December 11th, 2010 was momstown Oshawa - Port Perry's first annual Christmas Party! What a fantastic start to this new annual tradition! The party was open to all momstown Oshawa - Port Perry families, not just moms and kiddies! Dad's came out too! The event was held at Boston Pizza Oshawa where a special menu of All You Can Eat Pizza and Pop for $10 was offered! Rice Krispies also sponsored the event and so there were lots of yummy Rice Krispies square "presents" for the kids to snack on (although some couldn't help but snack on the Rice Krispies Christmas Tree as well). There was also a gift from Rice Krispies that was raffled off and won by one lucky mom who is sure to be baking up a storm with all the great items in the gift bag!

 As soon as the children arrived they went straight to work! They decorated cardboard gingerbread men with all sorts of creative materials including felt, sparkly beads, glitter glue, googly eyes, pom poms, stickers, foam shapes, sequins, ribbon, markers and more! They also made some more Glittery Snowflakes (as they had at our ornament making event earlier in the week) since they were such a hit the first time around! The children enjoyed them just as much this time! Also using the same idea as the Glittery Snowflakes, the children made Glittery Christmas Trees as well! Using a brown pipe cleaner as the trunk and bending it at the top to make a hook for hanging on the tree, these ornaments were easily made by using sparkly green pipe cleaner to wrap around the "trunk" to make the branches and then decorated with sparkly beads!

The children also had blocks and Christmas books available to them to play with on the floor to keep them busy!

As everyone gathered around to enjoy each others company, a very special guest arrived!

The children all took turns meeting Santa and telling him all about the things that they wished for, for Christmas!

Some children were a little too shy to sit on Santa's knee and so instead made it as close as they had to in order to receive their present! Even if Santa didn't get a hug or a high five, he still gave each child a brand new book wrapped up with a candy cane!

Then we had a special surprise visit from Boston Pizza's Lionel! Santa and Lionel gave each other a hug...

which was followed by some of the children giving hugs to Lionel...

and of course, more hugs for Santa!!!

Thanks again to Santa for taking time out of his hugely busy schedule to come see all the families of momstown Oshawa - Port Perry and for bringing all of the children presents!!! Also, to Boston Pizza Oshawa for providing us with a location and delicious Pizza lunch! And finally, to Rice Krispies for the tasty treats and special gift!

We were so thrilled with the excitement and fun surrounding our first Christmas Party! momstown Oshawa - Port Perry plans over 25 events per month to help get moms out of the house and meeting new moms, but it is always the bigger events like this that really bring families together! Thanks everyone for coming out and participating in this event! Hope to see you all again next year...and some new faces too!

Christmas Tree Ornament Making

Everyone loves homemade Christmas Tree Ornaments made by children! They are so sweet and give any Christmas tree a little extra love! momstown Oshawa - Port Perry children got busy at a full morning of ornament making. They made Silver Bells, Rudolph the Red Nose Candy Canes, and Glittery Snowflakes!

The Silver Bells were made by using the little cups of an egg carton, wrapping them in tin foil and then poking a hole in the top for a pipe cleaner to go through. Attach a little bell to the pipe cleaner and you've got a shiny little Christmas bell ornament for your tree that really jingles!

Next we made Rudolph Candy Canes. Start with a candy cane and wrap a brown pipe cleaner around the top and twist it so it stays put, then you can bend the pipe cleaners to make the antlers look just how you'd like them. Get a couple of googly eyes and stick them on the candy cane along with a red pom pom to make Rudolph's nose (an adult is required for this as you will need a glue gun to make the pom pom stick). Finally, tie a another pipe cleaner, or a pre-made little red bow, around the reindeer's neck and you are done!

Glittery Snowflakes were the final craft of the morning and likely the most enjoyed! We took a couple of glittery pipe cleaners and cut them in half so that they were not so long, tied three of the short pieces around each other at the middle to make a six pointed snowflake and then had the children put glittery beads onto the pipe cleaner. Children of all ages love this and it keeps them very busy as they pick out their favourite colour of beads and concentrate on their hand eye coordination getting them onto each point of the snowflake. A great craft for at home on a cold, snowed-in day!

 

For all those moms out there that were not able to join us on our Ornament Making morning, be sure to stop by the local dollar store and pick up a few supplies of your own! These ornaments will look great on your own tree and are perfect for attaching to a grandparent's gift! 

momstown Oshawa-Port Perry is always making fun crafts that are great for keeping preschoolers and toddlers busy. If you are already a member, that's perfect, sign up for the next crafting event on our calendar and you won't have to worry about thinking of a great developmentally appropriate craft or purchasing all the materials - momstown covers that for you - all you have to do is sign up and join in the fun!