Kellogg's Share Your Breakfast

Join momstown Edmonton on National Breakfast Day, for the Kellogg’s Share Your Breakfast event on March 8th, 2012  

momstown wants to help Kellogg’s give back to the Edmonton community. At this event, members will receive breakfast kits and learn how we can share our breakfast.

In Canada, 1 in 10 children live in poverty, and are at risk of starting their day on an empty stomach. On March 8^th, National Breakfast Day, Kellogg’s will be distributing mini-packs of Rice Krispies cereal nationwide, to raise awareness and reach out to children in the community.

Kellogg’s will also be donating to Breakfast Clubs of Canada and Breakfast for Learning. You can help by purchasing Kellogg’s cereals – every box equals a donation!

Join us for Share Your Breakfast – we’ll have activities for the kids, circle time, crafts, and a great way to help your community.

Go to www.kelloggs.ca/SYB for more information.

Better & Better Every Time

Every month we get the chance to visit the seniors at Shepherds Care Kensington Village. We get to play with the seniors in long term care, this month we had extra fun! We were lucky to have a bubble machine brought out for the kids enjoyment. They jumped around and tried to catch as many bubble as they could.

 They brought out big bowling pins and the kids got to line them up and knock 'em down. The residents joined in with the fun tossing balloons around to each other and kicking balls back and forth between the kids. It was great to see so many of the seniors smiling and laughing while watching the children having fun. It got them reminiscing about when their children were that small and about the grandchildren they currently have.

 Join us next month when we go and make a small difference in the residents day!

Your momstown Edmonton North mama,
Kandice

Fisher Price Musical Table-Review!

              When I found out that I had been asked to review this table, I was ecstatic. At 10.5 months old my little one still refused to stand up, and I was hoping this would be the motivation she needed. When we received the table, I was trying to attach the four legs (super easy assembly), Gabrielle wouldn't stop lunging at it. After I got it set up, she cried, realizing that it was too high for her to see from her very comfortable seat on the floor. So, I tried to stand her up, and for the first time, she did! Finally!

She's been playing with this table for about a week now, and anytime we set foot in our living room she points to it. All the excitement of the telephone rattle, the brilliant songs and lights, and the two page book with animals keeps her entertained while I get much  needed housework done. The different modes allow for different types of learning and interaction, though my daughter is currently obsessed with the "music" mode so we haven't experimented a lot with the other modes. 

I love that each of the corners of this table is an activity in itself. The laptop has lights, shapes, colours, and songs of its own, and it closes and opens. The telephone plays a brilliant "the phone is ringing so I say hello" song that both Gabrielle and her daddy LOVE. The phone actually comes off, so it's a toy in itself, which is a bonus. The book, Gabrielle's favourite, flips pages and changes songs each time the child moves it. And lastly, the piano. It has officially replaced the musical toy our daughter liked so much...it's fantastic!

All in all, I love this toy as a parent, and I know my daughter would agree. It'll keep her entertained long after she's walking, and it's a toy that will be fought over when there are other kids over for a playdate. It's tons of fun, but isn't mindless, so I can be confident letting my child spend as much time as she wants playing with it. The big bonus is the multiple modes, so that we can rotate between words and music, meaning this toy will likely  never get old in my daughter's eyes! Great selection of activities, great lights and songs, great table!

Your momstown Edmonton North mama,

Amanda

A Fantastic Mamas Night Out at the Melting Pot!

Last Friday, the momstown Edmonton North mamas had a great time at the Melting Pot. It was the first time a big group of us mamas have gotten to get together since Amanda and I have taken over sans kiddos , with the exception of a few cute recent additions to the group. It was a great experience for me, as I have never had fondue before. I didn't really know what to expect, I had been told mixed reviews about the place so I went in with an open mind.

We just did the chocolate and cheese party, we got to choose 2 out of 5 cheeses and 2 chocolates out of 8 for our meal. When we arrived in the party room our cheese was already out on the table being kept warm. It smelt so good! We tried the cheddar and spinach and artichoke. We got a variety of samples to dip into the cheese, pieces of different breads and tortilla chips, apples, broccoli, carrots and cauliflower. I have to say my favourite was dipping the apples into the spinach and artichoke cheese. I can almost taste it in my mouth as I am writing this!

After we devoured the cheese, they brought out the chocolate. I am sure that my eyes got wide, my mouth watered just looking at it. We tried the yin and yang chocolate which is white and dark together.

Then it was the flaming turtle chocolate with pecans. Can you say yummmm! It was a real treat to watch the server light the rum on fire and pour it into the chocolate. I was so excited that we had a large group so we go to watch our server do this three times. Then they brought out small plates full of desserts and fruit all drizzled in chocolate. The best thing was it wasn't overly sweet, so even though I stuffed myself it didn't make me feel sick.

We had great food, conversations and laughs. I was so happy to see so many make it out and just be able to relax and enjoys ourselves. If we could do this every month it would be a dream come true. Thank you ladies for a wonderful night out!

Your  momstown Edmonton North mama,


Kandice

Too Far Or Just Right?

I'm not sure how many of you have had a chance to watch this video, it went viral about two weeks ago. This is a father's rebuttal to a daughter who wrote her parents a disrespectful letter about how she felt she was being treated and posted it on her Facebook page, to which she believed her parents were blocked from viewing it. By the sounds of it this wasn`t the first time she has done something along the same lines of this and had been grounded previously for it. This father is at his wits end on how to deal with his disrespectful daughter and his solution is to call her out on it on Facebook and then shoots her laptop showing her he means business.

The first time I watch the video it made me chuckle with wide eyed astonishment. My first thoughts were good on ya! Then as I saw the video pop up more and more I started reading all the comments that everyone was leaving. There were comments agreeing with what he did and other comments that didn`t agree with the way he went about it.

The more I thought about this video I slowly changed the way I thought about it. When I actually thought about it as a parent, my view on this video started leaning towards being on the fence. That is where I sit now. As that teenage girl I would have been mortified enough just to have my dad leave a video on my Facebook page calling me out on the letter. That would have been punishment enough for me. I do think that shooting the laptop was a little overboard. He states more then once that he spent at least 130 dollars on upgrade to the laptop and after he shoots it he talks about how expensive the bullets are. If that was me, after spending my time and money on the upgrades, I would have reset the computer to factory settings so no personal information was on it then sold it and kept the money.

The only thing that really sticks in my mind is, doesn't the father doing the exact same thing his daughter did in some sense condone what she did? Maybe he exhausted all other options in disciplining his daughter, who knows? I no longer say good on him, but maybe his daughter likes public antics because he like public antics?

My son being only 10 months, I don't know what it is like to deal with a hormonal teenage girl so for now my opinion is the way it is until I have to go through something like that. Maybe buy her a diary for her to vent, one day she will realize that the small amount of chores she has to do is nothing in comparison to taking care of a whole home. Will shooting her laptop create more problems between them or make the point and get her to start listening? I don't know.Maybe they will post more videos and write more letters to let us all know how it turns out.

Your momstown Edmonton North mama,

Kandice

Tales for Tots: We Share Everything

       Saturday we got to enjoy a classic by Robert Munsch, We Share Everything! A great tale of two children starting daycare and they are used to having everything for themselves. Amanda and Jeremiah learn that "in daycare we share everything". The characters go through a number of tiffs which leads their teacher to teach them a lesson over and over- that we share everything. It's then that Amanda and Jeremiah take her seriously and start exchanging clothing! The momstown kiddos thought that that was pretty funny! 

 

This months Winner!

        This month theme is Mix & Match and exchanging clothing fits very well into it. We had all the kids dress up in mixed and matched clothing. It was a fantastic day out at our local Indigo store, with tons of great company. At the end of our book reading adventure we had a draw for the book, and we are pleased to announce that Jahryd was this months lucky winner!

 Your momstown Edmonton North mama,


 Kandice

Free Positive Parenting Seminar With Amy McCready-Brought to you by momstown!

On February 21st, Amy McCready is partnering with momstown to host a free Positive Parenting webinar. The topic is discipline, and how to get your children to listen to you without having to nag or yell. Some of the momstown mamas and I were talking about it, and how great it is to be able to have these tactics up your sleeve when your kids are acting out. As our children grow, there will be (have been) times where we run out of ideas. We don't know what to say our do, and we have to figure out what, out of all the advice we get, is going to work for our family.

When my nieces were living with us, although they were only 2 and 3, they knew exactly who to listen to and when. In other words, they knew that I didn't know how to deal with their misbehaviour, so they walked all over me, but listened to their Uncle like angels. How great would it have been to have someone from the outside offer guidance, and a different perspective. Ugh, I wish. In hindsight, I can tell you exactly what I would've done differently. But as parents, we don't get the opportunity to sit back and examine the situation before dealing with it. So we have to use the good ol' Girl Guide rule: ALWAYS BE PREPARED.

This webinar will help us prepare, give us some perspective and some tactics to use when we think we're out of ideas. So I'll be doing what one of the other mamas suggested to me yesterday- I'm going to take notes and use them when my sweet little angel tests my limits, and I'm pretty sure I've run out of ideas. So if you haven't registered to join us, follow this link and register to join in!


http://www.positiveparentingsolutions.com/momstown

Your momstown Edmonton North mama,

Amanda