Happy Thanksgiving

I just saw a link to this sweet blog - The Thanksgiving Project - and thought it would be fun to have our own Thanksgiving post. So add a comment...what are you thankful for this year?

Hospitality

We had a wonderful guest speaker at our last meeting, Juliette Watson, with lots of great ideas for creating an inviting home that encourages others to "linger." I loved her idea for studying the names of God and writing them on Christmas ornaments to display in your home...it's always nice to have more ideas for keeping the focus where it needs to be at Christmas! Juliette has a few more holiday recipes to share that didn't quite copy right, so I'll include them here.

Sweet Braided Bread (from Super Suppers)
1 loaf frozen bread dough, thawed
sweet filling: 8 oz cream cheese beaten with 1/3 cup sugar
fruit filling: solo brand fruit pastry filling (available with pie fillings at grocery store) or jam
egg glaze: 1 egg, beaten together with 1 tablespoon water

Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or spray lightly with non-stick spray. On a lightly-floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll the thawed bread dough into a large rectangle, about 8"x15." Place filling down center of rectangle, going the long way, leaving a 1-inch border around the edges. Use a pastry scraper to make 1/2-in cuts along the edge of the dough on either side of the filling. Starting at one side, criss-cross the cut strips over the filling. Pinch ends together to keep in the filling. Place roll on prepared pan and brush top of roll with egg wash. Bake 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

White Chocolate Bark
1 pounds white chocolate
2 cups pretzels
2 cups salted peanuts
Melt chocolate slowly in microwave, then stir in nuts and pretzels. Spread thinly on wax paper to cool. Break into random sized pieces and wrap clusters in clear cellophane. Tie with a festive bow for a quick, easy, and delicious holiday gift.

Christmas Cranberry Vinaigrette
1/4 up oil
1/2 cup fresh cranberries
1/2 cup vinegar
3 T Mrs. Dash
3 T sugar
Mix in blender, then drizzle on top of salad greens with purple onion, crumble blue cheese and toasted pecans. A sure family favorite that is perfect for Christmas!

Stay tuned...I'll add a few more later!


And for those of you who didn't have time to make one of our lovely napkin rings (like me), not to worry - you'll have another opportunity at the end of the year to make some of the crafts you missed!

Park Day

Kudos to the brave moms who came, kids in tow, to our freezing park day. Seriously, it was cold! We managed to get a few snaps of the kids in their costumes before their cheeks got too red, and then ran for the shelter of our cars and warm homes. Brrr.....

Tile Necklaces and Magnets

Jacinda, our creative activities leader extraordinaire, taught us how to make tile necklaces and magnets in our last MOMS meeting. Here are the directions if you want to make more at home...

MAGNETS - you will need:

scrapbook paper
E6000 glue
clear glass circles (used to fill vases)
magnets to cut to size

directions:
cut paper slight bigger than glass circle. Put a dot of glue on glass and press paper to back. When dry cut around edges to the size of glass circle. Cut magnet smaller than glass circle. Peal off self adhesive stick to the back.

GLASS TILE NECKLACES - you will need:
scrapbook paper
glass tiles
E6000 glue
laquer (found at website below)
metal loop
chain
glue stick
(kits available through Craft Fantastic)

directions:
cut 2 pieces of paper slightly bigger than tile and glue together with glue stick. Place a couple of drops of lacquer on tile and press paper to the tile. When dry cut around edges to the size of tile. Using a paint brush, brush on lacquer to the back of paper. When dry it will look shinny like the glass. Place a couple of drops of E600 on metal backing and stick to tile. Let dry. (about 24 hours) Put chain through metal backing.

Thanks, Jacinda - these were fun to make! I just purchased a pendant kit through craft fantastic and plan on making necklaces with photos of my kids for Christmas presents!!

First MOMS Meeting

Wow, I didn't know how much I missed these meetings until last week - it was so fun to see everyone and get back into the groove of hanging out with fellow moms!

Besides our new name, we've had a few changes to our MOMS group this year. The first was meeting in the new building, with a lovely view of the mountains and some fun acoustic effects like your voice echoing throughout the foyer! ;) We're still adjusting to new rooms for the MOMMETS as well, and of course the poor 2-year-olds are just always in a state of adjusting period!

We also have fabulous mentor moms this year - yea! These women have already potty-trained their children (it can be done!) and are available to offer some wonderful perspective and encouragement to those of us in the throes of toddlerhood! They prayed for our meeting before it began AND...they love to hold babies! I know, can you stand it?!? Once all your other friends start having babies, you lose people who need a baby fix (they have plenty of fixes on their own), and it's really nice to have ladies who love holding yours. Thank you, mentor moms! We're so excited to have you involved this year!!We opened our meeting by honoring the memory of Heather Reu, one of our wonderful mothers who was tragically killed this summer, leaving behind a husband and four beautiful children. Heather's loss hit our group hard, and we wanted to acknowledge her memory by making our own "Heather's Hearts." For those of you who didn't know her, Heather taught us a fun Valentine's tradition she had with her children. Every year, she writes love notes to her kids on construction paper hearts, then hangs them from their door frames with ribbon so when they wake up on Valentine's Day morning, they have hearts hanging down their doorways. They bring the hearts to breakfast and Heather would read her messages to them.

We made construction paper hearts with messages to Heather's family and plan on giving the box to her family to share our memories and thoughts about Heather's amazing life and impact on so many...if you would like to make one, please just write a message to her family and give it to any steering team member to be given to the Reu family. We're continuing to provide meals throughout the year for the Reu family as well, so contact Robyn Scott if you're interested in helping with a meal.


And of course it isn't a MOMS meeting without a fabulous ice breaker! What do you get when you mix 30+moms, an echoing foyer, and a timed get-to-know-you activity? Besides ear-deafening noise? Mommy Speed-Dating, of course! ;)


At our next meeting, October 13, we'll be learning about spiritual gifts from Robyn Scott, and will be making some really fun tiles and magnets. You won't want to miss it!!

A few more announcements...

New Covenant will be hosting a MOMS Bible Study just for us! It will be on the alternating Tuesdays from 9:15-10:45 am (since many of us already have that date set aside). Childcare WILL be provided, and costs nothing extra! We'll be doing the Coffee Cup Series, starting with Cappuccino with Colossians by Sandra Glahn. Jennifer Anderson will be leading the bible study - look for an evite in your inbox soon! :)

Also, we don't want any mom to miss out on our ministry for financial reasons. If you can't pay for your MOMS dues, or know someone who isn't planning on attending because they can't afford the dues, please speak to us about scholarships.

Be sure to check the blog often, as we'll have announcements and posts that you won't want to miss! Check out our mommy businesses on the side (lots of fun stuff, like art classes for kids, and a fun place to have your child's next birthday party), and let me know if you have any announcements you'd like me to post on the blog (I'm trying to send out less mass emails, so look for them here!)

Bounce N Boogie

Congratulations, Emily and Denise, on the grand opening of your new space for Bounce N Boogie - be sure to check out their new studio and classes, including art classes taught by MOMS mom Daniela Byers and fun math classes for 3-6 year olds!

Craft Night

Ok, ladies, I know we all have those unfinished projects we think we'll never get to (scrapbook pages of the first day of school, winter scarves we're knitting, journal entries that need to be written). Come to Craft Night the second Tuesday of each month (7 PM at Ellen's house) and bring your projects to work on. Coffee and dessert provided. Nothing to work on? Come anyway and help someone else finish their project!!

About MOMS

What do you think? We thought we'd try out a new, fresh look to go with our new, fresh MOMS group. So what happened to MOPS? The steering team met this summer and decided that, although we wanted to keep the format of MOPS, we wanted more flexibility than being under the umbrella of the MOPS charter allowed. So we decided to branch out on our own. What will change? We don't have to kick members out when their kids aren't "preschoolers" anymore. We can decide on our own themes. We don't have to pay a very expensive charter for a title, magazine subscription and book, and that money can go toward our meetings and quality childcare instead.

We're looking forward to a great year! Our theme this year is "Bloom" - which seemed appropriate for the growing and changing we're doing. Our meetings will still have small group time (which will be at the beginnings of meetings, allowing it to be more of a priority), amazing crafts and fabulous guest speakers. Your children will still have quality child-care workers and will be doing Bible-based lessons and activities. And we still have a wonderful group of moms to get to know.

Can't wait to see you!!