momstown Oakville moms getting fit with a fitness challenge

I'm so excited for the very first momstown Oakville fitness challenge!  Join other Oakville moms and get fit this January.  We have six great workouts planned as well as the support of a nutritionist and a personal trainer.  All classes will take place in the evening and there will be a starting, mid point and final weigh in and measuring of inches.  Each member will contribute $20 and the money will be split between the winning team and the winning individual.  You must sign up for the challenge by January 9, 2013.

Not a momstown Oakville member?  Purchase your membership for just $45 a year and come get fit with us!  For more information on how you can join us for the challenge, please email info.oakville@momstown.ca.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

Fitness on The Go

Quad Spinning

Fitdolls

The Belle Method - Pilates

Fitness4Life - Zumba

Living Force Nutritional Consulting

Sports Training Academy

momstown Oakville Babies Create Holiday Art!

momstown Oakville loves to let babies get creative.  This morning at our Baby Basics program we tried our hand (or our feet really!) at creating some holiday art.  Our Baby Basics group meets once a week at Ellephysio and either has a guest speaker, a chance to do some art or just time to chat with other Oakville moms that have babies from zero to 12 months of age.  Our upcoming sessions include infant massage, baby sign language, how to find quality child care and a holiday party!

Both moms and babies enjoyed getting a bit messy and painting their feet.  Then you simply press your baby's foot onto the paper and add a gold star on top!  Feel free to decorate your tree as you wish.  This is a really simple idea but makes a very cute keepsake.

Have you done art with your baby before?  Sign up for your free 4 week trial and come and  join us at our Baby Basics holiday party where we'll be making ornaments with the babies!

Holiday Baking: Caramel Overload Bars Recipe

I love caramel!  These bars are to die for and the recipe is pretty easy to make.  You can also substitute whatever caramel chocolate bar you want so this can become a nut free recipe.  I make these with milk chocolate bars with caramel inside as my son has a nut allergy.

Ingredients

3 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 cups unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup uncooked regular oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 (2.07-oz.) chocolate-coated caramel-peanut nougat bars, chopped
1 (14-oz.) can dulce de leche*


Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; stir well. Combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture, stirring just until blended. Fold in chopped candy bars.

Spoon batter into a greased aluminum foil-lined 13" x 9" pan coated with cooking spray, allowing foil to extend over ends of pan. (Pan will be very full.) Spoon dollops of dulce de leche over batter; swirl slightly into batter with a knife.

Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 5 minutes. Remove to a wire rack, and cool completely. (This may take several hours.) Use foil to lift uncut brownies out of pan. Peel foil away from sides of uncut brownies, and cut into bars.

Tex Mex Chili Recipe

We are certainly into comfort food season.  And while I love a good meaty chili, this Tex Mex Chili recipe that uses chicken instead of beef is so delicious that its part of my dinner roster just as often as the more traditional versions.  I also love that you can add a few different toppings to dress it up and make it your own. This is a perfect recipe to have simmering on the stove while you play outside in the snow!  This recipe makes 6 servings.

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts, diced

1/4 all purpose flour

2 tsp vegetable oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 1/4 cups canned corn, drained

2 tsp finely chopped garlic

1 1/2 cups canned black or white beans, drained and rinsed

2 1/2 cups tomato sauce (store bought or home made)

3/4 cup chicken stock

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 1/2 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1 1/2 tsp sedded and finely chopped jalapeno pepper OR 1 1/2 tsp hot chili sauce

pinch of pepper

Topping options (divide between the 6 servings):

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

1/2 cup shredded aged cheddar

1/4 low fat sour cream

1/2 diced avocado

As with any chili recipe, adjust the spiciness level to your liking by adding more or less chili sauce or jalapenos.

Toss the chicken with the flour.  Lightly coat a sauce pan with non stick spray and add 1 tsp of the vegetable oil and heat on medium.  Cook the chicken until it is brown on all sides but not cooked through.  Remove from the pan and set aside.  Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes.  Stir in corn and garlic and continue to cook until the corn is browned.

Stir in the rest of the ingredients (not the toppings) and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, stir and reduce the heat to a simmer and add the chicken back in.  Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or until thickened.  

Pick your garnishes and serve!

Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Stride to Ride Puppy Review

Ride on toys are always a hit with toddlers and the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Stride to Ride Puppy was no exception.  In fact, it not only captivated my kids because they could scoot around the house on this cute puppy but also because this toy was interactive and gave them a taste of having their own pet as they got to give it 'treats'.

I love a toy that grows with your kids.  The suggested age for this toy is 9 months to 36 months.  At the 9 month age, the face of the puppy would be right at eye level for a baby sitting up and they would get a lot of joy from pushing the buttons and the puppy's nose to hear music and dialogue.  Fast forward a bit to the cruising stage and the puppy becomes a push toy and then finally a ride on toy.  So many possibilities! When the toy is in push mode, there is an open space where the blocks that come with the toy are kept. The space is big enough for kids to add other things and this is exactly what my daughter did, adding some additional blocks, some books and other trinkets to push around the house.

As mentioned, the favourite feature in my house was the ability to feed the dog 'treats' (blocks in different shapes).  The puppy says "Can I have another treat, please?" and my kids were happy to oblige over and over and over again!

Pushing the puppy and feeding it treats were a real hit!

Both my kids whizzed around the main floor of my house on this cute little puppy.  The picture below shows the view I often had - the back of their heads as they happily pushed themselves along.  

Laugh & Learn Stride to Ride Puppy on the move!

The toy also has two volume settings and I was also pleased to hear how polite this puppy was!  Lots of 'please' and 'thank you' - an added bonus if you ask me!  I also loved the soft ears (my daughter liked to pet them) and the shape sorter that was on the side of the toy where kids can also put the 'treats'.  

The only problem I have with this toy is that I don't have two of them!  There has been lots of taking turns between my two kids - always a good sign that a toy is a big hit when they are both willing to wait patiently for their turn.  

Think your kids would love this toy as much as mine did?  Enter to win one of your own here.  Contest closes on November 30th, so hurry and enter today!

Cooking with Kids: Ice cream cone Christmas trees

momstown Oakville moms and their junior chefs got together this morning to have some festive fun.  We made a simple and easy treat but the kids loved it as they got to do pretty much all the work.  And there was green icing...what's not to love about that!  Here is how you can make your own ice cream cone Christmas trees.

What you need:

-as many sugar cones as you want
-white store bought icing
-green food colouring
-lots of 'decorations' for the trees

We used red, white and green mini chocolate chips, sprinkles, coconut, gummies and white chocolate curls. You can use whatever you have one hand, your favourite candy (maybe some leftover halloween candy?), or only items with holiday flair.

We gave each child two ice cream cones.  We took the white icing and stirred in a few drops of green food colouring until it reached our desired shade of green - nice and evergreen like!  Then we let the kids spread the icing on their cones gently, moms supervised to make sure the trees didn't break.  Next up, the fun part, decorating the trees!  It was great to see the kids each do their own version of their perfect Christmas tree.

The final product is delicious to eat but would also make a really cute centre piece for a holiday meal, don't you think?  You could even just use the white icing to spread on the ice cream cones and make a snow covered tree with decorations.  Lots of options!
 

Ice cream cone Christmas trees

We'll be decorating Christmas cookies in December and having a Junior Chef event with Nutella! All of the supplies for our Junior Chef program are included in your yearly momstown membership of just $45 a year. Sign up now for your free 4 week trial!

Leading Canadian Event and Media Company Heads to Fern Resort for Fall 2012 National Conference

Orillia got a little bit bigger this past weekend as 25+ team members from momstown, the leading Canadian event and media company that connects and supports local moms, headed to Fern Resort for our Fall National conference.  As the momstown Oakville owner, I was lucky enough to be a part of this amazing weekend.  Huge thanks to Honda Canada for sending us up to Fern Resort in style - we got the chance to test out the Pilot, CRV and the Accord.  Everyone loved the smooth rides and I know it was a sad day when they had to be given back!  We were also spoiled with swag bags that included books and a few other goodies from Scholastic Canada and a box of Nestle's Black Magic chocolates - immediate hits will all of the conference attendees!

I am pretty familiar with the Orillia area (I grew up in northern Ontario) but had never been to Fern Resort.  I can honestly say that my first visit will definitely not be my last.  What an amazing, family oriented place! Their core brand really comes down to  genuinely wanting your family to have a wonderful vacation.  They have thought of everything in terms of keeping the kids busy (motorized jeep day, crafts, zip line, ropes course, beach front and even a special teen hangout cabin) and provide a wonderful balance between family time and giving mom and dad a chance to relax while the kids are happily entertained by their amazing staff.

Fern Resort main building and the beautiful view from right outside my cabin

Huge kids area!

What else sets them apart?  They get to know your family by name and after a day or two know what kind of juice your kids like at breakfast.  Amazing.  Kids cry when they leave this place!  We all enjoyed getting to know such an awesome Ontario family vacation destination. In addition to all the wonderful things they do for families, they are also a perfect conference location.  From team building bonfires to lots of space for team meals and nice, bright rooms for us to meet in, it was a wonderful place to spend three days. Huge thank you to Fern Resort and their amazing staff!

Three days?  What did we do up there for three days you may wonder?  Well, each day was jam packed with planning sessions for 2013 and brainstorming sessions on how to make our company even better.  We talked strategy, marketing and branding, social media, team collaboration and so much more.  And of course at the heart of it all is figuring out how to give local moms the best opportunities to connect and feel supported.

momstown is a National event and media company and so its only twice a year that we are all in the same space together and sharing all of our successes and supporting each other to up our game again and again.  This is one amazing team.  Before I left of the conference, I wrote about the passion, purpose and power that comes from this group and I believe it even more now than ever before.  We are so ready to achieve our goals for 2013 and we've set the targets high!  But I know we can do it.  And I know that I have the support of more than 20 other business women which is an incredible resource and we are lucky to have each other.

So many great conversation over dinner - the food was delicious!

Our next conference will be in May 2013 and I am already counting down the days.  Until then, I am so excited to start putting my plans for 2013 into place.  I feel so lucky to have found rewarding, meaningful work that helps my community and allows flexibility for me as a mother of two young children.  I searched for something like this for a long time and found it, plus about a thousand other amazing things, with momstown.

Wondering how you can join our awesome team?  Click here for information.

momstown Oakville moms and babies sing, rattle and read

momstown Oakville moms and babies like to move and groove!  On Monday our moms and babies got together at Little Sprouts Cuts for Kids for our monthly Sing, Rattle and Read program.  Our Oakville babies love the chance to make music and this month they had tons of fun with the parachute.

This little guy loved the parachute!

The babies enjoyed the parachute, for many of them it was their first experience with it and some of them walked or crawled underneath it, or laughed as it went up and down. We made popcorn by bouncing balls around on top of the parachute.  We also read Barbara Reid's 'Mother Goose' and another favourite 'I Love My Mommy'.  Next came the instruments and a jam session with shakers and dancing with scarves.  Our moms and babies also sang lots of songs and shared lots of cuddles.

 

 

momstown Oakville has lots of great programming for moms with babies.  Join us for our weekly Baby Basics program or for our next Sing, Rattle and Read event.  Sign up for your 4 week free trial or purchase your membership here.  All of our programs are included plus so much more for just $45 a year!

How To Do A Favourite Things Exchange

Last night momstown Oakville moms got together for another favourite things exchange.  This is such a fun thing to do!  You can set the limits to whatever you want and the group size can be flexible too.

Here is how we made ours work:

-Each participant was asked to think of a favourite item that cost $6 or less and then bring five of that item
-There were 13 of us in total so we put 13 numbers into a bowl and each pulled out a number.  In numeric order we went around and described/explained the item that we brought
-Then the person who had pulled number one got to pick what they wanted from the table of goodies.  Once everyone had picked one thing, we put the numbers back in the bowl and pulled again so that you weren't always stuck in the same picking order
-At the end of the process, each person got to take home five new favourite things!

A jam packed table with so many awesome things!

So what were some of the favourite things that made it into last night's exchange?  I was thrilled to take home a new placemat for my daughter that was made of chalk fabric!  Ribbon was glued around the edges to finish it off and it came with a sponge and chalk too.  She will love this!

Placemats made from chalk fabric!

A beautifully packaged cookie mix - just add butter and an egg.  Wonderful to give as a gift or to make with your junior chef's at home.

We also got to choose from dark chocolate with sea salt, triple chocolate brownie mix, an adorable first aid kit for kids complete with bandages in the shape of crayons, festive holiday soap, stress relieving body wash, caramel popcorn, eye makeup remover, awesome owl motif mugs packed with sweet treats, comical note pads and pens (no other way to describe those that is blog appropriate I don't think!).  To top it all off, our host made us each these cute bags to take home all of our loot.

Notice the festive water bottles too!

I was so giddy when I got home last night, it was like having a mini Christmas!  Am sure it won't be too long until we have another one of these, it was a huge success and everyone had a really great time.

What would you have brought as one of your favourite things?

Tales for Tots: Alphabet Soup

momstown Oakville's theme for the month of November is alphabet soup.  This morning our Oakville moms and kids got together for another great morning filled with painting, playing with friends and reading about letters!

The morning started with the babies and toddlers getting to use their fingers for painting.  After getting crafty and working up an appetite, it was time for a snack break!  Everyone had brought something yummy to share. There was also lots of time for free play and for Oakville moms to catch up with one another.

 

Our book of the month was 'I Spy Letters' provided by Scholastic Canada, a perfect fit for our alphabet soup theme for this month.  Congratulations to Lisa who gets to take home a copy of the book to enjoy with her daughter Alexandra and son Thomas!

Come and join us for Tales for Tots in December.  We'll be giving away a wonderful holiday book!  Our Tales for Tots program is just one of the many programs included in your membership for just $45 a year.

Places where Oakville kids can find Santa Claus

Can you believe that Christmas is right around the corner?  I love this time of year! And as the excitement builds and the questions about Santa's arrival increase, we know that a visit to the jolly old man will be on your list of things to do this holiday season. Read on to find out where you can see Santa Claus in Oakville and surrounding Halton areas this season!  Momstown Oakville moms and kids are keeping busy in November and December with tons of holiday themed activities.  We've already been ornament painting and have many holiday crafting plans for both moms and kids as well as a cookie exchange, a holiday mom's night out and tons more!  We'd love to have you join us.

Downtown Oakville Tree Lighting Ceremony
Friday, November 16th at 7:00 PM

Oakville Santa Claus Parade
Saturday, November 17th at 9:00 AM

Bronte Village Tree Lightning Ceremony
Saturday, November 24th 3:00 PM-6:30 PM
Come and dance with Santa!

Visit with Santa at Springridge Farms
Weekends Only - November 17th to December 9th

Meet Santa and his Reindeer at Royal Botanical Gardens
Weekends, November 17th to December 22nd; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Visiting with Santa at Hopedale Mall
Starts Saturday, November 24th until Monday, December 24th
Pictures with Santa are available for purchase, click here for hours.

Visiting with Santa at Oakville Place
Starting Friday, November 30th
Please check their website for more information

Oakville Parent Child Centre's Breakfast with Santa
December 2nd - 9:00am or 11:00am
Adults $15, Children $10
Must by tickets in advance - tickets go on sale November 26th

Breakfast with Santa at the Niblick Pub
Saturday, December 8th 9:30 AM OR 11:30 AM
Please call for reservations

Brunch with Santa at the YMCA
Sunday, December 9th
Two sessions - 10:00 AM or 1:00 PM (cost is $20)
Contact the YMCA to reserve your spot.

Oakville music program for preschoolers offered by Merriam Music!

momstown Oakville moms and kids have had the pleasure of participating in a Merriam Music class for the past few months.  It's amazing to see how much the kids (of all ages) love the program and we have a packed house every single time.  Merriam Music in Oakville offers preschool programs and also a unique group piano lessons program.

PRESCHOOL PROGRAM

The Merriam School of Music preschool program for children 2 - 3 years of age introduces all of the areas of music literacy through song, movement, rhythm, and craft. Creativity, experimentation and repetition of these concepts create a strong foundation for and direct link to our Kids Keyfest Program.

What to expect from each 45-minute class:
-Set structure and routine for the class delivery
-Rhythm, pitch matching, coordination and basic musical language development through song
-Creativity & self-expression development through activities such as improvisation, story telling, crafts & listening games
-Social skills development through the building of collaborative relationships with others during the class over the course of the year
-Teamwork development through activities that are built to encourage cooperation, respect of self and others and personal accountability


KEYFEST GROUP PROGRAMS

The detail of the skills developed in addition to the 9 areas of musical literacy are crucial to understanding the philosophy behind the delivery and content of every lesson.

-Social skills can only be developed in social settings! Through the group lessons, students learn how to build relationships with others and how to collaborate within a set routine.
-Teamwork is a crucial component to lesson success and flow. All activities run in the group settings are built to encourage cooperation, respect of self and others and personal accountability.
-Leadership opportunities are consciously integrated into each lesson. Students learn to take responsibility for their own learning while simultaneously supporting others in their learning too. These opportunities are backed by support and encouragement from the teacher in order to build overall student confidence in stepping up to this role.
-Ensemble performance settings develop the ability to simultaneously listen internally (to what the individual is playing) and externally (to what the group is playing). These skills are necessary in order to adapt and respond in real time to what’s going on around the student. What a great skill to have later in life when running business meetings!

To find out more about Merriam Music programs, please visit their website.  momstown Oakville moms and kids are really looking forward to our November and December sessions!

Healthy Holiday Dessert: Cinnamon & Brown Sugar Poached Pears

There are so many decadent desserts around the holidays.  And while I absolutely enjoy a sweet treat, one of my favourite desserts for the holidays is poached pears.  It's festive, easy to make, pretty healthy and always impresses!  This recipe also includes cinnamon which is a lovely holiday flavour.

What you need:

3 cups water
1 cup, firmly packed brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick (about a 3 inch piece), roughly broken
3 large, just-ripe Bosc pears, unpeeled, cored, cut into thick wedges
Low-fat  vanilla greek yogurt, frozen yogurt or ice cream, to serve

What you do:

-Combine water, sugar & cinnamon in a large saucepan over low heat.
-Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until the sugar dissolves.
-Add the pear and stir to combine.
-Cook, covered, for 10-15 minutes or until the pear is tender. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pear to serving bowls.
-Once pears are out, increase to high heat & bring the syrup to a boil.
-Boil, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes or until the syrup thickens slightly.
-Divide the pears into 4 bowls or serving dishes.
-Drizzle the syrup over the pears. Serve immediately with yogurt.

To add an additional presentation flair, you can drizzle some melted dark chocolate over each bowl.  Even though this recipe is pretty simple to make, it seems fancy and always gets rave reviews.

Little Scientists: Learning About Sound

This month, momstown Oakville Little Scientists explored the science of sound!  We made drums and tambourines and when our scientific work was done we put on some music and parents and kids played their instruments and had a jam session.

To make the drums, we used an empty coffee can, and stuck on felt (we used the kind that is sticky on the back, but if you can't find that you could just use glue).  Then we used foam alphabet stickers, foam stars, and under the sea creatures to make the outside look nice and colourful. To make even more noise, we decided to pour some noodles inside and so now our drum can also be used as a shaker!

To make the tambourine, we used two paper plates and hole punched around the edges.  Then we used ribbon and jingle bells to make the sounds.  We tied on the first bell with a knot, then threaded the ribbon through one set of holes, and kept adding a bell each time we got to a hole and then threading through the holes to secure it.  When we got back to the beginning, we tied the ribbon on to the end of the first bell we used.  Then we used crayons and markers and foam stickers to decorate our tambourines.  They made a great jingly sound when we shook them.

We talked about the different sounds that each instrument could make and practiced being very loud and very quiet with our instruments.  A wonderful afternoon!

Jam session!

Interested in finding out more about our programming?  Sign up for a free four week trial with momstown Oakville!  You can also read about all of our activities each month in our newsletter.

Passion, Purpose and Power

In a few weeks I will attend my second momstown National conference since I've become the owner of momstown Oakville.  There will be almost 30 team members heading to Fern Resort for three days of business planning, brainstorming, team building and professional development.  It's an amazing opportunity to learn from other chapter owners, get re-energized as we hear about all the outstanding things happening across Canada and celebrate our success from 2012.  I am so looking forward to it!

Brainstorming at our May 2012 Conference

When I think about what it means to me to be a momstown owner and entrepreneur, three words come to mind.  Passion.  Purpose.  Power.

Passion. Making sure moms in our respective communities feel support, connect with each other, know about the resources available to them and thrive in motherhood is a passion for all of us at momstown.  Yes, we worry about profit and loss statements and grumble about doing mundane tasks like data entry or marketing analytics, but at the core of all the work we do is passion.  You can feel it when we get together, you can hear it when we talk to a mom who doesn't know about momstown or to another local business who doesn't know what we are about.  When I first started exploring the option to become an owner, my friends and family would hear me out as I explained the opportunity and then state "well, you are obviously going to go for it, you are so passionate about it!"  We love our work.

Purpose.  We love a good craft as much as the next mom and we completely understand how a rough night's sleep or a sick kid can derail the days plans.  Our families still comes first, but we do this business with purpose.  We are so much more than an organized moms group.  We are a marketing force across the country.  We are a dedicated group of women that execute programs and events with a high level of detail and professionalism.  We have monthly targets, we set quarterly and yearly goals.  We take our passion and give it purpose and are achieving incredible milestones and continual growth.  We are business women.

Power.  To be in a room full of women who sometimes seem to make the impossible happen is a powerful place to be.  All of the momstown owners and the women that work for our head office have incredibly different backgrounds.  Everyone brings something unique to the table and as a group we are really powerful!  Personally, I draw a lot of power from my team as they inspire, impress and motivate me each and every day.  I take that power and channel it into my business and into making momstown Oakville an invaluable resource to the moms in my community.

Admittedly, our conference will not be all work and no play!  I am looking forward to a spa treatment at Michelle's Elegance & Day Spa located within Fern Resort and we'll also have some team social time which can get a bit rowdy (you know who you are ladies)!  Overall I know that I will come back revitalized and full of creative ways to make momstown Oakville even better.  I love the work that I do and I feel lucky to be a part of the momstown team.

11 more sleeps and counting - Fern Resort, here we come!

Easy Remembrance Day Craft For Preschoolers

Remembrance Day is hard to explain to little ones but I wanted to do something with my kids if only to get them to start recognizing the poppy and eventually understand its significance.  So this morning my toddler and my preschooler set to work on making fingerprint poppy wreaths.

What you need:

-White or light coloured piece of construction paper
-Red finger paint
-Green or black finger paint
-A small plate or something to put the paint on

Ready to paint!

Use your thumb dipped in red paint to make the outside of the poppy. Use your index finger (or adults can use their baby finger) dipped in green paint to make the centre of the poppy.  Black paint works for the centre too.

My daughter's finished art work

My son's finished art work

Two years ago my husband and I visited the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.  I was inspired and haunted by the images we saw and the stories we read but also left feeling incredibly lucky that so many men and women made such sacrifice so that we could live in the fortunate country that Canada is today.

My husband is a history buff and I know when the kids are old enough he will make sure they understand the significance of our country's history and why we always need to honour and remember our soldiers.

Looking for more Remembrance Day crafts?  Hop over to our main momstown arts & crafts website.