Happy Fall, Y'all!

We had a very productive leadership meeting at the beginning of the month. We had a crazy pizza lunch with kids after. Monday chaos is always fun!
Thanks to Hurricane Matthew, we had to cancel a MOPS meeting this month. We hope everyone is recovering well from the storm and getting back into a routine. Evacuation and/or no power is not always fun when you have babies to care for! Tracy & Jessica will be in touch with a way to sneak in that missing meeting- marriage panel. Congratulations to co-coordinator, Jessica on baby Penelope! Such a smart baby to wait until after the Hurricane to bless us with her presence!
Play dates have still been happening, though! There was a last minute meet-up at the new Boone park and a trip to Conner's Amazing Acres. (I think I was the only one to attempt Sykes and Coopers corn maze in the rain, the day before the Hurricane.) Anna's group had a movie night girls night last week. Wine plus Hocus Pocus plus mom pals = A fabulous break!

Beautiful day at Conners Amazing Acres!

Kelly Paterno from the Riverside Children's Art Center was our speaker this morning. She emphasized open-ended art projects, where it's more about the experience than the end product. This goes along so well with our starry-eyed theme. Try to relax and enjoy the experience with your children. Kelly mentioned her daughter loving to see faces in every day things- making a smiley face out of fruit :-) She suggested the Artkive app to keep your child's precious artwork. ($4.99 in the app store). I loved the idea of donating art work to nursing homes and hospitals! Ask questions about your child's artwork. The most important thing is how the artwork makes them feel. Add Dawn to make paint more washable. I might actually do the taped bag of hair gel. That sounds like a fun thing for restaurants as we wait for our food to come. My Vossy boy would love that!

Kelly Paterno with her artsy words of wisdom

So many great ideas! Cloud dough is 8 cups flower & 1 cup baby or coconut oil. The gel packs are the pics in the middle.

The questions from moms were really good. Try not to draw for your kids. "Mom, can you draw Elsa's castle for me?" Let them make their own creations. I'm going to find a Boogie Board at Costco to keep my grafiti artist from re-decorating our walls! Violent drawings? That's a family decision on how to handle. Do they know the difference between fantasy and reality? Are they withdrawn in other areas or are they just expressing themselves? We even got a chance to try out art projects. Don't you just love a MOPS Monday?!

Tiffany and Vanessa using brushes to make monster stamps.

Tabitha, Jamie and Laurie making paper mache with contact paper

October is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness month. Laurie gave an awesome prayer & care moment in honor of our angels. Tracy reminded the group that there is a lot of fun and laughter in MOPS, but we are also here to cry together and support each other. We are here for you! Mentor Mom, Ruth gave us some fantastic words of wisdom on caring for our marriages.

Happy Birthday to our October hot mammas!

Take a break while you can, Kim! Baby girl is coming!

Happy Fall, Y'all!