Strong Women

In this beautiful mess of motherhood, we are emerging as some powerful women! At our first meeting in April, Chris from the Women's Defense Company came to give us some tips. His intention was not to scare us but to make us angry. I like that thought. We had a great meeting talking about being aware of our surroundings and learning a few techniques. Maybe we'll sign up for a class as a girls night next year! We had a girls night at Chrissy's house this month: wine and trading recipes. One of the things that energizes me the most is a good belly laugh.

Girls Night at Chrissy's



We had a Photography Fundraiser and raised around $500! Jenny graciously donated her time and talent and offered a fantastic photo package- photo booth style, for our kids! What a success! Can't wait to see how the pictures turned out! Registration for next year is out...for our group only first. Don't worry future St. Marks MOPS moms, we'll post the link for you soon. I just promised to give current members a bit to register before we open it to the public. Please stand by! Our second meeting of April was about traveling with kids. We sat in a circle and traded tips. Julie, one of our mentor moms encouraged us to travel now, while our kids are young- before school. One cute take away I got was to hang a ribbon in the car with a little car on it that you can move to show the progress of your trip. I like that idea.

 The dots on these maps show where the moms in our group have traveled with their kids.

This is pretty amazing! Who needs a speaker when we can just ask each other what works and what doesn't work!

Our year is coming to a close. Just one more meeting and a few parties! We have a busy summer to prepare for next year. It's going to be another good one! In the meantime, check out these amazing women. Beautiful, strong women growing babies! Wow!

Keeping it Green

At our second meeting in March, we had the owner of Wee Sprout Naturally speak to us about "green parenting". We learned a few tips on cloth diapering and lots about "green cleaning". Jan hooked us up with this neat link of household non-toxic cleaners. Some of us left stressed out but luckily we had a few fun play dates to calm down. Gara was super brave and let us tear up her house one afternoon.

 

Awesome, play date, Gara! Thank you!

 



We also went to the library to hear Princess Belle read us a story. I guess Abigail was not a fan of the story she chose. Amy was the winner of the Disney on Ice tickets given away at the Green Parenting meeting. Congratulations, Amy!

Don't worry, Abigail. Maybe you'll get to go to Disney on Ice next year.

A few of us went to Gainesville this weekend for the MOPS Florida Leadership Conference. Our favorite part was splitting up into groups based on our positions for next year to brainstorm ideas and solve problems. We also loved meeting moms from other MOPS groups all over the state and learning how they set up their groups. We came back full of ideas and excited to plan out next year this summer!

We had our Easter Egg Hunt play date this morning at the park. This is an all-time favorite play date. The weather was perfect, the kids went nuts and ate lots of candy! The moms had fun, too!

We're closing in on the end of the year. Don't worry, there's still lots of fun ahead!