Together on Planet MOM

MOPS Schedule
9:15am-11:30am
Childcare is provided for children through age 5

September 15- Together on planet Mom
Welcome back

September 29- Avoiding Black Holes
Don’t let your house swallow you up!

October 13- A day in the life on planet Mom
Organizing our finances

October 27- Falling back to earth
Fall craft and devotion

November 10- Astronaut training
Healthy meal planning and getting in shape

December 8- In a galaxy far, far away
SPA DAY!!

January 12- Authorized personnel only
The importance of nurturing the relationship with your spouse

January 26- Houston we have a problem
Conflict in relationships

Get ready for Life on Planet MOM!!

The MOPS steering team has been hard at work planning our upcoming 2009-2010 year. There are so many great things that we want to do this year, it is hard narrowing it down. But there are some inspiring speakers, cool crafts, and just fun ways to connect with other moms coming your way! Christa Mushett- one of our wonderful mentor momsStephanie Pounds- one of the co-coordinators

Karla Briggs - one of our new mentor moms, Amy Shutt, Angel Cooley - all trying to not look at the camera.

Traci Mozina and Tracy Booth co-coordinator and coordinator of our awesome group

Caryn Colahan and little miss Lilly

I just wanted to let you know that this year we will not be having a pre-registration at Baines park as we have in the past. So be prepared to fill out your registration forms and such at the first meeting.

There is a change in the month of September as well and I wanted to let you know right away. We usually meet the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month - that will hold true for the months Oct-May, but with Labor day falling the day before our 1st meeting, we are pushing it back a week. So our 1st meeting in September will be on Tuesday September 15

Hello! I know I haven't updated this during the summer. I just wanted to let you know that the steering team is hard at work planning an exciting 2009-2010 MOPS year. More details and dates are to come..

Hope you all are enjoying every moment of summer with your families!

MOPS will be back before you know it!

Pizza in the Park

Just in case you haven't heard- Our last official get together for this MOPS year our Pizza in the Park that we had scheduled at Baines Park has been canceled for today due to the rain. We will have some get togethers during the summer, so when I get that information I will certainly update you all here.
I know summer gets so busy, but sometimes it is just nice to slow down and reconnect with other MOPS moms so still check back for updates as I will do my best to pass things along to you!

Another note, I will be entering registrations for next MOPS year, there is a discount if you are registered early.This is for the MOPS International fee, not our Mops dues. The yearly fee is $21.95 as opposed to the regular $23.95. So there is some savings. Contact me if you haven't already and I will make sure to get you all signed up for another exciting year in MOPS!!

SPA DAY

Our last meeting was the best yet! We had our annual Spa Day. A day for the moms to get pampered, a day to refresh, to renew our minds, bodies and spirits. I have to say this one was the most Spa-like we have ever had! Truly you felt like you just stepped out of a professional spa. We had four stations, one which I do believe was everyone's favorite was the massage. Katie Fox had some of her students there giving us wonderful chair massages, Caryn Colahan was giving facials and paraffin wax treatments, Allison Arndt was doing mini pedicures, and our wonderful pastors were fixing up some made to order omelets!

Shaunda our wonderful moppets leader snapping pics of the kids.

The sanctuary was transformed into a massage areasorry Lori, I couldn't resist!Some unidentified ladies maxin and relaxinpedicure areaFacials felt soo nice!Our chefs for the day. Everything was soo good!Well it's hard to think we are wrapping up our MOPS year. Just two meetings remain. May 12th is our last meeting at Norwalk Alliance, we will be having a MOM & POP panel. We have 3 couples on hand to answer a variety of questions on the topics of parenting and marriage. Very Exciting! It also is the day we thank our moppets volunteers. Without these wonderful helpers, many of us would not be able to attend MOPS. So be sure to say THANK YOU to our teachers and volunteers when you bring in your kids. Let them know how wonderful they are!!

Our second meeting on the 26th will be at Baines Park. We will be providing Pizza, just bring a snack to share.

April 14 Meeting - Bumper Cars

Our April 14th meeting went much better than I think we anticipated. This meeting happened to fall on spring break for one of the schools, and our local preschools. So with our group having childcare only available for ages newborn to 5, we expected not as many moms due to having older children at home. We had a great number and one new mom at that! Praise God! Our new mom also was our only birthday for April, so she was put on the spot just a bit. -But I don't think she minded:) Door prize winners were Diana Salsberry and Heather Barber. The speaker today was pastor Bruce Rzengota
Pastor Bruce is our lead pastor at Norwalk Alliance Church. It always is a blessing to hear what message he has to bring. Today was on the topic of conflict resolution. Identifying the weapons we use and how to disarm ourselves. I think many of us found this more helpful than they probably even realized. Without preschool going on that day, there was less rushing out early to grab kids and more discussion group time which was great!

Be sure not to miss our next meeting coming up on April 28, 2009 this is our SPA DAY and as Mothers of Preschoolers, we all could use a good day of pampering!

April Happenings

Well for those of you who were able to attend our last meeting, what a special one it was! I was so moved and touched by our mentor mom Diana's testimony. I love to listen to how God has worked in our lives and to hear the story of how people are brought closer to him. The stories are all so unique whether you went through a life changing event or you were raised to know him and had a realization of his awesomeness. It was such a blessing to hear all the GOD moments that soo many of you volunteered to share! THANKS BE TO GOD!!!!

"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. John 5:24

It is April and Springtime! What a wonderful time to be a mother of a preschooler! With new life and lessons all around, enjoy this special time with your families as we get ready to celebrate Easter.

Our MOPS meetings this month fall on April 14 and April 28. Keep in mind the April 14 meeting falls on some Spring Break vacations for some school children and we do not have the childcare available for the school age children.

A few other events to mark on your calendar are:

Thursday April 2 1:00PM-2:00PM - Kalahari Treetop play area

Tuesday April 7 1:00 PM - Play date with MOPS mom Rachel Webb - Meeting at McDonalds on Benedict Avenue (across from Hospital)

Tuesday April 21 1:00 PM-2:00 PM Edison Park - Milan

If you have a question about any of these play dates, please contact Alice Marcy 419-668-2249

MOPS at GAYMONT

I don't have updates from our last meeting, as I was unable to attend, but I wanted to add this from Alice:

Hi guys!
I forgot to remind everyone that MOPS will be visiting Gaymont Nursing Home this Monday March 16th from 2p-3p. (If you need to leave earlier to pick up kids from school etc. that's fine). If the weather is nice they are planning on playing with a parachute outside!
Hope you are able to come!

February 24 Highlights

What a great meeting we had! We started out with a wonderful devotion by our mentor mom Lori. She was such an inspiration to so many that day. She spoke of having respect for our husbands and has a 30 day challenge she is putting out there, if you think you might be up for some life changing wonderful things in your marriage, drop her a line. She'd love to hear from you! Then we had our craft, which I do believe was a big hit! We stenciled and painted words and sayings onto tiles. They turned out so nice. Even those without a creative bone in their body were able to make this look like a masterpiece. Great selection Caryn.

Caryn going over the directions for the group.
Creative minds hard at work!

Hi Stephanie! Gotcha!Selecting the right colors and layout was a tough decision! It took a little planning and careful observation:)

Our next meeting is Tuesday March 10. We will be having a First Aid Station. Our speaker will be Becky Linder and we will be putting together first aid kids. Also don't forget to mark your calendar for the March 24 meeting our Tea and Treasure day which is always a special day you don't want to miss.

As always a little plug or friendly reminder that we will be meeting at Sherri's coffee house Tuesday March 10 at 6:30 PM for our Mommy Diaries. We will be reviewing Chapter 3 Relationships. Hope to see you there!

MOPS RECAP

Our last meeting was a hit! We have such creative and wonderful bakers in our group. There was so many choices of chocolate dishes, I don't know how our judges ever made a decision!

Our speaker Karen Duncan spoke about how to help a grieving friend and it was as always so nice to hear her speak.
We had some exciting baby news from one of our mops moms. Alice Marcy announced that she is expecting baby #3
Door Prize winners were Karen Duncan and Katie Fox
Linda Hart won Lunch with Lori, Carrie Bellman won coffee with Christa and Tracy Booth won dining with Diana

Congratulations to all the winners!
Our play date at Kalahari that was scheduled for last Wednesday was a no go with so many kiddos being sick, but it's definitely a date to watch for in the future. Lets get the kids out and burn some energy!!

Our next meeting is Tuesday February 24, 2009 9:15 AM Hope to see you there!

Oh! and one more thing our winter Bible Study - The mommy Diaries will be meeting Tuesday 2/24 at 6:30 PM at Sherri's coffee house we will be reviewing Chapter one. Identity.

Chocolate Day!

Just a reminder that our next meeting is Tuesday February 10, 2009 and it is a good one that you won't want to miss. Our speaker will be Karen Duncan and our theme is CHOCOLATE DAY! So whip up your favorite chocolate treat, or try a new recipe. This is a chocolate pot luck:) But if you are out of time, or unable to bring something that is okay. THERE WILL BE PLENTY! There will be a contest on best taste and best looking chocolate dish.