There is no maternity leave when you are an entrepreneur!

Its true. There is no maternity leave when you are an entrepreneur.

When I was expecting this last baby, clients were always asking me how much time was I taking off after the baby... and I thought you know I am an entrepreneur right? Who else is going to run momstown Central Alberta if I take a leave? I chose this career, this amazing organization so I could work from home. Whether my home has 4 kids in school or 3 kids in Diapers.

I took 2 weeks off total after Caitlin was born. The month prior, I slowed down out of necessity, doing more of the office work than event work, as I was getting to be too big to move!!

I took over momstown Central Alberta when I was 8 months pregnant with my third daughter. I was told how crazy I was for that. And you are right, It was crazy! Going from 2 - 3 kids and throw a brand new business into the mix, wow! But we survived. I learned a lot, and now I feel like DD3 is growing with momstown Central Alberta.

Adding Caitlin to the mix has made things SO MUCH busier, but I wouldn't change it.
My biggest piece of advice? CHILD CARE!

Working from home means I get to set my own hours, and I get to work at home, but it also means I need to be productive. Before our niece arrived to be our live-in caregiver, time when the girls were awake was not productive work time for me. Every three minutes I was interrupted for a snack, a new cup of juice, a dirty diaper...

Now? I can work at home while the girls are playing with Melanie in the basement, and yes I can hear their giggles and I can spy on them when ever I want... but I also can work. Work doesn't take me as long to complete when I am not being interrupted. Now I know when Caitlin naps, the girls go down stairs, and I should get close to 2 hours worth of work done! Then I get baby and little girl snuggles through out the day, and sometimes I work all day and those times happen at night, same as other 'regular' working moms.

I had 2 traditional maternity leaves, where all I did was parent, and now I have had 2 babies with a growing business to look after. All have been special, but I love having the ability to be at home and a working mom at the same time.
For me, it truly is the best of both worlds!

Mattel Game On! Moms Night IN!

Each month momstown Central Alberta plans a few moms night out, this month we changed things up a bit and we held a moms night IN!

What did we do? We Played Board games! So much fun playing with adults for a change!!
Do you know what your game personality is? -->

Find out which Mattel games best suit your gaming personality. 

Here is the GAMEOLOGY APP to find out.
I am most certainly an Activius!!!

Snacks and beverages were had, even some very special "margarita" cupcakes!! Thanks Heather, they were an awesome treat!

We had a large group game of Apples to Apples, and oh my did we laugh!
We played 3 rounds it was so much fun!

Then we broke up into smaller groups and played Blokus and Uno Power Grab

New game means new rules to study!

Our door Prize for the evening was Blokus

Nanette was our winner!

This was so much fun, we decided this will now be a month event on our Calendar, Moms Night In: Games Night!

Reflections on 10 years of Mother's Days

10 years ago, for the first time,  Mother's Day was something besides a day I thought of only my own mother. It was the first time it was starting to be for me! I was about 7 months pregnant with my first Daughter, and I received a card from a friend pointing this out, and I cried.  It was a big deal to me, still is, but I am sure the pregnancy hormones back then didn't help!

It made me think about what kind of mother I wanted to be. Would I be able to take the best parts from my own mother, my grandmothers, and the other mother's in my life, and limit the negative? Aren't we all sure we will do it better somehow?

I certainly still strive for that, but now 10 years on, I finally think I have found my "groove", I know what kind of mother I am. Can I label it? Probably not. But what I did notice, thanks to today's trip to the playground, with all FOUR of my girls, is that I am so much more RELAXED 10 years in!

I watched a few Mothers hover over the equipment more than me, a few more following their child only 1 foot away, and you can get a sense that they are a newish mom, perhaps only to one... and I saw myself 9 years ago!

Now I am the mom standing farther away than the others, not only just because I am more comfortable with what I know my girls can do, but I need the vantage point to see all of them! I saw the stress in so many moms faces with the kids on the equipment, afraid their little ones will fall, and I remember that fear clearly... but now, it is less. How did this happen? I would love to say I am much more zen about things 10 years later, but really, experience is the great teacher. I have learned that they will fall, there will be tears, cuts, bruises, but they need to explore, figure out what their body can accomplish. Just like I did!

10 years after I was approaching my first Mother's day, I am starting to see the mother that I have become, and I am happy! I like her. Even if she resembles my own mom more than I usually like to admit.

Where to send your husband for Mother's Day in Red Deer

Last year, mother's day came and went and I didnt even get a card. TRUE STORY!
One of the momstown Central Alberta members felt sorry for me and gave me my own Mother's day card. (Thanks Danielle!)

So this got me thinking...

A lot of us moms go to great lengths to create heartfelt keepsake crafts for our Hubbys for Father's Day, so why not do most of the work and set up a CRAFT EVENT that Dad can bring the kids too, make some crafts for mom, and mom gets the afternoon off. Seems like a win win situation don't you thing?

Where is this being held? Sunday May 5th from 1:30 - 4:30 at the Eastview Community Centre. momstown Central Alberta members can send their hubby and kids for free, not a member yet? It is just $5 but consider joining us for a free trial and then it is free anyways!! If not $5 gets you the afternoon off!!

Visions of You Photography will be there as well... hint hint hint...

momstown Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes music and movement event!

momstown Central Alberta held a very special music and movement program event, featuring Barbie™ and Ballet in honor of the new Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes DVD release.

We were fortunate enough to hold this event at Dance Traxx Studio.

This event was BYOB - That's right BRING YOUR OWN BARBIE™, and we saw so many little girls twirling in their tutus with their favorite Barbie™!

We had special Barbie™coloring pages, we made paper ballerina dolls and created our own Pink Ballet shoes!

Then we were treated to a very special Ballet Class from Miss Meagan.

 

We were then privledged to watch Miss Kim dance a beautiful Ballet Solo.

 It was a magical day for so many momstown Central Alberta kids and their moms. I have heard many moms say that their little girl now wants to be ballerinas when they grow up!

Special thanks to Kaylee Baylees Hair Prettys for bringing some extra pretty accessories to our event, to Veronica Moore from VMoore Photograhy, Tanya Olafson for the beautiful pink cupcakes and of course Miss Meagan and Dance Traxx Studio for hosting this amazing event!

 

-->Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes is the latest release which will be available on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD on February 26^th, 2013. Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes is an exciting ballet movie in which Barbie™ stars as Kristyn, the hard-working dancer, who wows the big ballet company in her performance of Giselle and Swan Lake.  Through this journey Kristyn learns that when you dance from your heart – your dreams can come true. 

Barbie has introduced a line up of dolls, accessories and a playset which allow girls to recreate some of their favorite scenes from the film. A must have is the Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes as Kristyn Farraday™.  Two in one, girls can simply twist the doll and her skirt reverses for a magical transformation!

Four Fun St. Patrick's Day Crafts

momstown Central Alberta hosted a fun CRAFT event in honor of St. Patrick's Day!

For the occasion the moms and kids could choose to do one or all four of the crafts, all with the St. Patrick's Day theme.

So of course there were all about shamrocks, pots of gold and lots of GREEN!!

We had Green Pepper Stamping
Super easy, all you need is Paper, Green Pepper cut in half and Green paint!

We had lucky hand print clovers.

A Faux Tie Dye Shamrock - use a green bingo dauber and coffee filters.
Cut the coffee filter like a shamrock, (hearts are easiest) fold like you would cutting out a snowflake, and create your design!

And last but not least a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We used construction paper to create our pot, tissue paper for our rainbow and 'fancy' gold wrapping paper to cut out our gold coins!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Books for Babies in Red Deer: My First Hockey Book

It is never too early to instill the love of reading in your children!
That is why I love our momstown Central Alberta's Books for Babies monthly book club!!

Every month we meet at Chapters Red Deer for story time, a craft and a giveaway!

Every month thanks to Scholastic we have a book to give away to one lucky Family.
The only requirement is that you have to be at our event to win!

This month our Book for Baby was called My First Hockey Book by Ian Crysler!

The babies loved the bright pictures, and the moms thought this was a great story to share with the dads!!

Join us next month at Chapters and you might win a book for your baby!