New Year Resolutions

Resolutions. Do you make them?

This has been a topic on our message boards, with our family and I am sure yours.
A few members have spoken about goals for the year versus resolutions, and I love that concept!

I also know that until you make yourself accountable, they are not real, whether it is a goal or a resolution.

So here I am being all accountable. These are my goals/resolutions

1) I want to Run a 10km race. It has been 5 years since my last race, and it is about time to get back at it. Deadline is November 30th 2012

2) Organization - get my office together, deadline January 30 2012

3) Grow this amazing momstown business so that it can afford a car payment! Deadline December 31st 2012

Now that it is out there, now there is no hiding!

What are your resolutions?

Happy Noon Year Celebration 2011

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day for our Happy Noon Year's celebration!

The sun was shining, it was about -5 degrees and the ice was perfect for skating and the snow was perfect for sledding!!

The kids were having such a great time we left out the countdown and let the kids continue on playing!

To top off a perfect day in the winter sunshine, of course there was HOT CHOCOLATE!

Happy Noon Year Everyone! See you in 2012

1st Christmas Turkey Dinner at MY HOUSE

Ever since I had my own place, at about age 23, I wanted to have Christmas Dinner at MY HOUSE. This has never happened UNTIL THIS YEAR!

I was so excited, now I am a grown up! Really!

I was never able to host before because my house has never been large enough to accommodate my family. When I was 23 my downtown Calgary apartment was too small, when I was 29 my Montreal apartment was too far away, and up until this year my two story home home has been too small.

Oh sure I have hosted Christmas Morning Breakfasts in the past, and the come and go Christmas Eve event we host every year, but this year I was in trusted with the Big Event.

So the fresh 20 pound Turkey was ordered, the guests were given their dish to bring, and I was so excited to cook my FIRST TURKEY EVER!!

So as you probably already know, 20 pounds of Turkey is heavy! Hubby was given the job of washing the Turkey along with the removal of the giblets (ewww!!!).

We had to borrow my mothers roaster, as of course, why would I have one that was big enough? I seasoned the bird and then that Turkey was gently placed (read shoved upside down, oops) into the roaster to cook.

The Turkey was basted a few times (without a baster, as who has one of those when you haven't cooked a Turkey before?) temperature was checked (by my Father, as I seemed always to be feeding a baby when he deemed it time to check) and when it was declared DONE, my father and Hubby gentlemanly asked each other who should do the honor of carving the bird, (my Dad ended up with the job) and Dinner was served.

Only one kink in this otherwise perfect Tale a Cooked Turkey, half my family that had RSVP'd had come down with the stomach flu and didn't show up... so we have had Turkey for almost a week!! Luckily we had some great Turkey recipes handy to add variety to the LARGE amounts of left overs we had!

Who knew cooking a Turkey was so easy? ha ha I am volunteering for this job EVERY YEAR as it seems everyone is so worried about overwhelming the hostess, she doesn't get to do much!

Elf on the Shelf

The Elf on the Shelf is all the rage this year, many of you may have purchased it, so many have it is very hard to find one to purchase anywhere.

I had no idea what this was until it was a topic on our message board, with the hope of members finding one for their families.

I think they are a great idea, super cute... but you don't need one. Growing up we knew about the Elves! My mom made sure we knew they were watching, and they made us believe AND behave, without ever really seeing anything. Oh sure there were many times I was sure I saw "something" when my mom told me that "the elves" just saw me misbehaving...

My sisters and I loved the Elves story my mom told us, it is one of our favorite holiday memories.



I loved it so much, and thought it so ingenious, I decided I would pass along this same story to my girls... except my oldest seems to be a much more discerning listener. Where my sisters and I just believed, my daughter checks up on me!

One time when she was 4, she was behaving badly, so I used what my moms told me on her. I told her I just saw an elf looking through the front door window, and they saw her bad behavior, and they would be telling Santa... What does she do? She goes to the door opens it, looks out and asks "if there was an elf there, why don't I see any footprints?!?!" I was not prepared to answer questions!! ha ha.

I guess I just believed and never questioned my moms story. But then again, I figured out my parents were Santa when I was in grade 2. My oldest is in grade 3 and still believes. I know this is helped by such things as "Magic Santa", who has already sent a video via email to her... and because I have become smarter... If I see tracks in the snow, I make sure I show them to her and tell her I think they may be elf footprints...

So I don't think I will purchase the Elf on the Shelf, it seems like an awful lot of work, and invites WAY more questions... my oldest has seen one, and asks why she never sees the elf move, how come it looks like a doll, will it really lose its magic if I touch it? Here is another blog about The Elf on the Shelf, it is super funny discussing "Over Achieving Elf on the Shelf Mommies". Truly hilarious.

I love the Elves story my mom told us, and I will continue this tradition with my 3 girls, getting smarter about it every year!

momstown Christmas Party

With many thanks to Kristin and Lisa, we had a fabulous momstown Central Alberta Christmas Party this past weekend.



There were 2 crafts to make, lots and lots of delicious food that so many of the momstown moms and families brought, and the highlight was of course our short visit from SANTA!! He even managed to bring some "early" Christmas gifts!!



We have to commend Santa on his excellent child holding skills, as it was a day of many tears on his lap, but the parents held their cameras steady to get the picture anyway! ha ha Santa did brag that he hasn't dropped a child yet! And a few kids gave him a run for his money on that claim!! I love to see the pictures of the kids crying on Santa's lap, makes me giggle, and plus is great for showing their friends when they are teenagers right?






It was a great Saturday spent with Families and Friends, and a great way to celebrate the holiday season!!





Check Out what other momstown Chapters got up to this year!
Our next big event is our Happy Noon Year Event! See you then!

Morning with Santa Toy Drive - Teaching Our Kids the True Meaning of Christmas

momstown Central Alberta, in other words, yours truly, was very fortunate to be asked to partner with Kelly aka Mortgage Mummi and June of Candy Faces fame, for this great event.

We were treated to some mingling with Santa and Mrs. Claus, cookie decorating, making a few crafts, and listening to Mrs. Claus read some delightful Christmas Stories. All of this in the hopes of teaching our kids what the true meaning of Christmas is, GIVING. In exchange for this amazing morning, we accepted donations to the Red Deer Food Bank and the Christmas Bureau instead of trying to buy a small gift or two for all of our friends and their kids.





Kelly wrote an amazing blog post, so please go read her recap AFTER you finished reading mine! (smile)

It is so important to me, that my girls grow up being thankful what they have, and sharing this with others. Even if these "others" may never know it was them that helped them out. Getting to "hang" with the Clauses made the event more fun then just dropping off the gifts, but it was all in the same spirit of giving.






I have so much more to say on this topic, and especially how it relates to our family, but I will save that for a blog post on another day.

In the meantime, please enjoy some pictures from this great event we were lucky enough to be apart of.

Hot Pot Studio Christmas Edition

The ladies of momstown Central Alberta got together for an evening of ceramic painting, at HOT POT STUDIO this time to create some great Christmas ceramics!

The weather was perfect to put us "in the mood' for Christmas as it was snowing!

Here are a few pics of the ladies "getting their pain on"



Thanks Candace for the great event event!!

November Winners

I can finally announce who our winners for November were!

Our Scholastic Book of the month "Are you a Horse?" by Andy Rash was won at our Monthly craft Party by BRADLEY

At our Monthly moms Night out at Heritage Ranch we had a gift certificate for a Family Carriage Ride was won by BRADLEY AGAIN!! She needs to buy a lottery ticket...

Our Monthly Contest Winner of the photography package worth $749 from First Blush Photography was DORA!!

Congratulations to our November Winners!!