Enter to Win Barbie in the Pink Shoes DVD!

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.

To enter the contest, please leave a comment in the section below about why your child loves Barbie. One entry per email address. Make sure you sign in with your email address so we can contact you if you have won. Contest open March 1-31, 2013. Winners will be drawn on March 31, 2013 and contacted via momstown.

Barbie™ music & movement event in RED DEER!

Is there a Barbie™ fan at your house? 

We have an great event planned for March 16th at Dance Traxx Studio!

We will have a ballet class for the kids, a performance by a REAL Ballerina, plus crafts and other goodies for the kids.

Our event is also BYOB! BRING YOUR OWN BARBIE™

We encourage everyone to dress in pink, wear your tutu and come for a very fun
Barbie™ and Ballet music & movement event!

How do you find out all the details? Check out the momstown Central Alberta Calendar of course!

We will have a copy of Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes DVD to giveaway as well!

We have another chance for you to win your own copy of Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes!
Click here and tell us why you child loves Barbie™ in the comment section!

Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes is the latest release which will be available on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD on February 26th, 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!

Mama Book Club: The False Prince

Scholastic Canada was the sponsor of this months Mama Book Club for momstown Central Alberta! We met in Red Deer to discuss the first book in the Ascendancy Trilogy, 

The False Prince by Jennifer Neilsen.

Everyone really enjoyed the book, appreciated how easy of a read it was, since we are all very busy moms. We loved the character development and the  use of 'head games' between the characters throughout the novel. We never knew what to expect from any of the characters!

Many of us agreed that we might not have chosen this book to read, and having a book club helps us to branch out from what we are usually reading.

What else is great about the Mama book club? It is of course all about meeting to discuss the book of the month, but also discussing what books we have read and loved recently and those that we are usually drawn to. We love to give our recommendations to our fellow momstown members of some of our favourite recent reads.

Of course it is also a great excuse for an evening get together with a glass a wine!!

We enjoyed the book so much that for our next book club we are reading the next installment of the Ascendancy Trilogy The Runaway King.

Books for Babies In Red Deer

momstown Central Alberta met at Chapters for our monthly Books for Babies event in Red Deer. Scholastic Canada sponsors this event with a book of the month selection we read and give one copy away to a lucky member and her family!

This month our book was Welcome baby by Barbara Reid

We had a great keepsake craft to make, an apple for the babies that are the apple of our eye!

And our Book of the month was won by our member Chalcey!

Join us at chapters with your baby under 18 months!
Siblings are always welcomed to join us as well!

Story time in Red Deer

momstown Central Alberta held our Storytime and Craft event at Chapters with our Scholastic Canada book of the month The Very Hungry Bear by Nick Bland.

Chapters was ready for us, with a stuffed animal show acting out the story while another read it aloud!

How fun is that?

The the kids got to work on their BEAR crafts!!

Here is our lucky winner of this months book to take home to their family!

Join us at Chapters each month and you could win too!

Polar Bear Crafts in Red Deer

momstown Central Alberta has a preschool craft program called momstown Monet, and this month our theme was all about Polar Animals! So we got crafty with Polar Bears!  Fuzzy polar bears out of toilet paper rolls, and polar bear hand prints!

First we made hand print polar bears. A little extra is needed to make these guys, 3 extra thumb prints for your polar bears ears and chin. See here.

 Then all you need is a black marker to draw on the face and add claws!

Then we started on our Fuzzy Polar Bears.
How do you make this fuzzy guy?
you need
toilet paper roll
paper - white and small piece of pink
googly eyes
pom pom
cotton balls
white glue

On you paper draw a circle for the head, 2 small circles for ears and 2 paws connected to wrap
partially around the toilet paper roll, and a heart for the feet glued to the bottom
then spread apart a few cotton balls and glue to the roll. Glue all pieces together and start playing!

Unforgettable Valentine Craft

momstown Central Alberta was invited to chat and get crafty with mommy connections Red Deer, and since it was so close to Valentine's Day we made a foorprint Valentine to tell their Valentine how unforgettable they were!

Using only hearts and a foot print we created a very easy and cute Valentine Elephant!

We also had the kids test our toilet paper roll stamping, which is such a great art project for little ones!

Thanks for letting us introduce momstown to your participants!
I cant wait to all our new members at some of our 20+ events each month!

Salt Dough Stamped Valentines

The girls and I were looking for a fun Valentine's Day craft, and we found THIS recipe from momstown for Salt Dough Ornaments, but we changed it up a bit, as my kids do not have the patience or the attention span to wait for the ornaments to cook/dry between the rolling and cutting and the decorating.

So we stamped them BEFORE they were placed in the oven!

Here is the recipe that we used
2 cups of Flour
1 cup of Salt
1 cup of water
Bake at 200 for 1 hour

Mix, Roll and start stamping!

We think they turned out great!

Heart Pancakes on Pancake Tuesday

It's Pancake Tuesday and two days away form Valentine's day so we decided we needed to bake HEART Pancakes!

When growing up we LOVED having pancakes for a meal that is NOT breakfast! My girls thought this was an awesome treat as well.

We did cheat a bit and used pancake mix from a box, but we added our own special ingredient, and the girls were able to stir and "help" so they don't know the difference, and baking with kids is about the time spent doing it!

So we measured

And stirred

Added the special ingredient - Peanut butter! This was something my Dad used to do for us, when we had pancakes when I was a kid. I love the taste of memories!

When they were cooked, we used out heart cookie cutter to have HEART pancakes and they were topped with a little bit of Nutella!

YUM! Happy Pancake Tuesday!

School of Fish Valentines

Our oldest is in a class with twice as many boys as girls this year, so she didn't want to have really "girly" valentines to give out, so we found these and thought "PERFECT!

We purchased bulk FINNISH fish (similar to Swedish Fish but different colors and shapes).
These were sorted out, so every child will get 4, of different colors.

 Then we cut out the Valentines that say "So glad we are in the same school".

Then they were all placed in a small baggie, similar to what you would get from the fish or pet store, and tied the top.

She is very happy with the end result, and loved making the Valentines this year, and not just purchasing a package from the store!

In fact she liked them so much she ensured that she gave herself one as well!

Valentine Chocolate Croissants with Kids

momstown Central Alberta has our Valentine's Day party coming up, and it is a potluck affair, so we are "testing" Valentine Recipes at our house today!

We found some Pilsbury Refrigerated Chocolate Croissant packages at the grocery store and decided to make them Valentine!

We followed the package directions - super easy for our almost 3 year old to do!
She loves when the package "pops"
Then she decided that the chocolate filling cannot just be squeezed it needs to be painted!

We then rolled our creations... some MIGHT have been rolled the wrong way, but these are things that happen when you bake with kids!
Then we placed them in the oven to bake, and we waited very patiently for them to be ready.

To make them extra special and to tie into our Valentine's Day Theme, we used the extra chocolate to make hearts, and our course, added sprinkles "just because"

We think they turned out great!
Look for them at our Party on the 14th!

momstown Central Alberta presents The Fisher Price Mommy & Me Baby Event

On March 7th Fisher Price is sponsoring our momstown Central Alberta Baby Basics / Baby Picassos infant playgroup!

momstown Central Alberta mamas generally meet at various locations for our infant program but this event is extra special! There is no other mom's group where you can try out, and potentially WIN, toys from Fisher Price. That's right, we're raffling them off at the end!

Want to Join us? 

Here are the fun toys we'll be playing with:

My Little Snugabunny™ Cradle ’n Swing

Ocean Wonders™ Aquarium

Laugh & Learn™ Say Please™ Tea Set

Laugh & Learn™ Click 'n Learn Remote

momstown Central Alberta is a community that provides fun and friendship for moms. If you would like to get connected check us out! A membership is only $45/year - you even get to try us for 4 weeks FREE!! Register here.

Remember with every full year momstown membership purchased in 2013 you will receive a BONUS 1 year subscription to Today's Parent magazine.