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!

Now Hiring: Event Co-ordinator for momstown Central Alberta

Are you looking for a way to channel your creative energy? Are you a positive, out-going person inspired by parenting, early education and community? Are you looking for a fun, part-time supplemental income? 

momstown.ca is the leading event and media company that connects and supports real Canadian moms. This is a great opportunity for you to earn some spending money while still having the opportunity to both work from home and bring your child to work! This is the perfect role for a SAHM. This position is about passion, creativity, convenience and fun.

Job Description – Event Co-ordinator:

momstown Central Alberta  is currently seeking a creative, self-motivated, and energetic individual for a part-time position as an Event Co-ordinator. In this exciting role you will co-ordinate & execute fun and educational events for mothers and young children age 0-6.

Responsibilities: 

• Create and customize events from designated momstown curriculum 
• Personally attend & execute a minimum of 1 event per week, buy & prepare supplies (to be re-imbursed) 
• Act as a membership ambassador and liaise with members 
• Be an active member (or become one if not already) and attend events on a regular basis
• Support momstown Central Alberta through Social Media (comment & like Facebook posts, re-tweet posts on Twitter, comment & share blogs) 
• Provide event photos for post event promotion 
• Contribute blog posts of event recap
• Be available for planning committees and regularly brainstorm with chapter owner 
• Check Message Board daily for moderation and add content to encourage discussion 
• Check calendar for comments on events 
• Help with promotion & execution of major events that are member based (seasonal events + HQ national campaigns)

Qualifications:

• Outgoing, dynamic leader who is creative, organized, highly self-motivated
• Strong communication & interpersonal skills
• Vested interest in children and parenting 
• Comfortable leading Circle/Storytime and craft activities for children 
• Have a valid driver’s license & reliable vehicle 
• Be internet savvy and have home computer and internet
• Have smart  phone/camera to take photos of events

Pay Structure:

• Independent Contract work – 6 month rolling contract
• Paid monthly, per event rate

This position will involve planning events for families with children of all ages. As momstown Central Alberta is growing, there is a distinct possibility this position will evolve into three: 1) Infant, 2) Toddler, and 3) Preschooler Programing Co-ordinator.

momstown.ca is an on-line network for neighbourhood moms wanting to connect for support, conversation and just plain fun! With a lively Message Board and a busy Calendar, momstown Central Alberta is a great way to get involved with your community while having a blast with your kids. They say it takes a village to raise a child, we say it takes a town!

If this sounds like the right opportunity for you, please submit your resume and cover letter to info.central-alberta@momstown.ca 

Lactation Cookies for Breastfeeding Moms

At momstown Central Alberta's Christmas cookie exchange, I was given a gift from one of our members, an extra package of cookies! I was very pregnant at the time, and I love cookies so I couldn't wait to try them.
But then I was told to WAIT! Why would someone give a pregnant lady cookies and tell her NOT to eat them? Well because they are lactation cookies! I was told I SHOULD wait until after baby was born and then I could eat them ALL!!
I instructed everyone in my house that these were JUST for me, as they were BREASTFEEDING cookies, (my emphasis) so my husband didn't dare touch them.

These cookies are absolutely delicious and I have patiently waited for the recipe, and now that I have it, I will be making another batch!

Lactation cookies for Breastfeeding moms

Introduction
These cookies are healthy and yummy, and help boost milk supply in breastfeeding mothers!

Minutes to Prepare: 15

Minutes to Cook: 12

Number of Servings: 82

Ingredients

1 Cup margarine
1 Cup sugar
1 Cup brown sugar
4 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp flax seed meal*
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 Cups oats (thick cut if you can find them)
2 generous Tbsp brewer's yeast**

Optional:
1 Cup chocolate chips, raisins, etc.

*Can be found at any health food store.
**It MUST be brewer's yeast!

Directions  

Preheat oven at 375 degrees F. Mix together 2 tablespoons of flax seed meal and water, set aside for 3-5 minutes. Cream (beat well) margarine and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mix well. Stir flax seed mixture and add with vanilla to the margarine mix. Beat until blended. Sift together dry ingredients, except oats and chocolate chips (if using). Add to margarine mixture. Stir in oats then chips. Scoop or drop onto baking sheet, preferably lined with parchment. The dough is a little crumbly, so it helps to use a scoop.

Bake 8-12 minutes, depending on size of cookies.

Yields: 6 dozen cookies

Here are some of the notes from MY COOKIE Baker as posted on our message board

Tanya had asked me to send her the recipe I use to make my breastfeeding cookies. I truly believe these cookies help in milk production and quality. However I might just like to eat cookies.

I store them in the freezer and eat 1 or 2 a day. You can find the brewers yeast at Nutters, I use just ground flax from Superstore, and I use regular oatmeal. Otherwise they are OK for anyone to eat and will not make you produce milk if your not already so it's okay for kids or hubby to eat....although I don't normally share ;)

 *Recipe credit

The Fisher Price Mommy & Me Baby Event in Red Deer!

momstown Central Alberta was thrilled to host the Fisher-Price Mommy & Me Baby Event in Red Deer and we had a blast!

We combined our Baby Picassos event with a fun Toy testing & WINNING playtime!

The moms and their babies made butterfly footprints as a wonderful keepsake Craft.

While other moms and Babies tried out some awesome Fisher-Price Toys!

And the end of our event, we gave ALL THE TOYS AWAY to some 

very lucky moms and their families!!

This was a free event, one of the THIRTY PLUS momstown Central Alberta hosts each month, all included with a $45 year long membership.

Want to know how to get your business in front on Central Alberta moms? 

Contact Tanya to find out!

Rainbow Waffles for St. Patrick's Day

Looking for a Fun St. Patrick's Day Breakfast? 

How about looking for the pot of gold at the end of the Waffle Rainbow? 

momstown Central Alberta's Junior Chef event created these colourful waffles! 

Don't they look fun?

How did we do it?

We started by mixing together our Waffle mix - from scratch!

Here is the recipe we used from www.allrecipe.com

2 cups of Flour

1tsp salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups warm milk

1/3 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder and sugar; set aside. Preheat waffle iron to desired temperature.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in the milk, butter and vanilla. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture; beat until blended.
3. Ladle the batter into a preheated waffle iron. Cook the waffles until golden and crisp. Serve immediately.

How do you make the rainbow? We divided the batter into 5 bowls and used food coloring to color each a different color. We used red green blue yellow and purple. These were then transferred to squeeze bottles. 

Now the fun part! using the squeeze bottles, in a circular motion, layer the colors in the waffle iron and close the lid to wait for the color magic!

When the waffles are cooked, you can see your creation!

Happy Leprechaun hunting!!