Thursday, October 15, 2009

Ice your Cake and Eat it too

We had a great time at our Oct. 14th meeting! Ruth Rosburough generously shared her cake decorating experience and recipes with us. She gave us great tips on how to perfectly ice a cake and showed us how to make roses, leaves, baby booties, clowns and shells. As a grand finale, we all got a piece of that yummy cake with Butter Almond frosting! Yum!

Each mom got her own decorating tip and a bag of icing to put our new skills to the test. Our kids are going to have the most beautiful cakes this next year!

Lindsay, Jen, and Trisha practicing shells and writing.

Anna worked very intently.



Rachel, Anna, Susan, and Leah are total experts now.



Alicia's shells look pretty perfect.

Deborah and Julie knew this was serious business.

Allison working on her shell border as well.



Hillary working on her shells despite that tempting piece of cake right in front of her.



Tammy, Karen's arm and Courtney working very hard.

What a fun time of fellowship we had! Thanks, Ruth.

To see a copy of the resources and recipes from the meeting, click here.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Fill a Shoebox


Samaritan's Purse, an international relief organization, will soon be collecting shoeboxes for their annual Operation Christmas Child campaign. Shoeboxes filled with goodies will be distributed at Christmastime to needy children around the world.

Packing a shoebox is easy and can be a fun activity for your whole family. Shoeboxes can be filled with toys, school supplies, candy, hygiene items, and clothing. See the Samaritan's Purse website for more information about recommended items and prohibited items.

If you would like to participate in filling and wrapping a box or two with your family, you can bring your boxes to the November 18 MOPS meeting and we'll deliver them to a local dropoff site for you.


All the information you may want about Samaritan's Purse and instructions for filling and sending your Operation Christmas Child box can be found here.

Resources!

Update: The Resources Guide is up! Click here to view it.

After moving to a new area 5 years ago, I found that the best resources were other friends and families in the area. I absolutely hate finding new doctors and figuring out which mechanics were out for my money and the ones that would truly just fix the problem. Then, as we have added children to our family, we are looking for even more resouces. Who could be better to ask than other mothers?

We would love to provide some resources to the mothers in our MOPS group and we would love your help. (Because, you are the experts.) So, when you get a chance, click on the MOPS Resources Form and fill out as much information as you can. There are a lot of questions from "health care providers" to "best hair stylist". Don't be overwhelmed! Just fill in the questions that you have answers for. And feel free to come back and fill in just one thing if you think of it later. We will link the answers to this blog so that everyone is able to use it.

So, get to work! (Because I really need a new family doctor and remember how I hate searching for new doctors?) And also, because there will be another giveaway at our next meeting if you do fill it out. And if you are really into winning things, then leave another comment somewhere on the blog and you will get another chance to win in this giveaway!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Playdate = Pumpkin Harvest Days

The October 21st playdate has been moved from Derwood Bible Church to Butler's Orchard in Germantown, Maryland.

We will be partaking in their annual Pumpkin Harvest Days. Festivities include:

A Jump in the Hayloft Barn
Exploring the Straw Maze
Visiting Barnyard Buddies
Taking a tractor-driven Hayride
Playing at the Learning Station
Coasting down a Giant Slide
Picking a Pumpkin in the Pumpkin Patch
*Each person selects ONE head-size pumpkin and two crisp apples to take home.

Cost: $6.00/child or adult (infants free). Please bring cash for payment.
Location: Butlers Orchard, 22200 Davis Mill Road, Germantown, MD
Time: October 21st, 9:30AM
RSVP with number of adults and children (excluding infants) attending to www.derwoodmops@gmail.com by Saturday, October 17.

For more information visit Butler's Orchard Events Page and scroll down to the Pumpkin Harvest Days Flyer and FAQ.

See you there!