MOPS OPEN HOUSE - Tonight!!

First Meeting for 2016-17 year is November 3 at 9:30.

Sign Up For MOPS!!

We hope you can join us for our first meeting of the year, Thursday, September 4!!! Our meeting will begin at 9:30am. If you have children to drop off in our free childcare, please arrive a few minutes early to do so. We are looking forward to seeing new faces and old friends!!! This is going to be our best year yet! Don't miss out! Bring a friend!!

If you would like to print the membership forms to bring to the meeting, please CLICK HERE.

Summer Playdates

We would love to see you at one of our 3 playdates this summer!!! We will have registration forms available!!! IF you want to join MOPS but can't make a playdate-NO PROBLEM!! Please select the JOIN NOW tab above- click the blue register now button and print the forms! You will need 1 form for yourself, and 1 Moppet form for each child that will be attending the free childcare during the meetings. :) The registration fee for the upcoming MOPS year is $40.00, same as it was last year. Thanks!!

Ronald McDonald House

Our MOPS group is so amazing and generous. On April 1, several of us moms were able to provide a healthy dinner and dessert for the staff and parents staying at the Ronald McDonald House while they have an ill child at one of the local hospitals. A couple of us members on the steering team have been touched in a big way by the generosity of the RMH in different cities while we had a very ill child and while one of the members was ill in her childhood. I encourage you to look up your local RMH HERE and see who they are and how you can help volunteer. They welcome you with open arms! :)

Here was our MOPS group in action that rainy evening. They were very welcoming to those of us that had our children with us as well!!

Here we are with the first course....a nice big SALAD! :) Don't worry, we had MANY crockpots FULL of the main course...and don't forget the dessert! :)

 You can't leave with out a picture of Ronald McDonald, right? :)

The Westside Edition Features our MOPS Group!

The editor was at our March meeting when we did the birth order topic and made our picture frame craft! They did a great job covering our group and even got some sweet pics of our kiddos over in the church being cared for by our amazing and free Moppet program!!! 

Birth Order and Pinterest Craft Night

March was a VERY busy month-a lot to discuss since our February MOPS meeting was snowed out! :(

Today we discussed our children's personality traits and their birth order. Not just with our children, but us moms as well! The information was VERY interesting and hit the nail on the head with nearly everyone at the meeting!  Dr. Kevin Leman has a great website and various videos you may find informative regarding these topics as well as parenting! :) CLICK HERE to view his website!

After the discussion, we created a very neat scrapbook picture frame for dry erase messages! Take a look at some of our creative members work. :)

The next morning, a MOPS mom submitted her photo to us on our Facebook page sharing some very cool news!! CONGRATS!

An editor from the WESTSIDER (a special edition from the courier and press) was at our meeting and interviewed a few of us and took some fun pics...stay tuned to view the article in my next post! :)

A couple of weeks after our MOPS meeting, we had our first Pinterest Craft Night for our members! We ordered pizzas, had appetizers...and of course....great fellowship while we created a very fun craft! Super fun evening!

MOPS Giveback Night

Our meeting this month was cancelled due to snow but we were at least able to get in our Give Back Night. Our group had another MOPS Mom's Night Out at Hacienda...which went toward the Giveback Night Hacienda had for us to help raise money for our group!

We had an amazing evening and did yet another cash collection as well as baby girl items for a local family in need. Once again, we have a VERY generous and amazing group of mom's in our MOPS group!!! Here is half of what we collected for the family!

The wonderful MOPS moms who were able to join us for a much needed night out. :) 

Faith

We had a WONDERFUL Christian guest speaker come today, Megan Danks.  She is a young, beautiful mother/wife, passionate Christian and....a cancer survivor! She spoke of her journey and her walk with Christ as well as her husband's and how they have raised their children (even living out of the country in the mission field)....She spoke how her strong faith in God is what helped get her through her battle with cancer. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. It was very moving listening to her testimony that hour.

MOPS Mom's Night Out/Shopping Trip

What a busy month December is!!! Between shopping, planning family gatherings, trying to stay healthy & avoid the inevitable cold & snow.......We also had a busy December for our MOPS group!

We did a super fun craft at the meeting--creating custom glitter ornaments for our trees! They turned out so pretty! We also discussed our family traditions at Christmas and learned of other family traditions we may want to try!! A LOT of fun ideas and traditions were talked about!!!

We collected cash donations this month so we could do our 2nd annual "adopt a family" for Christmas!  Our group met for a MOPS Mom's much needed evening out to socialize at Hacienda. Our original date got snowed out so our last minute make up date and we were very pleased with our turnout considering! Here we are with full bellies and ready to hit the stores to shop for the precious family in need this Christmas!

We are ready to SHOP!!!! With all of the sales, coupons & cash back-we were able to provide an AMAZING Christmas for this family. God Bless all of those who were able to donate, pray and just be a part of this special event.

We dropped our wrapped gifts off at Holly's House. It was also fun to be able to get our children involved and getting them to understand the concept of charity! 

 I think the kiddos enjoyed the giant stuffed animals. :)

Baby Friendly Presentation

At our meeting today, Nicole Brungs, RN, BSN, IBCLC, came to speak with us today about nursing your newborn and the benefits of doing so. She works for a local hospital in their lactation department. She was very informative and had information that even some of the seasoned verterans at nursing their children didn't even know.

In addition to our guest speaker we kicked off several donation events at our meeting!

-We asked those that had extra Halloween candy to please bring it to the meeting so we could donate it to our local CHEMO BUDDIES organization. The patient's undergoing chemotherapy, enjoy various candies to eat due to the metallic taste the chemo leaves in their mouth! We collected a LOT of candy and were able to give them a very generous donation! If you get a chance, please click on their link to find out how YOU can help!

-We also asked our MOPS members if they had any non-perishable foods, toiletries, coats and other items to please bring them so we could donate to our local food pantry and other organizations in need for this fall/winter. Again-we have VERY generous members and had a LOT to take to these organizations!!

Describe Your Child's Personality...In ONE Word!

Happy Fall!!! We had a very interesting, eye opening & informative meeting today! We began with an ice breaker...."Describe each of your children's personalities...but only use ONE word! WOW. That proved to be hard for some of us. :)

We then took an assessment for each of our children CLICK HERE and discovered our child's personality type. VERY neat!! After we got our results we broke off into our discussion groups and discussed our children with other MOPS members....seeing if there were connections with their personalities and their birth order. I encourage you to take this. Give it a try! :)

If you enjoyed the assessment--check out Kathi's book HERE.

"Parents spend a good chunk of time making sure their kids are okay--they're getting good grades, doing their chores, and doing just enough cleaning that their rooms won't be condemned if the Board of Health happens to drop by. 21 Ways to Connect with Your Kidsoffers a straightforward, workable plan to create new avenues of connection between parents and their kids. This handy guide coaches moms and dads to do one simple thing each day for three weeks to connect with their kids.

Daily connection ideas include:

• planning a family fun night
• telling your child what you like about them
• developing a character growth chart
• writing a love note to your child
• working together on a family project

Written in Kathi's warm and compassionate but thought-provoking tone, this book will motivate parents to incorporate great relationship habits into their daily lives and give them confidence that they can connect with their kids even in the midst of busy schedules." -http://www.kathilipp.com/books/21ways/blogger_kit/

Check out 50 fun ideas to "connect with your son" HERE

Check out 50 fun ideas to "connect with your daughter" HERE

Kickoff Meeting-- A Beautiful Mess

We kicked off our 2nd annual MOPS year today!!! We had a fantastic turnout!! Our theme for this year...."A Beautiful Mess." Fitting, right? For all of us BUSY moms!!! I put together this little video of some of our steering team's beautiful messes.....turn the volume up and ENJOY!!

And how appropriate is this poem.....our devotional to start our meeting today. I think most of us can relate. :)

2013-2014 MOPS Year Schedule

The Turning Pointe MOPS Group offers care and nurturing to all mothers of preschoolers (infants through Kindergarten by working through the local Church (The Turning Pointe) to meet moms right where they're at. 

A typical meeting will include a brief opening, Encouraging Welcome With a Prayer, A Group Discussion, Refreshments/Appetizers, Creative Time (a project that we can all complete) or possibly a special guest speaker. Our goal is to make each mom feel like a welcome part of our community.

The Turning Pointe Church 

Meetings are the 1st Thursday of every month 2013-2014 school year

Starting

9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

Sept. 5, 2013
Oct. 3, 2013
Nov. 7, 2013
Dec. 5, 2013
Jan. 9, 2014
Feb. 6, 2014
Mar. 6, 2014
April 3, 2014
May 1, 2014

Contact: 

LHape04@gmail.com

Cost for Membership: $40.00
FREE Childcare at MOPS Meetings

MOPS SUMMER PLAYDATES

Please join us for a monthly summer playdate!! We will also be accepting memberships at these playdates. Please click the JOIN NOW tab above for more information on 2013-2014 membership.

See you there!!

**In case of rain-we will be meeting at McDonald's Playland on the west side.**

Nutrition

During our February meeting, we did a survey for all of you MOMS. Based on the results, we scheduled the remainder of our meetings on the things you would like to get out of MOPS. Nutrition was the most popular request. At yesterday's meeting, we had the pleasure of having Bonnie Schnautz as a guest speaker. She is a certified health practitioner here in Evansville. She discussed healthy meals & kids snacks on the go. There were a lot of eye openers for us moms at this meeting. Especially seeing Bonnie's "unhappy meal"....which was a 4 year old hamburger from one of those restaurants we've probably all been to.... The frightening thing was-her hamburger in her sealed container was 4 years old. It looked maybe a week old! YIKES!

What ARE we putting into our bodies & what type of effect is it having on not only our health, but our children's health?  Please check out Bonnie's Facebook page HERE where she provides useful nutritional information/tips.

Bonnie provides private consultations for those looking for natural options for their health as well as various group coaching programs. Please feel free to contact her.

We would like to congratulate 2 of our MOPS moms! They will be welcoming baby girls into their families soon! We can't wait to meet them!! :) 

All About Love

When you think of the month of February...you think about- LOVE. Right? Well, our steering team thought it would be appropriate to discuss The 5 Love Languages this month. A few of us just finished this book along with our husbands in our church small group - it was a huge success.  (to be honest-a couple of the husbands were skeptics and didn't want to read the book in our small group-but once they gave in and did....they were so thankful for doing so!) EVERYONE can benefit from reading this book from dating couples, newly weds, couples having problems or couples that have a great marriage. Every person can learn something from this book!

If you weren't able to attend yesterday's meeting-please consider going to the website HERE and taking a very short quiz. Have your spouse take the same quiz. Once you get your results-you will then know your love language. Click HERE to read a brief description of your love language. Obviously, the book goes into much greater detail on each of the love languages.

Falling in love is easy. Maintaining healthy relationships is a daily, lifelong pursuit. But it doesn’t have to be that hard. Once you know your “love language,” you’ll understand why some attempts at romance work while others fall flat. Dr. Gary Chapman’s perennialNew York Times bestseller, The 5 Love Languages® is full of “Aha!” moments that make expressing love easier and more desirable. You’ll find yourself more motivated and more confident that you can succeed in having the relationships you've always wanted.More than 8 million copies sold!

We highly recommend you and your spouse reading the book. I admit, I am not one who enjoys "reading"...gasp...I know...but I actually read this book in 2 evenings after my kids had gone to bed. My husband read it fast too- it's a really easy read. Amazon has the book for less than $10.00 HERE or I bet you could rent it at the library. :) They also describe love languages for your kids! That's right, they have their own love language too! I have not read the book yet for the kids-but based on what I learned from reading the book for adults-I already know what my kids love languages are...and they are both different. It's really neat how this book has opened my eyes in not only a new way for my marriage but for my parenting as well!

Words Of Affirmation, Acts Of Service, Quality Time, Physical Touch, Receiving Gifts

Which love language are you?

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Holly K. Dunn-Stories of Survival & Success

We had the pleasure of having Holly K. Dunn Pendleton as our guest speaker this month. Holly is also one of our coordinators for MOPS! 

For those of you that missed this month's meeting, Holly gave a very emotional & inspiring talk today about her story. She is the only known survivor of the Railroad serial killer. She has been featured in People & Glamour magazine as well as an interview on 48 hours. Her testimony was powerful to just how awesome our God is. She just wants to spread awareness to others. If you would like to learn more about her please check out her  website or find her on Facebook here.

Thank you so much Holly for touching our lives yesterday at the meeting. You are an amazing woman & I am proud to call you a friend!

MOPS Moms Shop & Give For Those In Need

At our December meeting we discussed TRADITIONS....and FAMILY....It was SOOO neat to hear all of the different and similar traditions people do during the Christmas season. We also took cash donations from our MOPS moms. 100% of all the money we collected went to provide a Christmas for a family in need via Holly's House. We were able to purchase clothing, diapers, toys & a WalMart gift card for the caregiver of all of the children. 

We began the night with a MOPS MOMS night out starting with dinner. Then we were off to Kohls and Walmart shopping away/marking off the items on the family's wish list. It was a great evening!!!

About a week after we shopped for the family in need-We wrapped up all of the gifts and a few of us went to Holly's house with our children to drop off the gifts. We did not get to meet the family in need-which is ok. It was a great experience for our children to understand the TRUE meaning of Christmas and it is always better to GIVE than to receive!

 Holly Dunn-Pendleton (The founder of Holly's House) Left, Holly Wildt, Leisa Hape & Sara Cape (right) with all of our children to drop off the gifts.

A special thanks to ALL of you were able to donate for this and if you weren't able to- thank you for praying for this family in need. We gave those 3 children and grandparents a Christmas they will never forget! You all have amazing giving hearts!! 

Merry Christmas!

Kick Off Meeting!

It's all about FRIENDSHIPS!!!! So very important to every mom-to have FRIENDS! This was our topic for our kick off meeting! How appropriate...right? We got to meet so many new moms today-it was awesome! I see some lifelong friendships being made in this group!

We ended the meeting with a super fun craft! After all, how often as a mom, do we get to actually sit down and work on something for us...uninterrupted...start to finish? Rare! Right? :) Rachel & Michelle (crafts team) did a fantastic job picking out this beautiful bracelet for us to make! It was a lot of fun & we had a pretty finished product!

Thank you to ALL that came to our kick off meeting yesterday! We are already looking forward to December's meeting! We have a lot of fun stuff planned!

Pre-Registration Playdate FUN!

We had fantastic weather for our 2 pre registration play dates! We had a terrific turn out and we are really excited for our first meeting to happen in November!!! Below are some pics of just a few of the sweet kids from our playdate!