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!!