momstown Milton contest: Win a 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 leave your email address at the end of your comment 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.

momstown Milton partners with Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes at our next Music and Movement Program!

momstown Milton is excited to announce that  Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes will be sponsoring our next Music and Movement Program:

The Dance Class

Address: 8750 Regional Road 25, Milton, ON L9T 2X7

Sunday March 10th from 10am - 11:30am

 

Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes is the latest release which is now available on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and 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.

Our little ballerinas and acrobats  are in for a special treat and will have the opportunity to make their dreams come true as they twirl, leap and dance with certified ballet instructors from The Dance Class. The little ones are encouraged to dress the part in tutus, tiaras, crowns and wands to truly make it an experience that they will never forget!

There will be a play area courtesy of Toys Trunk that will include a vanity station  and a large doll house. Guests are encouraged to bring along your favourite Barbie and Ken Dolls to stay and play. Did you know that Barbie has introduced a line up of dolls, accessories and a play set which allows children 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, which you can simply twist the doll and her skirt reverses for a magical transformation!

We will also have a themed craft station and some special door prizes including a copy of the Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes  DVD, a Tutu with leotard courtesy of Snails and Pails and so much ,more!

Some of our momstown members were lucky enough to attend the prescreening of the movie. Click here for a review of the delightful time they had.

This event is open to the public but you do need to RSVP to reserve your spot!

Not a member yet but would like to be a part of this amazing community?
Register here for your FREE Trial and come out and meet our incredible group!

momstown Milton attends the VIP Movie Screening of Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes

momstown Milton members had the opportunity this weekend to attend a VIP screening of Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes DVD being released February 26, 2013. 

The screening was held at Canada’s National Ballet School in Toronto.  It was a wonderful event that had many little girls dancing up a storm.  It was amazing to see girls of all ages dressed in their tutus and tiaras.

 

As we walked into the foyer, we quickly realized we were walking into every future ballerinas dream come true.  Two beautiful dancers taught our little ones some steps to introduce them to ballet. It was obvious to us all how much the little Princesses enjoyed this part of the event.  

There were yummy snacks including pink popcorn and sugar cookies shaped as ballet slippers.  

Making our little girls squeal with delight, was the beautiful Barbie™ posing for pictures with our little ballerinas.  Some little girls stood in line waving and saying hello as they couldn’t wait for their turn to meet her.  Barbie™ was really wonderful and made sure to acknowledge every child who spoke with her and made them feel as special as they all are.

Before the movie started, the director of Canada’s National Ballet School, Mavis Staines, gave us a little info about their wonderful school.  Canada’s National Ballet School is the only ballet school in North America that “provides elite dance training, academic instruction and residential care on the same campus”.  They offer dancers of all ages the opportunity to make their dreams come true.

You could feel the excitement in the air as the lights went down and Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes began.  The adventure stars Kristyn, a ballerina who has big dreams.  She is given a pair of pink ballet shoes to wear that whisks her and her best friend to a magical land.  In this land she must dance in her favorite ballets to defeat the evil Snow Queen and to find her way back home.  As a person who has never attended the ballet, it was very interesting to learn a little background on ballets such as Giselle and Swan Lake. 

The movie really placed emphasis on believing in yourself and never giving up on your dreams.  Kristyn would feel the music and allow her heart to lead her.  In doing so her dreams became reality.  This is a very important lesson to teach our children, whether they want to become dancers, doctors or teachers.  If they work hard and believe in themselves, anything is possible.

If you've got a Barbie™ or a dance lover in your house, the Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes DVD would be a perfect addition to their movie collection. 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™ has also introduced a line up of dolls, accessories and a playset which allow girls to recreate some of their favourite 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!

The fun is not over yet. Our little aspiring dancers will have a chance to dance to their own beat at our very own momstown Milton Music and Motion event featuring Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes on March 10th! 

We'll have a ballet / dance demo led by The Dance Class for boys and girls, crafts songs and more.... including a chance to win your very own copy of the Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes DVD! 

If you are not a member yet but would like to join us please register for a 6 week FREE trial membership in order to RSVP to this event on our calendar. 

 This Blog was written by Angela Hickman - mother of 2, momstown Milton member and blogger - Mommy TimeOut.
 

momstown Milton Baby Basics Program encourages Early Literacy

It was all about “Love” today at our momstown Milton  Baby Basics – Books for Babes at Sharkey’s Cuts for Kids this week.  Scholastic provided us with the book “I Love You” by Carolyn Jane Church and the babies just “loved” this soft cloth book that they were able to manipulate on their own and flip through the pages with ease.

 

 

In case you don’t know the story, this is how it goes:

I love my fingers.

I love my toes.
I love my eyes.
I love my nose.
I love my arms and belly, too.
But most of all, I love you.

 

 

The mirror on the front peeked their curiousity as they realized that there was "someone" looking back at them.  Some of our little ones even started a babbling conversation with this new found friend and the mamas giggled as we listened to the sweet sounds.

 

 

After reading the book, we had Miss Jen lead us in 4 songs.  Here’s a list of them…in case you need to add a little “love” to your song bank!

Skinnamarink:

Skinnamarinky dinky dink
Skinnamarinky do,
I love you!

Skinnamarinky dinky dink
Skinnamarinky do,
I love you!

I love you in the morning,
And in the afternoon
I love you in the evening,
Underneath the moon…

Skinnamarinky dinky dink
Skinnamarinky do,
I love you!  

Tony Chestnut:

Tony Chestnut knows I love you. (Point to your toes, knees, chest, head, nose, eyes, heart and to a friend)

Tony knows, Tony knows. (Point to your toes, knees and nose)

Tony Chestnut knows I love you. (Point to your toes, knees, chest, head, nose, eyes, heart and to a friend)

That's what Tony knows. (Point to your toes, knees and nose)

 

I love you (Barney Song):

I Love you, you love me

We’re a happy family

With a great big hug, and a kiss from me to you

Won’t you say you love me too!

I love you, you love me

We’re best friends like friends should be

With a great big hug, and a kiss from me to you,

Won’t you say you love me too!

You are my Sunshine

You Are My Sunshine
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away

After we finished singing the songs we had one more read through of the book.  Since Scholastic so generously donated the book to momstown, we were able to give the book away to one lucky baby. 

 

I hope he’s enjoying his book as much at home as we did at the program!  I know we’ll be looking forward to the book for next month.  Thanks so much Scholastic!!

We would love to have you join us for our Baby Basics - Books for Babes program sponsored by Scholastic Books. A fun way to introduce Early Literacy to your infant and to connect with other moms. 

Register here for your 6 week FREE trial.

This blog was written by: Melissa Aquilina a momstown Milton member and mother to a beautiful baby girl

 

momstown Milton en français! Contes pour les bouts d'choux sponsored by Scholastic Canada

momstown Milton families got together at the Indigo bookstore on February 13, 2013, for a fun and educational   French Tales for Tots: Contes pour les bouts d'choux story time sponsored by Scholastic Canada. 
 
The featured book this month was Bienvenue Bébé (Welcome, Baby) by Barbara Reid and the theme for the session was family (la famille). As the little ones (looking adorable in their winter wear!) and the families made their way over to the story time section; momstown Milton mama, owner Sam Kassam-Macfie, showed the children the craft that they were about to make. 

Since the focus was on family, the children were each given a little doll whereby they could model after a family member:

• mother-mère 
• father-père
• brother-frère
• sister-sœur
• grandmother-grandmère
• grandfather-grandpère
• aunt-tante
• uncle-oncle 

 
Much fun was had in the crafting of the family members and they showed off their well-adorned family creations with immense pride! 
 
 

Taking their crafts with them, we all settled down together for circle time and began with our "hello my friends" (bonjour mes amis) song. Waving excitedly and with big smiles, the children sang out a friendly bonjour to their amis. 
When Madame Liz showed the children the Bienvenue Bébé book, there were lots of giggles in the room as there was indeed a little baby joining the circle time. The petit bébé received a very warm and enthusiastic welcome from the children. 

As we went through the story, we extended our arms out wide to show how a family welcomes a new baby, and paused through the reading of the story to talk about the children's own family members such as a grandmother or uncle. 
 
 

Following the story, the children were each given a family tree (l'arbe de famille) sheet and as Madame Liz held up flashcards showing the titles of family members (mère, père, frère, sœur, etc.), the children would colour in the faces on the l'abre de famille and write down the names of their family members.  
 
 

 
 

Afterwards, we read another story selected from the French section at Indigo entitled: " Ah! les papas (Some Dads) "by Nick Bland. The children loved hearing about the story about all of the different types of dads (some sporty; some loud; but all are proud of their little ones!). They shared about activities that their own fathers do (skating, skiing, running) and even described what their own fathers looked like (tall, big arms). 

We then sang some fun family-themed songs and the children did an incredible job! They really followed along with great interest and eagerness.  They gestured with their arms, they pointed at people in the group who represented the family members we were singing about (mère, père, bébé). They shook their little imaginary maracas in the air during "Voici ma grande famille" (Here's My Big Family...to the tune of Cuckaracha). And we couldn't forget a group favourite: Petit poisson (little fish).


 

 
Finally, before waving au revoir to our amis, we drew for the prize of the book and the lucky winner was very fittingly, the little bebe of the group!
 

 

We would love to have you join us for French Tales for Tots/Contes pour les bouts d'choux sponsored by Scholastic Books next month at Indigo - Milton. A fun way for kiddies to learn and practice French in a group!  

Register here for your 6 week FREE trial. 

Written by Liz Marques Kogan, a momstown Milton member and mother of two children. You can check out her blog at: www.orchidaforever.blogspot.ca 

What our Milton moms LOVE about being a member of momstown

Momstown is a great place to meet new people and connect with your community.  Any mom who has been a part of momstown Milton will tell you how great it is and how much they love it.  After all, where else can you go and get fun arts and crafts classes, cooking classes, holiday parties and so much more for just $45 a year?   I know that without momstown, I wouldn’t have gotten out of the house as much as I did when I was on mat leave.  My kids have made some new lifelong friends and I feel I have too. 

We posted the question on our message board to our moms “What do you LOVE about momstown?“ 

Here is what some of them had to say.

1. Friends:

“The awesome friends I made, I hardly knew anyone until I had Caleb and now I've a great group of girls that I call friends.”

“A member for over 3 years and I love that there was/is a group of ladies that have been or are going through the same challenges of being a mom that you can lean on. momstown was there to pull me out of the house when Ethan was 3 months old, when Kaiya was 6 weeks....and will be there when #3 arrives to get me out, connected and build friendships not only for myself but for my kids too”

2. Mom’s Night Out (MNO):

“The MNO is one of my fave events. It is the perfect break that all moms need.”

"Totally needed that night out. Thanks for the amazing company and fun evening ladies! Can't believe I got home passed midnight!"

"It was perfect!  I soooooooo needed that. Can't wait for the next one!"

3. Calendar Events:

“For me, it's all the great activities on the calendar. I love seeing how my little one's react in different places/ playgroups/toys etc.. I've also learned about the different resources -businesses/ kid friendly programs in Milton

4. Family Events:

“And dad likes the family events! He really likes getting a chance to learn what is available in town for programs or activities, that's been a HUGE thing for us with the events.”


"We had a super fantastic time yesterday! Sam - kudos to you for everything! Hubby is still talking about what an amazing job you did"

5. Momstown Owner:

“There's this pretty cool mom leading the group, she loves getting to know the moms and their kids, and she can talk over everyone at group events so you don't miss what's being said.... ha ha”

"I joined Momstown this past June and honestly, it is one of the best decisions that I've ever made since moving to Milton almost 1 year ago. Momstown has an incredible network of supportive women who understand that while being a mama is the best job, it's also the hardest. I'm so grateful for the caring community that Sam has fostered through momstown Milton. Today was a really great memory and I know there are many more to come!"

6. Keeps me Sane:

“Being a momstown member has helped to save my sanity. Having 3 kids under 4, I needed the adult conversations and escape from our house to a new environment.”

7. Support:

“When I have a problem, I know I can post something on the message board and at least one of the other moms will have a suggestion to help me”

“I like the vent thread on the message board.  It’s nice to know there are other moms who understand where I am coming from.”

8. Mom to Mom sale:

"What a great way to help other moms find items they are looking for."

9. Great Discounts around town and on-line:

"I love taking advantage of all of the amazing discounts that being a momstown member offers. All I have to do is flash my card around town and save tons of money! "

10. Weekend and Evening Events:

"I like that my kids and I can still be included in events even though I have returned to work."

 

Want to be a part of this amazing community?

Register here for your FREE Trial and come out and meet these incredible mamas!!

This Blog was written by Angela Hickman - mother of 2, momstown Milton member and blogger - Mommy TimeOut.

 

Valentine's Sugar Cookies!

A few years ago, I took my two daughters to a Little Hands cooking class through the Real Canadian Superstore. We learned an easy-to-make and delicious Sugar Cookie recipe that delighted our senses!

For this Valentine's holiday, I'd like to surprise my family with this tasty sensation.

Heart shaped cookies wrapped with a ribbon

SUGAR COOKIES

Loblaw Companies Limited

Ingredients 

1 cup all-purpose flour (250 mL)
1/2 cup cornstarch (125 mL)
1/2 cup icing sugar (125 mL)
1 tsbp orange zest (15 mL)
3/4 cup unsalted butter (175 mL)

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 300F.
2. Combine flour, cornstarch, icing sugar and orange zest in a large bowl.
3. Blend in butter with a pastry blender or potato masher.
4. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8" (8.5mm) thick.
5. Cut with a heart shaped cookie cutter.
6. Place on a parchment covered baking sheet.
7. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes or until edges are just starting to brown.
8. Cool 10 minutes on sheet and then remove and cool completely on rack.

empowernetwork.com

OPTIONAL: Once cooled, frost  and decorate. And it's OK for us busy moms to use canned frosting if we don't want to make "royal icing" for our cookies and decorate with sprinkles!

ANOTHER IDEA: Mix red food colouring in with the icing.


Given the cookies are nut-free, they are good to place in a lunchbox for an extra special Valentine's treat! 

Happy Valentine's Day

Recipe submitted by Liz Marques Kogan, a momstown Milton member and mother of two children. You can check out her blog at orchidaforever.blogspot.ca

Valentine's Day Craft for Kids

 Here is a fun craft you can do with your kids today to get their hearts a fluttering.

Butterfly Valentine's Day Cup

What you will need:

1 9oz paper cup (red or pink is preferable or else you can paint it)

construction paper

pipe cleaner

heart shaped lollipop

googly eyes (or black marker to draw them on)

stickers or markers to decorate wings

glue

tape

scissors

How to make butterfly

1. Cut out wings shape from the construction paper

2. Decorate wings

3. Glue them onto the paper cup

4. Punch a hole into the bottom of the cup

5. Stick lollipop through

6. Glue googly eyes or draw eyes on lollipop

7. Cut pipe cleaner in half and use a pencil to curl them

8. Tape them to the back of the lollipop to make the antenna

Once completed your little one will delight in spreading their wings and giving it away to someone special in their life.

Happy Love Day Everyone!

Win tickets to the Barbie™ in the Pink Shoes DVD Premier!

 

Enter to WIN tickets to this exclusive pre-screening event - a fun-filled exciting afternoon in celebrating the brand new Barbie™ in the Pink shoes DVD! This is an afternoon for you and your little one to meet Barbie™ and help her celebrate her brand new DVD.

What: Barbie™ In The Pink Shoes DVD Prescreening Special Event!

When: February 24, 2013 from 1:30pm – 4:30pm

Where: National Ballet School of Canada in Toronto

Who: One lucky winner and her ballet loving Barbie™ fan!

How: Follow instructions below to enter

PS, Mom, if you win this contest for the best possible experience for you and your little fan you will want to make note of the following:

• Make sure to bring a camera or smartphone to have your photo taken with Barbie™
• Dress up, wear a tutu or your ballet outfit and join in on the fun
• Each little girl will be given the opportunity to learn a ballet dance on a real ballet barre!

To enter the contest, please leave a comment in the section below about why your child loves Barbie™.

Make sure to leave your email address so we can contact you if you do win.

One entry per email address.

Contest open Feb 13- Feb 20, 2013.

Winners will be drawn on February 21, 2013 and contacted.