MOPS Meeting 3/17: Announcements March 20, 2009

We have some VERY important announcements from our meeting.

• Our next meeting is April 7th. (We have 5 Tuesdays this month, so it’s going to be a long time before  we get to see you again.)  At the meeting we’ll be doing a craft as well as a few Topic Tables–we hope to see you there!
• If you are interested in being on Steering or a Table Leader, let Kelli know. I will tell you I have LOVED my time of being in leadership at MOPS, it’s so much fun to get to know women better by being on a leadership team–you should really consider it!
• We have our MOPS and POPS event next Friday, March 27th. You should have gotten an e-vite about that (if not, let me know).  PLEASE, if you want to come, RSVP soon! Also, if you RSVP on the e-vite, make sure you include if you want child care and the age/name of your kids so we can have name tags made. It’ll cost $15 if you’re using child care (no matter the number of kids), or $5 if you’re not going to use the child care services.
• We have 2 big fundraisers coming up that we really need to be successful!
• We are selling MOPS discount cards (I have more details here). They are $10 a card and have LOTS of great deals on them. We really need every person to sell 5 cards and have 30 days to sell them. If you haven’t gotten cards from Kristi, contact her and she’ll get you some. We have 30 days to sell them!
• Our Consignment Sale is coming up, April 17th & 18th.

1. Sign up with Kristi if you want to sell things, to get your seller number. We need more sellers so you are welcome to invite friends or family to join in the sale.
2. You need to get a yellow paper on how to label your items you are selling.
3. You will get your cash 2 weeks after the sale.
4. We will also take donations if you just want to get rid of items and not mess with tagging them. If you have items you’d like to add to the sale, let Kristi know.
5. We are starting sign up to work the pre-sale and the sale. If you’d like to help with either, let Kristi know.
6. Don’t forget there is a pre-sale Friday evening for all those who help out or sell items.

MOPS Meeting 3/17: Resources March 20, 2009

We had 5 women on an Educational Panel to talk about various Educational options.  Here are some of the websites mentioned.

We had the VP of Heritage Christian Elementary School, their website is here.

We had a teacher from Prairie Trace Elementary School, in the Carmel School System. She mentioned their web site had a list of standards to judge if your child is ready for Kindergarten. You can see that here.

One mother who homeschools talked about why her family made those decisions. She mentioned several sites including:

• Indiana Association of Home Educators
• Home School Legal Defense Association
• The Old Schoolhouse Magazine  (great magazine, but also free e-mail newsletters and helpful website)
• Rainbow Resource (Generally the best prices on all homeschool materials)
• Northview Christain Life Homeschool Moms Prayer and fellowship group-2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month (contact me if you’d like more information on that)

Here are some books she recommended about home schooling and choosing curriculum:

• The Christian Home School by Gregg Harris
• Educating the Wholehearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson
• The Successful Homeschool Handbook by Dr. Raymond and Dorthy Moore
• Beyond Survival by Diana Waring
• Teaching Your Own by John Holt
• 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy

MOPS Preferred Card! March 20, 2009

We are getting to sell the MOPS Preferred Card for the next 30 days–check out the GREAT offers on these cards (these cards can be used the next year). We are going to have a prize to the person who sells the most cards. Check out the great deals you can get with the it:

• Monkey Joes-$2 off 1 child
• Texas Roadhouse-FREE cactus blossom with purchase of 2 adult dinner entrees, Sunday-Thursday.
• Pinheads-One FREE game of bowling with purchase of a game (excl. Friday/Saturday after 6pm, shoe rental not included)
• Capstone Cafe & Bookstore-20% off any 1 item, or 50% off 2nd beverage w/ perchance of beverage of equal or lesser value.
• Bounce Planet–$2 off Open Bounce (Monday-Thursday)
• Fazolis-$2off any purchase of $5 or more
• Little Caesars-FREE crazy bread combo w/ purchase of large speciality pizza
• Gelato DaVinci-FREE kids scoop w/ pur. of double scoop.
• MOE’S–FREE soft drink with purchase of entree
• Qdoba–10% off total purchase
• Handles–10% off total purhase
• McDonalds at 15101 N. Meridaian in Carmel–FREE same sandwich w/purchase of extra value meal.
• Clubhouse Cuts for Kids–$2 OFF any Regular Priced Haircut
• Cool River Pizza–FREE order of bread sticks w/ pur. of large or extra-large pizza at Reg. menu price
• The Roost–10% off total check, after 4 pm @ 7371 E. 116th St. Fishers
• Runner’s Forum–10% off total pur. using credit card, 15% of if using cash (valid for reg. priced merchandise only)
• Einsteins Bro. Bagles–10% off Lunch Sandwich or Lunch Salad
• Quiznos–10% off total purchase
• Gymboree–10% off birthday party packages

You’ll have 30 days to sell these cards. We really need each person to sell 5 to hit our goal (which we really need to hit). Any you don’t sell, bring back. Checks may be made out to Northview Christan Life Church

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! March 1, 2009

March 2nd is Dr. Seuss’ birthday, as well as Read Across America Day! There are all kinds of fun things going on in celebration of it.

Here are some resources for Read Across America Day (print outs and free digital downloads of Dr. Seuss books).

Here is theofficial Dr. Seuss site (with options for high speed Internet or low speed). This has some fun things older kids will have fun playing with, print and play activities and a Sussville Story Maker.

This site has some cute crafts–you can have kids make their own Cat in the Hat striped hat to wear or hats they can eat, and many other ideas. 

If nothing else, pull out a Dr. Seuss book you may have on the book shelf or go to the library and read your child a silly story or two!

Edited to add: Here is an interesting site that has the story behind 10 of Dr. Seuss’ books.

MOPS Meeting 2/17–Speaker Notes March 1, 2009

Our speakers at the meeting were Rick and Gail Gillmore. They have a passion for helping build strong marriages, and came to speak on marriage, love and conflict resolution. They had SO many good things to share, I really don’t think I can put all of them here. (The picture above is of the skit they shared with us at the beginning of the talk.)  Here are some highlights of what they had to say:

What do unhappy couples do wrong?

1. Criticism–Blaming the spouse or making personal attacks. A complaint becomes a negative comment about the situation (when in reality a complaint could be a good way to ask for what you need, but instead it becomes an attack point).
2. Contempt–when the intent becomes to insult your partner and attack their personal opinion
3. Defensive–this is usually the reaction to #1 and #2, and leads the conflict to escalate
4. Stonewalling–when a partner is overwhelmed by the conflict and shuts down or ignores it.

*These are all things you do not want to become habits in your relationships. And note, an absence of fights does not mean all is good! Conflict is natural and a chance to deepen the relationship, as well as part of the price you pay for intimacy.  Instead, we must all learn how to “fight fair”.

Fighting the Good Fight

1. Don’t run from strife or repress irritations–those developer into resentment and become a cancer of a relationship.
2. Choose your battles carefully.  Think about what is worth battling over.
3. Define the issues clearly–when you feel the tension rising, ask yourself “What are we really arguing about?”
4. State your feelings directly. This is the XYZ Principle. Say “In situation X, when you do Y, I feel Z.” This makes a specific point and prevents defensiveness from coming up and helps get to the core of the issue.
5. Give up put downs.
6. BE POLITE/NICE! Greet each other with a warm hello and leave each other with a nice good-bye. When you greet your spouse, stop everything and greet him/her. Show appreciation for a job well done. Try to get 15 minutes a  day to relate or talk with no interference, connect on some level aside from work or kids.
7. Stick to realvent issues when fighting–don’t bring up other annoyances.
8. Try to End the Fight, work together to get out of it. Remember you’re a team! It doesn’t help either of you if one wins and one loses.

* Northview offers different classes at Northview University and has included a marriage class. Classes start up again in March and this time they are offering a course called Fireproof Your Marriage. For more information (or to see other classes being offered), you can see the website here or contact Northview at 317.846.2884.

MOPS Meeting 2/17 March 1, 2009

Here are the important announcements that happened during the meeting:

• We are going to be doing Topic Tables & a Craft for our April 7th Meeting. If you’d like to lead a Topic Table (where you talk about a topic that you’re interested in and would like to share with others) PLEASE let Kelly or Christina know by our next meeting.
• Friday, March 27th @ 6:30 will be MOPS & POPS date night! Mark your calendars! We’ll be doing a game night at the church, with child care avaliable upstairs for a small fee.

MOPS FUNDRAISER: Consignment Sale April 18th–Cash and Carry!

1. If you want to sell items, 50% will go to MOPS and 50% is for you. You will need to price your items and then bring them to the specified drop off point. We will set up all items for you and manage the sale. All items must be in good condition and related to kids in some way (including maternity items).  All must be priced for $1 or more.
2. We are only taking a limited number of sellers–so sign up at the next meeting if you want to take part.
3. Sellers need to mark their items to sell with an index card that will have their seller number, the size of the item and the price.
4. Sale will be from 8-1 on April 18th. From 1-2 you can come and pick up any items that did not sell, after that we will donate any leftover items.
5. If you’d like to help with the sale, you also sign up this week. If you help out with the sale, you’ll get to take part in the Friday night Preview Sale and get first dibs on what ever you want. 
6. We really need this to go well, please spread the word about the sale! Now is the time to start spring cleaning and finding all the items you’d like to sell!

And We’re Back! March 1, 2009

Sorry for the little bloggy-break there! I’m back to getting the site active and updating you on what’s going on with Northview MOPS. Please check out the archives over to the right side. I’ve tried to come up with a huge varity of activites and ideas and organize them by season, so if you’re looking for something you might find ideas there!  And I’ll be attempting to getting back to posting every 2-3 days again!