Happy Holidays!

The month of December has been a huge barrel of fun around momstown Whitby-Ajax with all of our great Christmasy themed events!

Now with Christmas just a few days away, we'll be taking a little break to spend time with our families. We hope everyone has a VERY Merry Christmas, and that Santa is good to all!

During the holidays our message boards will still remain active, so if you're looking for some adult conversation you can check us out there! 

Thank you all so much for all your support through 2010, as momstown Whitby-Ajax launched and took off the ground running. I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you!! It's proven to be a great and fun year, but I'm sure that 2011 will prove to be BIGGER and better... Meaning great things for momstown Whitby-Ajax. We have many great things planned out and in the works for 2011.

Happy Holidays!!

Featured Sponsor: Ashlyn King Photography

Have you had the chance to check out momstown Whitby-Ajax's December Featured Sponsor - Ashlyn King Photography? If not... why not head on over and take a few moments to read up on what they're all about.

Ashlyn King Photography is a professional photographer based out of Ajax, ON serving the Durham and Toronto Regions. Ashlyn King Photography specializes in capturing your maternity, newborn, child and family portraits.

As a special exclusive offer, Ashlyn King Photography is extending momstown Whitby-Ajax members a discounted early bird special if you book your 2011 standard session before December 31st. For further information CLICK HERE..

Rice Krispies Christmas Tree

So last week, it was mentioned that I made the Rice Krispies Imagine & Make Christmas Tree to take and display at the momstown Whitby-Ajax Christmas Party.

I have to admit I was fairly nervous about having to create this so-called masterpiece from the very beginning. Firstly because I had never made homemade rice krispies before. Secondly because I totally SUCK when it comes to making gingerbread houses with the family, which always in turn ends up with us all fighting.

To my surprise the rice krispies were VERY easy to make. Now I'm left to wonder why up until this day that I hadn't made them before. Once we made the rice krispies, we left them to set in the pan for about half an hour before cutting them out into 3 triangles.

Once they were cut the assembly was quite easy. We used cake mate frosting the glue all the sides together before decorating.

The decorating process would have been much for fun for us had our daughter been a little bit older. At 16 months old, all she wanted to do was eat it, rather than help. Which made for a huge meltdown!

We ended up keeping the tree quite simple, but you can definitely decorate it more elaborately using jube jubes, other gummys, gum balls, smarties, etc. There are certainly no limitations!

We can't wait to try again next year when our daughter is a bit older and more understanding.

If you're looking for a fun creation to make with your family, check out all the cool recipes over on the Rice Krisipie website. It amazes me how creative you can get with Rice Krispies!!!

All That Glitters Christmas Party

This morning, momstown Whitby-Ajax members all got together to spread good holiday cheer and celebrate the holidays with a Christmas Party. Yesterday evening, we were hit with a significant snowfall, so as today approached we were quite nervous about whether the party would be able to commence or not. Thankfully the roads weren't all that bad. Quite a few members had to back out, but otherwise the turn out was great!

We had a Christmas tree set-up, holiday music playing and lots of yummy treats for everyone to enjoy. My contribution to the day was a cute little Christmas Tree inspired by the Rice Krispies Imagine & Make recipe ideas, as well as some Rice Krispies treats. (I'll make a separate blog post later this week that will show off in greater detail of the Christmas Tree I made, as well as provide you with some steps on how to make it at home. )

The Moms of young infants mingled on the floor, while the other tots played.

For circle time, we'd planned to read 'Twas The Night Before Christmas.

But the older kiddies decided they would rather color and do a craft instead.

Today's craft was a Stick Christmas Tree with Glitter Decor. Some children made funky-colored trees; while others decided they would rather make sparkly fairy dust wands. It was very cute to watch their imaginations come alive!

To make the tree, check out the momstown Arts & Crafts blog for further instructions. This is certainly one of those crafts that you can enjoy doing as a whole family, and adapt however you like.

We were provided with a great little gift bag for today's event containing cereal, baking sheet, cookie cutters, etc. from Kelloggs to giveaway to one of our lucky partygoers. Towards the end of the event, we did a draw and the winner was Liana. She was more than thrilled to get inspired and create something delicious with her whole family!

Today was a great day! The holiday cheer is certainly being felt in momstown Whitby-Ajax!

All That Glitters Gingerbread Decorating

This morning, we met up for our All That Glitters Gingerbread Decorating event. We had quite a few members planning to come out, but as Mom's we all know how things can come up and so many had to cancel. That doesn't mean the event was cancelled; No, no! It still went on and we had a lot all had a lot of fun!

We started off the morning by decorating Gingerbread Cookies.

The little girls making the cookies were both a little young, but that didn't stop them from trying to make a masterpiece.

Why bother decorating the gingerbread men when you can just proudly eat them instead!? Yum!

The end result... Fabulous masterpieces.. Half eaten cookies and pretty decorated ones too!!

Once we finished with decorating, the kids head into the playroom to burn off some more steam. They had a great time exploring the toys. It was hard to believe the house was clean before they arrived, once their wrath was done with it. Haha!

Everyone was having such a great time that come lunch no one wanted to part ways yet. All the Mom's agreed to take the "party" over to Boston Pizza for some great food, coloring fun and chitter-chatter!

We had such a great time today!! If you didn't get the chance to get in on this holiday event, don't worry - we have many awesome holiday events coming up, including our All That Glitters Christmas Party and Mom & Tot Morning at Boston Pizza. Be sure to check our calendar to view upcoming events and to RSVP!

Christmas Storytime

Yesterday we headed out to the local library for Christmas Storytime. We had quite a few members show up for the fun morning filled with stories, songs, music & movement and a craft.

The children had so much fun during circle time. First we read a holiday book. Then we sang a song about snowflakes. The part that the children enjoyed most was sing and dancing to The Reindeer Hokey-Pokey.


The Reindeer Hokey-Pokey

You put your antlers in
You put your antlers out
You put your antlers in
And you shake them all about
You do the Reindeer Pokey
And you turn yourself around.

THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!

You put your right hoof in
You put your right hoof out
You put your right hoof in
And you shake it all about
You do the Reindeer Pokey
And you turn yourself around.

THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!

You put your left hoof in
You put your left hoof out
You put your left hoof in
And you shake it all about
You do the Reindeer Pokey
And you turn yourself around.

THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!

You put your red nose in
You put your red nose out
You put your red nose in
And you shake it all about
You do the Reindeer Pokey
And you turn yourself around.

THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!

You put your fluffy tail in
You put your fluffy tail out
You put your fluffy tail in
And you shake it all about
You do the Reindeer Pokey
And you turn yourself around.

THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!

You put your reindeer body in
You put your reindeer body out
You put your reindeer body in
And you shake it all about
You do the Reindeer Pokey
And you turn yourself around.

THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT! 

Once the children burned all their steam doing the reindeer hokey-pokey, we all went over to the craft tables and made a Reindeer Christmas Card.

We had such a fun morning, and we can't wait to all get together again!!

The winner is...

The winner of our November contest is.... Julie .L.!

Congrats Julie - you've won a $25.00 gift certificate to Boston Pizza Ajax!

Be sure to enter check out our December contest for your chance to win a 1-year membership to momstown Whitby-Ajax. You can enter daily, so check back frequently to enter as many times as you want.