Halloween starts early and ends late

momstown woke up bright and early on Halloween morning for our Halloween feature with CHCH Morning Live today. It's one thing to be up at home at 6am but it's a whole other kind of spooky to be up an on camera at 6am!

Thanks to Little Rascals for opening up (super early!!!) for us to arrive and play. Moms from momstown Oakville and momstown Burlington joined in on the fun until 9am.

Lori Live from CHCH as a yellow crayon & momstown founder Ann-Marie with a "supermomstown" insignia costume.


Great fun on the Little Rascal trampoline!


Cutie Skunk from momstown Burlington!


Care Bear Mabel cuddling with mommy (who's due tomorrow!!)


Dr Suess with Thing 1 & Thing 2 (brilliant and easy homemade costume! Red sleepers with Fabric circle and numbers).


Miss Cassidy with our momstown ghost and pumpkin crafts.


Sweetest watermelon baby ever!


Nifty rock climbing wall is fun our ninja and racecar driver.

Happy Halloween!!!

Infant Organics: More Than Baby Food

After having so much success with baby food from Infant Organics, I was very curious to learn about their other products for older kids (and adults too)!

After stopping in at their store 300 Randall St in Oakville, I went home with some great treats for my girls. I was excited to have them try something new. I also knew from the staff in the store, that these "treats" were providing my kids with a healthy snack or meal that wouldn't have them hungry again an hour after they eat. My girls are 2 and 5. They eat well and generally I don’t have a lot of trouble getting them to eat healthy food, but I do find our routine gets a little boring. I’m always looking for new and healthy options. My girls usually enjoy trying new foods.

With the ages of my girls, we’ve been talking a lot about where food comes from. We’ve visited several farms over this fall, and my girls love to learn. We’ve picked apples and pumpkins last week, and talked a lot about the great things the farmer does to provide this food. I loved being able to take the opportunity to chat with my girls about this again. The fresh ingredients used to make their snacks is 100% certified organic, and purchased from local farmers. My girls loved hearing that the food they were eating came from a local farm, just a day or 2 ago!

My 5 year old is also learning about recycling and composting at school. She is always asking us “which bin” for different products. She was so surprised to learn that the packaging was biodegradable and went right into the green bin! It reduces the waste in the landfills, but also provided my daughter with a great learning experience – something she could easily relate to, as she is also learning about it at school.



We've tried some great breakfast foods. A favorite of both girls was “flippin flapjacks”. My girls were happy to try something new for breakfast, and we had some smiles all around. I've enjoyed being able to switch up our breakfast routine from our usual cereal with milk, and I know I'm sending my girls off for their days with full bellies and a healthy start to their day.

We also tried many of the snack foods. I have to send one of my children with a snack every morning to her school. I also am always looking for easy and portable snacks to take with us in the van, and out at momstown events. I was so pleasantly surprised by the great snacks Infant Organics makes. My girls had 2 favorites, they said they couldn't decide between grams grahams and pancake poppers.



I also tried them and they are great! I keep these snacks in my freezer so they stay fresher. We take them out the morning we are going to eat them. They pop into one of our snack containers, and are defrosted by the time we are looking for our morning snack. It's easy, protable, healthy and taste great. Mom and kids are happy! We’ve also tested both out in the van, and overall, not a messy snack to take along!

If you haven't visited Infant Organics yet, it is worth the visit. You and the kids will be happy you did.

Infant Organics is planning to expand it's menu to include many great items for mom and dad too. This will make easy 1 stop shopping for you to pick up a healthy meal for the whole family.

Infant Organics is also now offering online ordering through their site with FREE delivery to Oakville, Burlington, Milton and Mississauga for the first two weeks!

Halloween: momstown on Live TV and Tots on Parade

The countdown for Halloween is ON!

momstown Oakville is excited to be featured on CHCH Morning Live on Hallowe'en morning. We'll be at Little Rascals Indoor Playground starting at the wee early hours to talk about Halloween crafts and activites. Then starting at 7:30AM (we know, it's EARLY!) our members will be arriving with their kids in costume for play, fun and crafts with us and Lori from CHCH until 9am.

If you can't make it, please tune in to Morning Live between 6-9am on Monday, October 31st.



Then our costumed crowd will be heading down to downtown Oakville for their annual "Tots on Parade' event. momstown loves this event and has been going for years! It's a perfect chance to trick or treat in the daytime when our kids are fresh and excited. All the shops along Lakeshore will be shelling out.

Don't forget your camera as there will lots of kiddies in costumes. And yes, LOTS. Prep for a crowd! The event kicks off at 10am at the Towne Square and ends around noon. momstown will be gathering in the Towne Square at the bottom of the big stairs.

See you there!

Happy Halloween momstown Oakville

Our kids came out to Dazzle Art this morning for our momstown halloween party, and the costumes were great!!! We had superheroes, princesses, fairies, ladybugs, lions, monkeys and so many more!





We also had crafts set up for the kids. Witches made out of shapes. Halloween crafts, and a great way to practise shapes with your little ones! We made our witches out of 2 triangles, 4 rectangles, 1 circle and a broom. Just a little glue and crayons, and the kids were creating! My 3 year old refuses to have anyone help her with crafts. Her creations always make me smile;)
Momstown arts and crafts has this witch, and so many other great halloween crafts you can create with your kids!

No momstown party is complete without the parachute! Thanks Sherri from Circle Time Parties for all the great songs and fun!



Momstown Oakville hosts a themed party at Dazzle every month! Want to join us for the next one? Sign up for a free trial (6 weeks for a limited time), to find out what the fun is all about! Thanks again to Dazzle Art for having us!

momstown wins SavvyMom Entrepreneur of the year award!

We are so excited here at momstown! What and honour it has been. We'd like to celebrate by sharing more of momstown. Until October 28th, you can extend your current membership or extend a trial membership by 1 month! If you haven't checked out momstown yet, this is a great opportunity! You get our 2 week free trial + 1 month celebration bonus! You'll get 6 weeks to try everything momstown has to offer.

Click here to go to our blog announcing all the details, and follow the link to activate your free month extension, reactivation, or extra trial membership.

Infant Organics: First Foods Are Just The Start!

A great new store opened in Oakville this summer, and i've finally had a chance to check it out!
As a busy mom with 3 young kids, I only wish I had done this sooner. Infant Organics is a family owned business right here in Oakville, and you'll feel that from the minute you walk through the door. The friendly staff is there to help, answer questions, and help you find some great food for your little ones.



Infant Organics is committed to providing the freshest organic meals for your baby. Food is 100% certified organic, and produce is purchased from local farmers. The owners of Infant Organics pick everything up from the farmers in person. All the food is prepared right in the store at 300 Randall Street in Oakville. All the ingredients used to prepare this food is picked at its peak and travels very little from the farm, to the store, and then to the buyer. Infant Organics offers breakfast, lunch, dinner options, as well as snacks.



The baby food starts with full purees for 6-9 month old babies, and then increases in texture right up to 15+ months. As the stages of food progress, all the food groups are added in. There is no need to worry about the nutrition, this food is healthy, and as good as homemade.
We started out with infant food for my baby Cole. He's a good eater, but very fussy about texture, so i was a little nervous about trying something new. I decided to try fruit first as that seems to be a hit with my little guy. "Rosy Applesauce" was gobbled right up! and we moved on to the next item. Cole cleaned his bowl every time! We have successfully tried so many different items and he loves it all. I think his favorites so far are “squash and broccoli medley”, “Cheesy Cauliflower Soup”, and “Yummy Yams”. He seemed so happy with the flavours that he didn't seem bothered with different textures. I feel confident making baby food, but I’m not so great about combining flavours. This was perfect for me, as it gave Cole a chance to try some great food that mommy really doesn’t know how to cook. I will continue to make him some of the veggies and meet that our family eats, but my cooking really can’t compare in flavour to Infant Organics.





Something else I found very impressive is the packaging Infant Organics uses. All the packaging used for food is biodegradable or recyclable. They have taken great strides to ensure that everything is eco-friendly. All the food packages are BPA free, 100% biodegradable – I just tossed them into my green bin. All the tags are recyclable. I was very impressed that nothing goes to the landfill.

I usually make all my baby food. I have just found that i've been so busy, i haven't been able to keep up with the fresh produce, and keeping the fridge and freezer full of fresh pureed food. Infant Organics really filled a gap for our family. We feel good knowing that Cole is getting healthy food with all the nutrients he needs for his growing brain and body. It's as easy as defrosting and warming up! For a busy mom like me, Infant Organics has filled a gap in helping to provide a healthy alternative to my homemade food, when I don’t have time to shop and cook. Make sure you stop by to check them out online at www.infant-organics.com or at their store 300 Randall Street, Oakville.

Junior Chef: Ooey Gooey Pumpkins!

Our momstown Oakville moms and kids were so excited for this month's Junior Chef! Our program is hosted by Sherri Phillips from Circle Time Parties, and it's always lots of fun. This months theme was all about Halloween! We made Ooey Gooey Pumpkins!


Our kids were practicing their counting skills with all the marshmallows!

Everyone took a turn to stir. Even our youngest chefs enjoyed this one. No baking, lots of sticky mess, and I think a few of them were tasting as they created!



The first of our final creations! Adorable, smiling, pumpkins. Totally edible too.


The kids were so proud of their creations! We had 8 happy chefs and 8 beautiful pumpkins.


Junior Chef always includes a circle time. Sherri uses the songs and music that she would use to host a birthday party. Our kids LOVE it! Everyone enthusiastically jumps in on the songs and fun.


Brave Sherri even pulled out the bubbles!


and finished off with a Halloween story time.


Thanks Sherri! Can't wait to see what we are going to create next month.
If you're interested in joining us for Junior Chef or other momstown activities, sign up for a free 2 week trial.

Join our free webinar to explore if timeouts really work

Title: Is Time Out a Waste of Your Time?
Location: Webinar (virtual training)

Date: Thursday, October 20th from 2PM -3PM EST
Date: Monday, October 24th from 9PM – 10PM EST


Description:
momstown is excited to partner again with Amy McCready, founder of Positive Parenting Solutions, to offer a free live training webinar to our members!

Another Fabulous Resource brought to you from momstown!

Click here to sign up! It's free and easy to do from home!

Coffee for moms and music for kids!

We found the perfect playdate combination! It was a rainy day in Oakville, and our mamas headed to CJ's cafe. Moms enjoyed a coffee and the kids were entertained by Suzanne Brown (Suzie Sunshine) a music teacher and entertainer!



Suzanne had some great ways to get the kids up and moving and really enjoying the music.


She was pulling out props every few minutes, the kids were dancing with scarves and shakers.


Even the youngest in the audience was jumping to the beat, waving his arms, and playing with shakers.

This performance was great for all ages, and really kept the kids moving and interested. They so excited to hear what the next song would be, and to participate.



Thanks Suzanne! We will be back again soon. Momstown will be heading out again for coffee and music. To see more pics of the fun we had, check our momstown Oakville facebook fanpage, or Suesings facebook fanpage. If you'd like to join us, please email sarah.mclaughlin@momstown.ca or register for a free 2 week trial membership - you'll love what we have planned for the fall.

Zoo Animals and the Alphabet!

Our moms and kids had a great morning at Dazzle Art this morning!
We LOVE Dazzle as it's a great location for momstown events, lots of room to run, also has a great range of toys and games for our kids.





To go along with our zoo animal theme for September we had some alphabet fun and made "T is for TIGER" and "Z is for Zebra" crafts. What i love about these crafts is that we can change a few simple steps to make them easy and fun for our toddlers, pre-schoolers, and school aged kids!

Our toddlers just love to glue: with a little help from mom cutting out a letter and stripes, they were happy to glue their creation together. With the 3,4,and 5 year olds we just gave them more freedom with the craft. Some were practicing their cutting skills and cutting their own stripes! We found some kids enjoy colouring more, so they grabbed some crayons and coloured the stripes onto the letter. Our moms just love how easily adjustable this craft was.



If you're interested in joining us next month at Dazzle email sarah.mclaughlin@momstown.ca for a free 2 week trial for all momstown events.

6 Halton Thanksgiving weekend activities

What to do this Thanksgiving weekend - you mean besides roasting a giant bird in the oven?

Looks like Halton is blessed with a stunning sunny weekend perfect for exploring the joys of our area.

Fall Fairs!
Rockton World's Fair is a big deal full weekend fall fair just down the highway. The schedule looks packed and fun for all ages!

Apple & Pumpkin Picking
Chudleigh's and Frootogo are fabulous places to visit for apples. momstown Oakville has picked pumpkins at Parkside Farms as well in Waterdown.

Harvest celebrations
We've been celebrating harvest in momstown this month but for more family fun try Springridge's Harvest Festival.

Take a Hike!
Our Halton conservation areas supply endless fun, beautiful trials for hiking or biking and discovering!

Turkey Run!
There's a fun "Turkey" 5km adult run, 1km or 300m run for little guys, at Heritage Square on Thanksgiving Monday.

Craft Away!
Of course, momstown will always encourage you to pull out the craft supplies - we have oodles of craft activities for Thanksgiving, fall or even Halloween on our site!