#MomsGroup Walk Turned into Something Else

The nicer weather has FINALLY arrived, so I try to schedule a walk with one of the local moms groups at least once a week to get some exercise and grown-up time at the same time. Usually a couple other moms and their babies join me, and we go for a walk around the waterfront. Yesterday, no one else made it out. I had the thought that I would just go home and get some things done around the house before the kids came home but then I realized there was no reason why I couldn’t go for a quick walk myself.

 

Although I didn’t have the companionship, I was able to go off-path (because no strollers were with me) and enjoy some solitude, get some exercise, breathe in some fresh air, while taking some beautiful pictures. I really love the waterfront!

            

Met some companions along the way:

      

And some lovely fragrances:

     

It turned out to be a lovely soul-enriching hour.

Wordless Wednesday – #Christmas cupcakes

The vanilla cupcake is the Northern Lights; the chocolate one is a snowman. Both designed by my beautiful daughter at a mom’s group Christmas party.

And they were YUUUUMMMYYYY!!!

Wordless Wednesday – Cookies!

Less than a quarter of my contribution to the mom’s group annual cookie exchange last weekend…yummy!

Thankful Thursday – 05/10

This week has been a tough week with my son and I being sick but there are still many things to be thankful for:

• my son and daughter
• the fun-filled weekend we had with wonderful friends
• getting together with childhood friends, one of whom I haven’t seen in at least 15 years
• being part of a moms group
• my son and I being on the mend with our colds

What are you thankful for?

 

#Moms Groups Rock!

It’s taken me a while to find moms groups that don’t kick us out suggest that another group might be “more appropriate for our needs” (welcome to what we sometime face because we have Autism in our family).  I’m still a member of the Facebook groups for the two groups we were part of in Big City, Ontario, and am a member of the one here in Small Town, Ontario.  Each group has a different chemistry, and I love all three of them.

Something happened last week within my local Small Town, Ontario moms group.  We have an amazing chemistry online through our Facebook group, and by the time we all meet in person, it’s as if we’ve known eachother forever. We already know about eachother’s ups and downs, our kids, our relationships, etc.

Last week, one of the babies of the group was admitted to hospital. Next thing I knew, we were all banding together, trying to figure out what we could do for this fellow mom, who was at the hospital for a total of a week and a half. Someone suggested a care-package of sorts to help her through this hard time, and give her something to do other than nurse her baby and worry. Within a day and a half, we had all bought/pulled together items for the care-package, one of the moms picked everything up from people’s homes, packaged it all together and dropped it off at the hospital in the nearby city: 

 Everything happened so quickly that, being offline for only one morning meant that I missed the pick up so I took my own contributions directly to the hospital the following day: 

I have never been so proud to be part of a community, especially an online community. The majority of us (myself included) had never met this mom, but we all felt “responsible” for helping her in whatever way we could. Moms groups rock!

 

Crazy busy weekend ahead, filled with #fun and #fundraising

This weekend is one of those weekends where there are so many things to do in town and not enough time to do it all, that I’ve had to be very selective with what the kids and I can actually attend. At first, it started out with two events: a mom’s group get together where we have all decided that we will use the excuse of Mother’s Day to get together and exchange cookies; and a birthday party. 

After talking it over with the kids this morning, we have decided to also go a book sale that will be raising money for a local arts organization (my daughter is hoping there will be comic books there for sale), and taking some old electronics to the local computer store for recycling (and the proceeds will be going to the local foodbank).

Childhood friends of mine are also in town, so they will be stopping by this weekend too (one of whom I haven’t seen since high school!).  We’re also hoping to go to the park at some point since the weather is beautiful, and perhaps the library.

The best thing about this weekend is that, besides the gas, ingredients to make the cookies and whatever we might buy at the book sale, it’s relatively inexpensive.  Who says fun needs to be expensive?  It’ll be filled with tons of fun and social time for the kids and I, and we’ll be helping our local community.

What are your plans for the weekend?