Happy Halloween from momstown Victoria!

Today we had a blast at "Movie Monster," an installation and family event presented by Intrepid Theatre. The five of us got to choose our costumes, have our pictures taken, and become the stars of our own monster movie: "The Ninja, the Alien, the Mountain Man and the Knight." Here's a peek at our movie:

I know, I know, the alien was overplayed! 

Thanks so much to Intrepid Theatre for the Family Pass and the opportunity to do something creative and unique with our kids for Halloween. I liked that the children felt safe and encouraged to explore their ideas of monsters and even battle them out in their own movie. It was great fun for all of us!

I hope you had a safe and spooktacular evening of trick or treating with your little ones, and don't forget that the parent candy tax has been harmonized (that's 12% of the loot.) ;) 

Happy Halloween!

momstown Victoria Fisher-Price Toy Review: Stand-Up Ballcano!

One of the really fun perks to being a momstown mama is that once in a while we get to test and review one of the amazing new Fisher-Price toys, which we also get to keep! Last time it was the Imaginext DC Super Friends Batcave, which was more suitable for my 5 and 2-year old. (My 10-month enjoyed it too, but mostly she just hid Batman in the pots and pans drawer.) So it is great that the toy I get to review this month is the Fisher-Price Stand-Up Ballcano, which is much more suited to her toddler age. At 15 months, Eloise is not as easily distracted by TV, toys or colouring books. Would it keep her busy for at least 15 minutes, which would be long enough to check my facebook page or unload the dishwasher? We would see!

All three of my kids were instantly drawn to the large, brightly-coloured toy. They immediately started dropping balls onto the top "drum," rolling the cylinder and watching the balls tumble down the different legs. The toy is designed for ages 6 to 36 months, so naturally my 6-year lost interest after a few minutes. My 3-year old stayed longer, but then wandered off to find his brother. My 1-year old, however, continued to pick up and drop balls onto the top drum. She loved causing the flashing lights and musical sounds, repeating the action and getting slightly different results. She kept waving her arms in excitement when she caused the lights and music. I think she was saying, "Eureka! I've figured out the algorithm!" That's my girl.

"Eureka! I've figured out the algorithm!"

I was impressed by how the lights and sounds encouraged her to repeat her actions over and over. The toy could definitely be said to help develop a child's physical development and curiosity, and saying things like, "Where's the purple ball? How many balls can we fit on top?" is a great way to engage and teach toddlers while playing with this toy. I also like that more than one kid can play around it without conflict. I would say this is one of the best designed toddler toys I've seen in action. 

Thank you Fisher-Price for a great toy for my little one! You can still enter to win your own Fisher-Price Stand-Up Ballcano too - contest ends tomorrow! 

Frightening Fun with Fisher-Price at momstown Victoria Halloween Boo Bash

Our momstown Victoria Halloween Boo Bash sponsored by Fisher-Price was a graveyard smash! This fang-tastic event featured crafts, haunted house, snack station, storytime, and an awesome play area with eight fabulous Fisher-Price toys that were raffled away to eight lucky winners!

 Freakishly fun Fisher-Price Play Area.

Amazing assortment of toys.

All ready for our little ghouls and boos.

Step inside our Haunted House...if you dare!

Boo Bags filled with loot.

My awesome team - my sister, husband, mom and kids.

Signing in at the welcome table.

Exploring the Disney Sing-Along Choo Choo and Master Moves Mickey in the Fisher-Price toy demo area.

This cupcake and princess could parallel play around the Servin’ Surprises Cook & Serve Kitchen Table without crowding because of the round shape.

Painting spooky artwork together.

A little green dragon spotted by the Little People Disney Princess Castle.

Jennifer Ferris sharing a Halloween tale.

Create your own spooky spiderweb!

Olive Oyl (aka Melissa Hogg) raffling off the toys. Thank you Fisher-Price!

The Cruise & Groove Ballapalooza will be perfect for keeping Kate's three kids under three busy!

Bridget brought the Little People Disney Princess Castle home and let us know on facebook that her daughter played with it all afternoon!

Jennifer's son is going to love his new Rescue Heroes Fire Truck & Billy Blazes (when he's a little older!)

These delicious, crisp Spartan apples provided by SPUD were hard to keep on the table! 

THANK YOU to SPUD, Intrepid Theatre, and Jennifer Ferris for helping to make our momstown Victoria Halloween event both memorable and fun, and to Fisher-Price for sending us fabulous toys and sponsoring this local event to connect and support moms! Interested in becoming a momstown member? Sign up for your FREE 4-week trial today!

momstown Victoria Discovery Field Trip to Galey Farms

Our momstown Victoria Discovery Field Trip this month was at Galey Farms, Corn Maze, Market & Railway! Our visit included a train ride around the farm and fun attractions, hayride to the pumpkin patch, and petting farm. This was a first-time visit for some of the families, while for others it is a family tradition. Thank you Galey Farms for providing all of our momstown families with a fun adventure and some great memories with our little ones.

All aboard!

Local 'wildlife'

Pumpkin patch

Creepy circus

Dino Land

Ghost Town

Lots of smiles despite the cloudy weather...

...and bumpy ride...

...on the hay wagon...

...to the pumpkin patch!

A special day for us - Eloise's first train and hayride.

Kate and newborn - yes she coordinated this trip!

Petting farm

Our next momstown Discovery Field Trip will be at Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre in Sidney! momstown Victoria coordinates over 20 fun events each month to help connect and support moms in Victoria, BC! Our membership is only $45/year per family, or register for a FREE 4-week trial!

momstown Victoria shares "Let it Fall" at Scholastic sponsored Tales for Tots

Our Scholastic sponsored book of the month is "Let it Fall" by Maryann Cocca-Leffler, a brightly illustrated story-poem of many familiar fall activities, such as harvest, going to a fall fair, and simply enjoying nature together as a family. Our momstown Victoria moms, babies and kids enjoyed meeting together and making a leaf man puppet craft and leaf collages in a great child-friendly space. Thanks to Chapters Victoria for continuing to host our momstown Victoria family storytime and early literacy program, sponsored by Scholastic Canada!

Great fun making leaf collages and leaf man paper bag puppets.

We also shared two board books about Fall leaves from our friends at Chapters Victoria

Trio of momstown Victoria babies!

Lucky winners of our Scholastic book prize draw!

Our Tales for Tots program event is open to the public and held at Chapters Victoria from 10-11 am on the 3rd Wednesday of every month! Grab a Starbucks and meet us in the children's area for a craft, storytime and amazing book prize draw! Wondering what else we're up to? Sign up for your FREE 4-week trial and check out our message board, exclusive member discounts, and momstown Victoria calendar!

Breakfast, Bears & Baby at the momstown Victoria Nutella Buddies Brunch!

Thank you, Nutella, for sponsoring a fun Buddies Brunch for our momstown Victoria moms, dads and kids! We had an awesome time doing a teddy bear craft, snack and circle time with our kids and their special buddies (teddy bears, dolls and stuffies.) All of our momstown Victoria attendees also received a special Nutella giveaway and a chance to win a great Nutella prize!

Each attendee received a full-sized jar of Nutella, a heart-shaped sandwich cutter, and an 'I ♥ Breakfast' button! The door prize was a Nutella backpack filled with even more goodies, including TWO additional jars! Sweet indeed!

We were so happy to have one of our momstown Victoria Event Coordinators join us with her 8-day old baby! Congratulations, Kate! (Looking forward to Kate's momstown Book Club event on Friday, October 26th, 6-7 p.m. at Tall Tales Books/Story Studio! We'll be sharing potluck appies and choosing our first book. Sign up to join us!)

All the kids did a great job of colouring and cutting out the pre-printed templates for this easy teddy bear paper bag puppet. Great craft for all ages!

  

Our momstown Victoria kids enjoyed a delicious potluck snack together. We had orange juice, fruit, and all the ingredients to make teddy bear faces using a rice cake, banana chips, chocolate chips, wafers, raisins - and Nutella!

In circle time, the kids took turns finding the teddy bear on each page of  "Because You Are My Baby," by Sherry North and Marcellus Hall. We then sang songs with our buddies, such as "Smooth Road" with the teddy bears on our laps, "Sleeping Teddy Bears" (the kids decided that teddy bears would 'whisper roar' because they wake up at night when the kids are sleeping,) and "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around" to say "bye-bye." We all had a really fun time together!

Congrats to the dad and daughter winners of our door prize! The dad told us that he grew up eating Nutella every day, so it was very appropriate that he took home THREE whole jars (two in the knapsack, plus the free gift!!!) Another mom was happy because she loves to bake with Nutella. You can find more great giveaways and recipe ideas on the Nutella facebook fan page.

Thanks to everyone for coming, and thanks again to Nutella for sponsoring this great event and for drawing attention to the importance of breakfast in Canada’s Breakfast Report.

Where else can you have this much fun and make great friends too? Sign up for a FREE 4-week trial and see what else is happening with momstown Victoria. Our membership is only $45/year!