November 18 Recap

We continued on our topic of Help, but with a little twist.  Help Yourself: Get Organized.

With the Holidays upon us, it's easy to feel overwhelmed with the added responsibilities (including, but not limited to): preparing for guests, really cleaning house, cooking large family meal(s), decorating for the holidays as well as shopping and wrapping gifts.

Our meeting started off with Mommy Olympics: Shopping and Wrapping Race.  With each table responsible for purchasing and wrapping 4 gifts, you girls were moving quickly through the room.  Although there was a tape malfunction, the Excited Explorers pulled off a "victory".  The truly positive thing from this event is that all toys will be donated to families that are needing some help with gifts.  The funny thing is that most of the gifts will be RE-wrapped...well, because the wrapping was done a little too much in hurry. :)

Craft time flew by really fast as hands were busy making a paper-bag-storybook of Jesus' Birth.  I know that all of you didn't finish during the 30 minutes, but with each of you having a set of the directions, I hope that you will complete it!  My little girl and I have read it before each nap time and bedtime.  She LOVES the pull out, so I encourage you to finish it ASAP!

Mary Reddit, bless her heart, is passionate about Cut the Clutter!  By identifying what "clutter type" you are, you are able to make changes to help yourself get organized.  And, by using the Q.U.I.C.K method, you can (hopefully) stay that way.  The point that Mary made that stood out the most to me was when she made reference to the fact that the clutter takes away our focus from the truly important things in life: building friendships, loving on our kids, caring for our family, creating a safe-cozy-haven of a home.  I couldn't agree more....when my home is a wreck, usually I'm stressed and unable to be lovable towards my family.  As piles of paperwork get higher, so does my blood pressure.  I also liked Mary's comment about involving the whole family by doing a relaxing activity together and then tacking an organization project together.  With our preschoolers, that might be a challenge, but even my little girl brightens up as I praise her for putting all of her toys in the toy chest!

You girls really cleared the room and headed to your discussion groups.  I sure hope that you enjoyed talking openly about your clutter personality and getting some ideas from one another.

We closed our meeting with announcements:

• Bring your piggy banks/spare change containers back to the meeting on December 2. (Remember, we are collecting the spare change for the local Teen MOPS Group's Christmas presents).
  
• NEXT MEETING: December 2 - MOPS at Real Life Special Christmas Brunch.  It's a special event that we are having catered and there is a $5 Mug with a Treat Exchange.  All details are in the E-vite.  Please respond with a "yes" or "no" to the E-vite.  If you have not received an E-vite, please email mopsatreallife (at) yahoo (dot) com, and you will be quickly added to the invite list. :)
  
• Operation Christmas Child deadline is November 23rd.  Bring your completed shoe box to the Information Station at Real Life.
  
• Don't forget to register for MOPS Int'l...if you haven't already. :)
  
• - Family Portrait Raffle will be drawn on January 20.  To enter to win a free family portrait shoot, you need to sign up and bring a dish to share at a MOPS meeting.
  

Have a great week, Ladies!

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