National Mom2Mom Sale

Mom2Mom Sale





Just Playdates is proud to say that our National Mom 2 Mom sale will be in support of Unity for Autism. Autism is a neurological disorder of development that affects communication, socialization, and behaviour. Recent statistics indicate that 1 in 150 children or 1 in 95 boys now have a form of autism, affecting every community across our country.

Unity for Autism is a unique charitable foundation whose ANNUAL OVERHEAD IS ONLY ONE PERCENT, ensuring that all monies raised goes entirely to programs that will make a profound impact on the development or well-being of someone affected by autism.

It is our hope that through this National Mom 2 Mom sale we will raise $250,000 or more for this wonderful charity who provides substantial grants to many excellent service providers across Canada that provide academic or recreational programs, once in a lifetime opportunities, financial assistance, therapies, equipment, specialized school subsidies, for someone with autism.

It has been the goal of Just Playdates to bring people together for the benefit of themselves and their children. It is an honor to work with Unity for Autism. The belief of their Executive Director, Kathy Deschenes, is parallel with Just Playdates; "When there is unity, there is always victory!"

Sale Locations

	Ancaster	8am - 1pm	Ancaster Fairgrounds - 630 Trinity Road
	Beamsville	9:30am - 2:30pm	Beamsville High School - Spruce Street
	Breslau	9am - 2pm	Breslau Community Centre - 200 Woolwich Street South
	North York	10am - 3pm	Blessed Trinity Catholic School - 3205 Bayview Avenue
	Toronto	11am -4pm	Allenby Jr. Public School - 391 Clements Ave.
	Welland	9:30am-1:30pm	Centennial Secondary Highschool - 240 Thorold Rd

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Mom2Mom Sale -Saturday, April 24 - Free Admission.

Fluttering Details Mom2Mom Sale

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Feeding Your Family: Moms and Dads and Food Oh My

 "I had the honour and privilege of meeting Kathy Buckworth recently at our Marketing4Moms event. She is an amazing key note speaker and most importantly, a talented writer. Kathy sent me an advance copy of her book and I really enjoyed it. Kathy's advice and humour gave me the permission to be a "real" parent - one who can make mistakes, cut corners and be real! I love Kathy and her book. My husband loves her meat loaf recipe!."

Leigh Mitchell, Marketing4Moms

We need to face facts. The family meal is fraught with disaster and a prescription pre-written to fail, almost every time. You (the earnest Mom), hate making it day after day after day, and they (the annoying children) hate eating it. Mostly because you made it with your own hands, in your own kitchen, with disdainfully fresh and nutritious grocery store ingredients. Come on Mom! Everyone knows food goes through an amazing taste transformation once it’s been passed through a drive-thru window. In fact I’m thinking of installing one on the side of my house so the kids can grab their breakfast sandwiches as they ride by on their bikes. To make it really authentic, I’m thinking of charging them and getting the order wrong half the time. Hopefully I won’t get the pre-requisite zits and “uptalk” pattern of speech. And I’m nixing the hair net, okay?

I honestly don’t understand (or care, frankly) why they don’t love my cooking, or at least like it. But the whys don’t really matter. The indisputable fact is that whether they (or we) like it or not, moms are “supposed“to get three meals down the adorable, little throats of our offspring by the end of each day. I’m pretty sure that rule is in every parenting book ever written. Whether we’re serving these meals at home, or bundling them up and sending them out to schools and camps, the food is “supposed” to be healthy and lovingly prepared.

After 17 years of trying to achieve this balance, my advice is this: Go for one or the other. Either it’s healthy or you loved making it. (If it’s neither, it’s take out.) If you knock yourself out making that perfectly nutritious meal each and every time, I have to tell you, the love will surely be missing. If you’re able to snatch a Lunchable out of the fridge, throw in an apple and a Wagon Wheel cookie, and send them on their way in five seconds or less, you’re going to feel the love. Maybe not for the kids, but for the packaged-goods company who just helped you out. It’s all good from where I’m standing, baby.

Excerpted from “Shut Up and Eat! Tales of Chicken, Children, and Chardonnay, Kathy Buckworth, Key Porter Books, March 2010, now available at bookstores everywhere. Visit www.kathybuckworth.com or follow Kathy on twitter at www.twitter.com/kathybuckworth

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Tales of a GTA Dad - Destructicus

...and the mini-beast left a wake of destruction in her path…rooms left completely overturned…books on the floor…DVD’s as well. Newspapers shredded along with important documents and commemorative Olympic editions of Sports Illustrated. Emptied laundry bins, stuffed animals left to die in a heap…purses emptied, diaper bags destroyed, animals terrorized. This is the path of devastation left by a 30-inch behemoth known affectionately known as Destructicus.
Dinner thrown from high chairs, hands banging on tables, drinks overturned as a sinister (and amazingly sweet) laugh fills the room. You avert your eyes for a split second and yet more havoc is wrought before you can re-focus your concentration. Hands lunging for a toilet, drawers flung open, lamps left teetering…Destructicus! Poof…the channel changes. Fingers prints on every mirror, every glass…CRASH! A blackberry separates from its battery, a basketball flies down a hallway, a cat runs in fear. As you lunge to clear a path a guitar is being strummed harshly from 10 feet away, and there is the laughter yet again…Destructicus!


A synthesized piano pumps out the first 3 seconds of All-Star by Smashmouth, quickly changes to Hot! Hot! Hot! By Buster Poindexter and suddenly some Dixie Chicks song I don’t know at all…CRASH the music stops and the frantic sound of tiny yet determined footsteps can be heard, getting closer, along with that all too familiar, sinister cackling…suddenly quiet, and the rapid sucking sound of a straw, followed by the definitive sound...POP…CRASH! Destructicus has re-fuelled and has begun tearing books off her shelves again, muttering all the while.

I sneak up and peek around the corner and see a pile of books, an overturned toy bin, and Howard the Tiger drowning in the sea it has created. She doesn’t see me…I gather my wits and peer around the corner again...her head is buried in the toy bin, flinging whatever is left randomly into the assortment on the bedroom floor. I retract one more time, plotting my next move…
In last gasp, I peer around the corner again, and say” Peak”…this time she has clearly spotted me! She drops whatever she is doing and rushes towards me arms outstretched. I grab her and fling her into the air, and bask in her toothy grin and happy squealing as the wave of annihilation comes to an abrupt end...I love my little Destructicus!

Jason Darby is a sports blogger, musician and most significantly the proud father of a beautiful 1-year-old daughter. He currently works in the academic publishing industry and is working on a book about the Maple Leafs and the pilot for a sitcom currently titled “The Shop”. He spends much of his spare time watching the Detroit Tigers with his little girl. Come back often to read his musings on raising a child from a father’s perspective. Please leave comments for Jason on this blog! You can also reach Jason on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/darbyjason

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Earth Hour at the Science Centre

The Ontario Science Centre is pairing up with TVOKids to present a bunch of free events in celebration of Earth Hour. The events happening include a live stage show called Don't Sit Still, a chance to observe the moon, Saturn and Mars through a high-power telescope, a bicycle-powered dance party with Mr. Something Something and more. First Nations performer Shannon Thunderbird is also on hand to create some rhythms in a drumming circle.

All of the events are outdoors. For more information, click on Earth Hour at the Science Centre.

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Safety Recall -Infantino Sling

Infantino SlingRider® & Wendy Bellissimo Sling
There has been a recall announcement for this product.

Please choose from the following options.

1. Help me determine if my product is included in this recall.
   
   
2. Read the recall notice.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

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Outdoor Play Inspiration - Active Kids Club!

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March Break in Toronto

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Driving & March Break!

March has come in like a lamb.  Don’t let it fool you.  You live in Canada.  Expect it to go out like a lion.  Twenty percent of our annual snowfall occurs after March first.  So don’t take that winter driving kit out of the trunk quite yet (see). That said...before you hop in the car and drive off for the family March Break Escape, an ounce of prevention is in measure:

• Check your tire pressure regularly.  The fluctuating temperatures outside affects your tire pressure. One tire under inflated by 10 percent will cost you 5 percent more in fuel.  Also, improperly inflated tires are harder to control and take a greater distance to stop in dry or wet or snowy conditions.

• Proper packing.  Not just an extra pair of boxers,  but having your boxes and bags of stuff properly stowed in the trunk or secured in the back.  A sudden stop can send the holiday camera flying to the front of the car (or the back of your head).  Not a pretty picture at 100 kph.  While you are at it, pack all the passengers properly.  Seat belts stop flying people from hitting the driver while swerving around a potential crash.

• Now that the occupants are packed, ensure they are properly entertained.  Books or i-pods or an on board (professionally secured) DVD player can work here.  The idea is to allow you to concentrate on the road rather than referee the discussions about who is bugging whom.  Eight five percent of crashes are driver error. That is something I did or something you failed to do as  drivers sharing the same road.  Most often the phrase “I just didn’t see the car” is followed by “I was distracted by someone/thing in the car”.  So, although you want your cell phone for an emergency, put it away while driving.  BTW: operation of ANY hand held electronic device while driving will cost you a $155 ticket.

For more driving tips visit Young Driver's of Canada

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March Break Concert

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Mabel's Label's Blogger Contest

• Write a post on your blog in response to the following hypothetical situation: Electrical storms are going to wipe out the Internet (perhaps forever). You have one day left to write about your passions: what do you want to say to the blogosphere in 300 words or less?
• Link your post back to Mabel’s contest site at www.blogcontest.mabel.ca and tag it "Mabel’s Labels BlogHer ‘10 Contest".
• Email the link to your post to blogcontest@mabel.ca along with a contact phone number and email address.

Entries will be accepted from February 22nd, up to and including 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) March 15th, 2010. Finalists will be notified April 12th, with the grand prize winner announced on May 1st, 2010. Please see rules and regulations then start writing!

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Oh Canada: A Moment shared between a Father and Daughter

I was so happy to have shared Canada’s Gold Medal win yesterday with Lyla. I am doubtful she had any real idea of what was happening but there she was bouncing on my knee throughout the game as we took home the Gold Medal. Wearing her Team Canada Maple Leaf, and matching sweatshirt, clapping when we clapped, saying “Uh OH” when we did and screaming along with us in celebration once Sydney Crosby buried the OT winner. As we celebrated in the living room with our guests, she was in my arms hugging me for all she was worth. As I have said before, sports is a very strong bonding experience between parents and children and very few things can create the feeling of camaraderie that sports can build, and this was a moment like no other. When she reads about these Olympics, and given Canada’s record setting performance, I am fairly confident she will, she will ask me where she was when this happened, and I’ll be more than happy to tell her. On a side note, we just bought a house on the weekend with a big backyard, perfect for a hockey rink. Who knows, maybe one day my little girl will help Canada bring home the gold and people will take to the streets celebrating her achievements. A bit far-fetched, I realize, but at least for today, I am proud to have shared my love of sports with Lyla through an event that explemplified sportsmanship, perseverance and some of the bravest performances I have ever witnessed. When I looked at her and told her that we had just won the biggest game in our countries history all I could think as I looked into her beautiful blue eyes is how proud I am to be a Canadian and how lucky I am to get to raise my daughter in such a great country.

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$5.00 Off Yo Gabba Gabba Live

My son and I are going to the Yo Gabba Gabba March 16th concert . We're both pretty excited. Me because I get to go downtown and into a nice theatre and my son because he gets to rock out!

Anyone want to join me?

To get $5.00 please enter the special code "MUNO".

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