Christmas Brunch

Our last meeting of the year was a brunch with lots of food and fun! Everyone brought a dish to share and there was lots of good food to eat! Casseroles, cheesecakes, chips, crackers and chocolate...YUM! Lori and Mrs. Sue did a marvelous job of decorating the tables. Mrs. Sue played the piano while we ate, and the Harbor staff joined us.
The Secret Sisters revealed themselves with some great presents. A few had their suspicions about who their secret sister had been all along and some were surprised.
We all pulled a number out of a basket and played "Dirty Santa" with $1 Christmas ornaments. There were a few that were hot items and passed through a few hands until they were retired.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a very terrific new year!

Christmas Cookie Exchange

Tonight was our cookie exchange at Leslie's house. We were expecting around 12 moms and ended up with a total of 14! There were cookies galore!!!
Leslie, Mrs. Debbie and Lori made some goodies for us to eat, including meatballs, spinach dip, celery with pimento cheese and there was wine, egg nog, punch and sodas. After filling up and chatting, we got to go around and fill up our cookie tins! Yum!! There was fudge, chocolate chip cookies, macaroons, and some with raspberry jam, m&m's, Hershey kisses, and cute snowmen!

Seventh Meeting

I regret that I didn't get any pictures at this meeting. :( We made some great organizational cards to put on the kids' drawers (pants, shirts, underwear, etc.), toy boxes/bins (legos, barbies, cars, etc.) and menu cards (mac & cheese, pb & j, sides, etc.) to give the kids their own choice to eat. Here are the cards I made for my son's drawers. They are already working!
We did an icebreaker next to introduce the newer members and then share adventures we've had as mothers. There were some very funny stories!

MNO at La Costa

Tonight was a lot of fun! Six of us (plus one sleeping baby) ate out at La Costa Mexican Restaurant. Leslie had a great recommendation for Amy and Melissa to try: Pollo Fundito. It definitely looked good.
It was Melissa's birthday, so we HAD to inform our waiter about it! They brought out a sombrero and sang to her!
Don't miss the next one, Ladies!

Making Pillowcase Dresses

Tonight, Kelly hosted several moms to come over with supplies and sewing machines (very graciously, as it was her birthday!!). Dee helped us all to make a pillowcase dress for our daughters. After a lot of time and mishaps, almost everyone completed a dress. We are hoping to do it again soon!

Sixth Meeting

Today Jennifer gave us an encouraging devotion about God's control in this unsettled time, just after the election.
We had a female police officer speak about personal safety, gearing us up for the holidays. One of her most important points was to just BE AWARE of your surroundings. She also gave us some tips about defending ourselves in case of a physical attack and a whistle to carry with us. All the moms had great questions for her and she did a wonderful job of answering them!
Afterward, we played 20 questions. We each had a person, like Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Denzel Washington, assigned to us and the other moms had to guess who we were. It was a lot of fun!

Fifth Meeting

Today was a fifth Wednesday, which is traditionally a Game or Craft Day. But because this election has had such a huge impact so far, we decided we'd get speakers who knew more about the hot topics. They were the chair of the Republican Party, Chris Dean and chair of the Democrat Party, Jim Morgan. There were some sticky questions, but a lot of good information and plenty of opinions!
Here are our spooky treats.

Joey Jog '08

It was an early morning for some of us today! Amy, Mollie, John David, Tobi, Julie and Ross left Costco around 7:15 am. Tonya was picked up by Harbor members around 6:45 am! Our MOPPETS teacher, Mrs. Cortney was not far behind with her hubby and daughter.
The rain began shortly after we got on I-40. We all arrived before 10:30 and the ceremony got underway. We heard from the jog's organizer, then Joey's uncle, who told us about her life and it's impact. After stretching and warming up, like Mrs. Debbie, Maggie and Cooper in the first picture, we went outside for a butterfly release.
The walk began around 11:00 in the neighborhood around Orange UMC. The rain was on and off, drizzle to downpour and back again. What didn't occur to most of us was that we would be walking up and down hills! Julie and Mollie pushing their strollers, decided not to loop around the middle of the route, but to head back to the church when they met with some of the joggers who were in the lead of the pack.
We all made it back, safe and sound, even if a little soaked. There was lunch provided: sub sandwiches, chips, desserts, and drinks. We headed home, stopping a few times, and enjoyed our time together!

Wednesday Night Fellowship Meal

Tonight MOPS provided the meal for Harbor. We had taco salad (meat, beans, rice, chips, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and salsa) and it was a HUGE hit!! Tonya did the shopping yesterday and today. She made sure everything worked like clockwork.
Mrs. Debbie provided tablecloths and mats, aprons and flowers for the moms' hair! :) Eight MOPS members were there, most prepared and cooked, some were there to serve. Other moms who couldn't come brought desserts: wonderful cookies and cakes!
The kids played together and then sat and ate their tacos.
I heard only good things about the food and the atmosphere! It was definitely the most festive Fellowship meal we've ever had!

Fouth Meeting

Today was another wonderful meeting! There were lots of sweets to eat. :) Dee did a terrific job talking about feeling like a good mom one moment and like a bad mom the next. She reassured us that God loves us and will help us, and we're all good moms, we just may have bad moments.
Leslie shared a little about Joey's life and illness, then we watched a DVD about Joey. The jog is next weekend and it means all the more now that we've gotten to know through her pictures.
All the moms had a great time making the bags! They all turned out so pretty and there were many different creations! Three bags have already sold. They are definitely going to be a big hit at the Butterfly Boutique.

Craft Night

Tonight a few Steering moms got together at Mrs. Debbie's house to plan how to do our craft for Wednesday. We are decorating canvas tote bags and had many suggestions of how to do it. Lori, Tobi, Leslie, Mollie, Mrs. Debbie and Mrs. Sue decided on a few options and then set out to make one. Now we have examples and the know-how for our meeting on Wednesday.

Third Meeting

Today's meeting was very educational!! Debbie gave a wonderful devotion about Touch, the touch of Jesus and others in our lives. Jeanette Nichols, Vice Chairman of the School Board, came to speak. She had a lot of insight and answered all of our questions.
Next, one of our newest members, Bethany, shared some fitness tips with us, using an exercise ball. I think we were all motivated to go out and get our own and we may start having fitness sessions during MOPS meetings! Here are some exercises to do at home.

Second Meeting

We had a great time again today! There were 2 new moms who joined us and we decorated picture frames with ribbon and stamps. We took one frame home and donated another to the Butterfly Boutique for this year's Joey Jog. Ten moms brought in baby pictures and we all had to guess who they were. There were quite a few tricky ones!!




Next week, we are meeting at Halyburton Park for a playdate. Bring a bag lunch and a friend!!

Our First Meeting

Today was our first meeting! I don't know about anyone else, but I had a great time! There were some technical difficulties at first (email down, DVD player not working, etc.), but it all turned out all right. Here are some moms making their name tags and here is the 2 year old class having snack.
We had 14 moms and 17 children. There was a table full of goodies to eat and we got a chance to chat for awhile. Pastor Donald, Lisa and Claire came by to introduce themselves and we had some discussion time. We watched the MOPS DVD and then worked together at our tables to answer some rather tough questions about amusement parks. (Do you know what a pachyderm's hearing organ is or a dwelling place for reflection???) :)

Next Tuesday is our first Mom's Night Out. Join us at Kelly's house for a kick off party!

Fit 4 Fun Playdate

Our last play date was this week. Six of our moms met and there were 13 kids! Fit 4 Fun is such a great place! There are so many big toys, plenty of room to move around, and then 2 rooms, one for painting, stamping, a water table, gluing, coloring, science and another with snacks, train table, kitchen, books and smaller toys to keep everyone busy.
Hopefully we'll have another play date here soon!

Summer Playdates

This summer has flown by! We have one more Wednesday play date next week to Tregembo Animal Park. We've been to different pools, Lewis Strawberry Farm, played by the Cape Fear River and took the ferry to Southport. It was nice to keep in touch with moms and friends this summer and we look forward to seeing everyone in September for our first meeting!

Welcome to MOPS of Harbor

We are gearing up for our second year at Harbor UMC in Wilmington, NC! Our first meeting is in a week and a half, on September 3, from 9:30 am to 12:00 noon. The Steering Team has been preparing, planning, meeting, (eating :), and purchasing plenty of goodies for our year. Please consider joining us on September 3rd! Contact mops@harborumc.org for questions and to let us know if any children will be coming, so we have plenty of room and snacks!