See You on January 3rd!

Our first meeting of 2012 is just around the corner!  We will be meeting on Tuesday, January 3. Our speaker will be Marilyn Vancil who will be talking about finding time for yourself a midst the demands of mothering young children.

Please remember to bring any warm weather clothing you'd like to donate to the coat drive on Jan. 3. You'll be helping out families and will be entered to win a prize!

See you there!

Kelli Pritchard Shares Thoughts on Sibling Affection

Thanks to Kelli Pritchard for sharing with our group about sibling affection. Here are some notes from today's talk. The audio is also available on the player to the right.

Teaching Sibling Affection to Children--these are some thoughts that Kelli shared about systems that have worked in their household.
1. The Hippocratic Oath--applying the idea of "do no harm" to sibling relationships. If someone says something mean to a sibling, they must say 2 nice things to that person.
2. Age Hierarchy--in the Pritchard household, the children are taught to honor age.
3. Teach and model how to appropriately show affection towards one another.
4. Teach common courtesy--saying "please" and "thank-you".
5. Teaching Apologies--not simply saying "sorry", but also asking, "Will you forgive me?" and "How can I make it right? Along with this comes teaching how to also forgive.
6. Be nice to your siblings' friends. No tough talk.
7. Make sure that friends are nice to younger siblings, as well. Again, no tough or derogatory talk allowed by guests in the Pritchard household.
8. When siblings disagree, they become "twins" for the day and must be together until the disagreement is resolved.
9. Servant Leadership--good leaders serve well. This means teaching children how to serve one another and their household.
10. Fair, but not equal--teaching children to be happy for those who get blessed.

How To Make Changes in Your Household:
1. talk it over with your spouse and then give him time to mull it over.
2. Have family meetings where you can begin to address some of the changes you'd like to make.
3. Talk your way through those changes, continually, with your children.
4. Teach your older children how to defer to the younger ones. Example: older one always gets to choose the movie. Say to the older child, "this might be a good opportunity for you to let your sibling pick the movie."

Additional Resources: 

• Pritchard Ministries
• Kelli and David's Blog
• Going Public-Your Child Can Thrive in Public School

See You on December 6!

Looking forward to seeing everyone again on December 6. Kelli Pritchard will be speaking to us about Sibling Affection. If you have a moment, take a peak at Kelli's website , blog, and the book she and her husband wrote called Going Public.

The Jackie Kennedy table is bringing breakfast. Lucille Ball is volunteering in MOPPETS.


See you there!

Julie Metzger speaks on Emotion Coaching

Julie shared with us some of John Gottman's ideas on Emotion Coaching. If you had to miss her talk, you can listen to it on the audio player in the right-hand column.

Here is the quote that Julie shared with the group as one of her favorite quotes about family:

It is not so much that things happen in a family; as it is that the family is the things that happen in it. The family is continually becoming what becomes of it. It is every christening and every commencement, every falling in love, every fight, every departure and return. It is the moment at breakfast when for no apparent reason somebody gets up and leaves the table. It is the sound of the phone ringing in the middle of the night or the lying awake hours waiting for it to ring.  It is the waves pounding the boardwalk to pieces and the undercurrents so deep beneath the surface that you're hardly aware of them. A family is a web so delicately woven that it takes almost nothing to set the whole thing shuddering or event to tear it to pieces. Yet the thread it's woven of is as strong as anything on earth.

Frederick Buechner 

Living Large on Less with Anneke Hagen

Thanks to Anneke for facilitating a great discussion on finance, budgeting, and food planning. Thanks, also, to all of you who provided so many great tips and sites that you use. I took some notes on what people shared--hope that it provides you some new ideas for making the most of your hard-earned money!

Budgeting: 

• iphone app: iXpenseIt -- allows you to track expenses on your iphone
• Suze Orman: The Nine Steps to Financial Freedom  --book on finances and money
• David Ramsey: The Total Money Makeover --  easy to follow steps to get out of debt
• Mint.com -- site that helps you to budget your money online

Affordable Family Fun/Date Nights:

• Twirl Cafe -- "Happy Hour" play for free at their cafe/play area on Queen Anne. Happy Hour times are Th.-Sa. 5-8pm
• Mosaic Cafe -- coffee shop with kids play room in Wallingford. 
• Restaurants.com -- purchase giftcards for restaurants at a discounted price
• Babysitter Swaps -- take turns watching a friend's children, instead of paying for a pricey sitter
• Rainy Day Activities:  create a notebook of easy and inexpensive things to do with the kids when the weather turns bad. Here are a couple of sites with ideas to get you started:
• Indoor Play Areas and Activities
• Rainy Day Destinations in Seattle
• indoor crafts and activities for preschoolers

Christmas Budgeting and Shopping:

• create a clear budget and plan for gift giving
• gift idea -- each family hosts a special dinner for the extended family members at some point in the year. 
• Santa Photos -- nurseries like Molbaks and Swansons have free photos with Santa Claus
• Seattle Community Centers offer special childcare nights for parents to go holiday shopping. Date night anyone?  

Resources from October 18 Speaker

Thanks to Terry for sharing some great thoughts with us on marriage. Here are some of the links to the resources that she included on her handout.

smartmarriages.com --good resource materials

www.divorcebusting.com

www.gottman.com --great information, resources, retreat from John Gottman of Bringing Baby Home fame, including iPhone apps with Love Maps, Appreciations, Fun and Play, Open-Ended questions, & Sex Questions to ask each other!

http://www.kyria.com/topics/marriagefamily/ --Christianity Today's Marriage resource website

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Interested in attending a Bringing Baby Home Workshop?

April 28 and May 5 at Trinity Presbyterian

Terry is co-teaching an upcoming workshop. If you are interested or would like more information, please email Terry at: Mcnicholsterry(at)comcast.net 

See you on October 18!

Our next meeting is Tuesday, October 18. One of our very own Mentor Moms, Terry McNichols, will be sharing some thoughts on Marriage.

The Oprah Winfrey table is scheduled to bring breakfast. Click here to sign up to bring something, if you haven't had a chance. Please take advantage of our new breakfast drop-off by pulling up to the curb on 16th Ave. NE. Mentor Moms will be waiting in bright blue t-shirts to take your breakfast items in for you!

The Julia Child table is scheduled to volunteer in MOPPETS childcare. You can click here to sign up.

We're Full!

What a blessing it is for our MOPS group to be full!  If you, or someone you know, is interested in joining UPC MOPS, please contact Sarah to be added to our waitlist.

Register Now for Fall!

Don't delay, register today!

Our first meeting is on Tuesday, October 4. We want to see you there!