We're Rockin' the Fall, Ya'll!

This is our third official year of MOPS at St. Matthews. We have a leadership team running full force. Kate, our coordinator hosted us for a planning session to kick the year off in August.

For our first meeting in September, we welcomed the new group and played a personality game to learn more about each other. We had fun prizes and journals for each mom. It was a cool morning to be outside to help with social distancing. It did warm up on those bleachers, though!

We've had a few moms nights this month. There's a monthly craft night. This month we made fun jewelry. Kate hosted us to watch Cruella one night, too.

For our second meeting in September we did fix it, freeze it meals. We prepped honey Romano pork chops, chicken fiesta soup, scalloped potatoes and ham, beef & cheese pasta and pot roast. It's so nice to leave a MOPS meeting with dinner done for the week!

October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. For our first meeting in October we said special prayers for our moms who have lost babies. We honored one of our own moms, Lynn and her sweet Owens by painting rocks in his memory with #Owens.RocksJax

We had Halloween fun at our second meeting of the month. Amber spoiled us with her festive waffle irons and all the fixings. We played the chair game and guess the moms.

We've had so many fun fall events around town. Lots of pumpkin patch playdates. We did a family night out in the pumpkin patch for a movie night. Lynn hosted a Halloween party. There was a Halloween scavenger hunt downtown to see all the decorations. It's fall, y'all!

NEWEST MOPPETS

Welcome to our newest MOPPETS! Both of these mammas have meal schedules going if you'd like to help support a family with a dinner. 

Felicity joined her 3 older brothers                                                    Bernadette ("Birdie") was born on                                      on October 11th!                                                                               August 27th weighing 9lbs,5oz 21"

 

Summer Fun

I'm doing a little catch up here and didn't want to miss updating on all the summer fun in 2021. Play dates galore are what keep our moms sane in the Florida summer heat with all these babies home. Trying new things together helps us be brave and supported. Kate opened her home and yard to host swim lessons. Moms signed up for time slots while the swim teacher stayed put. Learning to swim is HUGE for us in this phase of life and being surrounded by water.

    

Play dates were planned (or thrown together last minute) all over the Jacksonville area. 

Here are a few glimpses of the fun.

All for Love

Registration for the 2021-2022 is officially out! Click here to register. Come join us! Below is a note from MOPS International on the new theme for the year:

Here at MOPS, we choose a theme to rally around each year—a theme that inspires, encourages, and speaks into our mothering journeys. Last month, we unveiled our brand-new theme (You can watch the reveal video ) for the next year, and we are obsessed.

After a year spent hunkering down, living smaller, and experiencing a little more fear and anxiety than usual, we are declaring this is the year of going big. It’s a year of fresh starts and turning ordinary experiences into extraordinary ones. Enthusiasm will replace worry. Friendship will replace loneliness. No longer will we wait to “get back to normal”; instead, we will start making space for the new things God has for us. We will become less guarded and more daring because this is our year to live ALL FOR LOVE.

Did you Decide to Rise?

Our second year of the St. Matthews MOPS has officially come to a close. Now we look back on this particularly crazy year and see how we've done. Did you embrace the MOPS theme of the year? Did you rise to the occasion and make the most of this phase of motherhood? What could you have done differently? What did you do well? We believe that together we are better. Come join our village!

For our second meeting in April we had Erin Pruett walk with us through the parking lot to talk about mental health. It was a small meeting, but those present got an excellent walk and talk therapy session. Let's take a moment to think about how the last year has had an impact on us and our children. Let it out, mama. 

Jinny planned a play date strawberry picking in Palatka and another at Shady Park in Green Cove Springs. This spring weather has been awesome!

Kate put together a movie night at her house to see What Lies Beneath and a family night out at the concert series at the old Landing to see Sugar Ray. We had a great turn out. It was a perfect night to hear a concert on the water.

Our last meeting of the year was a Mother's Day celebration. We had mimosas, did nails and facials and traded summer survival tips. We also got to meet the newest MOPPET, baby Lucy. While we don't have official meetings during the summer, we do still have play dates and girls nights. We hope to see you this summer at a MOPS event!

Arise as a Mother

For our first meeting in March, we played games. It felt so good to laugh. I mean like real, belly laughs. Kate had to wrap herself in toilet paper as a mummy for half the meeting. Jinny had to sit under the table for the other half. It was a great stress reliever! 

For our second meeting of March we had Erin Roskelly from First Command talk to us about finances. We discussed one family checking account, saving for kids colleges, life insurance and all sorts of money issues. 

There were lots of fun play dates enjoying the gorgeous spring weather. One Tree Hill is a favorite as is the zoo and lots of parks in the area. 

We did a Monday evening family bowling party. It was a great turn out. The kids loved to bowl and some parents got a chance to get in there, too. It's neat that the dads were excited to hang out again, too.

We cleaned out our closets to bring to a clothing swap moms night out at Khristi's. I left with a bag of goodies. All the clothes not claimed were donated to Hopeful Handbags.

For our first meeting in April we did an Easter egg hunt at the school. It was chilly but warmed up. The kids had a great time running the field looking for eggs. We stayed to play on the playground after.

We had two different options for the stations of the cross this year. Anne went out to Marywood. Meghan and I set them up between our houses, up my street and down hers. We used this document from the late Families Following Christ ministry. Good Friday was a chilly, yet beautiful day. It's such a neat way to experience Easter with young children.

We only have two meetings left of the year. Come join us!

Do Your Work

Work it, girl! February was busy. There was lots of fun things happening in our group. For our first meeting of the month, Noelle Pomeroy came to talk to us about sex. The conversation got a little tense, there were tears, laughter and all in between. It was a gorgeous day to sit on the bleachers outside the church and work on improving our relationships. 

We had a hot tub & s'mores girls night at Meghan's. The first one had to be rescheduled because it was too cold to get out of the hot tub!

There were a bunch of play dates: the zoo, farm and parks!

We did a MOPS & POPS Progressive Dinner Valentine's Day party. We were supposed to go by boat but the weather was nasty. We drove instead, first to Meghan's for apps. Next to Lucy for Haystacks. Last, to Kate's for dessert. It was neat to see the husbands making friends, too.

Our second meeting in February was relaxed and casual. It was a gorgeous day to sit outside again. We traded mom hacks and recipes. No need to make this job harder than it needs to be!

Better Moms Make a Better World

"Better Moms Make a Better World" is one of the MOPS tagline. We are all about you, the mom. That's one thing that sets us apart from other moms groups. You come to a meeting, drop your children with Carolyn, then come take a break and fill your soul. We are here to support you, make sure you are getting what you need so you can be your best self when caring for your family. We know you are carrying a lot on your shoulders. We are here to help. Our meeting topics are designed to strengthen your soul and provide you with content to be the best mom you can be. Let us know if you have ideas for topics or speakers. We still have a few spots to fill this year. For our second meeting of the new year, we had 2 meetings in one week. The first was a zoom meeting we tapped into with the St. Marks MOPS. It was a school choice panel. Kelly Risdon spoke about her experience with private school at St. Marks. Laurie Cutlip talked about homeschooling. Charlotte Joyce spoke about Duval county public schools. Dr. Withun talked about charter schools. There's no right or wrong answer here. You have to do what works best for your family and sometimes each child individually. We hope the information on this panel was helpful. 

The following Thursday we still had our regular meeting at St. Matthews. We did a toy swap in the parking lot. We popped our trunks and browsed each other's toys. Whatever was left was donated to Catholic Charities. The weather was perfect so we sat outside by the softball field for the rest of our meeting. Meghan's frittata was delicious!

Kate hosted a zoom moms night out on Monday. It was a Disney trivia night. We are still in these crazy times where everyone has a different comfort level. If you feel okay meeting in person, come on out! We can also zoom or FaceTime you in for the meetings. Kate has been great about making both zoom and in person moms nights out.

Outside play dates are the best, pandemic or not. One Tree Hill is a favorite spot. You can learn about local wildlife and watch goats walk on boardwalks! Our group met there one day this month. There was also a last minute meet up at Chuck E. Cheese. We hope to see you soon, we have lots of fun planned for February!

Chasing Joy in 2021

I was thinking I'd be blogging once a month and then all of a sudden, it's January. Please, feel free to take over the blogger roll as I am failing. Let's do a recap. Our first meeting in November was moved to Tillie Fowler Park. Our one and only nursery worker, Carolyn had a COVID scare so she stayed home to be extra cautious. There also happened to be a scheduling error so we took that as a God Moment and moved to the park. We wrote thank you notes and talked about all the things we are grateful for. It was perfect timing headed into the Thanksgiving holiday. 

Kate has been awesome at putting together girls nights and hosting them at her home. She even has party cups for us and a neat air filter system in her house to keep the air circulating in these COVID times. After Halloween she hosted a movie night to watch Witches. 

Anne has been putting together some play dates. A group went to the beach, Cummer Museum, zoo and the Jax Arboretum in November. There have been a few pop up play dates, too (a perk of being in the Facebook group). 

For our 2nd November meeting, Jinny put together and led us in a crafting meeting. We used old hymnals to make angel ornaments. We made 50 ornaments that were sold at the V Pizza Victory party which raised money to help support families displaced by Cancer.

Keri Napoleon, a registered dietician came to talk to us about healthy eating in December. Just in time for the Christmas food fest! She gave great tips on healthy eating for kids and good snacks for us moms. She's all about good gut health with probiotics and super foods.

Kate hosted a cookie exchange. We each baked 4 dozen cookies from scratch and brought them over. We played a few games like "Name the Ingredients" and voted on best dressed and best cookie. It was a SWEET night. It was also a great night of group therapy as we prepared for family gatherings (or not) for Christmas. We swapped cookies so we each had some of all of them to share with neighbors, friends and family.

Our first meeting of the new year was a meeting to get organized. Our very own, Meghan shared her tips on getting her family of seven on the same page. She has a color coded family calendar. She also showed us the materials she uses to keep the constantly growing children's clothes organized. So helpful! Is anyone busy organizing closets now? I did move a few containers to the attic today.

Kate hosted another awesome girls night this month. She got an escape room in the mail (Finders Seekers). We sipped healthy chai, ate chips and gummy worms (not on anyone's resolution list) and worked through puzzles and riddles to "escape". It was actually pretty hard. We had a great time using our brains!

We have lots of fun events planned for the winter. Our next meeting is January 21st for a school choice panel. Come CHASE JOY (another MOPS theme this year) with us!