Girls Weekend

The girls, (also know as Heidi, Fara, Caroline and Manya) and I arrived at my house a few hours ago. We spent three great days up in the mountains. Our plans were thrown out the window by a major cold front that blew in Thursday and brought snow - yes snow - to the mountains. We cancelled our biking trip and went to the movies instead. We saw Mama Mia and did some shopping on Friday. Saturday we spent most of the day in our condo as rain and hail poured down outside.

Last year we spent the whole weekend saying, "what do you want to do?" "I don't care, what do you want to do?" So this year we decided to try something new. Each of us have developed unique hobbies and interests over the years, so we decided to celebrate by having each person pick/plan an activity that reflects their interests or life at home. It worked out great. Caroline, who just finished yoga instructor training, led us all in an incredible hour of yoga. It was wonderful getting to see a different side of her. I actually cried at the end of our little class, because she is SO amazing! I am so proud of her! Our resident crafty gal Fara, brought a fun craft for us to do. We spent Saturday morning beading and creating away. It was great for all of us to get to start and complete a craft without a preschooler interrupting.

The activity that I planned was a book club night. I love my book club here in Denver and wanted to share the experience of reading a book and discussing it together. We read The Geography of Bliss. Friday night we went to the grocery store and bought a variety of yummy munching food. We stayed up snacking and talking until about 1:30 in the morning. It was a great discussion book as it makes you thing about what makes you happy. It was a great way to really share what is going on in our lives at home. So frequently when you talk on the phone, you just don't say all the things that you can say in a face-to-face uninterrupted conversation. It was a wonderful night.

I will post some more pictures later this week. This photo was taken on Manya's phone and is the only one I can get to tonight.

The girls are coming to town …

Fifteen years ago this month, my life was getting ready for a big change. A big BIG change. I moved from Denver to Miami, Florida to attend UM. When I arrived there, I was faced with a totally new world. A world without any friends or even familiar faces. Looking back now, I can't believe what a brave 18 year old I was. Would I move across the country not knowing a soul now? Probably not.

Amidst a sea of 8000 strangers a miracle happened, I met a group of the most amazing women. Women, who I quickly became my sisters. Fifteen years, six marriages, nine children and nine intrastate moves, they are still my sisters, and tomorrow they are coming to town! ( All but one – Jenny we will miss you!) Each year we get together for a girls weekend. From beach weekends in Florida to city weekends in NYC or Chicago, we try each year to get together for four days. Our lives have moved us all over the country – Penn, Florida, North Carolina, Illinois (soon to be Kuwait!), Georgia and Colorado. But one weekend a year we get together for rest, relaxation and lots of reconnecting.

This weekend we are going to Breckenridge. Everyone is flying into Denver tomorrow and then we will drive up to the mountains. We had lots of plans for the weekend, but a huge cold front is moving in which may keep us inside. Even though our activities may change the things we are looking forward to will not. With all of our children being under 6, Fara and I made a list today of things we were looking forward to doing while we are sans kids for four days.

Here are some of them:

• We will only go to the restroom when we actually have to use it ourselves.
  
• We will get to go to the bathroom all by ourselves.
  
• We will not be required to dispense juice boxes, goldfish or graham crackers to anyone.
  
• We will be able to carry little purses whose sole purpose in life is to be cute.
  
• We will be able to wear a shirt all day long without it being used as a napkin, tissue or towel.
  
• We will sleep in until hearts' content.
  

And most importantly ... we will have very long, drawn out conversations without any interruptions! We will actually complete whole thoughts! Can I hear an amen?

I will post some pictures from the weekend come Monday. Have a great weekend.

How to host an activity bag swap

So have my postings on activity bags caught your interest? Why not host a swap. Sherri MacLean, co-founder of Activity Bags LLC, offers the following advice on hosting your first swap.

We found that holding a swap is a really fun way to accumulate a variety of preschool activities without having to assemble every one by ourselves. Basically, you get a few friends together. We found twenty to be a great number for a swap, but it also works well with fewer. Each person receives instructions for assembling one activity. They will put that activity together twenty (or whatever the number of participant) times. Then, you swap, and each person gets one activity from every other person! It is great fun! When the swap is over, each participant will walk away with many completely different preschool activities. You can certainly do all the activities by yourself; you do not have to do a swap. The activity instruction sheets are very clear for assembling one, ten, fifteen, or twenty activity bags.Coordinating an activity bag swap is not only easy, but very fun! Below are some tips to give you an idea of how simple it is to coordinate a swap. More detailed instructions are contained in each book.
Set Important Dates. Before you start calling all your friends to participate in your swap, you need to do a few things first:- Decide on the dates for assembling your activities.- Determine the date for the actual swap.- Select the activities you want to assemble. Having all this information at the ready will help you when you make your calls or send emails to the potential swap participants.
Find Your Participants.Now that you have all your important dates and activities picked out, you need to find some participants to be in the swap. Once you have an idea of potential participants, you can either send them an e-mail or call them. All of our books include a Participant Information Form to help gather all your information on each swap participant. Below are some suggestions of where to find participants for your swap:- Preschool play group- Church- Moms in your neighborhood- Friends and family- Homeschool Support Group- Moms you meet at the park- Basically, any mom, grandmother and or teacher with preschoolers
Assign the Activities.Every book includes a Preschool Activity Supply List to help you find an activity based on what supplies your participants may have on hand. When you talk to your potential participants, ask them what supplies they have on hand at home and try to match an activity to what they already have. Every bag is designed to cost $1 or less to assemble. But, the more items you have at home on hand, the less each bag will cost.
Communicate and Stay Organized.It is important to communicate with your swap participants in case they have questions regarding buying supplies, assembling the bags, etc. You can send an email out about 2 weeks before the swap date just to check in and see how things are going. About a week before the swap date, send one more email to check in and remind the participants regarding the swap date and time. Each includes sample emails and letters to help you communicate.
Learn from Other Coordinators."The best tool for me was communication. After I made the first contact with my participants via phone using the script in the book, I followed up with an email using the example in the book. Everybody knew what was going on and if anyone had questions regarding their activity, I caught it early. Also, the Activity Instructions are VERY clear. The majority of the questions I received were regarding the best places to buy supplies and substituting items.""Try to find people you think are truly willing and committed to following through with assembly etc. That was my biggest challenge. Take the time to do a lot of follow up calls, reminders and make yourself more available to pinpoint potential problems before the swap.""Do not be afraid to work with the number of participants you have. If you do not have 20, do not worry. If you have less than 20, you can just make that number of activities or everyone can do 2 activities and double the number of activity bags you will receive. If you have more than 20, you can split into 2 groups. Be creative"

Thanks again Sherri!
Wendy