Spring Fundraiser: February 9 at Boudin!

We are holding our Spring Fundraiser at Boudin SF at the Fountains in Roseville on February 9 from 4-8pm.  20% of all proceeds from purchases with our flyer will go to our MOPS group!  Take the night off from cooking and bring the whole family down for a yummy dinner!  (My personal favorite is the grilled brie with apples and fig jam...yum!  And you can't beat chowder in a bread bowl either!)

We will have flyers tomorrow at the meeting for you to take and hand out to friends and family!  Hope to see you there!

Spring Semester is Here!

Our Spring semester of MOPS begins on Friday, January 9!  We will be meeting nine times this semester, and we've got lots of great speakers and fun crafts planned!

If you are thinking about attending but haven't come before, please join us!  You are welcome to come to a meeting to give us a try free of charge, just let us know ahead of time at valleyspringsmops@gmail.com so we can plan for childcare for your kiddos.  If you'd like to come to MOPS but can't commit for the whole semester, we also allow drop-ins for $5 per child (plus $5 if you come on a craft day to cover materials).  More details about trying us out and what our meetings are like in general can be found on our FAQ page.

If you are planning to be with us the entire semester (and we hope you are!) please bring your $85 registration fee on January 9.  If you would like a payment plan, please see Teresa Sachse at our first meeting.

One more thing...mark your calendars now for our Spring fundraiser at Boudin SF in the Fountains shopping center in Roseville!  It will be held from 4-8pm on February 9.  VSPC MOPS will receive 20% of all participating sales that evening! Flyers and more details to come.

We are looking forward to seeing all of you on January 9!

Important fall dates!

It was so great to see all of you last Friday for our first MOPS meeting of the new semester!  We wanted to get a few important dates on your calendar before everyone gets busy with fall activities.

This semester's breakfast schedule is up on the website, check it out here!

Our Ladies' Tea Fundraiser is scheduled for Saturday, October 18 at 1pm.  It is our main fundraiser of the year and we depend on everyone for their donations and volunteer time to make it a success!  More info on that will come soon.

Our Moms' Night Out this semester will be a super fun Bunco night on November 14!  If you've never played Bunco before, don't worry.  It's really easy to catch on and it is a TON of fun to play!  Aside from Bunco, we'll have fun sharing yummy treats and having girl time.  Line up your babysitter now, ladies!

Remember, we have MOPS again this Friday...the only time this year we'll have two MOPS meetings in a row. If you haven't turned in your registration form and session fee yet, please remember to do so on Friday.

Thanks and we'll see everyone Friday at 9:15!

P.S. If you didn't make it last week but still want to join or check it out, it's not too late!!  Please join us!  Just email us at valleyspringsmops@gmail.com so we can plan childcare for your kiddos.

Fall Session Starts Tomorrow!

Our new year of MOPS starts tomorrow!  We are so excited to see each of you!  We have a lot of fun crafts and great speakers planned.  And--spoiler alert!--you'll get out of making dinner one night and making a Thanksgiving pie, just for coming to MOPS!  Hooray!

Childcare will open tomorrow morning at 9am, and we will begin at 9:15.  You can still register through the link on the website, or you can register at the door.

If you're still on the fence about joining, feel free to join us anyway and try it out.

See you tomorrow morning!

Need Coffee and Conversation? Try MOPS!

We all know having a conversation and a hot cup of coffee is pretty elusive when you have small kids...this cute video made by our friends at Scottsdale Bible MOPS takes a look at the "natural habitat" of moms and illustrates the need for MOPS perfectly!



We hope you'll join us September 5!  We'll have the coffee waiting.  Register today!

Top Ten Reasons to Join MOPS This Year!

If you are still thinking about whether you should join MOPS this year, here are ten great reasons!  Our fall semester begins September 5, don't miss it!  Register today!

Top Ten Reasons to Join MOPS

10.  You'll get to finish a hot cup of coffee at least twice a month.

9.  Mentor Moms: Perspective, wisdom, and advice on how to get your toddler to pee pee in the potty, already!

8.  No worries about making pies for Thanksgiving.  'Nuff said.

7.  Relevant guest speakers who will show us how to bravely embrace who we are, along with practical information on how we can take action tto accomplish that!

6.  Get rid of some of your "Pinterest guilt" by making at least seven cute and useful crafts this year!

5.  Enjoy a yummy hot breakfast at each meeting that you didn't have to make and that no one is
     demanding bites of.

4.  Who needs "Vegas, baby!" when you'll have a chance to win at every MOPS meeting in our raffle!

3.  Great conversation that does not revolve around princesses, Cars, or what happens when you give a mouse a cookie.

2.  Would you rather be doing the laundry?!

And the top reason for joining MOPS this year?

1.  Community and friendship with other moms in the same stage of life who get it!

2014-2015 Theme: Be You, Bravely

We are so excited for the new year of MOPS to begin!  The theme for this year is "Be you, Bravely."  Here is some more information:

It seems we spend all of our time doing two things- living and waiting to live.

If you are like us, that "waiting to live" category is comprised of a few things that make us uncomfortable, things that require courage to act. For us, it means that we have dreams we want to see realized, conversations that we need to have, and decisions we have been avoiding.

Sometimes realizing how significant an action is makes it harder to accomplish. We become paralyzed from acting because starting feels risky. The urgency of day-to-day demands make them the easiest to deal with.  But days, months and even years go by with the same opportunities standing in front of us, waiting to be chosen.

What we all seem to have in common is that we need a nudge--a nudge to get us out of our ruts and routines so that we can be reminded to risk bravely. 

At MOPS, we believe that you were meant to live deeply and so we have created this year’s theme to inspire you to choose the extraordinary.

"Be you, Bravely" is designed to help us become more ourselves, and to remind us that courage is always worth it and that we are all in this together. Cheering each other on toward our futures is the gift of community at MOPS.

We are so excited to journey alongside you this year as we ask one another what it means to “Be you, Bravely.”

Theme Verse:  Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.  Isaiah 43:18-19   (NIV)

Join Us September 5 For A New Year of MOPS!

The Steering Team has been busy all summer making plans for an amazing year with all of you!  We are so excited and we think this year will be one of the best ever!  Our theme this year will really stretch all of us and provide a lot of encouragement, and we have some great speakers lined up and some really fun crafts planned, too.

Our first meeting of the 2014-2015 year will be on September 5.  (The rest of the year's schedule is posted here!)  Make sure to reserve your spot now and register today!

If you're just learning about MOPS and you have questions, check out our FAQ page or email us at valleyspringsmops@gmail.com.  We'd love to see you on September 5!

Under Construction

We are busy getting ready for our fall session and we are really excited about it!  We are making a number of changes to the website in the meantime, so please pardon our dust.  Check back soon for more information about the fall session and our new theme!

Clothing Swap FAQs

Everyone should be receiving an Evite to our Clothing Swap on January 25 at 7pm. We hope everyone can come! It's a great opportunity to freshen up your wardrobe for free!

Here is some further information about the swap:

What do I bring?

• Either an appetizer or dessert to share.
• If you would like to participate in the clothing swap, please bring between three and ten items with you that you no longer want. The items should be clean and in good condition (i.e., no stains, rips, holes, or broken zippers). In addition to clothing, feel free to bring shoes and accessories like purses, scarves, and jewelry! This swap is for women’s items only.
• A bag to carry home your treasures in.
• If you just made a Goodwill run or don’t want to participate in the swap, please join us anyway for food and fun!

How does it work?

Each person will get to bring home at least as many pieces as they brought. We will begin by eating and socializing, and you will have the opportunity to browse the items and try things on if you want. Then we will pick names and each person will have the opportunity to choose up to three items to take home. After the first round, everyone can shop again from the remaining items. Any leftover items will be donated (or if the items you brought weren’t chosen by anyone and you wish to take them home again, you are welcome to do so.)

If you have any further questions, please contact Natalie B!

New Year, New Semester of VSPC MOPS!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! We will have our first meeting of the new semester this Friday, January 10. Two of our steering team members, Andria Monson and Amy Pickens, will be sharing their stories with us. As usual, childcare opens at 9am and we will begin at 9:15am.

If you haven't yet registered for the new semester, please remember to do so. We have an exciting semester in store! We have planned some neat crafts for Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, guest speakers on topics like parenting and relationships, and more! Please join us!

If you need a scholarship, we have a few available thanks to our successful fundraiser in November. Email us at andria.mops@yahoo.com or talk to Sara Hyun on Friday.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday!

Sneak Peek of Our Speaker This Friday!

Our speaker this Friday will be Genny Heikka, and the topic will be "Mommy Bliss."  What exactly is "mommy bliss" and how do we find it?  Here's Genny to explain and give you a little sense of what she will have to say on Friday!

Friendship Tea Fundraiser

This Saturday is our Friendship Tea fundraiser!  You should have received an email from Andria tonight confirming the food items and shift times. If you signed up to bring a food item, please remember to bring it with you this Friday to our MOPS meeting.  If you signed up to bring a food item or volunteered for a shift and you are unable to do so now, please let Andria know (andria.mops@yahoo.com) no later than Wednesday so we can get all of our bases covered.  Thank you for all of your help in making this fundraiser a success!

Top Ten Reasons to Join MOPS This Year!

If you are still thinking about whether you should join MOPS this year, here are ten great reasons!  Our fall semester begins September 6, don't miss it!  Register today!

Top Ten Reasons to Join MOPS

10.  You'll get to finish a hot cup of coffee at least twice a month.

9.  Mentor Moms: Perspective, wisdom, and advice on how to get your toddler to pee pee in the potty,  
     already!

8.  No worries about making pies for Thanksgiving.  'Nuff said.

7.  Relevant guest speakers who will show us how to embrace who we are and share ourselves
     authentically with others, along with practical information on how to make our "Beautiful Mess" a
     tad less messy!

6.  Get rid of some of your "Pinterest guilt" by making at least seven cute and useful crafts this year!

5.  Enjoy a yummy hot breakfast at each meeting that you didn't have to make and that no one is
     demanding bites of.

4.  Who needs "Vegas, baby!" when you'll have a chance to win at every MOPS meeting in our raffle!

3.  Great conversation that does not revolve around princesses, Cars, or what happens when you give a
     mouse a cookie.

2.  Would you rather be doing the laundry?!

And the top reason for joining MOPS this year?

1.  Community and friendship with other moms in the same stage of life who get it!

BOZ the Bear, Our MOPPETS Curriculum This Year!

With only a few short weeks until our first meeting on September 6, the Steering Team is busy getting everything ready for a fun year!  We are especially excited about our MOPPETS curriculum this year, BOZ the Bear.  While you enjoy "adult time" and a nice breakfast, your children will be having a blast learning with BOZ!  The lessons value faith, family, education, and positive social behaviors.  The curriculum was developed with MOPPETS in mind and written by Dr. Mary Manz Simon.  Dr. Simon holds a Ph. D in Education and is a MOPS International advisor. 

Here's a little more about BOZ:

BOZ is a whimsical green bear who loves exploring God’s world. A trusted friend, BOZ is loved by the Baxter kids, Drew and Gracie, along with their parents and grandparents, and everyone else in the neighborhood. 

His tree house in the Baxters' backyard is a common starting point for new adventures…and what adventures there are! From running and jumping and dancing, to reading and singing and playing make-believe, there’s always something fun to do with his friends! 

With a spirit filled with joy and a stomach filled with fruit, BOZ knows every day is a gift from God!

Instagram vs. Reality

The ladies at Scottsdale Bible Church MOPS in Arizona created this funny video to illustrate how different reality is from what you see other moms posting online! If you feel like your life is a mess, you're not alone! Come to MOPS this year and join us as we embrace our stories, messy or not, and build authentic friendships!

Park Play Dates and Pardon Our Dust!

Hi Ladies! This coming Tuesday we'll meet at Hillsborough Park
(1001 Hillsborough Dr
Roseville CA ) at 9am.

If you are interested in the remaining play dates, the rest are listed below.

Also, pardon our transition as we update this blog. The new co-coordinators can be reached at:
andria.mops@yahoo.com and this email will be added to the blog soon. Pardon our dust!!


Park Play dates:

Tues	30-Jul	9-10:30am	Whitney Park	1801 Whitney Ranch Parkway Rocklin, CA	This park has a water play area, so bring the swim suits, water shoes, and beach towels.  There is also a very large play structure for older kids and a small play structure for little kids.
Tues	13-Aug	9-10:30am	Mahany Park	1545 Pleasant Grove Blvd Roseville, CA	This is the park behind the library - if you're facing the library, walk around to the left.
Tues	27-Aug	9-10:30am	Madera Park	8048 Wonder St, Citrus Heights, CA	The playground is a great one. It has two playgrounds, one for older and one your younger. It has small and big swings. It has a fence that goes around the playground area, so there are only two ways in and out of the area. It is easy to keep track of your little ones. There is lots of shade at this park, which is great in the summer. Bathroom facilities are across the parking lot next to the tennis and ball fields.

Park play dates!

Hi MOPS moms!
Welcome to summer! Our Valley Springs MOPS group will kick off our park play dates this Tuesday at Maidu Regional Park from 9-10:30am.  
If you've never joined us for a MOPS meeting, please come! We'd love to meet you and let our kids play.
See you there!

New Facebook Page

If you're on Facebook then we need to be friends! It's easier than ever now with our new Facebook Page. Simply follow the link and "like" us. We're now a page rather than a person with the hope that it will be easier for everyone on the page to communicate with each other. The old MOPS facebook page will be shut down in the near future.

https://www.facebook.com/valleysprings.mops?ref=ts&fref=ts#!/vspcmops

Feed My Starving Children

Once again we have the opportunity to partner with Valley Springs and Feed My Starving Children. Our group will be packing meals on Friday, November 16th from 6-8pm. Follow the link and click Join Team to register. You must pre-register in order to attend the event. Please register early as the group organizers will start asking for any open spots as we get closer to the event as these spots are in high demand. https://www.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=1012261&lis=1&kntae1012261=0293615CE8854F7FBCD6069BD690ABE2&supId=369557348&team=5305285 We will see a short clip about this food packing event on Friday at MOPS but here is a run down of what FMSC is all about:

Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) was founded as a Christian nonprofit in 1987 through the efforts of a Minnesota businessman who felt called by God to help feed the starving children of the world during a humanitarian visit to Honduras. He returned to the Twin Cities (Minnesota) to develop a method of large-scale relief.
In 1989, FMSC connected with food scientists from Cargill and General Mills to develop a nutritional product especially for FMSC to feed starving children. This food product included rice, soy, vegetables, a vegetarian-based chicken flavoring, and a vitamin and mineral mix. Food scientists continue to update the formula.
In addition to creating this formula, FMSC sought to develop a cost-effective means of producing the meals in quantities that would make a real difference in alleviating world hunger. Initially, FMSC tested packaging machines, but this method proved to be expensive and cumbersome. In 1993, a church group stopped by the FMSC facility to pursue volunteer opportunities with FMSC. That providential meeting gave birth to FMSC’s volunteer-packing approach.
To distribute the packed meals, the FMSC team began establishing partnerships with major global distribution nonprofits and imbedded missionaries such as Salesian Missions, Love A Child, Cross International, Samaritans International, and World in Need. These partnerships allow FMSC to reach desperately needy children in remote parts of the world by leveraging the partner's in-country expertise. This expertise allows the partner to help ensure that the orphanages, schools and facilities for disabled children are provided hot, nutritious meals—and a ray of hope for the future.
In December of 2003, FMSC’s Board of Directors voted to rededicate the organization to Christ. Since that moment, FMSC’s growth has been virtually exponential. In 2003 FMSC produced 3 million meals with one packing site and 17,000 volunteers. By 2011 FMSC produced over 133 million meals with 6 permanent packing sites, and a nationwide MobilePack program, and more than 565,000 volunteers.