 Be Like Donna Skinner-Caring for Our Neighbors By: Erin Edwards Donna Skinner is the epitome of what community is all about. She has given selflessly to the community in her role at the Falmouth public libraries, specifically to the development of our younger citizens . She has cultivated community for parents and helped open the eyes to all that is wonderful about books. Additionally she taught countless Zumba classes and made women and men alike feel comfortable to get out there and into fitness in a fun way fun. Donna was one of the first to step forward and help support the summer retreat event for Good Grief Cape Cod to help children and their families cope with the loss of a loved one. She brought so much joy to that day as they danced away the grief. She has given her life and time in service to others, our community and our children. It’s time for us to give back and help support her. She suffered the unspeakable loss of her dear husband in September and has been unable to return to work due to medical issues. As we close out 2020 and go into 2021 try to lead by example and be like Donna. Show the world how generous and loving we can all be. Help bring more support and kindness. Be a beacon of hope during dark times. The world certainly needs it! Please donate If you are able or share , let’s all help Donna out! Donate here or if you can't pay it forward to someone who is deserving in honor of people like Donna, who we desperately need more people like in this world. Happy New Year! DONATE to DONNA  Erin Edwards, is a Licensed Nurse Practitioner at SouthCoast Health and owner of Upper Cape Med Aesthetics. She resides on the Upper Cape with her two children whom she loves dearly. She loves the beach and supporting her community.
1 Comment
 Picture courtesy of Heritage Gardens Gardens Aglow 2020 By: Molly Gardens Aglow is back this year with some changes for the pandemic. I was given two tickets to Gardens Aglow on 12/3 at 6:30pm in return for an unbiased blog post about the event. Gardens Aglow at Heritage Gardens is open Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night from 4:30-8:30pm with timed tickets starting on the half hour. You may arrive 30 minutes before your timed ticket time to park and bundle up and stay as long as you want until close. Tickets cost $18 Adult, $16 Adult Member, $9 Youth (Ages 3-17), $8 Member Youth (Ages 3-17) and free for children 2 or younger and is currently sold out. Food can be bought at the Cafe and from the food trucks.  We arrived right at 6pm on Thursday night with temperatures in the low forties so bundled up everyone was comfortable. Due to the pandemic Gardens Aglow was a little different this year. For starters everything including Santa is outside so no car museum, exhibit buildings or carousel. They did a wonderful job of setting the train up outside by the windmill and lighting the whole new area that is behind the windmill and wraps back around to the main path. On this path there are some beautiful projected lights on the trees. Santa can be found on the outdoor stage but we didn't take an up close look as the kids were not interested. We wound our way down through the gardens by finding each of the eight reindeer and saved marshmallow roasting for last and to do on the way out (the pits are next to the cafe this year). All the lights were beautiful. My favorites were the flower lights by the windmill and the lights projected on the trees. My only complaint is it was more crowded than I expected and socially dstancing by others was lacking at times. Words can’t really capture the lights so here are some pictures.
The Parent Pod is a weekly virtual show brought to you by Cape Cod Moms and featuring local family friendly businesses, highlighting local parents, discussing important topics, spreading some kindness and more! Be sure to submit questions, submit a friend to win a prize & join us LIVE for other prizes! This week on Thursday December 10th we will be joined by guest co-host, Alexandra Speck and local mixologist, David McLean and we will mixing up some fun holiday cocktails and sharing a delicious recipe for a spirit free holiday sangria! All recipes appear below in this blog! So tune in LIVE on our Facebook Page or our YouTube Page at 8pm!  Spirit Free Sangria Christmas Mule 1.) Add 1.5 oz Deep Eddy Cranberry vodka (leftover from Fall cocktails) 2.) Add 2 oz approx. of ginger beer 3.) Accentuate with a mint sprig Spirit Free version: Substitute Regular Cranberry juice for the vodka. Eggnog Martini 1.) Ice the shaker 2.) Add 1/4 glass egg nog 3.) Add 1 oz butterscotch schnapps 4.) Add 1.5 oz Captain Morgan rum 5.) Sprinkle with your choice nutmeg, cinnamon or cardamom. Spirit Free Version: Eggnog Shake- Combine 1 cup vanilla ice cream (or eggnog ice cream), chocolate chips in blender under smooth and the sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Chocolate Peppermint Martini 1.) Rim job: Coat rim of glass in honey/agave/syrup (your choice) 2.) Rub rim in a plate of crushed candy cane. 3.) 1 oz peppermint schnapps 4.) 1 oz Godiva or chocolate liquor 5.) 1 oz vanilla vodka 6.) 1/2 Baileys Spirit Free Version: Do rim. Add 3 oz milk or almond milk (your choice), 1 oz of vanilla syrup, sprinkle cocoa powder on top.   Holiday traditions New and Old for 2020
By: Molly This year we can't do all our traditional holiday activities but we still plan on doing some activities. Here is what we have planned. Ice cream sundaes: Usually we go to Local Scoop but this year we will make ice cream sundaes at home. If you want to support your favorite ice cream place get pints of ice cream from them. Make cookies here are some of my favorites: Toll House cookies Chocolate peanut butter cookies Gingerbread cookies Chocolate pretzels Gardens Aglow at Heritage Gardens: Look for my blog post coming soon. Make Gingerbread houses: This year we are using premade kits. Winter Solstice Celebration: For Winter Solstice we make a braise with Lamb/beef and lots of root vegetables and have gingerbread for dessert. Reading Holiday books: A few of my favorites are The Cobweb Christmas, The Polar Express and Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins. Making homemade hot chocolate: My favorite recipe is the Taza one. As we come up on a year of the global pandemic, many things remain restricted or canceled but KINDNESS, HOPE & LOVE remain! For the past 7 years we have annually celebrated the Holidays with a massive local giveaway. This year in the spirit of giving and of service to our community as well as love, we will instead highlight 24 days of local non profit organizations in our region showcasing how vitally important they are! Feel free to share your favorites or share your story in the comments below! #faithhopelove #attitudeofgratitude #holidayseason #giveuntoothers #serviceaboveself #capecod #community #oneplanet  Sandwich Partnership for Families is a grant funded program through the Mass. Dept. of Early Ed. & Care, the Coordinated Family & Community Engagement grant (CFCE). That means all of their programs are free and have no eligibility requirement- income, special needs, residency- none are barriers to participation- everyone is welcome at any of the CFCE’s on the Cape. And every town is served by one! They offer parent & child programs such as play groups, music & movement, yoga, story hours, etc. The coordinator is local parent, Lauren Melillo. Lauren is an early childhood educator since 1979, and has worked in many public and non-profit early education programs, including 19 years with the Sandwich Public Schools. As founder of the Discovery Center, her duties include grant funding, outreach & communication as well as the development of program offerings & supervision of operations.
Due to the pandemic they are now offering more virtual programming to help you engage with them and with your children, but in a limited screen format. Knowing that young children learn best through “hands on” experiences, they will be sharing ideas and materials to use at home. Simply register for their programs and they will deliver the supplies necessary for each project. Beginning this month, Lauren M will be making a holiday greens arrangement that you can make with your child. Lauren G. will be making cinnamon & applesauce ornaments to decorate wreaths, trees & bird feeders! Miss Chris will be making cards that can be shared with those you love, but also with those that are less fortunate. They hope you will consider making one card for our Youth Street Reach charitable drive. If you can donate a piece of winter outerwear, such as mittens, hats or gloves, they will send them along with your child’s card and warm wishes! They also have a Home Is Where The Heart Is Adoption Support Group Dec. 11th @ 8 p.m. Zoom meetings. They also offer ages and stages virtual appointments as well as help with bills, food costs, mortgage or rent. Thank you to Lauren Melillo and her team at Sandwich Partnership for Families who work tirelessly to help our families in their time of need. Please take a minute and check out their website. As we come up on a year of the global pandemic, many things remain restricted or canceled but KINDNESS, HOPE & LOVE remain! For the past 7 years we have annually celebrated the Holidays with a massive local giveaway. This year in the spirit of giving and of service to our community as well as love, we will instead highlight 24 days of local non profit organizations in our region showcasing how vitally important they are! Feel free to share your favorites or share your story in the comments below! #faithhopelove #attitudeofgratitude #holidayseason #giveuntoothers #serviceaboveself #capecod #community #oneplanet  Good Grief Cape Cod is a vital resource for the Cape Cod region. In a culture that often avoids talking about loss, Good Grief Cape Cod holds a great emphasis on and support for research that children of all ages do grieve. They provide community engagement opportunities and educational workshops to show our community different ways to help children and families cope with death and loss. Good Grief Cape Cod was founded by local parent, Amy Wyman, a music therapist with a duel degree in Early Childhood Education and Child Life from Wheelock as well as a Masters in Expressive Art Therapies with a specialization in Music Therapy from Lesley University. Her dedication to ensuring that our most vulnerable population's emotional and mental health needs are met is absolutely critical especially now more than ever. Amy's passion of always looking for ways to serve her community and make the world a better place are to be admired. The organization is an initiative under the umbrella of Falmouth Together We Can, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Good Grief Cape Cod also works in partnership with several local practitioners and organizations which include: Coalition for Children, Sandwich Partnership for Families, Cape Cod Family Resource Center, Bourne for Children, DCF, Cape Cod Veterans Outreach Center, and Hope Health. Two summers ago Good Grief Cape Cod held an all day retreat for children and families at Camp Lyndon. The day was beautifully executed with dance therapy, art therapy, music therapy and so much more! The joy that was readily apparent on our local children's faces, who have had the unthinkable happen thru the loss of a parent or loved one, was the greatest gift to witness that day. The care that Good Grief took in ensuring a calming and safe place to share their stories and grief was amazing. For many years now we have partnered with Amy Wyman and Good Grief Cape Cod to assist with their outreach and to help families find the resources they need during difficult periods of their lives. We have had Amy as a guest speaker at our annual Parent Resource Fair for several year as well as on The Parent Pod to discuss Tough Topics which can be viewed by clicking those links. The information she has shared in helping educate our parents and caregivers on how to talk to our kids about gried is vital. Thank you to Good Grief Cape Cod and to Amy who works tirelessly to help our families in their critical time of need. Please take a minute and check out their updated website and donate to their organization if you can.  The Parent Pod is a weekly virtual show brought to you by Cape Cod Moms and featuring local family friendly businesses, highlighting local parents, discussing important topics, spreading some kindness and more! Be sure to submit questions, submit a friend to win a prize & join us LIVE for other prizes! This week on Thursday December 3rd we will be joined by guest, Tracy Lamperti and we will be discussing 10 Essentials for Intimacy! Children thrive when their parents thrive! Whether your thriving or surviving, giving special care to these 10 essentials will benefit you! Moms, bring your guy or partner to this one! So tune in LIVE on our Facebook Page or our YouTube Page at 8pm! As we come up on a year of the global pandemic, many things remain restricted or canceled but KINDNESS, HOPE &LOVE remain! For the past 7 years we have annually celebrated the Holidays with a massive local giveaway. This year in the spirit of giving and of service to our community as well as love, we will instead highlight 24 days of local non profit organizations in our region showcasing how vitally important they are! Feel free to share your favorites or share your story in the comments below! #faithhopelove #attitudeofgratitude #holidayseason #giveuntoothers #serviceaboveself #capecod #community #oneplanet  Children's Cove always comes to the top of our mind as one of the most vital and important resources our community and region has to offer. For over 23 years now they have dedicated themselves to being on the front lines helping to assist and protect our most vulnerable population. In the now established age of virtual learning and more kids than ever being online, our kids are now bigger targets than they have ever been and all too often it can be easy to miss small signs.
Children’s Cove provides compassionate, comprehensive, and collaborative response services at no cost to survivors of child abuse through its evidence-based programs, network of community partnerships, educational outreach and awareness efforts. Its multidisciplinary team works together to empower survivors, promote healthy outcomes, and help mitigate the stigma of child abuse. They are located in Hyannis but serve all of the Cape and Islands. Additionally they really focus on education. They provide free talks, education and training throughout the community. They have volunteers that raise awareness and create connections to us to help provide services and support to those in need. They encourage all of us to have conversations with your children about body safety, prevention, and anything else that is important. Start those conversations EARLY and have them often. It’s never too early to start, but it can feel like it is too late to start. For many years now we have partnered with Children's Cove to assist with their outreach and to help break the stigma that surrounds this topic. We have had Outreach Coordinator, Jacob Stapledon on a few times to discuss both Body Safety and Tough Topics which both can be viewed by clicking those links. The information they have shared in helping education our parents and caregivers is crucial to any adult raising children as well as educating the next generation about their bodies and boundaries. Thank you to Children's Cove and their amazing dedicated team who work tirelessly to help, protect and educate us. Please take a minute and check out their updated website which includes: online safety tips, tips for teachers, signs that a child needs help, answers how YOU can get involved and give of yourself, and even more! |
Parent Resource GuideTravel & VacationsCape Cod BirthdaysCape Cod Family
|
Cape Cod Moms Blog Mommies Mom Blog Parenting Blog Product Reviews, Stories, Resources, Calendar, Local, Support, Events
- Home
-
Mommy Blog
- The Parent Pod
- Cape Kids Cast
- Dads' Den
- Family Climate Series
- Family Dynamics Series
- Navigating Separation & Divorce Series
- Travel & Vacations
- Sex Abuse Series
- Book Reviews
- Interviews With ShopLocal Bussinesses
- Babysitting Safety Series
- Etiquette Series
- Home-School Series
- Love Series
- Infant Sleep Series
- PTSD Series
- About Us
- Calendar
- Parent Resource Fair
- Resources
- Directory
RSS Feed
