June 2012 Monthly Meeting – Date Change!
Please note that we are meeting on the FIRST Tuesday of June! Join us at 6:30 pm at First Baptist Concord – Westlake on June 5th at 6:30 pm for a combo night of crafts and club business.
We will elect our officers for the coming year, and discuss the next 6 months of activities. We would love your input! We will also make cute flower topped ink pens. These are a great small thank you for summer camp teachers, swim instructors, babysitters and more!
Please bring a small snack to share with everyone. We encourage expecting families of multiples to attend and get to know us! As always, nursing infants are welcome. Hope to see you soon.
Image from Funky Junky Vintage on Etsy!
Club Shirts
We want YOU to have a KMC shirt! If you’ve already paid, your shirts are here and will be at the next several meetings. If you didn’t pre-order a shirt but you think they are pretty darn cute, we do have a few extras. Available sizes and quantities are: 3 YXS, 3 YS, 1 M, 3 L and 1 XL. The cost is $10 per shirt.
Please send Anna a message if you’d like to reserve a shirt for you or your kiddos: anna @ lawrencegirls.com (no spaces)
If you don’t see your size, you may order directly from Custom Ink, but your cost will be higher since you are ordering a lower quantity.
Spring Event = FUN!
KMC would like to say a great big thank you to all the families that came out to our Spring Event at RiverView Family Farm! Thanks to Judi at Endless Impressions Painted Faces and also to Lisa at Royal Magic Events for some amazing balloon creations. Ally Todd Portrayals captured some great shots of the day, and we will share these on our Facebook page later this week.
We hope you and your little people had a great time, and we are excited to see you all again this Fall at the pumpkin patch!
Making Whole Foods Happen
Chef Ellie Maben talked to us at last night’s meeting about incorporating healthier food choices in your family’s diet. I wanted to share a few tips and tricks for those of you that couldn’t make it to the meeting! My notes (Anna) are in italics.
* Plan your weekly meals in advance and use coupons to cut costs. Personally, I use eMeals because it matches up store sales to a weekly menu plan, and sends it all to me each Wednesday. Our family receives the Natural and Organic Meal Plan, and it does rely almost entirely on whole foods made from scratch. They have vegetarian, gluten-free menus, low-carb and low-fat menus, and you choose the store you want to shop at locally. I used a Dave Ramsey code, and three months of weekly menus was approximately $15.
* Stick to your shopping list! You can’t make unhealthy food choices if unhealthy food doesn’t live in your pantry. Keep good snack choices on hand for your family. Cut up fresh fruit and veggies in advance to store in the fridge, and offer cheese, yogurt and whole grain crackers before treats.
* To satisfy a sweet tooth, make smoothies or smoothie pops with ripe bananas, milk or yogurt, fresh or frozen berries, a little honey and a dash of vanilla (my kids don’t realize a difference when I sneak a handful of spinach in their smoothies, so long as there are blueberries to mask the green color). Ellie brought Tovolo Ice Pop Molds to show us. They come in fun shapes, like ice cream cones, and they are available on Amazon for $10-12. Ellie suggested the book, Pops!: Icy Treats for Everyone for recipes.
* Shop the outside perimeter of the store where most whole foods can be found; think produce, meat, grains and dairy. Become a label reader, and make conscious choices regarding the ingredients in your food. Look for excess sodium, added sugar or high fructose corn syrup, MSG in all it’s names, etc.
* If your children are too distracting while you are shopping, try to leave them at home. I prefer to bring my iPod and shop alone for a little “me” time!
* Buy whole grains in bulk at places like Kroger, Earthfare, Three Rivers Market, etc. and store them in your freezer in air tight containers. You will save a wad of cash, and everything will store for about a year. Add whole grains to foods your family already eats instead of going full-force; for example, oatmeal pancakes or chocolate chip cookies with whole wheat pastry flour and oatmeal. Use one piece of white bread and one piece of wheat when making a sandwich. Mix whole wheat pasta half and half with white pasta. Try tri-colored spiral pasta as a fun kid-friendly choice. Pick a new grain to try, like quinoa, and cook it one night per week for several months.
* Shop farmer’s markets if possible or plant a small family garden. If that isn’t feasible for your budget, ask your local grocery store produce manager to include more locally grown veggies and fruit to their store. Earthfare, Food City and Butler and Bailey are known to do this in our area already. Awhile back, I wrote two articles pertaining to organic and local produce; check them out for more information: Community Supported Agriculture in East Tennessee and Organic or Not.
* Pack your kids lunches a few times a week, or more if possible! Ellie brought the Laptop Lunch set to show us. It’s approximately $35 and comes with a lunchbox, carrier, drink container and recipe book. You can get just the lunchbox and recipe book for around $25.
* Make food fun! There were great ideas in the book Ellie brought: First Meals by Annabel Karmel. Add silly faces to open face sandwiches or pizzas. Use small vegetable cutters for cheese, fruit and veggies.
* Try to avoid cooking different meals for various members of the family. We have a long-standing rule that if you aren’t going to eat the dinner that was prepared, you may have a slice of bread with almond or peanut butter. I always prepare one vegetable side that I know the whole family will eat. Remember, that kids need to try a food at minimum TEN times before they will readily eat it and like it. Don’t give up after one attempt!
* Sneak veggies and fruit into breads, deserts, pasta sauce and smoothies! Check out The Sneaky Chef for ideas! After awhile, you will find your kids don’t even care that you add squash to muffins and spinach to smoothies. Mine know all my “secrets” now, and they are happy to gobble up the hidden veggies.
* Simplify your meals and try not to be a control freak. It is much easier to change your diet gradually, and you don’t want mealtime to seem like a punishment for the whole family. Although I use eMeals, I always keep a couple Newmans Own pizzas in the freezer and I always have things on hand to make Breakfast for Dinner or Grilled Cheese and Soup. The kids love asking for a “fun” night, and it stretches the planned meals out longer.
* Ellie suggested making a huge pot of brown rice, and storing it in the fridge for weekly dinners. I find that it’s easier to eat whole foods when I bake a big batch of muffins or pancakes once per week and freeze them. The same goes for chopping onions, carrots, etc. The less work I have each night, the more likely we are to stay on track, and not run out to Panera!
Good Books:
* King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking
* Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
* The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids’ Favorite Meals
These are two of my favorites, that I use quite often in our kitchen.
* Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers
* Simple Food for Busy Families
Recipes
* Brainy Brownies from The Sneaky Chef
* Morning Glory Muffins (Gluten Free Option, too) from Whole Foods Market^
* Buttermilk Quinoa Pancakes from Pen & Fork^
^These aren’t the exact recipes Ellie shared, I found links to very similar versions, so I wouldn’t have to type more!
April 2012 Monthly Meeting – Healthy Cooking!
Please plan to join us on April 10th at 6:30 PM for a super meeting: our very own Chef, Ellie Maben, will guide us through making meals and treats that are both healthy and tasty!
Ellie will discuss shopping tricks, incorporating whole foods in your family’s diet, and she will have samples and recipes for us.
Please bring your favorite healthy snack to share with everyone!
We will be back at First Baptist Concord, Westlake Campus, for this meeting. Adults only, please… nursing infants welcome!
March 2012 Monthly Meeting – Wasabi!
To celebrate a successful sale, we decided to detour from our normal meeting location at First Baptist Concord, and dine out at Wasabi Japanese Steakhouse!
Plan to join us at the 226 Lovell Road location at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, March 13th. If you don’t want to have a full dinner, feel free to have a drink and pick up your tags. Wasabi offers both Japanese grill-style dinner and a full sushi menu. We have a couple of awesome door prizes to hand out from our sale sponsors: Scentsy and Petros.
We hope to see you there!
Thank You!
We would like to thank each and every person that shopped, consigned, volunteered and worked with us to make this sale one of our best ever! If you would like to sign up for KMC updates, there is a Subscribe link to the right. Please enter your E-mail address and be the first to know the dates of our Fall / Winter Sale!
We appreciate the links from both Family Friendly Knoxville and Knox To Do – if you haven’t checked out these sites, please do for a wealth of information for families!
The Knoxville Multiples Club would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to the local businesses who contributed to the sponsorship of our Spring 2012 Consignment Sale. Please join us in supporting the following sponsors with your business:
SmartBank
www.smartbank.net
State Farm – Cindy Doyle
www.CindyDoyle.com
Chick-Fil-A West Double Drive-Thru
www.chickfila.com
Humana – Wilson Valenzuela
WValenzuela@Humana.com
Kids at Play, Inc.
kidsatplayinc@comcast.net
Knoxville Academy of Martial Arts
www.rbkama.com
Mary Kay – Claire Edwards
www.marykay.com/cedwards22
Moe’s at Northshore
www.moes.com
Concord Christian School
www.concordchristianschool.org
The Fireside and Patio Shop
www.thefiresideandpatioshop.com
31 Gifts – Tiffany Roy
www.my31.com/tiffanyroy
Riverview Farms
www.RiverViewFamilyFarm.com
Usborne Books – Karen Hardin
www.myubam.com/K3325
Friendship Church
www.myfriendshipchurch.com
Papa John’s
www.papajohns.com
Kelly Chiropractic and Wellness Center
www.chirokell.com
Lia Sophia – Tammy West
tammywest@live.com
Bunny Nose Boutique
bunnynoseboutique@gmail.com
RainWater Farm
www.RainWaterFarm.com
Scentsy – Dawn Davis
www.DawnsScents.Scentsy.com
Summit View of Farragut
www.summitviewoffarragut.com
Target at Ray Mears Boulevard
www.target.com
MK Russell & Abbott Heating and Air
www.CleanAirComfort.com
Privett Insurance Group
www.privettinsurancegroup.com
Task Performance
www.Task-Performance.com
Cedar Springs Christian Store
www.cschristian.com
Nothing But Bounce
www.NothingButBounce.com
Petro’s
www.petros.com
Pei Wei Asian Diner in Turkey Creek
www.peiwei.com
Cosignment Sale Information!
To view the full size flyer, share on Facebook or with your friends via E-mail; please use the following link: http://i.imgur.com/WIsS3.png
Member sign-up is happening now, please contact Amy at Sale@knoxmultiplesclub.com. Non-Members may sign-up after February 1st, depending on space remaining.
Members in good standing ($40 annual dues paid) register for $10 and sign up to work one 4-hour shift; members receive 90% of their sales. Non-Members pay registration of $15 and sign up to work one 4-hour shift; non-members receive 80% of their sales. For more specific details, please contact Amy at the address above.
Items accepted for this sale include strollers, pack and plays, maternity clothing, baby and child furniture (disassembled), working toys with batteries included, outdoor toys, swimming items, swimsuits and Spring / Summer clothing (Preemie – Preteen), diapers, unopened formula, DVDs / VHS tapes / Electronic games and any miscellaneous child-friendly items. We do not accept car seats. All items must be in good usable condition.
This year, we will ONLY accept 3.5″x5″ index card tags, white or colored. If you are using old tags or paper slips, we will pull the clothing items. Please view the images below for a correct tagging example.
Upper Left = Seller Number (37)
Upper Right = Size
Middle = Detailed Description
Bottom Right = Price in $0.50 increments.
A Red Line means you do NOT want your item sold at half price.
Hang the tag on the right side of your clothing, hanging down so it won’t stick out of the items on the rack.
For help with pricing, check out Little Red Hen! She offers a free pricing guide download for the Knoxville area.
Members and Non-Member Consignors will get an E-mail approximately one week before the sale with early shopping details!
February 2012 Monthly Meeting – Sparty! *Please Note: 1st Tuesday instead of 2nd Tuesday!*
To celebrate all the love that our members give their families, KMC has a very special meeting planned for February!
The Appalachian Center for Healing Arts will be on site to offer free 10 minute chair massages! Get out those kinks and relax for a bit. KMC will provide tasty snacks and other pampering stations for you to enjoy. Don’t bring anything but yourself to this meeting, wear loose clothing and prepare to relax and rejuvenate.
We will be meeting on Tuesday, February the 7th instead of the second Tuesday of the month. We didn’t want to disrupt Valentine’s Day plans with your cutie! The meeting starts at 6:30 pm and massage sign-up will be on a first come basis, so you may want to arrive early.
Meetings are held at First Baptist Concord, Westlake Campus, at 9635 Westland Drive, Knoxville, TN 37922. We hope to see you there!
January 2012 Monthly Meeting – White Elephant Gift Swap and 2012 Resolutions!
Our monthly meeting for January will be held on Tuesday the 10th at 6:30 PM at First Baptist Concord, Westlake Campus. All parents of multiples are welcome to attend our meetings!
We will start the year off right with a discussion from Lisa Taylor from Clever Container. She’s ready to help us get organized, clean out the clutter and manage our chaotic lives with a bit more ease!
We’d like to invite you to kick off your organizing spree by bringing 1-3 gifts to participate in our White Elephant gift swap! Remember, gifts need to be at least $10 in value, brand-new and for an adult. Maybe you got something that doesn’t fit, or just isn’t your style; try your luck in the swap! We can’t guarantee you will get something the exact same value, but you will leave with the same number of items you bring.
As always, please bring a small snack to share! We hope to see you there.
If you have any questions, please contact Anna at President@KnoxMultiplesClub.com
