HOM Playdate

There was a great HOM playdate at Peter Depena Reserve, Dolls Point on 12 May 2009, with:

• Danielle Hodgetts and her girls Breanna, Chloe and Mikayla with friend Laura
• Narrelle and Adam Blanning with Liam, Joel and Ethan
• Andrew and Peta Cooke with Lily, Harper and Beatrix and nanna Neta

Here's a photo of the Blannings and Cookes rocking the boat.

Cheers

Peta

May Committee Meeting

We had our committee meeting last night at the Gymea Hotel. We're trying to find a suitable winter location, somewhere indoors, warm, able to get a hot/cold beverage and able to hear each other speak!
Whilst the hotel would be a great place to meet for a social night out it wasn't so good for a committee meeting as it was very busy and thus very noisy. Next month we'll be back to the Royal Hotel, Sutherland unless anyone has any better suggestions. We did have a fun night though and much was discussed.
We have planned our first Family Day for Sunday 21st June at Miranda Centenary Park and our first Parents Night out for Monday 20th July at the Gymea Hotel, as well as the regular Area Rep playdates, Mums'n'Bubs group and Playday!
We're still looking to hold a kids disco, probably in September and a 'Nearly New' sale in October. We'll be explaining more about these events in the coming weeks.
We talked a bit about fundraising and Jo Whitton had drafted a great letter to send to local MPs asking for their support in order for us to produce and distribute our much needed newsletter.
Our first large event is coming up at the end of this month, 27th May. It's the New Mums Lunch for which Maureen Bourke is heading-up the sub-committee. For those of you who have been invited to this event, you should have received your invitation in the post and we really do need you to RSVP in order for us to know catering numbers. I can vouch that this is a fabulous event and one very worthwhile attending. I made some great friends from meeting other parents at the lunch I went to a couple of years ago and it was brilliant to know that I was experiencing the same ups and downs as other multiple mums which really helped me through the first few years!
Here's a photo of us having fun at our meeting -

(L-R: Linda, Laura, Sam, Maureen, Danielle, Jo, Kat, Peta)

First Committee Meeting with SSMBA's 2009 Committee

The newly elected committee for 2009 had their first committee meeting, Monday 20th April. There was much discussed by a very enthusiastic group of members and many new and exciting ideas were put forward.
It was agreed the committee would again organise a New Mums Lunch, to be held either late May/early June; family days will keep running (one to be held each quarter), as well as regular parents nights out (again, aim is for one per quarter, more if attendance is good).
The discussion of new ideas included:

• Refresh SSMBA Constitution
• Refresh SSMBA Website
• Advertising policy to be devised
• Online social calendar to be completed/published
• Greater use of SSMBA Blog
• Kids Disco - last years very successful, aim to hold another in Sept '09
• Organise a 'Nearly New Sale' - aim for Aug & Dec
• Competition for new SSMBA logo design

Please remember that Committee Meetings are open to all our members to attend. For details of monthly meetings please refer to the calendar page at the back of the newsletter. The next one will be held on Monday 11th May, 8pm at Gymea Pub, Gymea...who needs an excuse to come out for a drink?!

We ARE going ahead with Xmas Picnic

Just to let you know our 2008 SSMBA Xmas Picnic is going ahead. According to the radar on Weatherzone (http://www.weatherzone.com.au)/ the showers are clearing and it looks the sun might very well make an appearance! The temperature forecast is 26ºC, currently at 19ºC.
The ground will be a bit wet but shouldn't be muddy so please bring your picnic blankets or something to put on the ground that you can sit on.
For those of you who have beach wind shelters/small tents, bring those along to sit under in case of a small shower...however, those showers should be gone very soon!

Mrs Clause has been on the phone to tell us that Santa is already on his way there and will be joining us sometime later on. Our clowns are still coming and of don't forget we will be selling boxes of Krispy Kremes!!!

We look forward to seeing you all there.
Merry Christmas from the SSMBA 2008 Committee

Family Day Picnic 23rd November is CANCELLED

Due to the cold, wet, windy weather we are cancelling our Family Day Picnic.
Sorry for the short notice but we've been holding off to see if it brightened up a bit but think it's just too cold to sit outside for any length of time today. Weatherzone is showing there to be plenty of showers around - http://www.weatherzone.com.au/local/local.jsp?lt=aploc&lc=1283

Hopefully see you at the SSMBA Christmas Party at Carss Bush Park, Blakehurst on Sunday 7th December.

Family Day Sunday 19th October 2008

We are recommencing the SSMBA Family Day's this Sunday, 19th October. As our very first location was such a success we have decided to hold it there again - at Stanwell Beach Park from 10am.

Note: the park we are going to is on Station Street - see map below.

We will be meeting at one of the undercover picnic area points (that is, if we get there early enough to grab one!) and will have our SSMBA banner blowing in the wind so you can see where we are! There is a great playground for the kids with a little bike track, bbqs, picnic tables and plenty of spots to throw down a picnic blanket.

All parents of multiples are welcome and we look forward to seeing you there. Please note, if it is torrential rain on the day then we will unfortunately need to cancel this event. However, you can contact Katrina Carroll (0400 356 928) on the day to confirm if Family Day is going ahead if the weather is looking a bit dubious.

CDSE Grant News!

Yesterday we received notification from Simon de Munck, General Manager of Club Rivers stating our CDSE grant application had been successful. The application was submitted by SSMBA in April this year asking for financial assistance for the production and distribution of our 2008/09 newsletter.
Mr de Munck said, "I am happy to report that Club Rivers has considered your application favourably and decided to fund your entire application to the tune of $5,000.00 – well done!"
Linda Allen, SSMBA President said, "Thanks to Vice President, Katrina Carroll and helpers for their great work. Our application requested funding to ensure continued circulation of our newsletter to not just our members, but now also to medical professionals, family support groups, baby health centres and the many others that provide services to multiple birth families in our community."
Katrina Carroll, SSMBA Vice-President, thanked Mr de Munck on behalf of the committee and added, "We should be able to do so much more for our members now, raise SSMBA's profile and thus increase awareness of our existence! Our committee feels very passionate of our club's importance within the community and this shows we're not the only ones. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to apply for the grant."
Needless to say, there was a flurry of email between the SSMBA committee and Mr de Munck expressing gratitude and general elation!
What fantastic news!!