Tiny Tots and Toddlers with a Twist

I debated blogging about this because it's slightly awkward but this is life and I try to keep it as real as possible.  So when we moved into the house I joined 4 moms groups.  Why 4?  Because I wasn't sure how any of them were organized.  And because the only thing I knew I had in common with the other ladies was that we lived in the Las Vegas area and we had kids.  While raising kids is something I respect about any mother it isn't necessarily enough to create the strong friendships I hope to form.

One group I never went to.  No special reason just that they have a meet and greet each month and I couldn't attend the meetup in September and I guess I didn't want to wait until October.   I removed myself from the group.

Another group I went to once.  The women in this group were awesome as were the kids.  The kids were close in age to my little loves.  Before long, I realized the moms in this group that were actively participating were on the opposite side of town (30 minutes away).  I politely emailed the organizer and let her know I didn't want to be in the group because I wanted to find friends for my kiddos who lived closer to us.

It basically got down to the point where I spending time with two different mom's groups.   This is what I said about the groups a couple of weeks ago...
"This was our first meetup with Southwest Vegas Mommies.  I think I am going to LOVE this group!  All members of the group seem to stay pretty active.  It's wonderful because they have about 4 or 5 meetups scheduled each week and many of them are during the day.   The group has been around for a year or two so they are very organized.  Jocelyn, Charlie, and I are going to have fun exploring Las Vegas with this group!
The other group we joined is Mountain's Edge Moms and Kids.  Mountain's Edge is where we live and I love that they offer evening meetups at the playground so our whole family can go."

I got so frustrated with the Mountain's Edge Moms group because in my opinion it was incredibly disorganized.   And after much debate (and encouragement from Kirby), I decided to start a new group with some help.  You can choose to complain about something or you can do something about it.  I chose to do something about it!!

BACKLASH!  I got booted from Southwest Vegas Mommies.  Apparently they have a rule where you can't be in their group if you are an organizer for another.   If you are anticipating a bashing of these ladies, it isn't going to happen.  In fact they were all very kind and welcoming to me, and more importantly Charlie and Jocelyn.   I didn't know the rule existed but once I committed myself to starting this new group I wasn't going to jump ship on the idea.  

Tiny Tots and Toddlers with A Twist

That's the logo and name for the group.  The group doesn't start until November so say a prayer for me that all goes well.  Lord knows I need to find some good friends here!!!  I miss all my lovely friends from home SO MUCH!  

It's basically like any other moms group but I added the twist part.  Don't get too excited; it's nothing fancy.  Once a week one of the meetups will begin with a walk, jog, hike etc. And each month I am trying to post a stroller friendly 5K.  I'm happy to have gotten back into running and don't want to lose my stride so hopefully I'll find some mommas who want to do some running as well.

So the whole experience of being booted from Southwest Vegas Moms group has taught me a lot.  I want to be welcoming to anyone regardless of how many groups they are in.  (Organizer or not.)  That's not to say that their rule is wrong.  They've been at this much longer than I have so maybe I'm missing something.  At  home though I had more than one group of friends and I want to build that here.  I want to support other moms trying to find groups of friends as well.  All moms (and woman in general for that matter) need the advice, encouragement, laughter and love from others who can relate.