Momcafe: Moms Behind the Headlines

Two successful Vancouver moms come into our living rooms every day--on TV and on the coffee table. Balancing work and family is a challenge in itself, but these moms in the media are doing it all while being in the spotlight too! Come hear CTV Weathercaster Tamara Taggart, and WCF's very own publisher, Andrea Vance, share their personal stories on how they balance work, family and fame. $36 non-members; $32 members.

Childcare is available; kids from birth to 12 years of age are welcome. Listen to the speakers and engage in uninterrupted conversation while the children are supervised in a safe and fun area nearby. Babies up to six months old (or older if you prefer) may choose to sit closer to Mom. An additional fee of $10 for the first child and $5 for each additional child will be charged for those requiring childcare (snacks included). A portion of this event's proceeds go to support Dress for Success.

Momcafe: Moms Behind the Headlines

Friday, November 27, 2009 at 9am

Watermark Restaurant, Kits Beach

www.momcafe.net

Three Great Events This Weekend!

The 7th Annual Baby and Family Fair is Back!

The 7th Annual Baby and Family Fair is every parent's dream. With over 100 booths, the show offers an extensive selection of exhibitors, seminars and hands-on demonstrations on the latest information, innovations, products and services for expecting parents and families with young children. Whether it's reliable information from industry experts, fun for the little ones in the "Big Kids Play Area," or an incredible shopping experience, , this event has what parents need. Plus! Seminars and clinics on babies, breastfeeding and more!

October 24 & 25, 2009

Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre

www.baby-fair.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The 9th Annual West Coast Women's Show is Here!

It's the Ultimate Girls' Day Out! Laugh, enjoy and get motivated at the West Coast Women's Show. It's the biggest and most popular women's event in BC, with fun, fashion, food and shopping at over 400 booths. Here great advice on home decor from Colin and Justin, hosts of Colin & Justin's Home Heist! Don't mss Girls' Night Out on Friday night for the sizzling 2010 Calendar Firefighters Fashion Show, and Saturday night for the 911 Fashion Show featuring the hottest men in uniform!

October 23, 24 & 25, 2009

Tradex, Abbostsford

www.westcoastwomen.net

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lower Mainland Toy and Product Fair

The Annual Lower Mainland Toy and Product Fair benefitting the Langley Child Development Centre offers new, quality toys, products and services for children, birth to pre-teen. Over $500 in door prizes to be won! This event is open to the community and free to attend. Childminding available by donation.

October 23, 2009

Langley Events Centre

7888 - 200 St.

www.langleycdc.com

Get your tickets early - the Backyardigans are coming!

The Backyardigans 2009 Canadian tour starts in September, and they'll be coming to Vancouver.  Check back in our August/September issue of WestCoast Families where we'll be giving our readers a chance to WIN 4 ticket to this fun show.  If you want to be guaranteed a seat, though, we are offering our readers a chance to buy early.  Just go to this special TICKETMASTER website and follow the instructions to get your "Presale" tickets.    Enjoy!

WestCoast Families on Global TV

WestCoast Families magazine is on Global TV Noon News Hour again this Monday, May 25.  Tune in at 12:45 after Sports to hear all about some of the fantastic DAY Camps for kids this summer.  There are so many cool day camps that we're continuing this topic from last week's segment on Global!  If you want to see what we talked about this past Monday, go to the Global page on our website for the info.

Healthy Families Conference This Weekend!

Healthy Families Conference
UBC Student Union Building, Vancouver
April 18 & 19, 2009

Creating Community at Home and in School! Educators and parents from across the Pacific Northwest will gather to participate in an event designed to inspire, support, and connect the amazing individuals who contribute to building community for our children at home and in school

This two-day conference is packed with great presentations, breakout sessions, workshops, discussion groups, and meals that will create a collaborative and participatory setting giving each participant a toolkit of resources and contacts to take home.

Attend the Healthy Families Conference to learn skills and strategies to nurture strong relationships within your family and create strong ties for children within your community.

Call 604.569.6544 or visit www.healthyfamiliescanada.org.

Time for Spring photos!

Spring is a GREAT time to get family photos done.  Think Mother's Day & Father's Day coming soon... So our friends at Bopomo Pictures is giving a free sitting fee for all photo sessions for the month of April only.  That's a $30 value.  At Bopomo you get to review your photo session shots on a large full colour Mac screen at the studio, and pick exactly the shots you want to print.  You can also get the shots edited & cropped to make them picture-perfect.

Check out their work at www.bopomo.ca

This shot setup below, spelling out their name, is one of our favourites for little ones.

WestCoast Families on Global TV

Check us out on Global TV Noon News Hour on Monday April 6!  This week we'll be talking about Kids Camps for summer 09.  No it's NOT too early to be thinking about summer camps for your kids... especially residental (sleep-over) camps!  The Parenting segment is on at the end of the Noon News Hour, about 12:50pm.  all of the information covered on the segment will also be listed on our website - just click on the GLOBAL TV button.  or click here: www.westcoastfamilies.com/globalTV

Attention Mom Entrepreneurs!

Funny, why do we have to tag ourselves as "Mom" Entrepreneurs.  Why are we any different from any other entrepreneurs?  Why are we classified?  Well, here's what I think.  I think it's because being an Entrepreneur on top of the full time job of being a Mom shows what amazing, hard working multi-taskers we are... so why not tell the world!  Another woman in business has recognized the fact that although we MAY not be running multi-million dollar corporations, we still want our businesses to succeed.  

Holly Klaassen has started HerSEO for Moms just like us.  We know online presence is crucial to business success in these times, but we can't always afford an expert to come in and assess our website, optimize our website for search engines, and ensure it's the best it can be.  Holly has created HerSEO so that we CAN afford it.  They offer services with flexible and affordable packages (starting at just $50) to make our websites BETTER and get more hits by browsers out there.  Each package comes with the understanding of why Search Engine Optimization is so important to our business, what they are doing to help, and what we can do in the future to rank higher on search engines.  

If I'm talking above & beyond your technical understanding of websites and search engines, you could probably use HerSEO!!

If you have a website and want to drive more traffic to it, this could be the answer for you. Check it out ...  www.herseo.com

Aden + Anais sale!

You know how we love to support local and Canadian made & designed goods for our little ones... but there are a few products that come from the far side of our borders that are worth taking a look at.  One I've discovered has become a personal favourite - Aden + Anais cloths & blankets for babes.  Developed by a couple of Australian Moms who moved to the US, they're made from an Australian muslin cotton that is amazingly soft, strong, and snuggly.  There's a sale on at Aden + Anais right now... Winter Warmth Swaddles and Dream Blankets on sale  for $20 (USD) off - now $29 and $39.  They do ship to Canada... or to the U.S. if you have someone down south who could use a little snuggle time.  www.adenandanais.com

April Issue on Streets Now!

April, our annual GREEN issue, is now on streets and shelves everywhere! Find cool, green finds, make your family eco-fit, your home eco-chic, and your kids eco-aware, plus much more! Go to www.westcoastfamilies.com to read online!