Community Events

10/9  Green on Main Street 

In front of Lee's Summit City Hall from 10am-4pm. The purpose of this event is to educate Lee's Summit residents and businesses about simple and complex sustainable practices that can be implemented at home and work so as to improve the sustainability of our community as a whole. FREE ADMISSION!  Paper shredding, games, and activities

10/9 Halloween Costume Drive 

10:00am at Christ United Methodist Church Family Life Center: 14506 E 39th St S, Independence, MO 64055. Donate or buy an upcycled costume.

10/12 Blood Drive

2-7pm at the First Baptist Church of Raytown

10/16 Electronics Recycling Event 

9am-2pm at Lee's Summit High School

10/16 Red Heat vs. Blue Steel

10:00am at LS North High School: Come join us as we honor those who protect and serve in extreme competition between Lee's Summit Police and Lee's Summit Fire department.

10/17 Jack-o-Lantern Walk

6pm at Powell Gardens: Enjoy Powell Gardens in the light of hundreds of eerily carved jack-o-lanterns and luminaries along the path.

10/17 Fall Fling Fun Run & 5K

7:30am & 9am: 5K at 7:30am • Fun Run at 9am (1.54 miles) at Legacy Park Community Center 

Fees: 5K - $25 each ($20 for 13 & under). 

Family Run/Walk - $10 per participant. 

T-shirt guaranteed if registered by 10/11. 

$5 increase after 10/4. No day of registration. 

Register at lsparks.net or active.com
 

10/24 Pedals -n- Parks Bike Ride

7am: Support and enjoy your parks & recreation system. Three courses to choose from: 5-mile family ride around Legacy Park. 25-mile ride through Legacy, Lowenstein, Summit, and Lea McKeighan Parks. 50-mile ride encompassing even more parks! 

Fees: Through Oct. 23: $25 ($20 for 13 & unders). 

Race Day Fee: $5 increase. (web registrations close 10/21 at midnight) 

Tshirts guaranteed if registered by 10/10.

10/24 Bebo Norman: Live in Concert with Nathan Tasker

6:00pm at Kansas City Baptist Temple

10/24 Networks Harvest Festival

5:30-9:00pm in the Lee's Summit Hobby Lobby Parking Lot

Absolutely Free! Inflatables, face painting, music, food, and trunk-or-treating

10/27 Pumpkinpalooza 

6:30-8pm at Lee's Summit Community Church - FREE

10/30 Halloween Parade 

10:00am Downtown Lee’s Summit Main Street

Parade followed by trick or treating – FREE

10/30 and 10/31 Boo at the Zoo 

Trick or Treat at Boo at the Zoo! Bring the whole family and get into Halloween with different Trick or Treat stations around the Zoo! It’s a safe, family friendly way to enjoy Halloween. Children of all ages are welcome in their costumes and at 1 and 3 p.m, join a costume parade around the Zoo led by Kaz the Cheetah.

10/31 Trunk or Treat

3pm-5pm at Kansas City Baptist Temple

10/31 Fall Fun Fest

5-7pm at First Baptist Church of Raytown

11/20 Holiday Carnival

1-4pm at Harris Park Community Center

We hope you enjoy some of these fun events! If you'd like to meet up with other MOPS moms at any of the events, leave a comment here or on the LSCC MOPS Facebook page to see who else is attending.

On The Go Breakfasts

If your family is anything like ours, breakfast time is a rather stressful scenario. You'd think the decision between cereal and oatmeal was the equivalent of a life or death situation to our toddler! Once the excruciating decision is finally made and breakfast is served, her still sleep-ridden hand moves in slower than slow motion on the course of bowl to mouth. Whew! We still have to fix hair, find matching socks, and feed the baby!

Here are a few "grab and go" breakfast ideas that may work for your family. Please leave a comment if you try any of these and also if you adapt them in any way! A few suggestions are included for changing the original recipes a bit and we'd all love to know what worked for everyone or what didn't.

Do you have other quick breakfast ideas?  Please share in the comments!

All recipes have been adapted from original recipes on www.allrecipes.com

Get Up and Go Breakfast Cookies 
 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup wheat and barley nugget cereal (e.g. Grape-Nuts™)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, orange juice concentrate, and orange zest. Combine the flour and baking powder; mix into the fluffy mixture until blended. Stir in cereal. Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden. Remove from cookie sheet for cooling.

Possible Alterations
Substitute applesauce for the butter
Use all purpose whole wheat flour

Oaty Cereal Bars

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 3 cups toasted oat cereal
• 1 cup salted peanuts (optional)

Directions

1. Grease a 9x13 inch pan. In a large saucepan over medium heat, stir together the sugar and honey. Bring to a boil for one minute, then remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter until well blended. Stir in the cereal and if desired, stir in the salted peanuts. Press into the prepared pan. Allow to cool until firm, then cut into bars.

Possible Alterations
Use cheerios and substitute trail mix for peanuts
Use Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal

 

Playgroup Granola Bars (as seen in the September newsletter)

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup raisins (optional)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Generously grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be too hard to cut.

Possible Alterations
Use whole wheat flour
Reduce brown sugar to 1/2 cup
To keep them chewy, try reducing the cooking time. Watch for the edges to turn brown (the middle may still appear undone).
Add more cinnamon and use apples
Replace the raisins with dried cranberries


Hope your family enjoys these recipes!

MOPS Family Picnic

Big thank you to all who came out for the family picnic. Everyone had a really great time! The weather was absolutely perfect too! We had about 55 people or so and there was fun for everyone. Tug-of-war, 3-legged race, and water balloons made up some of the games for the day. The kids were absolutely sold on the sand in the volleyball court. Braeden stayed there pretty much the whole time. I think I had a whole sandbox in our bathtub that night. :-P 


It was a lot of fun to get to meet some husbands and see everyone enjoy themselves. I'm a big fan of family playtime! Although, I think next year we won't schedule the picnic on the first day of the NFL season. Whoops!


Here's what some of you had to say...

"My family and I had a great time.  We especially loved the kids activities (my son's personal favorite were the water balloons), as it gave us time to chat with other adults."

"The location was perfect and it was very relaxing"

"I thought there was a great variety of preschooler/toddler friendly activities and also the tug-of-war for adults. The LSCC area was a great location." 

"We loved the games, the food, time, and location."