Exciting #LEGODUPLO sale @ChaptersIndigo + Win $50 to shop

Even before my husband and I had children Chapters/Indigo has always been our go-to indoor place during all seasons.  We like hanging out in the calm environment at Chapters/Indigo surrounded by books.  Indigo is a good place to sit, relax, read and have something delicious from Starbucks; that is not the only motive :)

We have continued this "tradition" even after our children were born.  My husband and I hangout in the children section and take turns supervising the kids so we can get some alone-time to read the latest magazines and books.  I can also spends lots of time looking at the beautiful home decor products they have, controlling my wants so I don't buy the whole of Indigo :)

When I was attending cake decoration classes, my husband's go-to-place was Indigo.  He entertains our kids either by reading to them or participating in the organized children's programs at the Indigo Kids Play Area.  These free programs at Chapters/Indigo has fun, crafts children can make as well as a Indigo staff member or a local author reading the latest children books to the kids.

Click to make it big; this is what is happening during the March Break at the Kennedy Commons location

For my family and I, on top of the fabulous products at Indigo the free WI-FI for members, clean environment, children friendly washrooms and the play area has been motivating us to keep going to Indigo.  

As you probably know we are big fans of LEGO so we are very excited to let you all know that this month all LEGO products at Indigo will be 20% off.  
If a store is not close to you, don't forget to check Indigo online.

Giveaway:
If you like shopping at Indigo as much as I do then you will be happy to know Create With Mom will be hosting a giveaway for you to win a $50 Indigo gift card.  
Enter this Canadian giveaway before March 20th through the rafflecopter below.
The winner will have 24 hours to respond from the time of contact.  You can enter similar giveaways on other sites, but will be eligible to win only one.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclosure: I am a LEGO DUPLO play ambassador and receive special perks for being part of this.  All rights reserved on mentioned photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2011 - 2013. Please Ask First

Make this Almond Biscotti for your loved ones

With all the fabulous family and love-oriented holidays this month, here is an easy to make delicious biscotti recipe. This would make a wonderful homemade treat to serve or take over to your loved ones. 

Your chance to Win: Movie offers and Peanut Butter Cheerios kit ($50)

Look for specially-marked boxes of General Mills cereals like Lucky Charms, Cheerios and Oatmeal Crisp, Golden Grahams and others to get a ‘free movie offer’ from Cineplex®.

Starting February 3rd.  

From March 3rd to May 30th you will find a ‘Buy One, Get One Free’ General Admission to the movies at Cineplex® on these same cereal brands.

From February 3rd until May 30th you’ll find:

• ‘Buy One, Get One Free’ Child Admission when purchasing any two specially-marked treats like Betty Crocker® Dunkaroos®, Fruit Gushers® or Fruit by the Foot®
• ‘Buy One, Get One Free’ General Admission when purchasing any two specially-marked snacks such as Nature Valley® Sweet & Salty & Crunchy products.
• Free movie snacks on specially-marked boxes of Old El Paso® products including the Extra Mild, Super Tasty Dinner Kit, the Hot & Spicy Fajita Dinner kit and the Hard & Soft Taco Dinner Kits. Way to spice it up!

Once you find the unique voucher code inside the package, go to www.Cineplex.com/freemovieoffer and redeem your free movie ticket*  These offers are valid February 3rd to May 30th 2013 for show times Sunday through Thursday (inclusive) only.

*Old El Paso® free movie snacks are redeemed in theatre, not online.

Peanut Butter Cheerios

My children are big fans of peanut butter, and when I told them about the upcoming peanut butter flavoured Cheerios they became super excited :) 
After tasting it their verdict was that it tastes just like peanut butter and would have it for breakfast and snack everyday.  Peanut Butter Cheerios will be available for a limited time in stores starting March 4^th. 

We enjoy making these peanut butter cookies that does not last too long in our home.  It is easy to make these cookies within a few minutes.  

Here is what you will need to make these cookies...

2 oz butter
3 oz peanut butter

4 oz brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz flour

Mix the butter, peanut butter and sugar with a hand beater until it is mixed.  Then add the egg to the mix.  Mix the baking powder and salt with the flour and add mix it into the butter mixture. 

 

Take a teaspoonful of mixture and make a ball shape and place it in a lined baking tray 2" apart.

Lightly press the balls with a fork to make a tic-tac-toe pattern and bake in a lined baking sheet for 10 minutes in a 350F preheated oven.  Don't over bake as the cookies will burn on the bottom.  Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes then move it to a wire rack to cool down.

Offer:

Starting February 4^th Get your Peanut Butter Cheerios FREE coupon when you buy another Cheerios flavour (BananaCheerios, Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, or Chocolate Cheerios). 

During the March 16^th – 17^th weekend you can redeem the free coupon at your nearest store.

Peanut Butter Cheerios kit

Giveaway:

You may enter this Peanut Butter Cheerios kit ($50) giveaway on multiple blogs, but may only win one prize.  This giveaway is open to people in Canada until Feb 28th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure:  I am participating in the Life Made Delicious Ambassador program and receive special perks as part of my affiliation.  All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2011 - 2013. Please Ask First

Our dreams may come true as Royale celebrates their 50th year

Royale Golden Kittens are celebrating their 50th year by generously offering one Canadian a chance to win $50,000. They will have 4 runner up cash prizes and 500 instant prizes such as Samsung TVs, Samsung tablets, Blu-ray players, Spa finder gift cards.  

There are 440 tickets hidden in specially marked Royale bathroom tissue, facial tissue, paper towel and dinner napkins.  We can win 60 tickets online through royale.ca and their Facebook.  

What will you do if you win $50,000?  I don't know where to begin because there are so many things that I want to do, which is only limited because of money :)  

Some of the things that I want to do are:
Give some money to my family and friends, and donate some to charitable organizations to help those in need. 

Then I want to travel the world with my family and see a part of every continent.

I want to see places like Morocco, Egypt and Turkey in Middle East and Africa, as I admire their landscapes, culture and architecture.

I want to see the snow filled mountains in Alaska.  I like to see all the provinces and territories in Canada.  We want to go to Disneyland and see all the Disney parks and explore the land of dreams :)

There are many countries in Asia such as Sri Lanka, India, Singapore, Malaysia and Maldives that I want to visit, so I can explore the cuisine, culture and the excitement of these tropical places i.e. the spas, beaches.

I want to explore and take pictures of the South American rainforest.  And visit places like Brazil and Cuba.

Singapore

The best part is if I win, I can do all these without going to work for at least a year God willingly with good health. Even if all our dreams will probably not come true, no one can stop us from dreaming.  I am glad this contest from Royale made me think about all the things I can do if I win $50,000.

Disclosure: I am participating in the Golden Kittens Blog Tour by MC Canada on behalf of Royale.  I received compensation as a thank you for participating and sharing my opinion.  All rights reserved on mentioned photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2011 - 2013. Please Ask First

Animal themed LEGO party

I sent this invitation to some friends last weekend to bring their little ones for a LEGO party in our home.  We were so excited and thrilled to organize this LEGO themed party because my children are huge fans of LEGO DUPLO.

Both boys and girls loved the variety of Animal themed LEGO DUPLO and we heard lots of farm noises in our home during the party :)  Children played with our previous collections of  LEGO DUPLO toys plus these Toddler line products such as the build and play cubes, pull along, building set and brick box.  

These Toddler line LEGO DUPLO are mostly for children age 1 1/2 to 3-4 year, however children over 4 will enjoy these as well.  The build and play cubes have cute windows that will encourage children to play peek-a-boo.  The pull along fun wagon has 15 pieces that encourage children to build on the base and pull the wagon. 

Children really enjoyed hearing the stories from the "read and build" LEGO DUPLO books such as the Busy Farm and Let's Go Vroom!  

Following the step-by-step pictures on the books to build and see the characters becoming 3D is very exciting for little ones.

Children also enjoyed playing on our LEGO DUPLO Zoo app on the iPad during the party.  

This interactive app is for children from 2 to 5.  Our LEGO DUPLO fans will enjoy solving the challenges they come across as Jack Rabbit and Giraffe's goes by air, land and water to make it to Lion's birthday.  

 

For the party I served, Beetroot cheese sandwiches, Lego cake pops, Carrot and celery, Animal crackers and juice.

To make the beetroot cheese sandwiches you will need...
cream cheese
steamed or boiled beetroots grated
sandwich bread

After placing the cheese and beetroots in the sandwich bread cut it into shapes.

To make the LEGO blocks cake pops I used...
a box of chocolate cake
1/2 cup to 1/4 cup chocolate cake frosting
white melting chocolate
smarties

Bake the chocolate cake following the instructions on the box.  Then crumble and mix it with cake frosting.  Children liked helping prepare this part as we formed the shapes and dipped the top of the cake pop into the melted chocolate before placing the smarties.

When the kids played "paste the duck" I had some of the little ones crying because they didn't get it in the correct spot.  However, when each child got a pack of crayons, stickers and a package of fun activities to do and take home they forgot about this :)

We had a fabulous animal themed LEGO party, while listening to the DUPLO jams.

Disclosure: I am a LEGO DUPLO play ambassador and receive special perks for being part of this.  All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2011 - 2013. Please Ask First

Shaking up dinner with Cavendish potatoes and flash back of our PEI trip

Some days I have a hard time preparing a satisfying meal for dinner especially on busy days after work and school, so having something convenient to shake up our dinnertime is very helpful.

Kinder® A Joy To Share

Kinder®’s "A Joy To Share" program supports the Children's Miracle Network who helps save and improve lives of children by raising funds for children's hospitals since 1983.
Check their Facebook page to see how many families this program as helped.  Every time we share the video stories of the families Kinder will donate $1 up to $5000 to the Children's Miracle Network.

Although we give and share throughout the year, I find as the holiday season approaches we give and share more...

• We share gifts within our family and friends
• Giveaway things that we no longer use such as clothes, appliances and other goods that are in good condition to Goodwill and other charities
• Donate food to those in need through food banks in our community
• We collect and contribute non-perishable items to our children's school fundraisers for the holiday season, this makes our children happy and feel good to see their gifts being sent to those in need
• Help organizations and NGOs when they are doing fundraisers such as collecting pennies to build wells in developing countries
• Buying gifts that will help people in developing countries such as through World Vision

Just in time for the holidays Kinder® has dressed up their eggs and has packed the kinder eggs in a tree shape box, a train with 6 kinder eggs and giant kinder egg.  These eggs have the new 2013 collection of Kinder® toys, which my children like as the toys are cute and creative.
They also have packages of mini eggs that has a delicious milky hazelnut centre.  This package of kinder mini eggs are not nut free. 

Giveaway

Kinder® Canada will be giving away 7500 coupons for their Facebook community from November 26th for 10 weekdays so you can taste their new Kinder® Mini eggs for free.  They will give out 750 coupons each day at 12 pm ET.     

Disclosure: I am part of the Kinder mom program and receive special perks for being part. All opinion and rights reserved on written content and mentioned photographs Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First

Lemon preserve and jam jar kit

Lemons are cheaper in the summer, so it is a good time to take advantage of this and make lemon preserve to use off-season.

This lemon preserve will come handy in cooking i.e. chicken or to add into other pickles.  For this basic lemon preserve recipe you will  need...

unbruised clean Meyer lemons

coarse sea salt or kosher salt (not table salt)

Trim the top and bottom of the lemon to keep it flat.  Then cut the lemons into quarters vertically up to 3/4 way (the lemon should not split so don't slice it all the way).

Stuff the lemon with salt and pack it into a clean jar.  Cover the lemons with its own juice, when you press the lemons into the jar it will produce its own juice.  You might have to add fresh juice of 1/2 lemon if need be.

Let it sit for 3 weeks or more in a cool dark place.  I usually keep them for longer before opening the container.  Over time the lemons will reduce and become soft. 

As soon as the lemons are soft it is ready to be used.  Once you open the container store in the fridge for up to 6 months or more.  

If the lemons are not fully submerged in its own juice then a white film will appear.  If this happens just remove it with a spoon or lightly wash it off and use.

If you wish when packing the lemons to preserve you can add whole spices like bay leaf, cinnamon stick, peppercorns or cloves.

Disclosure:  I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and receive special perks as part of this.  All rights reserved on opinion, written content and photographs Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First

I used the creative Jam Jar kit from Cath Kidston Ltd to decorate preserve containers.  
This kit has 20 jar toppers in 5 different patterns, 8 sticker sheets, elastic strings and 6 easy delicious recipes.  
The kit is useful in decorating our homemade preserves, before giving it as gifts to family and friends.
The Cath Kidston Jam Jar kit is available online, bookstores and amazon.

Barbies, accessories upcoming coupons

Barbie has been there for a long time and it isn’t about fashion and girlie accessories; it’s also about imagination, creativity and the importance of play.  
When we play with dolls and change their wardrobe, it opens a world of imagination.  I remember making clothes for Barbie with my grandma.  My daughter enjoys playing with Barbie as she tries different hairstyles and puts on accessories.
Save With Barbie Coupons 
Starting August 7th, every week either on Tuesday or Thursday I will be posting coupons that you can use to purchase Barbie dolls, accessories and many more essentials :) on my Facebook and Twitter.  
Please follow so you will easily get to know about these deals and save.
Disclosure: I am participating in the MC campaign for Barbie and receive compensation.  All rights reserved on opinion of the written content Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First

Healthy living General Mills green banner cereal

Summer is full of goodness, we find ourselves being more active without planning as we run around, go to the park, for bicycle rides and walks.  We also eat healthier as we can find fresh local produce and organic vegetables from our garden.
General Mills under their green banner is promoting healthy living.  This green banner General Mills products honey nut cheerios, regular cheerios and the new oatmeal crisp cereals have oat fibre on top of their whole grains and nutrients.  Here is a variety of ways we can use these delicious cereals.

It is important for us to eat food that has lower cholesterol levels, which will protect us from the risk of heart disease.  Heart disease is the 1 in 3 leading cause of death in Canada.  9 in 10 Canadians have at least one risk factor for heart disease, one of these being high cholesterol.  Eating a healthy balanced diet and having a good lifestyle is important for us to lower the risk.


Whole grain food with fibre has antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that will help lower the risk of heart disease.  3 grams of oat fibre everyday helps reduce 5% of our total cholesterol and 8 % of LDL cholesterol, which is the most important type of cholesterol that we need to reduce.
It is important we choose salmon or light tuna 2 to 3 times a week.  It is better to use olive or canola oil for cooking and dressings.
A small handful of almonds or walnuts daily will be helpful.  It is healthier for us to choose beans, chickpeas and lentils instead of meat.  And importantly 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity daily will benefit us, we don't have to do the exercise all at the same time rather spread it out during the day.

Check this link for more information on cholesterol.

All rights reserved on photographs and opinion of the written content Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First

Crafts with clay

Creative play is very important in my home, as it is a key element in children's development.  As a parent, I like getting involved and giving my children the opportunity to become creative.  It also allows me to have fun and be a child again :)

Crayola has lots of products that inspire us to become creative.  I bought this tub of air drying clay, which is available at craft stores and office supply sections.  The clay was available in natural clay and white, we chose the white one.

To do this activity we need...

1 tub of Crayola air drying clay

beads optional

our hands and imagination :)

Let children create whatever they like using their imagination.  I liked that the clay wasn't drying too fast, which is important with little hands working and reworking the clay.  

My son created this submarine and many little fun figures, which he accompanied with his stories.  

My daughter wanted to make a big bowl, so I showed her the coiling method by rolling the clay into ropes then shaping it.  After we made it into the shape we like, we pressed in some beads for colour.

After many hours of drying we placed our finished products on our worktables for decor and to hold pens, pencils/ accessories.  

This would be a good activity to do in the summer for fun. We can create useful homemade gifts that grandparents and family will appreciate :) 

Here is a list of more creative ideas that you can do with your children.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First