Girls will be girls and Boys will be boys with these Kinder Surprise Toys

Kinder® Surprise® limited edition Barbie™ and Hot Wheels™ packages have thrilled both my son and daughter.  They were super excited to see a package of Kinder eggs made especially for each of them.

Cool stamp inside Kinder® Surprise® limited edition Barbie™  

My daughter couldn't be happier that the eggs were wrapped in pink, as she thought it was marked just for her so she can tell it apart from the ones her brother has :)  It is funny how girls get attached to pink and all things Barbie and princess related.  
After seeing this Barbie signature stamp, even I wanted to open up all the eggs that were wrapped in pink just to see the Barbie toys.  I have asked permission from my daughter to use this cool stamp :)

My son was super excited that the Hot Wheels pack of Kinder® Surprise® contains his favourite super cute racing cars.  He has already opened a few but hasn't got what he is hoping for yet!  If I hadn't put the rule about one egg per day ;) I am sure he would have opened all the eggs in one day.

It is funny how girls will be girls and boys will be boys.  From a young age when I watch my children play I see how they have automatically learned to differentiate boys and girls toys.  Even their approach of handling and playing with the toys are different and interesting.

Due to the awaiting surprise and cool toys inside Kinder, I have noticed my children are willing to share the chocolate with us just so they can open as many Kinder chocolates as possible.  I think they love Kinder more for the purpose of having a collection of Kinder toys, which I think will make good memories as they grow up :)

Contest:
To launch these cool Kinder® Surprise® Barbie™ and Hot Wheels™packs, Kinder® Canada will be giving away 40 prize packs in their Facebook starting on January 10th for 4 weeks.
Simply become a fan of Kinder® Canada and follow the instructions on their Facebook.   

Disclosure: I'm part of the Kinder Mom program and receive special perks as part of my affiliation.  All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2011 - 2013. Please Ask First

Respect is a virtue

Respect is a virtue, lets start it from inside our homes so we can change the world.  

Schools are teaching about Respect and then there are countless incidents that happen everyday that contradicts this virtue.  We walk into the office or building and the first person we meet is the secretary or an administrative person.  How likely do we get a "Good Morning or How may I help you?"
And there are many more simple examples

• How many times do we see someone holding the door when we enter a building, or how many times do we hear someone saying thank you.
• No one bothers to picks up anything that falls on the ground, even if it is food that they drop at the grocery store.
• People think their family and children are precious, while other people's family and children aren't.
• Many people have lost their manners in public, saying whatever they want, swearing and not bothering about how this could be a form of bullying or hurt someone.  
• Putting up the feet in the theatres and not worrying about the person in the front.  
• Not respecting signs i.e. driving, no food allowed or no smoking.    
• People making assumptions that they know better or they speak the universal language English better when they see someone that doesn't look like them
• When how we look or dress matters!

Start thinking, how we can change ourself and our families/friends because how we respect someone changes their life.

Respect everyone and everything (including the environment) by greeting or at least smiling because this is good for our own heart and it can change someone's life.

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It's raining fish and spiders

It's Raining Fish and Spiders is a fun, informative exploration of the wonderful world of weather by meteorologist Bill Evans.  The book is good for children over 7 years, although I found it is helpful to answer all the curious questions of younger children.  The collection of facts, stories, experiments and explanations in the book is a good teaching tool for the kids.  

This video will give a good insight to the book. The book covers everything from tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning, kinds of snowflakes and many more. 
I liked reading the weather myths, stories and facts to my kids, and learned a lot of interesting things I didn't know before.  
The book includes some experiments and links to websites that have cool experiments, so we can try at home without expensive equipment. The author has used entertaining funny titles that will make everyone want to read. 
I liked the research, facts, charts, tables, illustrations and photographs (not coloured).  The author has given precautions on what we should do in a situation i.e. when there is an earthquake, tsunami, tornado etc (God forbid). 


Did you know...

• that no two snowflakes look a like, each one is unique.  Snowflakes are made from pure simple ice crystals.  In cold weather or winter when it rains it is called sleet not hail.  
• The lowest temperature recorded on the planet was -89.2C in Antarctica.  It gets slightly more rainfall than the Sahara desert.  Despite the snow and ice, Antarctica is the largest desert on Earth.
• When a tornado passes over a lake or small body of water it can sweep up objects of all shapes and sizes and drop it off some distance away; that is the reason the book was named It's raining fish and spiders.

This educational entertaining book is sold on amazon and bookstores.
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Eyes cream shades

As a parent, I have always been concerned about protecting my children's eyes from UV rays. So, I got sunglasses from children's stores thinking these are meant for children. However, all these glasses somehow end up breaking, getting scratched, uncomfortable, heavy and thick.  I doubt they protect the eyes as seeing through scratched glass isn't good for the eyes.

After coming across Eyes Cream Shades, I regret buying all the other sunglasses. These sunglasses are cute, which encourages children to wear them. My daughter really likes this Ice flavour Grape Ice shades. It looks stylish on her. She loves that it doesn't fall off when she looks down. I like that I could see her eyes through the glasses.  

Eyes cream Shades has a beautiful selection of colour and design choices. The glasses are made with high quality, durable polycarbonate so it is shatter resistant, lighter and thinner. The sunglasses have 100% UVA and UVB protection.  

Children tend to touch the lenses quite often :) so I hope Eyes Cream Shades will come up with cute covers that will keep the sunglasses clean and away from dust.

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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.

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On My Honor Girl Scouts

Shannon Henry Kleiber, the author of the book On My Honor wrote this novel like biography, which I enjoyed reading and learned many things.  After reading the book, I do Honor the Girls Scouts and its concept more.  Many of us have heard of, seen or been part of Girl Scouts, but we know little of how girl scouts came to exist.  The author has written lots of stories, funny incidents and information about Juliette Gordon Low, the leader and founder of Girl Scouts.  


The author, Shannon is the Girl Scouts leader of her daughter's troop.  She wrote this book because of her curiosity to find out about Daisy; the person that started this "sisterhood" or "girl guides".  Shannon found out lots of interesting things about Daisy from many sources and wrote this book to bring light to this leader.  


Juliette Gordon Low, well known as Daisy started the Girl Scouts determined to teach young girls and women to self rely.  Daisy was inspired by the Boy Scouts that was formed and led by Robert Borden Powell.  Daisy has influenced many thousands of young girls and women for hundreds of years.  Her wisdom has helped many women to become leaders.  


Over the years Girl Scouts have gone through lots of controversies and changes.  The famous Girl Scout cookies changed their ingredients to make it more healthy, the packaging has become more environmentally friendly as they use paperboard.  
The principles of Girl Guides have been debated if it is religious or not religious.  Daisy wanted to make sure the principles and way of life was being taught by family, friends and community and not by the Girl Scout leaders because everyone from all walks of life is accepted to be part of Girl Scouts.
The famous Girls Scouts badges show accomplishment as the girls learn the skill such as cooking, ironing, swimming etc and earn the badges.

I enjoyed learning many things and started to think of strategies that are important to me as a parent. 

Sharron shares her research of lots of funny jokes, stories and incidents that happen in Daisy's life.  Sharron also shares her experience as a mother and talks about challenges such as technology and how it has impacted the decisions we make.  Some points I learned from the book that I like to share are below.

• We need to help out our children to become independent, even if it means they will be messy.
• Guiding the children will help, not lecturing them.
• Connecting with the community and begin part of it; seeing beyond people, being eco friendly.
• Looking at how things are done in the past, adapting to the present and learning the skills from previous generations.
• Knowing we aren't perfect, and that we all have different strengths.
• Recognizing people are different and accepting that it is good to be different.
• Teaching children to be themselves and explaining that if we are all alike it is not a good thing.
• Becoming self reliant, learning gardening, cooking, needlework that will keep us calm, appreciate nature and become pioneers.
• Financial security by saving money to take care of ourselves.  
• Being physically strong by taking care of our health, eating a balance diet and water, getting involved in sports and being active.  
• Becoming strong emotionally by helping ourselves.  
• Helping those who are poor, less fortunate, sick, the animals and loving all living things.
• Recognitions by saying Thank you is more appreciated than financial compensation.  Contributing our time, thoughts, talent is helpful and valuable.

On January 1917 Borden Powell mentioned in his letter to Daisy agreeing, that the girls are mothers of the future who will influence our future generations.  

Shannon mentions the Whip it 2009 movie, which is about Girl Scouts and I am planning to watch it.

Everyone should know the Girl Scout's law; this is from Shannon's book:

I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and storing, and responsible for what I say and do, and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout.

The book is available at Indigo chapters, amazon and bookstores.

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Strategies for parents and fun activities for children (cookies and crafts)

As parents, we all get busy so often and sometimes there isn't enough time to do everything we intend to. However, the time we spend with our children will be valued life long and if we don't try to squeeze in some time for memorable activities we might regret it.

Oatmeal play dough

Oatmeal play dough is easy for children to help measure and make. This play dough will keep children engaged and help them become creative.

The oatmeal gives a unique lovely texture.

You will need...

1 cup flour

2 cups oats

1 cup water

food colouring

Mix the dry ingredients and gradually add water to make a smooth dough.

Separate it into balls and add a little bit of food colouring and mix. The play dough stores well for about 3 to 4 days in a ziploc bag.

Reminder: Two giveaways within Canada ending December 15, 2011

Please enter by leaving a comment on

Camelina oil, a healthy oil with lots of benefits.

Fun kits to bake with children for the holidays.

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Zucchini plant and sandwich

I stuffed this sandwich with this delicious zucchini omelette.

You need...

1 cup zucchini grated, drain and squeeze out the water

3 eggs

pepper and salt to taste

1 tbsp fresh herbs optional

1 green chillie without seeds chopped optional

1 to 2 tbsp oil

bread slices

butter to spread on the bread slices

Beat everything together and leave aside. With help from an adult heat the oil and fry the mixture in medium high heat, when it easy to flip cook the other side. The omelette should be moist but not runny. When it is a little cool place it in between two slices of bread that is buttered and serve. Toasting the bread is optional.

Some pictures of the zucchini plant from this Summer. We enjoyed a few, but there was too much rain so not every flower that bloomed produced fruit.

The stem that is holding the flower is the vegetable, it was amazing how they grow. It was easy to remove the fruit with a pair of scissors or shears instead of breaking it off.

Many people stuff these flower and batter fry, which I haven't tried.

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Dinner and Kinder®

Summer is ending and children have gone back to school. For us, this means the time we have for fun and play as a family is limited. So it is important for us to plan and take every opportunity to have fun.

Raspberry picking and jam

2 cups raspberry

1 to 2 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar or more to taste

1" vanilla bean optional

Heat the raspberry, sugar and lemon juice together in medium low heat and simmer till the raspberry becomes syrupy and thick.

Remove from heat and leave the jam aside till it is cool. Once it is cool put it into a clean jar. The jam stays well in the fridge.

When using the jam use a clean dry spoon.

This jam can be used to make raspberry chocolate cake, smoothies, frozen yogurts and much more.

Our visit to pick raspberries this Summer. The tall bushes are loads of fun, however children should be supervised and taught how to easily remove the raspberries so they don't get hurt by any small thorns.

Some tips:

Pick only berries that are red.

Gently take the berries with fingers and thumb. If it is ripe the berry will come off easily into the hand.

Place the berries slowly into the container and don't over fill the buckets as the berries will get all squished.

Children will love the experience. They will eat the berries they pick more willingly, than when it is store bought.

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Painting river rocks

This rock painting was done by my daughter. She used the paint brush to get these effects, it is probably the way she handled the brush to paint it :)

river rocks

acrylic paint or fabric paint

paint brushes

These rocks can be found by a river or beach, it is also sold in craft shops. For these stones we used acrylic paint. I didn't dilute the paint much, but if needed use water sparingly.

Paint the first coat and then decorate only when the first coat is dry. Children can take a break between painting until the first layer dries then they can put designs.

I put fabric paint on the list because it can be used instead of acrylic paint. I have painted rocks using fabric paint which also last long on the rocks.

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Strawberry picking and smoothie

Here is an easy refreshing smoothie. We made this using strawberries we picked at the farm.

1 ripe banana

1/4 cup strawberries washed and top removed

1/2 cup milk or more

1/2 cup water as needed if it is too thick

1 to 2 tbsp sugar to taste if needed

Blend everything together and serve chilled.

Fresh picked strawberries from local farms are satisfying. It is lots of fun to take the family and harvest strawberries. This would be a wonderful activity to do with children. They will love crawling and picking these sweet berries.

We also bought a hanging plant early Spring this year. It is lots of fun to harvest from the garden even if it is just a few. If strawberries are planted on the ground it will spread so I prefer to have a hanging plant, this is a colourful addition to the garden. We will try to take care of it Inshallah (God willingly) during the winter so we can have some next year :)

Beautiful white flowers and hanging strawberries.

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Visiting the local animal farm with children

I would encourage everyone to take their children to visit farm animals. It would be a wonderful experience for children to pet and feed these friendly animals.

Children would love this experience of nature and become curious and interested in learning more about these animals and how we are connected to them.

You can talk to your children about how horses, cows, goats, sheep, chicken etc are important to us. Talk a little about how horses are used as carriages, cows that give us milk that in turn becomes cheese and yogurt, goats milk, sheep wool, chicken eggs, about manure and its importance for plants that make food for us. Understanding that things are part of a cycle and the need for respecting it should be taught at a young age.

Have fun with your children when visiting the local animal farms that will teach children many valuable lessons and inspire their creativity.

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