The latest from our Heart and Soul
Whether you live in a big city or small town, it’s important to expose your kids to different ideas, experiences, and cultures. You may not have a Chinatown or Little Italy in your city but you can bring a little cultural experience home with a family celebration.
Due to my oldest daughter’s fascination with Asian culture, we have held a Chinese New Year celebration in our home for that last few years. January 23, 1012 marks the Year of the Dragon and we’ve been getting ready to celebrate.
Chinese New Year Books
Books are always a great way to share new experiences and traditions from other worlds. Barefoot Books publishes a number of stories that do just that, expose kids to stories from lands they may have only heard of. Lin Yi's Lantern: A Moon Festival Story, may not be specifically about Chinese New Year but it's one of our favourites because of the lanterns (it offers instructions on how to make the lanterns at the back of the book too. You can read our full review.
Some other great books to share during your Chinese New Year celebration:
A New Year's Reunion
My First Chinese New Year
Sam and the Lucky Money
Round is a Moon Cake
Chinese New Year Crafts
Crafts are a great way to get the kids involved with any celebration; I believe there’s a stronger connection to what is being celebrated. A really easy craft is Paper Lanterns. Kids can colour and decorate a piece of paper (construction paper, leftover computer paper, even newsprint).
Once the lantern design is done, fold the paper in half and cut strips all the way up, making sure to not cut through the top. Unfold and warp the paper around so the edges touch and staple.
These are easy for even the youngest family members to decorate. When done, the paper lanterns make a nice decoration for your Chinese New Year’s Dinner.
As this year celebrates the Year of the Dragon, we wanted to do incorporate dragons into our celebration. Chinese New Year parades usually end with the Chinese Dragon Dance. Performers, who walk underneath a colourful dragon costume, raise and lower the dragon’s body to look like it’s dancing. We wanted to have our own Chinese Dragon Dance so we created our own dragons.
We have more pictures and instructions on how to create your own dragon here.
Chinese New Year Dinner
The main part of our Chinese New Year is the food and ribs are a must for our menu. Love this asian-inspired rib recipe from VH Sauces
Chinese Honey Garlic Spareribs
Ingredients
1 1/2 lb (700 g) whole back ribs or side ribs cut lengthways iinto two
1 bottle VH® Honey Garlic Cooking Sauce (half for marindate and half for basting)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp. (30 mL) vegetable oil
1 tsp (5 mL) chili flakes
1/4 cup (125 mL) water
Preparation
- In a large baking dish stir together half bottle of VH® Honey Garlic Cooking Sauce, minced garlic, oil and chili flakes. Add ribs and marinate in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
- Preheat over to 350F (170C)
- Place a large sheet of aluminum foil on a baking sheet. Place all of the ribs and marinade on sheet. Add ¼ cup (125 mL) water and enclose everything making sure to seal it well.
- Bake in oven for 1 1/2 hours, basting occasionally with marinade.
- Open pack and bake for a further 20 minutes, basting with the second half of bottle
- Serve hot, brushed with sauce from the foil package
Serve that with a mound of sticky rice and lots of napkins. My kids love them.
For the rest of your Chinese New Year menu try adding a variety of tastes, including items such as:
- Spring Rolls. I haven’t figured out how to make these yet so I usually buy them premade and serve with a plus sauce, like VH Sauces Plum Dipping Sauce
- Tempura Vegetables. Thanks to the addition of our Hamilton Beach fryer, we’ll be doing our own this year, though you can make them with oil in a deep pan
- Fried Rice. The nice thing about fried rice is you can toss anything in it: vegetables, tofu, chicken. We love adding shrimp. VH® Sauces has a Healthy Mixed Fried Rice recipe that looks good.
- Lychee. We’re fortunate enough to live in a city with a Chinatown, so finding lychee in the Chinese supermarkets isn’t that difficult. However, many large chain grocery stores have also started carrying these. These fruits are a favourite with my kids, both peeling the hard skin off and chewing the sweet fruit off the large pit.
For other great recipe ideas, visit VH Sauces Chinese New Year’s Recipes section on their Facebook page.
Fortune cookies are a great way to end your Chinese New Year celebration; everyone loves to crack them open and share around the table their fortune for the year ahead. While I was searching for a roll recipe for a Midieval Feast (that’s a different article),what luck when I stumbled How Does She site’s dinner roll recipe and the gratitude idea. What a perfect alternative to fortune cookies. Fortune Rolls. They were easy to make; even my 5-year old got her hands floury helping me kneed the dough. I typed up some fortunes and baked them right in. The rolls turned our great and the kids loved finding their fortunes buried inside.
With bellies full, the kids grabbed their dragons and did their own Chinese Dragon Dance right up to bed. Another Chinese New Year success.
This post was sponsored by VH Sauces. The Chinese Honey Garlic Sparerib recipe and images have been reprinted with permission.
As soon as October 1st hits, most kids are probably counting down the days until Halloween. A great way to build-up to any holiday is family TV time. Cuddling together on a chilly afternoon or ending a busy day with some family time enjoying a Halloween special on TV can be a lot of fun. Some of our favourite family tv channels have some spooky fun planned.
PBS Kids
Enjoy all new specials of Dinosaur Train and Sid the Science Kid.
Dinosaur Train Haunted Roundhouse/Big Pond Pumpkin Patch
October 20, 24, 28, 30, 31
In Haunted Roundhouse, dad takes the kids on a special Night Train to Troodon Town, where the Troodons have decoratedtheir Roundhouse into a “haunted house” for a spooky party. The kids end up meeting a strange new nocturnal creature – a mammal named Vlad Volaticotherium, who was hiding in the roundhouse trying to get some sleep. And in Big Pond Pumpkin Patch, the Pteranodon family learns more about the customs of their neighbors, the Lambeosaurus family, when they are invited for the first time to accompany them to the Big Pond to celebrate “Gourd Day” – a kind of Mesozoic Halloween. The kids see their first pumpkins, and Larry Lambeosaurus even shows our family how to hollow them out and carve faces into them.
Sid the Science Kid Spooky Science Special
October 17, 25, 28, 30, 31
In Halloween Spooky Science Special, it’s Halloween time and Sid and his friends have dressed up in the spookiest andscariest costumes possible. Sid is a bat with big fangs. May is a spooky black cat. Gabriela is a furry, yucky spider. And Gerald is a super spooky skeleton that goes boo! Susie (dressed as a silly mad scientist) loves their costumes, and helps the kids discover that Halloween can be spooky and scientific! The kids investigate how bats are helpful creatures that catch mosquitoes, spiders are expert engineer web builders, cats are leaping aerial acrobats, and skeletons help hold up our body frames! At the Halloween party, the kids also investigate how to make icky, gooey green slime. Susie then ends the day with a special “Halloween Parade” song so the kids can march around and show off their spooky and scientific costumes!
PBS.org has an easy no-sew Sid the Science Kid Halloween costume for your own little science kid.
Family Channel
Enjoy a month of bone-chilling Halloween specials on the Family Channel
Frightening Friday Night Flicks
The movie lineup includes Halloweentown 1, 2, 3 and 4, Twitches, Twitches Too, Roxy Hunter and the Horrific Halloween, Roxy Hunter and the Mystery of the Moody Ghost and Under Wraps.
Wizards of Waverly Place
Spellbinding new episodes of Wizards of Waverly Place continue to air Friday nights throughout the month with a four-episode story arc entitled “Wizards of Waverly Place – Apartment 13B.” Following the episode included in the Night of Premieres lineup on October 14, the Russos will continue to face off against their archenemy, Gorog, in a never-before seen episode on Friday, October 21 at 5:00 p.m. ET/PT. The battle comes to a head on Friday, October 28 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, when all four episodes of the arc (two previously broadcast and two premiere episodes) air back to back followed by Wizards of Waverly Place The Movie at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT.
Kid’s CBC
Kids' CBC celebrates Halloween every year with segments featuring Patty in her butterfly costume, "Mummy" Yamma, "robot" Captain Claw, and Pirate Sid. The segments run throughout the Kids' CBC morning block in the lead up to Halloween and feature knock-knock-jokes, pumpkin painting, trick-or-treat practicing, and a segment in which Sid discovers that Captain Claw's idea of a treat isn't the same as his.
Haunted Mansion
Oct 30
Heard of the Disney theme park ride Haunted Mansion? Now you can experience it in the movie Haunted Mansion, Kid’s CBC Halloween movie. (see details from IMdb .)/p>
Halloween on CBC isn’t just for the kids either with special Halloween episodes of Steven and Chris, Best Recipes Ever and Battle of the Blades.
Teletoon
In celebration of Halloween, Teletoon will be filling the month of October with some great Halloween movies and specials.
After School Monster Movies and Scooby Doo
Beginning October 11, catch 3 weeks of your favourite Scooby Doo every weekday starting at 5 p.m ET. In addition catch some family Halloween movie favourits: My Babysitter’s a Vampire – Monday, October 24, 6:30 p.m. ET and Monster’s vs Aliens – Tuesday, October 25, 5 p.m. ET
Saturday Morning Movies
Checkout our spooky Halloween-themed movies every Saturday morning at 9 a.m. ET: Scooby Doo and the Goblin King (October 22) and Garfield Gets Real (October 29).
Big Ticket Double Features
Some ex-screamly awesome Big Ticket Movie Double Features in October on Saturday’s at 5 p.m and 7 p.m. ET: October 22 – Scooby Doo and the Samurai Sword (5 p.m.) Scooby Doo Abracadabra-Doo (7 p.m.), October 29 – Ghostbusters (5 p.m.)/ Ghostbusters II (7 p.m.)
Plus a special presentation of the Addams Family movies on October 30: The Addams Family (5 p.m.) / The Addams Family Values (7 p.m.)
Halloween Night
Before heading out trick-or-treating catch these Halloween specials starting at 4 p.m. ET: Johnny Test ‘Johnny’s Grow Your Own Monster’ (4 p.m.), Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space (4:30 p.m.), Monster High (5 p.m.), Wallace and Gromit: A Mater of Loaf and Death (6 p.m.)
Happy Halloween
Classroom parties are, without a doubt, the seasonal highlight for most kids during the school year. With games, activities and snacks in abundance, plus a break from the daily routine, school-aged kids have much to look forward to when they hear their class is having a party.
Typically parent volunteers are required to assist with providing the edibles for these fun events, and it’s nice to have an arsenal of snack ideas in your back pocket when you’re called upon.
When planning snacks for a school party the first thing to know is whether there are any allergies in the class. Keeping snacks peanut-free is almost always a requirement, but it’s nice to know if some of the students have an egg, dairy or gluten allergy as well.
It’s always nice to have a fruit or veggie option on hand. However, this doesn’t have to equate to a boring and uninspired snack. Consider jazzing up your tray but putting veggie dip in a hollowed out pumpkin for the annual Halloween party or serving only red and green veggies at the Christmas party.
Cheese and crackers make for a great addition to any party. It’s sugar free and can easily be changed up to suit the theme of the party. Cut squares of cheese with a cookie cutter to make snowman, Easter bunnies etc. Or consider skewering cubes of cheese and grapes and hunks of bread for a new twist on an old favourite.
The sweet treat is always the biggest hit of the party, so be sure to go big and bold here. Make creepy cupcakes for a Halloween party, a pretty pink cake for a Valentine’s party, or chocolate nests with chicks and eggs for the annual Easter celebrations. Individual treats are always popular and the more fun and festive the better.
Salty snacks are also popular with the kids and appreciated by the teacher, more so than the sugary treat. Pretzels, popcorn and chips are good choices, just be sure to check the packaging for allergy information.
Granola bars, cereal bars, cookies, fruit kebobs, muffins, yogurt tubes and popsicles also make for great party options. Consider approaching the teacher about doing a morning party and offer fun breakfast foods like bagels, yogurt parfaits and waffles.
Regardless of what food is offered, the kids are certain to have fun as long as it’s a stress-free event. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, or your child, to come up with the perfect snack. Just make sure it’s fun and festive and it’ll automatically be enjoyed by all.
One of my daughter’s favourite movies is Flicka 2 so when EverythingMom was asked to come out for a Flicka 3 set visit in Kelowna, I was keen to learn more about the magic behind the movie.
For anyone who knows me, you know that relationships are everything to me. I always want to learn how to give, feel and love more in all of my relationships, business or personal.
When I discovered that Flicka 3 is all about relationships, I set out to learn as much as I could about the film’s message and how we might be able to bring its wisdom back to our readers.
We spent an entire day on the set of Flicka 3 jaunting between sets, chatting with actors and each other while inhaling the beauty of the majestic set location in the rolling hills of the Okanagan Valley.
Not only is this move about family, but it is created from family. Husband/wife team, Michael Damian (Director) and Janeen Damian (Executive Producer) brought in the Black family Clint Black, and Lisa Hartman Black to continue the story from Flicka 2. Even the Black’s daughter, Lily - age 9, plays a role.
What struck me throughout the interviews with the various actors and producers was the thick emotion in their words. From their fears and insecurities to their fascinating passion and connection with the horses and each other. Everyone cares deeply about their work, their message and how they show up in relationships with their viewers, interviewers, co-workers and their loved ones.
Making movies or muffins, everyone cares about what you are making, how you are making it and how it will be received.
Lisa Hartman Black, for instance, expressed anxiety around how she might manage the balance between being a mom, a wife and an actress while on set. Clint Black, fairly new to the acting game, feels more comfortable when Michael Damian encourages him to bring his own sense of humour into the script through his character, Toby.
If you take a peek at this photo or this one from Michael Damian’s twitter feed, you can see the joy of creation the photos captured. Or watch this video of Clint Black breaking into impromptu song on set. These people love what they do. Movies are not all smoke and mirrors. People make movies and when the true feelings of the people behind the movies come through to the screen, that is where magic happens.
Flicka 3 will bring the feelings of healing, caring and loving to you in mid 2012. We’ll be here to share more about the movie and the magic with you then.
Aside....
One thing I love about press junkets is the relationships you build with other participants. It is so appreciated by attendees of junkets when an experience is created around the event to facilitate community. This trip offered us all a number of opportunities to share information, connect and have a blast at venues such as the Manteo Resort, Wild Apple restaurant and the Old Vines Restaurant at Quail’s Gate Winery. The food, wine and accommodations provided were fantastic and I would highly recommend visiting the venues if you are in Kelowna.
So anybody who knows me knows it drives me crazy to not print out pictures. I have teenagers and they love looking through their photo albums. I’m not talking scrapbook-type photo albums; I am talking regular old albums. 
The other thing most people about me is I’m a complete tech freak! So a few years back I started making photo books online and then having them printed and shipped to me. I LOVE THESE BOOKS!
A little while back I was asked by EverythingMom if I’d be interested in giving Blurb a try. I’d heard a lot about Blurb but had never actually tried them. It was so easy.
I was able to create a custom photo book in 5 easy steps:
- Download the software. You can create a simple photo book using a collection of preset templates within Blurb's online editing tool, Bookfly, but I wanted to have a little more control over customizing my book. I downloaded Blurb's custom book editing software, BookSmart.
- Click on "start a new book".
- Pick my book. I gave my book a title and choose what kind of book I wanted to make (square or landscape; various preset templates like photo book, blog book; or customize completely).
- Upload my photos. Select my pictures to upload (from my computer or other various photo programs I have an account with) and what happened next was life changing. The program asked my if I wanted them to auto insert my images! I would have clicked definitely but they only had yes so I chose that.
- Order my book. So once my photos were uploaded I looked through the book and clicked on order the book. It uploaded to www.Blurb.com and that’s truly when the magic happened for me.
I go to a lot of events and I always have my camera; sometimes I’m working but other times I’m just there as me. It never fails that I get asked about pictures. By uploading a finished book people can actually go on the site, see the book, and order a copy if they choose. I LOVE THIS! If you go to Blurb.com and look me up (CLBPhotograp) you can see the BlissDom Canada 2010 book that I uploaded. Another book I chose to make was from an engagement session I did with clients (it was the guest book at their wedding).
There were a couple of hiccups with the shipping but the book I received was well worth the wait. I’ve included a few pictures of the book I printed and I will admit that I was very impressed with the print quality of this book.
I will without a doubt use Blurb again and probably sooner rather than later seeing as I’ve already started making my holiday gift list.
* I was given an account in order to try Blurb's service firsthand.
