Mother of Pearl–May 2nd

Welcome to Pearl Girls™ Mother of Pearl Mother's Day blog series.

The series is week long celebration of moms and mothering. Each day will feature a new post by some of today's best writer's (Tricia Goyer, Megan Alexander, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Beth Engelman, Holley Gerth, Shellie Rushing Tomlinson, and more). I hope you'll join us each day for another unique perspective on Mother's Day.

AND ... do enter the contest for a chance to win a beautiful hand crafted pearl necklace.

To enter, just {CLICK THIS LINK} and fill out the short form. Contest runs 5/1-5/8 and the winner will on 5/11.

Contest is only open to US and Canadian residents.

If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we're all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace or one of the Pearl Girls™ products (all GREAT Mother's Day gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.

And to all you MOMS out there! Happy Mother's Day!

3 DIY Mother’s Day Gifts that Celebrate Family By Beth Engelman

This Mother’s Day, celebrate family with this crafty games the whole family can enjoy. 

Block Photo Puzzle

Not only does this 6-sided photo puzzle provide hours of family fun, but it’s also a great way to reuse favorite family photos.

Materials:

•    9 - Wooden Blocks (Use old alphabet blocks)
•    6 - 8 x 10 Photograph Prints or Colored Copies
•    Ruler
•    Scissors
•    Mod Podge and Paintbrush

Directions:

1.  Arrange blocks in a square and measure the length and width of the square.
2. Measure and cut print to the exact same size as the 9-block square.
3. Place blocks in a square on top of print. Position blocks so they’re lined up neatly and as close together as possible.
4. Trace and cut the outline of each block.
5. Glue print pieces to blocks using Mod Podge. Set aside to dry and then seal with 1-2 top layers of Mod Podge.
6. Repeat process until all 6 sides of the blocks are covered with different photographs.

Thank you to the creative folks at www.photojojo.com for sharing this idea!  

“Go Fish with the Family” Card Game

This gift is perfect for Moms who like card games. Another bonus?  There’s always room to “grow” the deck.

Materials:

•    Camera
•    Double stick tape, or a glue stick
•    Several pieces of cardstock (one color)
•    Scissors

Directions:

1.    Take pictures of each family member and develop the pictures in duplicates (3x5 or 4x6 is fine, just make sure all the pictures are the same size).
2.    Turn the pictures into playing cards by gluing or taping a piece of card-stock to the backside of each picture.
3.    Game ideas include “Go Fishing with the Family” which is similar to “Go Fish” but, instead of matching numbers, the object is to collect matching pairs of photos. “

Memory” is another fun game to play.  Place the cards face down in a grid and try to find matching pairs of photos.

Family Bingo

In my house, Bingo is always a big hit because regardless of age or skill level, everyone has the same chance to win.  However this version is extra special because the playing boards are populated with pictures of family members.

Materials:

•    Color Coordinated Game Boards (download here)
•    Images of Family Members (use photographs, drawings or clip art)
•    Bingo Markers (pennies, pebbles or buttons)
•    Glue and Scissors

Directions:

1.    Create the game boards:  Download and print desired number of game-boards. Remember each player gets a different game board.
2.    Color-copy and paste images of family members onto each game board.  Remember to paste one person per square and make each board slightly different.
3.    Make “call-out cards” by writing the name of each family member in yellow, green, blue, purple and pink (which coordinates with the colors on the board)
4.    To Play: Game play is similar to traditional Bingo except the caller will randomly select a call-out card and then read the color and person.  For example, “Blue, Grandma Mary” means there is a picture of Grandma Mary in a blue square. 

Just like Bingo, the first person to get 5 in a row (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) wins!

Beth Engelman is a columnist for the Sun Times News Group’s Pioneer Press. Her column “Mommy on a Shoestring,” appears in over 30 local papers around Chicago area as well as on the Sun-times website where you can also view her Mommy on a Shoestring video series. She is also a regular on “You and Me this Morning” on WCIU and is frequent contributor for WGN America’s Midday News at Noon.  Recently, Beth was chosen by a celebrity panel from NBC Universal and iVillage to become one of 15 national  “mom” correspondents for NBC’s popular website, www.ivillage.com (over 3 million visitors a day) where she reports on issues that affect moms, families and communities such as bullying, divorce and weight loss.  For more information visit Beth at www.mommyonashoestring.com

the kitchen garden cookbook

the kitchen garden cookbook – more than 200 recipes, picking and cooking tips, preserving ideas
Published at DK Canada

About the book

Featuring delicious seasonal recipes to help make the best use of homegrown produce, The Kitchen Garden Cookbook is packed with imaginative, inspiring ideas to turn your beautiful bounty into delicious dishes. With techniques and expert advice to help you harvest, preserve, and prepare your crops successfully, The Kitchen Garden Cookbook is the fruit-and-vegetable-grower’s perfect kitchen companion.

My Thoughts

This book is simply fabulous!   It starts with being divided in season – spring, summer, autumn and winter.  For each season, you have a series of vegetables and fruits  that are ready during that time of the year and it gives you fabulous recipes to use the vegetables or fruits in.   For example, in the Spring section I have learned that spinach is in season.   One recipe for the spinach is a spinach and coconut shrimp curry.   Yummy!   The picture accompanying the recipe is mouthwatering to say the least…   It reminds me of a Thai recipe and to be honest and I am sure it will become a favourite in our family!

This book also contains interesting information on the vegetables and fruits  presented in it like when to pick, eat and store fresh, how to preserve and freezing options.    If you are wondering which vegetables and fruits are included in this book here`s the list:

1. Spring: asparagus, peas, fava beans, Swiss chard, cauliflower, spinach, lettuce, arugula, radishes,and  rhubarb.  Technique presented is how to preserve vegetables in oil.
2. Summer: green beans, runner beans, artichokes, tomatoes, peppers, Chile peppers, eggplant, okra, cucumbers, zucchini, corn, fennel, potatoes, herbs, gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, black currants, red currants, melons, cherries, peaches, and apricots. Techniques presented are how to freeze vegetables, dry vegetables, make freezer pickles, make cold pickles, make relish, store under soil, freeze herbs, dry herbs, make freezer jam, make fruit jam, freeze fruit, bottle fruit in alcohol, make conserves.
3. Autumn: pumpkins and squash, onions, shallots, garlic, kohlrabi, celery, beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, cranberries, grapes, apples, pears, quinces, plums and figs. Techniques presented are how to store onions, garlic and shallots, store crops naturally, store root crops in boxes, make jelly, oven-dry fruits, make chutney.
4. Winter:  broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Asian greens, kale, cabbage, leeks, Belgian endive, celery root, Jerusalem artichokes, rutabagas, turnips, and parsnips.  The technique presented is how to salt vegetables.

I am a bit disappointed that not all recipes have pictures.   I find that I have a tendency of doing the recipes that have pictures.    Mind you I am sure that the recipes in this book are delicious.   From the recipes included in this book I am most interested in some preserving ones..   We started canning last year and we got hooked on it.  *grin*   I am open to try new canning ideas this year for sure.   

The book also contains ideas on how to store vegetables for the winter seasons.   I was very impressed with the ways of storing carrots.    Even though I do not have a garden in my backyard yet, nothing can stop me to store come fresh carrots I could buy at the market in the cooler section of the basement next fall season.   One of the cakes my husband like to eat is a carrot cake.  This recipe book contains a recipe of a carrot cake made from scratch.  Since his birthday is in December, having some fresh carrots stored in the basement would be nice to have so I can bake a homemade carrot cake for his 40th birthday this year!

Now if only my oven can get fixed (it stopped two weeks ago and a piece is out of stock at this moment) I could prepare different recipes to my family!   

The kitchen garden cookbook is available at your favourite bookstore, even amazon.ca.

GREAT NEWS!

DK Canada has agreed to give away one copy of the kitchen garden cookbook to one of my readers.

To participate, tell me which NEW vegetable or fruit presented in the list above you would plant in a garden and why this one in particular (whether you have one or not)! This entry is mandatory. Don’t forget to include your email address in the comment.

EXTRA ENTRIES
1) Subscribe to my feed on the left side of this blog and let me know about it.
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3) Follow Canadianladybug Reviews! on twitter and like me you twitter name.
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5) Tweet about this contest and give me the link about it. (One entry per day!)
6) Blog about this contest and give me you link (3 entries) – Give me your link and enter three times in the comment section.

Don’t forget to include your email for each steps. No email means I will have to pick someone else. I need to be able to contact you if you win! Random.org will be use to determine the winner. You will have 24 hours to contact me and give me your mailing address so I can send it to my contact which in turn will ship the prize to you!

Open to Canadian residents ONLY.

Deadline: May 28, 2011.

Disclaimer: Thanks to DK Canada for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

First Earth Encyclopedia

First Earth Encyclopedia
Published at DK Canada

About the book

Covering the essential curriculum areas of human geography, physical geography, geology, and ecology, First Earth Encyclopedia is a comprehensive introduction to the world around us. The engaging style of DK’s First Reference series is applied to such topics as where and how people live, how to use maps, weather, world environments, and the changing climate, inspiring younger readers to think about their own place in the world. With superb artwork, straightforward text, buttons, and quizzes, First Earth Encyclopedia makes our world simple to understand.

Our Thoughts

Introduce the wonderful world of geography to your children.   This book will give all the necessary information you need to picked the curiosity of your children on geography.   Throughout this book, your children will explore the physical geography, the living world and the different regions around the globe, the human geography, as well as the wonderful world of maps and more.

It starts with a clear definition of what geography is and slowly explore the variety of geographical information we can discover on Earth.   Water, volcanoes, rivers, caves, climate, weather are only a small list of the information found in this book.  Your children will also be introduced to the various ecosystems we can found on the planet with the animals living there. 

First Earth Encyclopedia contains stunning pictures from around the world and interesting illustrations explaining concepts.   You will also find maps of all sorts including one that shows the major languages around the world.  The kids will also be introduced to economical concepts and world industry.   The book also include an interesting reference section with fun pictures to look and a glossary explaining the various terms used through the book.     And to test the knowledge learned while reading this book, you will find questions on some pages as well as their answers.   I thought it was a wonderful idea to include questions on each pages to stimulate the learning process.

I would say that this book is perfect for grades 1 to 3 for an early introduction on geography.    This book is a fantastic addition for any homeschool bookshelves.  

This series also contains books on First Animal Encyclopedia, First Atlas, First Dictionary, First Dinosaur Encyclopedia, First Encyclopedia, First Human Body Encyclopedia, First Nature Encyclopedia, First Science Encyclopedia, First Space Encyclopedia and How things work Encyclopedia.

The First Earth Encyclopedia is available at your favourite bookstore, even amazon.ca.

Disclaimer: Thanks to DK Canada for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.