holidays | The Angel Forever

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Nursery School Passover Seder 2011

Posted on April 16, 2011 8:29 am by TheAngelForever

Dear JSL,

This week you had a big celebration at nursery school. Your class and the others, have been working to prepare a special Passover Seder for families to come and celebrate. When I arrived the room was all set. Everyone had a Seder plate set in front of their seat along with a Haggadah. The front of the room was also beautifully arranged with a giant display for the holiday.

Everyone participated in the Seder – kids, teachers, parents, and other family members. I brought the video camera and can not wait to see how some of the songs came out. You were still nervous about being in front of everyone, but I did see you singing the four questions a few times. When you came over to me, you were adorable.

It was fun sitting together. We followed along with the Haggadah.

Then when the time came, you surprised me with your frog puppet

I still wonder what plague got the frog since he has four eyes. Of course you were not interested in eating the delicious kugel they made.

You kept chowing down matzah and cream cheese. I have a feeling a lot of that is in your future next week.

Thank you again for sharing this special time with me. I loved being there with you and watching your love of Passover and our holiday shine.

Love,

Mommy

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Dear Kid Saturday food glorious food fun holidays jsl photos school yummy

Passover 2011 Preparations

Posted on April 11, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

It’s that time of year again. In just a week, we will be sitting down to a Passover Seder with family to celebrate the start of Pesach. Nursery school already has their Passover display in the hall:

On Sunday, TechyDad and I decided it was time to tackle the Passover food shopping. We went to Price Chopper and had a goal. We wanted to keep things simple, make mostly fresh foods, and limit packaged items. We really cut way back last year and it worked out nicely. We were happy with quinoa like oatmeal for breakfast, a turkey burger with lots of veggies, eggs in many forms, cottage cheese, and other staples. Yes, we did buy a few already made frozen items, along with Passover cakes/cookies, but very few.

When we went shopping, I took my camera along to show you how far Passover food shopping has come. Welcome to Passover Land at our local Price Chopper.

"Passover 2011 Shopping at Price Chopper"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

When we left Price Chopper, we had almost everything we need. Only a few items like eggs, produce, cottage cheese, and raisins to get.

Now the real stress begins. We have to convert the kitchen to be ready for Passover while we do everything else in the busy week ahead.

To read more about last year, my 2010 Passover posts are:

Whether you celebrate Passover, Easter, or another spring holiday, I wish you luck with your preparations. What are you looking forward to most and/or least in the next upcoming weeks?

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food glorious food holidays interesting jl looking back photos shopping TechyDad

Memories From Mother’s Day

Posted on April 7, 2011 8:03 am by TheAngelForever

This year, I will be celebrating Mother’s Day as a mother with a kiddo for the seventh time. My thoughts and feelings about the holiday have changed over the years. It used to be a day to gather with extended family for a nice brunch. Then, it became a day to spend quiet time with my family enjoying each other. It changed some in recent years because my little guy’s birthday is very close to Mother’s Day and we have had a family celebration on Mother’s Day at least once. This can easily make the day stressful.

Looking back, it is pretty easy for me to pick out the Mother’s Day that was the most special to me. It was two years ago and this photo is my favorite from the day:

In May 2009, we took our boys to Walt Disney World for the first time. Making it extra special, my parents decided to experience the magic with us. We arrived the day before Mother’s Day, making that Sunday our first full day at Walt Disney World. We woke up that morning and went to Disney Hollywood Studios. It was a magical day with my boys and my parents. Even though my glasses broke, it could not ruin the day. It was filled with laughter, smiles, memories, and milestones for my kiddos. It was also the day that both of my boys were likely bitten by the Disney bug and joined the ranks with the rest of our family.

No matter how our Mother’s Day celebration changes over the years, one thing stays constant. It is a day where we make sure to thank the mothers in our lives. This includes not only my mother and TechyDad’s mother, but my grandmother, sister-in-laws, aunts, and friends who are mothers. Now time to admit something, I am sick of going to stores to fight for a spot in a small display to pick our greeting cards to send people. This year, I plan on sending long distance cards via Tiny Prints.

Tiny Prints provides simple, modern and unique stationery from Fathers Day Cards to personalized greeting cards to thank you cards, business cards, and even custom wedding invitations or photo birth announcements. Offering exclusive designs from the nation’s top designers, easy card personalization, a powerful preview engine and top-notch customer service and paper quality, their designs have been lauded by numerous television networks, publications and celebrities. With Tiny Prints by your side, commemorating every holiday and momentous occasion is a cinch! They offer perfect party invitations for every occasion and memorable personalized photo-gifts like notebooks, photo books and calendars to commemorate the event.

Now, I best be off. I need to start my list of cards to make for special women in our lives for Mother’s Day 2011.

Disclosure: I wrote this post as part of a Global Influence campaign for Tiny Prints. By sharing this information with my readers, I will also receive a Tiny Prints gift code to thank me for my participation. No other compensation has been given.

Global Influence Network

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Tuesday Tales – Afikomen Mambo

Posted on April 5, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Imagine dancing around your Passover Seder and singing the Afikomen Mambo with your children as you search high and low.

Thanks to Kar-Ben Publishing, I recently received a copy of the book and CD Afikomen Mambo by Rabbi Joe Black. In a few short weeks, we will be celebrating Passover with extended family and look forward to bringing this book along to our seder. I think the boys will have a blast singing and reenacting the scenes from the book.

More about Afikomen Mambo:

You can put it in your pocket

Put it under the TV

But you can’t hide the afikomen from me!

Popular children’s songster Rabbi Joe Black returns with a catchy rhyme to enliven the afikomen hunt at your seder. Afikomen Mambo, a story-and-song combo for the holiday of Passover, makes a greast “afikomen finding” present and can entertain kids both at the family seder and leading up to the holiday. Includes a CD.

Joe Black is a Congregational Rabbi, a singer, songwriter and guitarist whose music for children is celebrated and sung in Jewish communities throughout the United States, Canada, and Israel. Rabbi Black’s recordings have received accolades from The New York Times, Hadassah Magazine, and The American Library Journal. He has shared his music with hundreds of communities. His previous children’s book was Boker Tov! He lives in Denver with his wife and two children.

Afikomen Mambo – Written by Rabbi Joe Black– Illustrated by Linda Prater– Kar-Ben Publishing – Spring 2011 – ISBN 978-0-7613-5639-4 – $8.95 (paperback) – Ages 1-4 (PreK)

What I Thought:

Over the years, we have collected a number of Passover books for our kids. Afikomen Mambo is not like any of the others that we have. Rather than tell the story of Passover and guide us through the seder, it focuses the importance of the afikomen. The reality is that if we do not have the afikomen, the seder can not be finished

Rabbi Joe Black does a great job for the preschool set. He incorporates just enough key terms from the seder with karpas, charoset, four questions, and other items in a fun rhyming way to keep the beat of the song going. When you listen to the CD, you can imagine a room full of kids dancing around searching for the afikomen during a mock seder. I can not wait to bring this to my son’s preschool to let them dance around to while learning about Passover.

If you are looking for a light hearted book about Passover for younger children, this is a great book for you. Rabbi Joe Black’s singing and fun mambo beat will keep your family dancing while you search for your afikomen.

What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your Book Posts, and/or leave a comment below. Include something you read on your own, with a child or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

Disclosure: I received this book complimentary of Kar-Ben Publishing in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed in the review are my own. One widget within the review is for my Amazon Affiliate where I will receive a percentage of money for the sale of the books should you opt to buy the book mentioned.

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books holidays photos Product review Tuesday Tales

Celebrating Purim

Posted on March 20, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As a child, I have many memories of celebrating Purim with my family. My mother, father, brother and I would go to Shul with my Mimi and Poppy. I often dressed up as Queen Esther since this was her big day. For years I would not go near our rabbi because he scared me in his Megillah Gorilla costume one year. I am happy to report I was able to get over it since he was also the one that married us almost ten years ago.

TechyDad and I have also taken our kids to synagogue for Purim celebrations.

The boys adore dressing up and taking part in the Megillah reading celebration. Groggers to make noises each time we hear the name Haman uttered, only adds to the fun and excitement for a child.

Today, the boys and I will be celebrating Purim a little differently. To help get you in the mood and tell you the story, I wanted to share the Maccabeats Purim Song video. Enjoy!