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what does home mean to you?

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From www.meaningofhome.ca:

Do you want to help a family in need? You can help build a family a home (and win cool prizes) by simply writing a composition, essay or poem.

From October 5 to November 13, Genworth Financial Canada and Habitat for Humanity Canada are asking you to make a difference.

Submit a short composition, essay or poem that explains what “home” means to you!

First Place winner will:
  • Take part in the ultimate gift – a new Habitat home for a deserving family. Genworth will donate $60,000 towards the building of a new Habitat home in a community of the winner’s choice*.
  • Receive a high-performance Dell laptop with 80 GB hard drive, 3 GB RAM and an extended warranty, loaded with Microsoft Office.

*The winner will select from a list of eligible locations.

Five Runner Ups will each:
  • Help a family to get a home of their own. Genworth will donate $5,000 to a Habitat affiliate of the winner’s choice – which will support the building of a new home in that community.
  • Receive a $100 gift certificate to Chapters Indigo.

Contest Requirements:
  • Contest is open to students in grade 4, 5 or 6 in Canada.
  • Your entry should be between 200 and 600 words
  • You can submit your stories from October 5 to November 13, 2009

Click here for complete contest rules and regulations.

How to submit your entry:

 
Enter online:
To submit your composition, essay or poem online, simply fill in the following form, then type or copy and paste your entry into the Submission box. Then click the “submit” button.

Enter by mail:
You can also mail your submission, along with your name, address and phone number, to:

The Meaning of Home Writing Contest
P.O. Box 4446
STN Industrial Park
Markham, ON
L3R 5G9

Don’t forget the stamp!

This post was requested by http://causeacommotion.com/

what does home mean to you?

by

From www.meaningofhome.ca:

Do you want to help a family in need? You can help build a family a home (and win cool prizes) by simply writing a composition, essay or poem.

From October 5 to November 13, Genworth Financial Canada and Habitat for Humanity Canada are asking you to make a difference.

Submit a short composition, essay or poem that explains what “home” means to you!

First Place winner will:
  • Take part in the ultimate gift – a new Habitat home for a deserving family. Genworth will donate $60,000 towards the building of a new Habitat home in a community of the winner’s choice*.
  • Receive a high-performance Dell laptop with 80 GB hard drive, 3 GB RAM and an extended warranty, loaded with Microsoft Office.

*The winner will select from a list of eligible locations.

Five Runner Ups will each:
  • Help a family to get a home of their own. Genworth will donate $5,000 to a Habitat affiliate of the winner’s choice – which will support the building of a new home in that community.
  • Receive a $100 gift certificate to Chapters Indigo.

Contest Requirements:
  • Contest is open to students in grade 4, 5 or 6 in Canada.
  • Your entry should be between 200 and 600 words
  • You can submit your stories from October 5 to November 13, 2009

Click here for complete contest rules and regulations.

How to submit your entry:

 
Enter online:
To submit your composition, essay or poem online, simply fill in the following form, then type or copy and paste your entry into the Submission box. Then click the “submit” button.

Enter by mail:
You can also mail your submission, along with your name, address and phone number, to:

The Meaning of Home Writing Contest
P.O. Box 4446
STN Industrial Park
Markham, ON
L3R 5G9

Don’t forget the stamp!

This post was requested by http://causeacommotion.com/

Disney on Ice is coming to Toronto – coupon code and giveaway! [closed]

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If you are looking for information about the 2011 Disney on Ice show,

Disney On Ice celebrates 100 Years of Magic

Dec. 23, 2011 – Jan. 1, 2012 at Rogers Centre

Disney On Ice presents  

Princess Classics
at the Rogers Centre
December 18th – December 27th.
has partnered with Feld Entertainment, the parent company for Disney On Ice, to provide a special family ticket package offer in select cities.

Toronto Area families can get four tickets for $44 Monday-Friday (excluding Friday evening), and $4 off tickets for all weekend performances.

Plus there are several chances to win tickets!

Coupon code details:

  • The tickets can be purchased from http://www.ticketmaster.ca and by entering the MCC code in the “MC promotion” box when purchasing tickets.
  • Minimum purchase of 4 tickets required; additional tickets above 4 can be purchased at $11 each during the week and $4 off on weekends.
  • Offer not valid on Rinkside or VIP seating.
  • Cannot be combined with other offers. Service Charges, facility and handling fees will apply.
* * * * * * *
Ticket Giveaway details:

Mom Central has generously allowed me to give away a:

Family Pack of 4 tickets to the December 18th show at 7pm.

The winner will be announced December 7th.

And how can you enter my giveaway?  Simply comment on this post stating why doing things as a family is important to you. And be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you win!

* * * * * * *
But I’m not the only one giving away tickets!  The Disney on Ice show has a Toronto Facebook fan page.   Head over to their page, become a fan and get a chance to win some tickets.
* * * * * * *
And since Mom Central is so wonderful, they gave us tickets for opening night!  I can’t wait to go…the girls are going to love it.  I’ll be sure to do a review of the show, so stay tuned!
MomCentral is a great resource for, you guessed it, Moms! Check out their website or follow them on twitter.
I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Feld Entertainment. Mom Central will be sending me tickets and a gift to thank me for taking the time to participate. 
I am also part of their Feld Family Activator program.

book review: character is the key

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Parenting isn’t easy. And there are many books out there that try to help you raise your kids to be the happy, successful, independent adults that we hope they can be.

Sara Dimerman has written a book, “Character is the Key” which helps parents to understand their own core characteristics in order to help model these as their children grow up.

The basic concepts that are discussed in the book are something that we can start now and continue to build on as the girls get bigger. But our girls are still little and the activities suggested for he Family Plan and for each of the characteristics would be way over their heads. I can’t really hold a family meeting with a 2 1/2 year old who won’t sit still for a full episode of Toopy and Binoo

The way Sara Dimerman has organized the book will make it easy to review it in the future. Each chapter has a “short and sweet” review of the ideas and concepts that were discussed. The Family Plan has worksheets to help each family member define themselves and their goals and these can be found on her website. And the last part of the book takes each characteristic and goes into detail of how it can be a part of your life. She suggests having a monthly family meeting to learn about these characteristics.

I’ll definitelykeep it on hand for when the girls are old enough to participate and give feedback. Until then, it will be up to BigDaddy and I to make sure that we teaching and showing the girls how to be the best people they can be.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Character Is the Key: How to Unlock the Best in Our Children and Ourselves and received a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate.

"teach them to tie in no time"

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That’s what is says on the package and they’re not lying.

Munchkin is tall for her age.  At 4 years 9 months old, she stands 45.5″ tall and weighs 45 lbs.  She wears size 6 clothes and size 13 shoes.  There in lies the trouble.  It is very difficult to find good, sturdy shoes with velcro in size 13.  There are lots of cutesy shoes with Velcro, but Munchkin has already proven that they aren’t good enough quality (she’s worn through 2 pairs already),

We started at the beginning of the summer to teach her how to tie her shoes . BigDaddy and I tie our shoes differently.  He does the “bunny ears” method: two loops and one crosses over and around the other.  I do the “One loop wrap” method: loop one lace, wrap the other around to make another loop.  Poor Munckin was struggling with both methods, neither was easy for her.

I started Googling to see if I could find some teaching techninics or tricks to help her learn.  But I found something even better.

Tie BuddiesTM will revolutionize when and how children learn to tie their shoes. With Velcro and slip-ons the average age of children learning to tie has increased with some children learning as late as 9 or 10.

Tie BuddiesTM offer children ages 3-9 the independence of tying their own shoes while quickly teaching them a method which is based around characters and stories depicted on the Tie BuddiesTM themselves. Tie BuddiesTM first offering includes one design each for boys and girls but rest assured more great characters are to come!

When we got them home, I put them on Munchkin’s Converse and she couldn’t wait to see how they work.  We went through each step slowly.


 I guided her through the process a few times.  She was about to attempt tying for the 4th time when she said “I can do it myself, Mommy.  You just watch this time.”  And watch is exactly what I did.  I watched a huge smile and big sparkling eyes look up at me when she had done it all by herself.

Now we just need to get more tie buddies for both pairs of shoes she need for school!  She’s going to be so excited!

Thank you, Tie Buddies!!