The Purpllinker: A Great Learning Tool for Children of all Ages!

When I first received the Purpllinker to review fromTimberdoodle, I knew it would be a perfect fit for my four-year old daughter. What I didn't expect was that my seventeen month old, six-year-old, and eight-year-old would have a blast with it, as well!

What is Purpllinker, you may ask?

Purpllinker is a learning tool made of 7 durable, plastic pieces and rivets. Here is a link to a sheet showing some of the shapes, letters, etc. that you can make with the Purpllinker. Upon first glance, it seems like a very simple concept, but there is a lot that can be done with it! My four-year-old is learning the alphabet, and loves using the Purpllinker to learn in a tactile manner. We will be using it to help reinforce the letters of the alphabet and numbers. My six-year-old son is using it to make different house shapes, animals, and letters. I am planning on using it to teach my eight-year-old daughter geometric shapes and the Greek alphabet.

My favorite feature of the Purpllinker is that it is very portable. I can easily carry it in my purse, and keep my four-year-old productively occupied. I may need to invest in a Purpllinker for each of my children, as it has been an instant hit around my house.

The Purpllinker is a component in Timberdoodle's Preschool Curriculum Kit. Timberdoodle does a terrific of selecting fun learning materials for homeschooling families.

Olivia has had a blast with the Purpllinker!


 Disclosure:
As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received a free Purpllinker in exchange for an honest review.

Our Chore Packs

I was inspired by Courtney's posts here and here to start a chore pack system for my children. It is vital that children learn the importance of hard work and diligence, especially at an early age. I found some great printable chore cards here, and printed them out. I was thrilled to see that my local Walmart has the card holders that are in a necklace style. These have a back compartment where I can store completed or extra chores. My little ones have loved coloring their chore cards. There are also blank cards, so I can create chores which are unique to our home. I started making them for my son, first, and he has been so delighted with his chore pack! He loves knowing what he needs to accomplish without me needing to keep reminding him. We have tried chore charts in the past, and this works so much better for us. I think this is an excellent method for readers and pre-readers alike!

The printable chore cards that my son colored.  
I would love to hear your tips for how you manage chores at your house? What rewards do you use for diligence?

The Winner is....

The winner of Rejuvenate with Serene is #6, Delilah. Congrats, Delilah! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Surviving without a Microwave

About a year ago, I noticed several health advocates encouraging others to dispose of their microwaves. I must admit that the concept of abandoning my microwave didn't sit very well with me, at first. After all, as  a child of the 80's, a microwave oven had always been a part of my life.As a busy mama to four little ones, I was concerned that living without a microwave would make my time in the kitchen too cumbersome. For about one month, I completely brushed off the notion of living microwave-free. Then, I was reading one of my favorite health books, Green for Life, all about green smoothies and raw nutrition. The author, Victoria Boutenko , shared that Russia, the country she is from, banned microwaves years ago for health reasons. I decided that it was time to make a baby step towards change, so with my husband's blessing, I moved our microwave out to our garage for one month. I decided that if I could live without it for 30 days, I would get rid of it. If I couldn't live without it, I could easily rescue it from my garage, and restore it to its previous location.
My experiment went well, much to my surprise, and we made do without our microwave for the entire 30 days. It has been about 10 months since my experiment, and I am happy to report that it was much easier than I thought it would be to live without a microwave. I have a smaller, galley-style kitchen, and my counter space is at a premium. Getting rid of the microwave helped me to reclaim some of my counter space.

I am loving my "new" counterspace.

Here are a few ways that I make do without a microwave:

Heating up Beverages

I have a small saucepan that I use to heat up water for hot beverages on the stovetop. It only takes a minute or two longer than it would have in the microwave. I also use this method for melting chocolate, re-warming coffee, etc.. Another great alternative would be an electric kettle or a tea kettle.

Toaster Oven

Toaster ovens offer the same conveniences of a microwave without compromising the nutrition content of your food. There are many dishes that can be used in the toaster oven to reheat leftovers. Almost everyday, I use the Pampered Chef Small Bar Pan to heat/reheat food in my toaster oven. It is perfect for making crispy quesadillas, toasted sandwiches, or for heating a single slice of homemade pizza! My hubby would never eat baked potatoes when I zapped them in the microwave; he said they were too mushy and odd tasting. I started making them in the toaster oven and he loved how crispy the potatoes were. We have gotten a lot of use out of our $20 toaster oven. When it eventually "bites the dust" we are planning on upgrading to a convection toaster oven, which will cook food even quicker than our current model.

Popcorn

Even before we "kissed our microwave goodbye", we  had made the switch to air-popping our popcorn. Many manufacturers of microwave popcorn had been adding diacetyl to their popcorn. My little ones get very excited whenever we bring out our popcorn popper. If you don't have one of these handy gadgets, try this stovetop method.

Crock Pot

Keeping foods warm  throughout the day prevents the need to reheat.

Living without a microwave is much easier than I ever expected. There is one non-food purpose that I miss having a microwave for, and that is to heat up my corn pack. It was an absolute Godsend when I was in labor with babies #3 and #4. It felt amazing applied to my lower back during contractions. I have tried to find an adequate substitute, but haven't been able to yet. My husband got me an Instant Heat Therapy Pack, which you have to boil after each use. It often takes 20+ minutes to make it ready to be reactivated. Other than that, I don't miss my microwave at all.  If you have any ideas about  a good substitute, I would really appreciate it!

Do you use a microwave?  Do you think you could live without it?


Further Reading

The Hidden Hazards of Microwave Cooking

Why We Should All Get Rid of Our Microwave


Do You Microwave Your Food?

Minding the Microwave: Reseach Notes





This post is linked to Women Living Well, Healthy2Day Wednesdays,Kitchen Tip Tuesdays, and WFMW.

Pin Curls: An Easy and Elegant Hair-Do!

Pin curls are such a fun way to style your hair! No fancy styling gadgets are required, simply use a few bobby pins. Lily loved wearing her hair in pin curls at bedtime, and was thrilled to have a set of curls in the morning. It is a great way to keep your hair up during the day, and then wear it down, curly, at night.

Before:

After:

Complete directions here.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: 
 Breakfast- Green Smoothies, Bagels
 Snack (reading time)- carrots and hummus
 Lunch- Chickpea Salad, quesadillas, leftovers  (I like to make one meal, at the beginning of  the week for the children and I to eat each day for lunch. It helps me to make sure that we are eating something healthy, and yet I am not scrambling to figure out what to make.)
Snack- Banana Almond Smoothie (These are amazing!) 
Dinner- Salad and Spaghetti

My Littlest enjoying a green smoothie

I love her!

Tuesday:

Breakfast- Green Smoothies, Oatmeal
Snack- Carrots and Hummus, fruit
Lunch- Chickpea Salad, Quesadillas, or leftovers
Snack- The Avocado Smoothie (This is a good source of healthy fats especially for mothers and young children!)
Dinner- Omelettes and Baked Soaked Oatmeal

Wednesday:

Breakfast- Green Smoothies, 10 grain hot cereal
Snack- Carrots and Hummus
Lunch- Chickpea Salad, Quesadillas, or leftovers
Snack- Peanut Butter Chocolate Smoothie (so yummy!)
Dinner- Salad, Thai Peanut Noodle

Thursday:

Breakfast- Green Smoothies, Oatmeal
Snack- Carrots and Hummus
Lunch- Chickpea Salad, Quesadillas, or leftovers
Snack- Banana Almond Smoothie
Dinner- Chicken Burritos

Friday:

Breakfast- Green Smoothies
Snack- Carrots and hummus, fruit
Lunch- Chickpea Salad, Quesadillas
Snack- PB Chocolate Smoothie
Dinner- Homemade Pizza

I would love to hear what is on your menu this week. Blessings, friends!

Rejuvenate with Serene Dvd Giveaway!

So often, as mothers, there are so many pressing needs to meet, and it is easy to neglect our own health. Bearing children and nursing them is a great blessing, yet can be very fatiguing especially if we aren't consuming proper nutrients. I was so excited to be able to review Rejuvenate with Serene, made by Franklin Springs Media. Serene Allison emphasizes the importance of eating healthy during all of the seasons of childbearing, and how to encourage your family to eat healthier. Serene has a contagious enthusiasm and passion for helping others to prepare delectable, healthy meals, and thus reverse/avoid disease. One aspect of this dvd , which I absolutely love, is that Serene encourages others to make baby steps towards eating healthy. Rather than trying to persuade others to remove every processed food from their shelves, she encourages the viewers to bring healthy choices into your home in addition to what you already have. Also, she recommends adding a raw dish here and there as a supplement to dinner, rather than getting rid of all of your normal meals all at once. I enjoy the baby steps approach, and feel like it is a much better way to get one's family on board with healthier choices, rather than going "cold turkey". I had read Serene's cookbook, Rejuvenate Your Life, and enjoyed watching her make some of those recipes in this dvd. In Rejuvenate with Serene, you can watch her make Pizza (the healthy way), Banana Ice Cream, Rich Cheesy Sauce (without cheese), and a Healthier Salad. Serene shows how to use a young coconut, which is very nutrient dense. I appreciated this part of the dvd because she showed how to open a young coconut, which I always struggled with before. Serene shares the importance of pregnant/nursing mothers drinking young coconut water. It is full of natural electrolytes, and is anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral. When you drink coconut water, it goes right to one's liver, which results in an energy boost. I think I need to stock up on these the next time I visit my local Asian market! Serene's three basic steps to health, which were outlined in this dvd are excellent!

Rejuvenate with Serene - Trailer from Franklin Springs on Vimeo.

Serene's three recommended Steps to Improved Health:
1. Eat More Whole Foods.  (get rid of white flour, white sugar, etc..)

2. Avoid Toxins.

3. Eat more raw foods.  Raw foods are the secret to vibrant health. Cooking destroys 80-90% vitamins and nutrients in food, and destroys 100% of food enzymes.

Rejuvenate with Serene contains great bonus features including recipes and an interview with Nancy Campbell, Serene's mother, about Serene's health journey. This dvd is only $9.95 right now.

I am so excited that Franklin Springs Media is giving away a copy of Rejuvenate with Serene, to one of my blog readers. Serene's enthusiasm for health is contagious and is such a vital message for all mothers.

To Win:
1. Leave a comment telling me why you would like to win this dvd. (mandatory entry)

Optional Additional Entries:

2.Become a fan of Franklin Springs Media. Write on their Wall that Lily of the Valley sent you.

3. Become a fan of Lily of the Valley.

4. Follow Lily of the Valley on Google Friend Connect. (or leave me a comment saying that you already do)

5.Blog, tweet, or share on facebook about this giveaway. (leave a comment each time you do this; you can do this once a day.)

6. Visit Franklin Springs Media and tell me what other video they sell looks like something you would like to see.

This contest ends August 19th, 2011 at 12 pm EST, and is open to US residents only.

Disclosure: Franklin Springs Family Media provided me with a complimentary review copy and a giveaway copy

July Books

Throughout this past month, I read two fantastic books, Lessons at Blackberry Inn and A Love that Multiplies. These are two of the best books I have read all year!

Lessons at Blackberry Inn

Homeschool catalogs are replete with "How to Homeschool" Books for the home educating mother. Encouraging and edifying fiction, which are full of homemaking inspiration are few and far between. It is a joy to enter Carol Weaver's world, circa 1930. Carol Weaver is a home-educating mother and homemaker. Inspirational snippets of Charlotte Mason-style education are woven throughout Lessons at Blackberry Inn.

Here is a delightful excerpt of Lessons of Blackberry Inn, detailing how the the Weavers use dominoes, on occasion, for math lessons:

"During our morning lessons the children used dominoes to practice arithmetic. We covered the table with dominoes, facedown. Taking turns, they picked one and read the sum of the sides. As they played, they increased their speed."             - p. 38

I was inspired to employ creative ideas such as these, into my homeschool as well.

A beautiful Christian theme is woven throughout Lessons at Blackberry Inn. What a joy to read about a Christian, home-educating family! Whether Carol, the main character of the story, is canning a large bushel of tomatoes, making a yo-yo quilt, or making pie crusts, joyful homemaking and home education is a common theme throughout this story.Lessons at Blackberry Inn is a top recommendation, especially for those desiring to home school in a Charlotte Mason style.


A Love that Multiples

The Duggars have been an amazing inspiration to me, and the more I learn about them, the more inspired I have become to live a godly life.  They have such a vibrant love for the Lord.  I have enjoyed both of the books they have written, which include so much wisdom they have gleaned throughout the years. They have inspired me to be joyful and kind to others (which is definitely a work in progress), even if others say uncharitable things about my "large family". A Love that Multiplies contains so much wisdom including inspiring children to entrepreneurial endeavors, homeschooling rubrics, learning to follow God without question, and so much more. A Love that Multiplies is such an encouragement; it is a resource that I will definitely glean from for years to come.

I received a complimentary copy of Lessons at Blackberry Inn for review purposes. I was not compensated in any way for this review.

A Healthier Lunch Meat

 According to a variety of studies, lunch meats containing nitrates or nitrites can increase one's risk of cancer by about 67%. Leukemia increased 700% when children consume hot dogs regularly. Nitrites and Nitrates are commonly found in bacon, sausage, hot dogs, lunch meat, and pepperoni. Once I learned of the increased cancer risk associated with these  foods, I sought to eliminate these foods from our diet/find healthier alternatives. For the past several months, I have been purchasing Hormel's nitrite/nitrate free lunch meat . I am excited to see that they also carry uncured pepperoni, which would be great for pizza night. I am so excited that these products are highly accessible; even my local Walmart carries these! If you still eat traditional lunch meat, I highly recommend finding a nitrate/nitrite-free alternative. I received no compensation from Hormel, nor a product to review. This is just a heart-felt recommendation from a fellow Mom seeking to raise healthy children.

This post is linked to Healthy 2Day Wednesdays, Women Living Well, and Works for Me Wednesday.