March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day – St. Patrick is said to have given a sermon from a hilltop that drove all the snakes from Ireland.  St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated in the US since 1737.  Traditional icons of the day are the shamrock, leprechaun, the color green and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. In Chicago, they city celebrates with a parade and the Chicago River is dyed green!

March 28- Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is a Christian celebration that always falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before his Passion.  In many Christian churches, Palm Sunday is marked by the distribution of palm leaves (often tied into crosses) to the assembled worshipers.

March 30 Passover-Passover, also known as Pesach or Pesah, is a Holy Day, observed by several religions, begins today and lasts seven or eight days, depending on your beliefs.  It commemorates the exodus and freedom of the Israelites from Egypt.  It is also observed by some Christians to commemorate the deliverance from sin by the sacrifice of Jesus.

Windy Days – March is known for its windy days. It would be a great day to fly a kite

 

Sidewalk Chalk– Take advantage of a mild day and head outside to draw on the sidewalk with chalk. Kids love to have their whole body outlined and then fill in the drawing with clothes and a face. If you still have ice or snow outside try white or colored chalk inside on construction paper or brown wrapping paper. The drawings can be made permanent, so they won’t rub off, by spraying with aerosol hair spray (best to spray outside, and certainly away from the children).

Snowballs in the Kitchen
In most parts of the US the snow has disappeared, but you can cook ‘snowballs’ in the kitchen.
Ingredients
1 3-oz bag of natural microwave popcorn
2 12-oz bags of white chocolate chips
1 1/4oz container of white cake sparkles (edible glitter)
Prepare popcorn as directed on the package (do not let children open the bag as the steam can burn). Cool completely and remove any unpopped kernels. Melt the white chocolate chips as directed on the package. Carefully pour the melted chocolate over the popcorn, stirring gently until the popcorn is coated. Gently but firmly mold the coated popcorn into snowball shapes. Set on wax paper and sprinkle with edible glitter.  Enjoy!

 

March 14 Daylight Saving Time Be sure to set the clocks forward one hour!  Don’t be late for work!

		Olympic Update from Vancouver!

“we bring the world together”

 

Greetings!

Au Pair in America brings the world together, so we thought it would be fun to bring the world to you with updates on the Olympic Games in Vancouver. Enjoy!

 

The 2010 Olympics in Vancouver are underway! The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games, are underway in  Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This is the third time Canada has hosted the Olympics, and the first time in the province of British Columbia.  82 National Olympic Committees have entered this year, with Colombia, Cayman Islands, Peru, Pakistan, Serbia, Ghana and Montenegro making their first appearance in the Winter Olympics! The Opening Ceremony took place Friday, February 12th, and it was the first time the ceremony was held indoors.

South Korea dominating 500m Speed Skating Sang-Hwa Lee from South Korea won Gold in the Ladies 500m speed skating event yesterday beating out medal favorite Jenny Wolf of Germany by five-hundredths of a second. On Monday, Mo Tae-Bum of South Korea won Gold in the Men’s 500m speed skating. The South Korean speed skaters are leading the way for their country, helping South Korea rank 5th in the overall medal count, in addition to being tied with Germany for the most Gold medals with three.

Germany women own the luge! Germany took gold and bronze in the women’s individual luge yesterday. Tatjana Huefer won gold by almost a full half second, and Natalie Geisenberger took bronze.

Medal Count! The top five countries are as follows: Germany: 3 Gold, 4 Silver, 2 Bronze, Total: 9 US: 2 Gold, 2 Silver, 4 Bronze, Total: 8 France: 2 Gold, 1 Silver, 4 Bronze, Total: 7 Canada: 2 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze, Total: 5 South Korea: 3 Gold, 1 Silver, 0 Bronze, Total: 4 For a complete Medal Count list, click here

What to watch on Wednesday! The Slovakian men’s hockey team, being led by Chicago Blackhawks’ Marian Hossa and Boston Bruins’ Zdeno Chara, begin their quest for Gold today versus Czech Republic. Shaun White looks for another gold in the snowboarding event, Lindsay Vonn, who many consider to be the United States’ best female skier ever, will make her Vancouver debut in the women’s downhill, and Apollo Ohno competes today, looking to break the record for most Winter Olympic medals by an American athlete.