Yearly Archives: 2012

Celebrating Rosh Hashanah!

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Rosh Hashanah is a Jewish Holiday commonly referred to as the Jewish New Year.  It is observed on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. Rosh Hashanah is the first of the high Holidays specifically set aside to focus on repentance that concludes with the holiday of Yom Kippur.  Rosh Hashanah is the start of the civil year in the Hebrew calendar.  It is the New Year for people, animals, and legal contracts. Jewish people believe Rosh Hashanah represents either analogically or literally the creation of the World, or Universe.

On Rosh Hashanah, Jewish people all over the world gather in synagogues to celebrate the day.  The holiday is celebrated with sweet foods, like apples dipped in honey and honey cake and round Challot made with honey and raisins as a wish for a sweet year.

Here is a link to children’s games and activities to celebrate the holiday.  It includes information, art projects, crafts, stories and recipes:

http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/354744/jewish/Rosh-Hashanah.htm

Rosh Hashanah will is celebrated for two days, Monday September 17th and Tuesday September 18th.  The two day holiday will begin at sundown on Sunday evening.

Wishing all our host families,au pairs and friends a very happy Holiday!

TRY SOME FUN NEW RECIPES TO STAY COOL INSIDE AND OUT!

With really high temperature during the summer,what better ways to cool down than trying out some fun and easy recipes from WholeLiving,one of my favorite magazines.I am sure you will enjoy them!

Whole Living
Melon, Mint, and Cucumber Smoothie

Melon, Mint, and Cucumber Smoothie

Whole Living, July/August July/August 2012 http://www.marthastewart.com/180976/melon-mint-and-cucumber-smoothie

  • Yield Serves 2

Ingredients

    • 2 cups chopped honeydew
    • 1 cup chopped English cucumber
    • 12 fresh mint leaves
    • 2-4 tablespoons fresh lime juice, to taste
    • 1 teaspoon honey

Directions

  1. Puree ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Creamy Summer Squash Soup
  • Photo: Con Poulos

Whole Living, July/August July/August 2012

  • Yield Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro stems, plus 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 5 medium yellow summer squash (2 1/2 pounds), chopped
  • Coarse salt
  • Lime wedges, for serving

Directions

  1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook onion, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, cilantro stems, and coriander and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add squash and 2 1/2 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until squash is just tender, about 15 minutes. Let cool slightly, then season with salt.
  2. Puree soup in batches until smooth. (If too thick, thin with a little water.) Adjust seasoning if necessary and let cool slightly. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve with lime.

July 4- Independence Day

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Independence Day was first celebrated on July 8, 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was read to the public in Philadelphia. By the 1880’s, the Fourth of July had become the most significant patriotic occasion in the United States. The holiday is presently celebrated with parades, fireworks, picnics, sporting events, and music. An estimated 150 million hot dogs are eaten in the U.S. on Independence Day!

Check out your local newspaper to find out what activities are planned in your cluster!

Craft ideas:

Paintings of fireworks:

Idea #1Use a large piece of paper. Let children drop small amounts of paint (different colors works well, or just use blue and red for a patriotic look. If you can, get black paper and use red, white and blue for fireworks in the night sky). Have the children swirl the paint out with a spoon, let them keep swirling from the center, in all directions around the drop of paint. Some of them may overlap, and that is fine, too. When it is finished it looks like fireworks bursting in the sky.

Idea #2 Give the child a straw and have them blow into the pools of paint to make their own free form painting of fireworks.

July 1-U.S Postage Stamp Day!

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Can you believe Cats were used to deliver the mail! Hundreds of years ago, Belgium employed cats to carry bundles of letters to villages. This service didn’t last long as cats proved to be unreliable.

Summer would be a good time to start your own stamp collection and visit the National Postal Museum in DC (http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/)

Have fun!

FATHER’S DAY

June 19th is Father’s day.To honor the father in your family work together to make a special picture or homemade gift.

Hint:check out the KIDS page on this blog.

Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June but it is also celebrated widely on other days.images-3

FLAG DAY

June 14 is FLAG DAY!images-2

Flying the American flag is more popular than ever. It is a symbol of the country’s values and traditions. Do you know what the stars and stripes mean?   Its 13 red and white stripes represent the original colonies and the 50 stars stand for the states. You might also want to use this day to teach the children about your own flag.  You can find a print out of the American flag and flags of many other countries in the Kids Culture Corner http://aupairinamerica.com/resources/kids/culture_corner/

In honor of Flag Day, Global Awareness sponsored a Flag Day Contest in which au pairs were asked to submit their creative interpretations of their flags.  The photos and descriptions are posted on the GA website www.globalawareness.com Please take a peek-you’ll see cultural exchange in action and, I’m sure, feel a special pride in working with these young women.

National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month

images-1This is a good time to visit an outdoor farmer’s market.Find one in your area and bring the kids with you.Here is a link for local markets:http://www.arlingtonva.us/portals/topics/FarmersMarkets.aspx and http://www.fallschurchva.gov/content/government/departments/recparks/farmersmarket/default.aspx.

Children should eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.  Many children prefer the crunch of raw food – especially popular are apples, pears, carrots, broccoli, celery and cucumbers.  Use your imagination to serve cut up vegetables in an interesting way– for example, make a figure with carrot stick arms and legs, a celery body and a round of cucumber for a head.

~Try new foods!  Are you caring for children who are fussy eaters or are reluctant to try new things?  Make a tasting passport.  Take several pieces of computer paper and fold in half and staple.  On the front write “Tasting Passport” and the child’s name and the date you started.  Look for food pictures in magazines that the child can glue into their passport when they try a new food.

Are we feeding kids the right food?

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On Tuesday,April 10th 2012,au pairs representing more than 10 countries came together to learn about healthy food and snack choices at their local WholeFoods store in Clarendon.

Everyone knows the importance food has on our body and for those young women who come from different parts of the world, our grocery stores can be a bit overwhelming,to say the least. So we wanted to give them an opportunity to look beyond the Mac”n’Cheese or Peanut butter and jelly sandwich many of our kids have for lunch or snack and introduce them to new ideas.

Thanks to our 2 hosts at WholeFoods in Clarendon,Brenna and Jaquie, and their community outreach program,au pairs from Au Pair in America tasted various snacks and learned some tips on how to shop smart while buying fresh and healthy products and still staying on a budget.They also left with wonderful recipes to share with their host families and the kids they are in charge of.

Brenna and Jaquie made the au pairs aware of the many possibilities they have to help kids eat better food.They pointed out the danger of too much fat and sugar in some pre-made snacks and gave them some ideas on how to replace them with “made from scratch” products. We don’t know of any parent who would object to having their child eat or at least try healthier food.

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To learn more about WholeFoods and their mission,visit your local store or  go on the web at www.wholefoods.com

EASTER AND PASSOVER CELEBRATIONS

Wishing all of you who celebrate Easter and/or Passover a very happy holiday!  Some lucky people get to enjoy double the festivities!

Celebrating Easter

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Easter is one of the most awaited Christian festivals. It is celebrated throughout the world by the followers of Christian community. It is considered to be very auspicious as it is believed that this was the day when Christ resurrected after crucifixion. This day is of immense religious as well as social significance amongst the Christian community.

Church services and festive celebrations blend together during the Easter weekend. On Easter Sunday in New York and other cities, large Easter parades are held.  Easter in USA is also very much commercialized. Easter symbols like bunnies, Easter tree, Easter Eggs and Easter lamb are found in different forms during the Easter festivities throughout the market. The popular trend of Easter symbols such as the Easter bunny and egg tree were introduced to the American folklore by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 1700s. Gradually American people took to crafts such as egg and Easter tree decoration. Easter in US is also a time to enjoy special Easter foods such as baked ham, potatoes and vegetables. Several special recipes are made at each home. Easter parties are also organized where traditional Easter delicacies are served and people enjoy wonderful get together along with Easter games and music.

For children’s Easter games and activities go to:  http://www.thekidzpage.com/easter_games/index.html

Observing Passover

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Passover is an eight day celebration observed each year by the Jewish religion. It commemorates the freedom of Jewish slaves from Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II.   Families celebrate Passover by having a seder. With special foods, songs, and customs, the Seder is the focal point of the Passover celebration. Seder means order, and the Passover story is read in order from a book called a haggadah.

Fearing that Jews were becoming too strong, a Pharaoh decreed that all male Jewish babies were to be killed. Jocheved and Amran, a Jewish couple, wanted to save their infant son – so they put him in a basket that floated him down the river. The infant was rescued by the Pharaoh’s daughter and she raised him as her own son. She named the baby Moses, which means “take from the water.”

When Moses grew up, he empathized with the Jewish slaves and tried to get the Pharaoh to free them. The Pharaoh refused – so there were 10 plagues sent down to Egypt: Blood, Frogs, Lice, Beasts, Cattle Disease, Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness, and Slaying of the Firstborn. The name Passover comes from the Plague of Slaying the Firstborn. The Angel of Death passed over the homes of the Jews who had put lambs blood on their doors.

After the 10th plague, Pharaoh agreed to let the Jewish slaves go. They gathered up their belongings quickly, and didn’t have time for their bread to rise, so they had to bake it and take it the way it was. This is why the Jewish people eat matzah during Passover.   As the Jews were fleeing, Pharaoh changed his mind, and sent his army after the people to bring them back. Moses parted the Red Sea for the Jews to cross, and as soon as they were safely to the other side, the waters closed on the soldiers, drowning them all. The Jewish people were free.

For children’s activities go to:  http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/passover/

2012 Centennial National Cherry Blossom Festival

2012 Centennial:

A Once In A Lifetime Celebration

In 1912, an incredible gift of 3,000 cherry blossom trees was bestowed on Washington, DC by Tokyo, Japan. Rooted strongly and surviving outside elements, the trees have withstood the test of time – and nearly a century later, the National Cherry Blossom Festival is preparing for an unprecedented and once-in-a-lifetime celebration.

The epic 5-week spectacular, from March 20 – April 27, 2012, will unify and electrify the city, the nation, and the world. Washington, DC and the region will be abuzz with excitement. Creativity and innovation will permeate signature Festival events elevating them to new heights, and ground-breaking Centennial exhibitions and programming will amaze and delight. Timeless traditions. Rich culture. Renowned artists. World-class performers. The community at its best!

For more info and calendar of events,go to:http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/about/2012-centennial/