Tangled!

So, there are some cool perks to being a mommy blogger. A few weeks ago I got an invitation to an advance screening of Disney's new animated feature "Tangled"...so we went wild and skipped Frannie's swimming lesson one Saturday and headed to the cinema to check it out.

Eating popcorn and Smarties at 10 in the morning is a gift in itself, but we were actually all impressed by the movie (Disney's 50th animated feature), too.

I loved that it wasn't exactly a prince-saves-maiden plot, although there were some traditional moments. The story was similar to the Rapunzel you know (witch keeps Rapunzel in tower, climbs up and down her hair at will, etc.) but with some original twists. Hubby thought there were some too-violent-for-the Disney-crowd scenes (e.g. do we want kids to think that magic hair can heal a vicious stab wound?) but the characters were entertaining and there were many for-the-grownups laughs.

I didn't even realize that Rapunzel's beautiful voice was provided by Mandy Moore until checking my press kit afterwards. You know how you think 'I know that voice!' but you just can't place it? That distracted me a bit, but I got over it. And now I've saved you that dilemma!

The 3D aspect is something new for the princess movies, but it does require the little ones to keep their glasses on!  And in terms of Disney royalty, I have to say that this Rapunzel rates behind Beauty and the Beast's Belle and Hercules' Meg as my favourite characters (Belle speaks French, Meg has attitude and they're both brunette. You can see why I relate!), but she was extremely likable.

If you have little Disney lovers, you really have to go. It was two year old Maggie's first post-stars-and-strollers movie and just to see her with the 3D glasses on and bag of popcorn in hand made it worth the hour's drive to the theatre! (Plus - no potty accidents the whole morning!) Four year old Frannie was completely entranced the whole time, and already wants to go back to see it again...and since it's now open nationwide, we just might go back! See you there!

What Teachers Really Want For Christmas!

First of all: no, you don't have to buy a gift for your child's teacher. Or preschool instructor, or daycare provider. But this is a great time of year to acknowledge someone who is doing a great job and making a difference in your child's life.

As a teacher myself, I am often asked by family and friends for gift ideas, and for that reason I wrote:

"What Teachers Really Want For Christmas" (Peterborough, Northumberland and Lakeridge Kids, Dec/Jan 2009/2010) (Click on link for complete article.)

I don't want to give away what we will be buying for Frannie's very first teacher (there is also an Early Childhood Educator and Integrated Literacy teacher in her classroom who will get something as well), but I can tell you that the girls' daycare provider will get a clothing store gift certificate for the fourth year in a row. Yes, she reads this blog, but it's certainly not a surprise gift.

We're both very practical, and she's a "flowers die, chocolates are bad for you" kind of gal (her husband sticks with jewelery, if you're wondering) so every year I just ask her what she wants and then I buy it. Might sound unoriginal,  but it works for us.

As for teacher gifts, I can promise you that no matter your budget, you can never go wrong with a heartfelt note. Of course we teachers can afford to buy things for ourselves, and while all Christmas offerings are gratefully received, it really is the thought that counts. Those meaningful letters that tell me I'm doing a good job honestly mean the most. There's nothing like starting the holidays knowing that I'm appreciated, and this sort of affirmation is truly priceless.

For more ideas (including tips for do-it-yourself, budget, and charitable gifts) and a section where teachers share their favourite gift ever, be sure to check out "What Teachers Really Want For Christmas!" from Peterborough, Northumberland and Lakeridge Kids.

I'd love to hear your gift ideas for teachers past and present...and if there are educators out there who want to share their favourites as well, please feel free!

Guess Who's 70??

No, not one of my relatives you've never met. (Well, I'm sure out there somewhere I have a relative who's 70, but that's not the point.)

It's everyone's favourite inquisitive little monkey, Curious George!

I recently received two hardcover, special edition books honouring this big birthday:

Curious George Storybook Collection (Eight stories with activities and more than 100 stickers) It has neat craft ideas to go with the different stories, and the art is based on the PBS Kids television show.

The Complete Adventures of Curious George, with seven original classics, and a photo album of the authors (Margret and H.A. Rey). I particularly love all the non-fiction additions, which allow the kids (and parents) to learn more about the story of George, whom some of us have loved for years.

Do you ever get a wave of nostalgia when reading a story that you enjoyed as a kid? Frannie was flipping through "Curious George and the Boat Show", and although the art is different, the story took me back to my own childhood.

I also love the "Complete Adventures" book because it comes with over an hour of storytelling on two CD's. At four years old, Frannie loves the stories, but is a little young for the CD's, as they don't have any sort of indicator for when to turn the page, and she doesn't read well enough to follow it herself. I am a huge fan of books with CD's. In my class, the favourite centre in our daily Reading Workshop rotation is always the listening centre. However, usually it requires putting a tape in the old tape recorder and putting on the brown headphones (you know, the same ones you used as a kid.) Now, though, many books are available on CD as well. Frannie loves to listen to her books in bed during quiet time (our enforced 'stay-in-your-room-while-Maggie-naps' time) and before going to sleep.

And guess what? The little guy also stars in "Curious George Christmas Carols", which is another book and CD combo made up of ten favourite Christmas tunes like Deck the Halls and Silent Night. Warning: there's no "silent night" when your daughter thinks firing up the CD player at 2 a.m. is a good idea, but hey. We're encouraging reading.

One of these choices might be something to add to the Christmas list of your little George lover!

Winners: Otterbottle and Philips Sonicare

The winner of an Otterbottle Lunch Tote:

# 31 of 79

Lilac from Lethbridge, AB

The winner of a Philips Sonicare kids' electric toothbrush, courtesy of Aquafresh:

# 19 of 57

Leanne from Port Coquitlam, BC

Congratulations!

Caillou Reminder

Just a reminder that Caillou's Greatest Skate of All is currently on tour in Canada! We'll be taking our girls in just a couple of weeks, and we can't wait!

Visit the Koba Entertainment site for tour locations and dates. You might also be lucky enough to have Max and Ruby, Toopy and Binou, The Doodlebops, Franklin or the Backyardigans coming to a theatre near you, so check it out!

Fun Games For Kids and Families: Review and Giveaway

Giveaway open to US and Canada.

I can't think of a better way to bring the family together than to sit around the table with a great game. (In truth, my favourite activity is sitting around the TV, but that makes me sound a little lazy and antisocial. Therefore I'm going with my second best.)

Today I'm recommending a terrific new family game called "Bubble Words". This one is for ages 8 and up (the post-Candyland crowd) and refreshingly involves no dice or markers. Instead, the materials are simply a stack of 150 photos, and  300 caption cards, with speech bubble sayings such as "Maybe I should get my eyes checked", "I hope I'm not overdressed", and "This is soooo gonna leave a mark."

Each player is dealt 7 speech bubble cards, and has to choose which one is the funniest match for the hilarious photo card which is turned up in each round. A judge decides on the winner, who is awarded the photo. The object of the game is to collect as many photos as you can.

You may be wondering how I tried this game out, when my daughters are too young to play. Fortunately, I have daily access to a room full of game-loving eight year olds...and man, do they LOVE Bubble Talk! It's a fantastic little supplement to my language program (with reading, oral communication and media literacy components) and let's face it, kids are funny.

Some of the sayings are mature ("Come here often?") and there is occasional bathroom humour (e.g. a man holding his nose outside a port-a-potty) but everything is age-appropriate.

My students still ask every day if we can play, and I am certain is will be a well-used rainy-day recess option.

The  second game I tried out is the new Rubik's Slide - an electronic game with over 10,000 puzzles, reminiscent of the original Rubik's Cube. The goal is to slide and twist the game until the squares light up in the required pattern. This is definitely not my idea of fun, so I again called on my students to try it out at recesstime (a great motivator, let me tell you!) As someone with experience in Gifted Education and Multiple Intelligences, I also think it's important to encourage and develop both the visual/spatial and kinesthetic aspects which are incorporated in this game. The manufacturer is promoting it as a perfect game for the hard-to-buy-for 8 and up crowd, and I would definitely consider it if you have a child in that age group on your list.

You can win both of these games (total retail value almost $50!), simply by leaving a comment below and asking to be entered. For additional entries, leave a separate comment letting me know that:

• You follow This Mom Loves publicly on Google Friend Connect
• You subscribe to This Mom Loves through email (be sure subscription is activated)
• You follow @thismomloves on Twitter
• You follow @BubbleTalkGame on Twitter
• You follow @Rubiks_Slide on Twitter
• You like Rubiks Slide on Facebook

The contest is open until Friday, December 3rd at 11:59 p.m., after which time a winner will be chosen through random number generation. Good luck!

Christmas Titles from Scholastic (Giveaway)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...definitely in the stores (that started in October) but also now in my house and classroom. I love to extend the season at the front end...and take everything down immediately after!

When I pulled out the Christmas bins, I rediscovered a lot of great storybooks that my girls have enjoyed in the past, but I am now adding two more titles to the mix, courtesy of Scholastic Canada:

A Porcupine in a Pine Tree by Helaine Becker

This is a cute, Canadianized remake of the traditional 12 days of Christmas, where five Stanley Cups replace the traditional five golden rings (we all know which is more valuable) and Mounties and Maple Leafs round out the crew. Frannie is now able to name several more members of Canadian wildlife after hearing this version of the song!

Listen, Said The Donkey, by Jean Little

I am all about Christmas - from Santa Claus and reindeer to candy canes and gingerbread, I certainly embrace the less religious aspects of the holiday. I do, however, work on teaching my students and children that the "reason for the season", so to speak, should be foremost in their minds. That's why I requested a copy of this book, which is described on the jacket like this: "Five animals gather at a lowly stable, speaking of the child who was just born there, and of how each one came to be in Bethlehem. Their tales cast the Christmas story in a new and wondrous light."

The stories are beautifully written by one of Canada's most treasured children's authors, with soft illustrations to spark the kids' imaginations. There's a lot of text on these pages, so it's not for the really little ones, but my four year old daughter and eight year old students all enjoyed it.

(Just an aside - if you're looking for another way to reinforce the religious aspect of Christmas, my girls LOVE their Fisher Price nativity. Frannie was saying "Jesus" at 19 months old, and for the right reasons!)

As always, Scholastic is offering to share both of these titles ("A Porcupine in a Pine Tree" and "Listen, Said the Donkey") with a lucky This Mom Loves reader. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below telling me when you did (or will) decorate for Christmas this year. (Me? It was all done on November 12th, except for the trees which go up December 1st. Yes, I said "trees", plural. The blue-and-silver on the main floor, and the random kids' ornaments tree in the family room downstairs.)

Be sure to leave your email address, if it is not on your profile! If I can't contact you, you can't win!

For additional entries, leave a separate comment letting me know that:

• you follow This Mom Loves publicly through Google Friend Connect
• you subscribe to This Mom Loves through email (activated subscription)
• you follow @thismomloves on Twitter
• you follow @scholasticCDA on Twitter 

This contest will run until Wednesday, December 1st at 11:59 p.m. Eastern, after which time a winner will be chosen by random number generation. Good luck!

Tracy Moore: My Exclusive Momterview

CityLine is one of my favourite television shows, which is in part because of the beautiful and talented host, Tracy Moore. With a background in journalism, Tracy joined CityTV's Breakfast Television in 2005, and in the fall of 2008 was chosen to succeed Marilyn Denis at the host of CityLine.

Tracy recently returned to work, six weeks after the birth of her second child, daughter Eva...and is unfairly energetic and enthusiastic! She carved a few minutes in to her busy schedule to chat with me (with some cute baby sounds in the background).

This Mom: Let's rewind a couple of years. Take me back to the moment you found out you were chosen as the new host of CityLine.

Tracy Moore: Ah, that was such a good moment. Whenever it's been a show I'm not exactly happy about I think back to when they told me I got the job and it makes me happy. It was a long quote-unquote "interview process". My firstborn was about three months old when I started auditioning for the show, and there were so many people coming in and out of there I wasn't sure which way it was going to go, and I remember near the end of the process I had actually called up the supervising producer, and I said to her "Listen, I'm on my maternity leave, it's short enough as it is, and if this is going nowhere, can you please let me know because I would just as soon spend more time at home with my kid, rather than jumping in to hair and makeup every couple of weeks and auditioning for this thing." I didn't know how it was going.

She said to me "I strongly suggest you stay in there and go through the entire process," and I thought "That might be a good sign!" So I stuck around 'til the end. They told me at some point right near the end of the summer "We want you to do a whole week on your own, we think it's yours to lose, if you can knock it out of the ball park the job is yours," and I remember just thinking "Oh my God, I can't believe I've come this far!" We did the week, and at the end of that week they called me up and told me that they were offering me the job. It was so exciting! I told my husband right away, because of course he's my biggest cheerleader, between him and my parents, and we had a little "This is amazing!" party, and then I started the following week. I've honestly been in the honeymoon stage ever since.

Photo Courtesy of Tracy P. Makeup: Tracy Peart is makeup artist to the stars...

and Tracy Moore's official makeup artist!

{The whole TM/TM thing isn't going to work for this interview, so I'll stick with the full names!}

This Mom: Why was the decision made for CityLine not to air live anymore?

Tracy Moore: We wanted to follow Breakfast Television, and the situation is that we share a studio with Breakfast Television, and our show needs about an hour to set up furniture, but because we're in the same studio as BT, and we wanted to air at 9:00, we basically had to keep our tapings at 10 a.m., but then air at 9 a.m. a week later. We didn't want to confuse the days, because people are used to coming in Monday for an "Around the House" show, and Friday for a "Fashion Friday", so we decided to air a week later so we could follow the ratings giant that is Breakfast Television and also still keep our days uniform.

This Mom: It must help too now that all of the recipes and directions and links are on the website ready to go by the time the shows air.

Tracy Moore: It does. Now we're packaging our promos and teasers and all of that can be done a week in advance so it's great.

This Mom: What is your favourite day of the week on CityLine?

Tracy Moore: It's changed! In the beginning I was a devout "Fashion Friday" girl, and now I'm loving Wednesdays, when we do Family Days. It's a huge mix of family-friendly recipes, and sometimes we talk about sex, or health. I just find the atmosphere really fun because we get parents to bring their kids in, and it's chaos. And I'm sure you're living in chaos, because I'm living in chaos, so when I go on Wednesdays it's just like being at my house! {I noticed she didn't mention Mondays, which are my least favourite day, solely because I do not cook! Although the chefs can be entertaining, as soon as I see one of them I realize that the episode will have little impact on my home life!}

This Mom: How does it work with your fantastic wardrobe...do you wear your own clothes, or are they provided?

Tracy Moore: I do switch in some of my own pieces, but for the most part I borrow from Freda's. Basically they know my sizing, and I'll go in every once in a while and get resized if I'm pregnant, or losing baby weight, and they know my style and pick out a bunch of stuff for me with accessories, and I'll come pick it up and drop it off.

Photo courtesy of Tracy P. Makeup

This Mom: I know you're a big shoe fan. Do you have a favourite?

Tracy Moore: Nine West is my sponsor and I've always been a big fan. Like a girl's dream come true!

This Mom: Switching gears to the parenting side of things now - when you first became a parent {her son Sidney was born in April 2008} what do you think was the biggest sacrifice you had to make?

Tracy Moore: Sleep. It is and will always be the saddest thing about being a parent. {Oh, how I agree.} Some people handle it so well and I don't know how they're hardwired. To be honest with you, I didn't think it was going to be as devastating as it was. My husband could handle it better because he's never been a good sleeper, but I've always been a 'get six to eight hours' kind of girl and with Sidney, my first, he wanted to graze constantly. That is the hardest thing. Eva is a little different. She sleeps for longer periods of time. I'm less crazy this time, and I don't know if it's because I've done it already or if it's because Lio's home and we're doing shifts now, but I'd love to be able to sleep for eight hours and I know that's not happening for what, 18 years?

Tracy with baby Eva

This Mom: How do you and Lio find couple time?

Tracy Moore: Lately it's like turning on the PVR and watching our favourite shows together. {Which is coincidentally exactly what my husband and I do every night...and we're two and a half years out of the newborn phase!} Sometimes I'll sacrifice some of the time I could be sleeping to just hang out with him, because quite frankly I miss my husband. You go through all these months and months of divide and conquer, because he's always with the toddler and I'm with the baby, and then it's like "I remember when we used to hang out! It used to be fun!" We miss each other. Sometimes we just hang out in the kitchen and he'll be reading a newspaper and I'll be reading a magazine and we just talk about that, like we used to do. What we also did while I was on my very short maternity leave is going to the Movies For Mommies, and we can bring the baby with us.

This Mom: You knew you were having a girl this time but you didn't tell?

Tracy Moore: I didn't tell my parents! I basically told the audience every day at CityLine, I just didn't say it on air because my parents watch the show and I didn't want to ruin it for them because for some reason they like to keep the surprise going.

This Mom: What was your decision-making process in terms of only taking six weeks of maternity leave this time around?

Tracy Moore: I had already decided that I would want to have another child, and I talked about it with my boss and I said "I know we're in this situation where it's not like Breakfast Television {the show she was on when Sidney was born} where there are five people doing the show. There's one of me, so it's a little bit different and a little more challenging to take off a lot of time." So I said "Listen, I'm willing to take off only a few weeks for maternity leave, as long as when I come back it's a reduced shift." I'm just coming in, doing hair and makeup, doing the show, and going home. I can do that for a long period of time, until I've weaned the baby off, and I also talked to Lio and he decided he was willing to take the year off for paternity leave. As long as I knew that I could leave the baby with my husband and that I'd only be gone for a couple of hours every day, I was okay with it.

Of course my boss was elated, because even for the six weeks it's a tough transition to make, bringing in different hosts. It's fun and it's a nice change for a little while but there's a lot to remember hosting the show and it's hard to be breaking in a new person every day and still keep the quality where they want it to be. The producers put so much work into their shows so it's nice when the host can just jump in and do what they're supposed to do.

Plus, we all know it's the television industry, people can not go away for a year. {I was so glad that she mentioned this point and didn't shy away from it. In her business, being gone for the entire length of a mat leave and allowing yourself to be replaced is dangerous, even for someone as talented as Tracy.}

This Mom: You moved to a new home last Spring. What can you tell us about it?

Tracy Moore: We probably closed at the end of March but we didn't actually move in until June, so there were about six weeks that we were living at my parents' house. Interesting. That's while I was pregnant, and we were renovating the kitchen. We moved in at the end of June, and it's been a great move. As frustrating as the renovation was, and it was frustrating, it was never done when it was supposed to be done and there was always something and I was regretting the whole thing, now that we're actually in here the extra space has been just great for having a baby because we have three floors now. So I'm up on the third floor with the baby at night when she's screaming because she's got gas, and they can't really hear her, and Lio is on the same floor as Sidney, so if Sidney happens to wake up over night Eva and I aren't disturbed. It's been nice. We have a basement with a TV and her swing and a playroom. It's great. 

This Mom: How would you complete the sentence "This Mom loves..."?

Tracy Moore: Some things I find essential right now are nursing tops from My Bump; the line is called Boob. Love this stuff. I have two tops, two tank tops and a dress, and it's what I rotate every time I come home from work. I use Weleda Baby Tummy Oil for her gas, it calms her down overnight. Burt's Bees products I love, their Baby Bee products, particularly their Nappy Ointment with Vitamin E, and their Buttermilk Lotion, and Boiron, which is a homeopathic brand which is all-natural stuff which you can give your little ones for coughs and colds. I like their Stodal for Sidney's cough and Coryzalia for colds, and I have Camilia for when the teething starts. These are the things I use constantly and love.

You can catch CityLine with Tracy Moore weekdays on CityTV. She also has her own Behind The Scenes blog on the CityTV website, and you can follow her on http://twitter.com/tracycityline.