Valentine Tea Party

Yesterday was my dear husband's birthday, so Hazel and I baked cupcakes. However we did not have time to make frosting, but had some leftover from some time and frosted a few to bring with Hazel to Nonni's (Steve's mother) so when Steve picked her up they could all celebrate. We left a few at home for Steve to eat throughout the day or at dinner (I was working through dinner, so I wasn't here to celebrate). Then left the rest to frost with homemade frosting for Valentine's Day. Then I got to thinking, I remembered Homespun With Love shared a Valentine's Tea and Cookies a couple of Saturdays ago at Sharing Saturday. I also am running a meeting tonight at church for the Stewardship Ministry. We picked Valentine's Day because no one else would touch it for meetings, however it looks like it will be a small turn-out. Anyway, I figured we could make some cookies (I still had a cookie mix from Christmas sales) and I could bring a few cookies and cupcakes to my meeting and we could also plan a tea party. Hazel loved the idea and so did Steve.

Hazel cracking an egg for cupcakes

We cheated a bit with the cupcakes and used a cake mix. However, we made it low fat by using the changes I found at About.com Busy Cooks. It uses egg whites (though Hazel did get a bit of yolk in with the egg she broke), applesauce, water, and flour with a yellow cake mix (instead of the oil and full eggs). If you are making cupcakes like we did, I highly recommend not using paper cup liners. They stick to them since they do not have the fat in them. They came out delicious and we all enjoyed them.

Cupcakes Out of the Oven

I didn't take any pictures of the few we frosted with the cheating frosting. I did cut a flower out of the top and try to frost just in the hole. They came out cute with a bit of practice.

There aren't any cookies in here?

Then today we made the cookie dough. We cheated again and used our last box of Trader Joe's Sugar Cookie mix. Hazel saw the cookies on the box and wanted to open it herself. She was a bit surprised to pull out a plastic bag of powder and one of icing and foil wrappers. I believe her direct quote was, "There aren't any cookies in here? What is this?"

I let her do a lot with these cookies. I melted the butter first so the mixing was pretty easy and she did it. Then when it got harder I took over and then we had to use are hands (as instructed on the box) and of course she wanted to try.

Then it was time to roll out the dough. She helped and helped with the cookie cutter. We are still working on her placement of cookie cutters, but she is getting it.

Then she remembered tasting the cookie dough last time. We ate the scraps after we had two pans worth of cookies. Somehow she got flour all over her. I'm glad we put her apron on first.

Enjoying the cookie dough

After baking the cookies, we made some frosting. We wanted to make a chocolate frosting. I found a chocolate buttercream frosting that I had all the ingredients for at Savory Sweet Life. I cut the recipe in half since we only had half the cupcakes to still frost. It came out delicious.

Frosting the Cupcakes

Hazel helped me frost the cupcakes. She did tell me it was hard to do. We also had picked up some Conversation Hearts to put on top.

Sorry it is fuzzy, but here are the finished cupcakes

Then we started to ice and decorate the cookies. I always find the icing packet is not enough for all the cookies. Maybe I put it on too thickly. So I always need some more frosting and we used the leftover buttercream for it.

I iced and Hazel decorated. She had fun with the candies and the sprinkles. She wanted me to get the green sugar out as well as the red, but I explained to her that the colors for Valentine's Day were red and pink (and luckily had some pink sugar) and that Christmas colors were red and green.

Then we did some clean up and stalling since it was still an hour and a half before Daddy would be home. Then we made some tea. Hazel wanted red raspberry (her favorite) and Daddy wanted lavender chamomile. I made a pot of the lavender chamomile and a small amount of the red raspberry (which I added cold water to as well). However, Hazel's looked great in the teacup for Valentine's Day.

We lit the candles and set the table in the dining room (after clearing it off) and used our good china (well our good china that can go in the dishwasher). I have a set of good china that I was given from a friend--it was her wedding china that she bought from an elderly couple on her honeymoon. Each piece is numbered and has a gold rim so it is hand wash only and I didn't dare let Hazel use it yet. My Lenox set is replaceable so we used that.

One of the bonuses to having the tea party with the good china and in the dining room is we were more aware of behavior and worked on it a bit more. Steve thinks we should do this much more often, but for now I'm going to commit to every Valentine's Day. It is such a nice way to have some together time that is fun.

A few more things to share:
I got Hazel to let me put the barrette in her hair only long enough to get a picture and even with that it involved crying.

Needle felted barrette

Our flowers this morning

The colors definitely got better with more time. Even the orange is starting to show. The purple not so much besides looking a bit blue along the edge.

Hazel in her doily stenciled t-shirt. I had mine on too, but didn't get a picture of both of us.

Hope you had a lovely day!!

Lunar New Year and Year of the Horse Book Review

Disclosure: I was sent these books digitally to review free of charge from Immedium. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Although we celebrate our New Year on January 1st, there are many places around the world that celebrate the new year at a different time (and some celebrate it at two times January 1st and a cultural traditional time). Friday, January 31st is the lunar new year. Now some cultures that celebrate the lunar new year are the Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Mongolian. The Chinese are the largest group that celebrate it and is the one we hear about most often.


China

Source

 Now China is the largest celebrated lunar new year. Traditionally the celebration of the lunar new year lasted fifteen days. Now in modern times it is usually two or three days. The days leading up to the new year are important in China. The Chinese clean their houses from top to bottom prior to the new year and never on New Year's Day in fear that good fortune will be swept away. They pay off their debts, buy new clothes and shoes to wear on the first day of the year (it is considered lucky to wear all new clothing on the first day of the year since wearing old clothes brings bad luck in the year to come) and have their hair cut. As the old year ends people focus on their mistakes and failures and think about how to act better in the new year. Oranges and tangerines are traditional gifts for friends and family. They are also a favorite offering to the ancestors. Tangerines still have their leaves attached to make sure the family ties remain secure. For food, a chicken is served to ensure prosperity, a Tray of Togetherness (circular or octagonal candy tray) serves sweets each symbolizing happiness, long life, good health and other good wishes.

 The Shēngxiào also known as the Chinese Zodiac relates an animal with each year in a twelve year cycle. The year ending tonight is the year of the snake. The new year is the year of the horse. There are different legends of how the animals were picked and the order they go were picked in. Each animal presents certain personality traits for the people born in those years as well as ways the year should go. People born in the year of the horse love to be in a crowd and extremely active and animated. They love to be the center of attention and can be impatient and hot-blooded. 

I was lucky enough to receive a digital copy of Oliver Chin's The Year of the Horse: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac from Immedium. This adorable story goes through the live a foal and a young boy, Tom. Tom and the foal, Hannah, become good friends. The young boy's teacher has been asked to send a painting for the governor. She needs someone to deliver it, but everyone is busy. Tom offers to do the job, but the teacher feels he needs someone to go with him. All of the horses in Hannah's family are too busy to help so Hannah volunteers. Hannah and Tom ride off to make the delivery. They come across some challenges: a snake, a tiger, and dark, chilly nights, but together they are able to get through/past all of them. Hannah jumps the snake and walks nimbly by the sleeping tiger. Together the pair spends the cold night in a cave with a fire. They make the delivery and the governor invites them to dinner. They see a few sights of the city, but want to get home. They enjoy the sights on the way home since they do not have an important job to accomplish anymore. When they arrive home, the teacher shares a copy of the painting. It is the Chinese word for horse and the teacher says it describes Hannah's valiant spirit. The two friends loved to play together and remained good companions.

For more on China check out DIY Fortune Cookies, Chinese Cinderella, Chinese New Year 2013, Chinese New Year Instruments,

Sources: World Book's Celebrations and Rituals Around the World New Year's Celebrations  and Wikipedia and China Highlights

Korea
In Korea the lunar new year is called Seol. Generally it falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice. It is a family holiday with much respect for one's family and ancestors. The Korean house is usually cleaned and special foods are prepared. The house lights remain on throughout the night and the people stay up to greet New Year's Day or Seollal. On Seollal people dress in the best clothes and start their day with Chayre. Charye is the ritual to make the food offerings to their ancestors. An altar table is set carefully with special foods. The family's leader conducts the ritual while someone else reads the chuk mun, the list of ancestor's names. Then the children perform Sebae, when they formally greet their elders (parents and grandparents). The children receive money and cakes and then there are special breakfasts, visits with neighbors, games, fortune telling and dancing. A typical game is yut which involves four sticks being thrown into the air and telling a fortune from how they land. Everyone in Korea eats one bowl of ttokkuk, rice cake soup on New Year's Day and they count their age by the number of New Year's Days they have lived through or how many bowls of ttokkuk they have eaten.

For more information and stories from Korea check out our past posts: The Korean Cinderella, Chap ch'ae (Around the World in 12 Dishes), and Kongi and Potgi: A Korean Cinderella.

Sources: Wikipedia and World Book's Celebrations and Rituals Around the World New Year's Celebrations 

Vietnam

Source

In Vietnam, the new year is called Tết. It is the most important celebration of the Vietnamese culture. People prepare for it by cleaning the house and preparing special foods. There are also many customs that go along with it like visiting friends and relatives and forgetting the bad of the past year. Similar to the Chinese, children receive red envelopes of money from their elders on New Year's Day. The first day of the new year is reserved for nuclear family. Since the Vietnamese think the first person to enter their house in the new year determines their fortune for the whole year, no one visits without an invitation. Sweeping during the holiday is taboo in fear of sleeping away good luck. The second day is usually reserved for friends and the third for teachers. They have some traditional food. One such food is Hạt Dưa or roasted watermelon seeds.

For more on Thailand check out The Golden Slipper post.

Sources: Wikipedia

Mongolia

Source

Tsagaan Sar, the Mongolian New Year, literally means white moon. It is one of the most important holidays in Mongolia. Around the new year families burn candles on the altar to symbolize Buddhist Enlightenment. Typically the family meets in the dwelling of the eldest member and dress in traditional Mongol costumes. When greeting their elders during Tsagaan Sar, Mongols perform a greeting ceremony called zolgokh. The eldest receives the greeting from each member except his spouse. After the greeting the family eats mutton, sheep's tail, dairy products, rice with curds, and buuz and exchange gifts. 

The day before Tsagaan Sar the Mongols completely clean their homes and herders clean their livestock barns to provide a complete fresh start for the new year. They also have a ceremony that includes burning candles on this day. 

Source: Wikipedia

So that is a bit about the lunar new year. What will you do to celebrate? We are planning on making some dumplings and having a Chinese inspired meal. We did make horse stick puppets. The pattern and idea came from Better Homes and Garden.



Finally, as promised here are some more ideas for learning about the Chinese New Year and crafts to do--these all came from last week's Sharing Saturday!

1) From Afterschool Learning for Smarty Pants: 8 Ways to Teach Your Kids about China


2) From In the Playroom: Chinese Crafts for Kids - Chinese Fans


3) From Gift of Curiosity: Chinese New Year Do-a-Dot Printables


If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button. I hope you will join us for this week's Sharing Saturday!

Fun Facts about Chinese New Year!

The lunar new year (better known as the Chinese New Year) begins next week, February 5, 2019. This year will be the Year of the Earth Pig. (Stay tuned for some facts about pigs, the year of the pig and a pig craft round-up coming soon.) I thought it would be fun to look at some fun facts about this holiday. In China and many cultures this holiday is the big holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas is in America. It amazes me how I learn something new about this holiday every year as I prepare post. So read below to learn a bit about the holiday and some fun facts about it.

Lunar New Year

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing sent me copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Chinese New Year or lunar new year starts on Saturday. Did you know there are other countries that celebrate the lunar new year besides China? Other Asian countries celebrate it like Korea, Vietnam, Singapore and others. Since I have shared so much about the Chinese New Year in the past I thought I would share books that share the culture of China and Korea this year. For both countries I have books that share about the lunar new year as well as other books to learn about the culture and way of life. 

Chinese Zodiac and Chinese New Year Book Reviews

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of these books free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

This post is part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs Chinese New Year Blog Series and Giveaway. More details about all of this below including the giveaway!!

Seal Nakhon Si ThammaratBy Fine Arts Department (กรมศิลปากร) of Thailand. 

[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Exclusion and the Chinese American Story -- Book Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

What do you know about the history of Chinese Americans? I am guessing you know about them building the railroad across the country. But there is more to their history that is not usually taught in school history books. Today I get to share a new middle grades book with you that teaches the real Chinese American history in full details. The book is part of the Race to the Truth series. It is Exclusion and the Chinese American Story by Sarah-Soonling Blackbush. It is recommended for ages 10-12.

The Golden Slipper--Vietnamese Cinderella

This year I am going to do my Multicultural Mondays a bit different by exploring some fairy tales that are in different cultures. We are first going to focus on Cinderella. I did an introduction to Cinderella with the most common version of the story by Charles Perrault. Today we are going to look at the Vietnamese version of the story called The Golden Slipper or The Brocade Slipper.

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures: Mulan and the Many Versions

In the beginning of the month, I shared with you a wonderful version of Mulan by Li Jian and Yijin Wert is the translator, which Tuttle Publishing sent me to review. I compared it with the Disney version or at least the movie version. I also found a few other versions of Mulan and thought I would share all of them with you. 

The first version is by Robert D. San Souci and is called Fa Mulan. As all of San Souci's books seem to be it is child friendly and tries to give an overview of the culture the story comes from. In this version she has a younger brother and elder sister, and her family knew she was going to go to war in her father's place. They bid her farewell. She rises in ranks with her victories and becomes a general. At the end of the twelve year war her family is happy to greet her and five of her companions who came home with her. She changes from her armor into her normal female clothes and her companions are shocked to learn that their general is a female. One companion hints at the possibility of a shared furture. 

The next two are the ones I compared at the beginning of the month--Disney's version and Li Jian's version. The next book, Mulan: Five Versions of a Classic Chinese Legend with Related Texts edited and translated by Shiamin Kwa and Wilt L. Idema, has five versions of the story in it. Two are poems and the other three are plays. 

Wild Orchid: A Retelling of "Ballad of Mulan" by Cameron Dokey is a young adult version. I enjoyed this version even though the story was changed from all other forms. In this version, her mother died when she was born and her father stayed away at war for most of her life. He did not return until she was fourteen and girls were usually married at age fifteen in China. She had a male best friend who lived next door (but across a creek). They spent all of their free time together. When it came time for her to learn the female arts and the friend to learn the male things, he taught her how to read, write, ride horses, shoot bows and arrows--all the male things. Her father came home to find her with more male habits than female habits. Her father was injured in the war and had upset the emperor. He is accompanied by his good friend another general. Her father falls in love a few weeks after he returns with a widow who has a hurt driver. He marries her and she becomes pregnant. The draft is announced and Mulan sneaks off during the night so her father does not have to leave his new wife and soon-to-be baby (like he had to with her mother). He is not called back to be a general but is called in the general draft which is a blow to him as well. Mulan sneaks off and when questioned at the camp about her bow and arrow (her father's friend gave it to her), she tells them this and they call his assistant who is her best friend. In this version there are three princes--the emperor's sons--and each commands a part of the army. I am going to leave it there as to not ruin the story by giving all the ending away.

The next two books contain a version of Mulan in them. They seem to be translations of the "Ballad of Mulan". The final book, Mulan's Legend and Legacy in China and the United States by Lan Dong, is not a version of Mulan, but actually looks at the things people have pulled from the story and some of the misconceptions Americans have of Ancient China. This is really a research type of book meant for teenagers or older. For example there are other women in China's history who fought in war. Some names to check out are Xun Guan, Zhu Xiu's Mother, Princess Pinyang, and Lady Liang. This book also goes through how Mulan changes through the different versions and what the image of Mulan has become. 

So that is what I found at my local library on Mulan. It is a mixture of books for children, adults and everything in between. It is interesting to see how one story changes so much when you consider the original written version is only 300 words long.

Be sure to check out our Fairy Tales in Different Cultures page for more fairy tale fun.

The Dragon New Year Book Review for Multicultural Children's Book Day & Chinese New Year Blog Series

Disclosure: Peachtree Publishers sent me a copy of this book free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today I am going to review my second book for Multicultural Children's Book Day (MCCBD). On Monday I reviewed the first book, Endeavour's Long Journey. There I shared all the exciting things going on with MCCBD. MCCBD is a national event which  Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom created to celebrate diversity in children's books. MCCBD team hopes to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions and religions within the pages of a book. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, a multicultural children’s book linky and via our hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media. This year's MCCBD is January 27th! The 2015 sponsors for MCCBD are: 

Platinum Sponsors: Wisdom Tales Press, Daybreak Press Global Bookshop,  

Gold Sponsors:  Satya House,  Multicultural Kids.com,   Author Stephen Hodges and the Magic Poof,  

Silver Sponsors: Junior Library Guild,  Capstone Publishing, Lee and Low Books,  The Omnibus Publishing.  

Bronze Sponsors:Double Dutch Dolls, Bliss Group Books, Snuggle with Picture Books Publishing,  Rainbow Books,   Author Felicia Capers,   Chronicle Books   Muslim Writers Publishing , East West Discovery Press. 

Malaysian and Singapore Children's Favourite Stories -- Asian Pacific-American Heritage Month Review & Giveaway

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me copies of these books free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

May brings us into Asian Pacific-American Heritage Month. To celebrate I always like to read some Asian stories. Luckily I have a contact at Tuttle Publishing. Tuttle Publishing focuses on Asia in their books. They are also a supporter of the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Giveaway for this month. As such they sent me a copy of Malaysian Children's Favourite Stories by Kay Lyons and illustrated by Martin Loh which is the only prize from them I have not previously reviewed as well a copy of Singapore Children's Favourite Stories by Di Taylor and illustrations by LK Tay-Audouard. They have quite the selection of Asian countries for this series of books and I have to admit we have quite a few of them as well. Hazel always LOVES these books and never lets me donate them. Actually it looks like I am missing a few. I am guessing they may be hiding in Hazel's room.

Multicultural Product Review-- A Little Mandarin

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from A Little Mandarin as part of the Multicultural Kids Product Promotion Services. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Today I get to review for you an award winning CD. The CD is A Little Mandarin by Toni Wang, a Shanghai born New York City mother. This CD has fifteen classic Chinese songs. Many are to familiar tunes and some are the familiar songs in Chinese. The music is very upbeat and perfect for little ears to hear. Here is a little introduction to it, so you can check it out yourself.

New Year's Ideas -- Book Reviews & More

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.  Some of the links are affiliate links where I will receive a small percentage of any purchases made through them at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

New Year's always gets me thinking. I have found memories of sleepovers with a friend and each of my sisters' had a friend. I think this was the only time I had a friend sleepover when my sisters did, so there were some fun games we all played together as well as a ginger ale toasts at midnight.  I think about my "resolutions" from the past year and what I want to do for the next year. So today I am sharing with you four books that are bring these thoughts to my mind. Let's start with Girls' Night In by Gemma Barder and illustrated by Katy Jackson.

Indian Tea Party: Chai and Henna -- Tea Parties Around the World -- Exploring India

This month we decided to explore India with our tea parties. India seems like a good one to mention when exploring tea around the world. It was after all a big part of the British trying to grow tea somewhere besides China. When the British were able to smuggle some tea plants out of China they ran into the problem of needing the correct environment to grow it in. They decided on India and began to colonize there. In my British and Chinese tea party posts I shared great resources to explore the history of tea, so I am not going to repeat it all here. Of course tea is so sensitive to environment, methods of processing and even methods and times of picking, so the tea in India was even different from the tea in China.

Mother's Day Gift & Crafts with Amazing Gift Wrapping Paper

 

Disclosure: I was sent this gift wrapping paper in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It is hard to believe that Mother's Day is tomorrow!! I have not seen my mother since November since someone is always sick for every holiday this year. We are finally able to go see her!! I wanted to bring her a small gift for Mother's Day. What better than some jewelry made with my paper beads! This week I am sharing three packages of amazing gift wrapping papers that make beautiful paper beads as well as wrapping beautiful gifts. We will start with the one I have used the most. It is Marbled Patterns Gift Wrapping Papers - 12 Sheets from Tuttle Studio. 

Ramadan in Singapore -- Ramadan for Kids, Global Learning for Kids & Asian Pacific American Heritage Blogs Series & Giveaway

For my final 2016 post for Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month I thought I would combine it with our Global Learning for Kids exploration of Singapore and kick off our Ramadan for Kids Blog Hop. Did you know about 15% of the Singapore population is Muslim (according to 2010 statistics)? There are 69 mosques in Singapore.  (Source) The Sultan Mosque or Masjid Sultan is considered one of the most important mosques in Singapore.

Nightfall at Sultan Mosque By Erwin Soo from Singapore, Singapore [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The Year of the Pig -- Fun Facts, Craft Round-Up and Book Review

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It is officially the Year of the Earth Pig according to the Chinese Zodiac. I thought it would be fun to celebrate the Chinese New Year with a look at fun facts about pigs as well as the Year of the Pig and of course some pig crafts and a fun Chinese pig story. We will start with fun facts about pigs!!

Katie Chin's Everyday Chinese Cookbook -- Asian Pacific Heritage Month Series

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

It is May and that brings several things. In the United States it means Mother's Day, the end of school is near and Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. This post is the first of mine in the Multicultural Kid Blogs Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Blog Series and Giveaway. (Scroll down for the giveaway!) Today I am sharing with you a new cookbook from Katie Chin. This book is Katie Chin's Everyday Chinese Cookbook: 101 Delicious Recipes from My Mother's Kitchen with photographs by Masano Kawana. Katie Chin is sharing some of her mother's everyday recipes just in time for Mother's Day!!

Multicultural History of Pi

Mathematicians around the world celebrate the number pi on March 14 every year. This year is a very special year and is being called the pi day of the century because besides the date the year gives more digits of accuracy and if you look at time of the day to the second you can go nine digits after the decimal point for your celebration! Various celebrations are planned around the world including in Chicago, MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Arizona, New Jersey, and San Francisco (where the first Pi Day Celebration was held).

Pi is a very special number in our world. It is a number that has been explored for thousands of years in just about every culture. Why? Because people wanted to learn about their world and started to realize that the same number kept appearing when taking the circumference of a circle (distance around the circle) and divide it by the diameter (distance across the circle through the center). The Babylonians and Egyptians were the first known to start the hunt for pi about 4000 years ago. Some say they figured out the ratio of a circle's circumference to diameter is slightly bigger than three or about 3 1/8. 

Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop #27

Please note: This is not Sharing Saturday. Sharing Saturday is available here.

Welcome to the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop! The Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is a place where bloggers can share multicultural activities, crafts, recipes, and musings for our creative kids. We can't wait to see what you share this time! Created by Frances of Discovering the World through My Son's Eyes, the blog hop has now found a new home at Multicultural Kid Blogs. 

This month our co-hosts are:

La Cité des Vents on Multicultural Kid Blogs Marie's Pastiche Crafty Moms Share Castle View Academy The Art Curator for Kids Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes  La Cité des Vents Words n Needles Bilinguazo Russian Step by Step for Children Scrambled Nest Los Gringos Locos