Ways to Enjoy Winter While Staying Healthy

There may be a chill in the air, but winter does not necessarily need to be the unhealthiest time of year for you and your family. Here are five ways to ensure that no matter how much your body tells you to hibernate, you can remain healthy and fit, no matter what the weather or season is.

Being Active with Gaiam

We all need to practice yoga for a variety of reasons! It can benefit from building strength, gaining flexibility to finding a bit of calm in the day. Whether we are seeking increased flexibility or a workout that challenges our whole body, the Gaiam Yoga Beginners Kit will be helpful during this process. 

Inspiring Books for Gardening and Learning to Hairstyle

The books Grow Vegetables in Pots and Grow All You Can Eat in 3 Square Feet are inspiring the decisions we are making this year for our garden. We love gardening, and over the years have learned many things about how to care for a variety of plants, and to landscape. We are expanding our garden space to accommodate more vegetables and trees this year.

Strauss WaterBar is Refreshingly Different

Walking through the Strauss Water Bar at the Green Living Show, I was reminded how important drinking water is for us. Although, I know how important it is to drink water, and how critical it is for our bodily functions, we don't drink enough. The first glass of water in the morning before having any other beverages such as coffee, tea, juice is so important for our health. This glass of water helps us to wake our sleeping body and energize it. 

Free Tickets to the Green Living Show

We love going to the Green Living Show in Toronto every year, and have been enjoying the wealth of knowledge at the show for the past four years. I am excited that the show will be held from March 27 to 31st at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. This year’s show will have an impressive line up of speakers and more than 400 exhibitors representing the best in local and organic food, eco-fashion, natural beauty, fitness, hybrid and electrical vehicles and more - all under one roof.

Importance of Changing Our Indoor Air Filter

There is more to keeping our home clean than cleaning the surfaces like counters and carpets. It is important that we make sure the air we breathe indoors is clean. Particles in the air can include pollen, plant and mold spores, lint, dust mite debris and more that can carry bacteria and viruses. Our everyday activities in the home such as dusting, vacuuming, and cooking can increase concentrations of these particles that are invisible to the naked eye, and it can linger in the air for a long time.

Philips Sonicare for Kids Makes It Easy To Get My Kids to Brush Their Teeth

As a parent, I believe helping our children to have a lifetime of healthy oral care habits is a duty and it is important for us to give our children the appropriate and best tool for it. Using this effective Philips Sonicare for Kids will help our children to easily and enthusiastically brush their teeth. This brush will not only help them in the long run to have good dental hygiene, but will also help us save on dental bills.

Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health

In the beginning of the year, I mentioned that I was reading the B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health book. Here is a closer look at this book, which covers the complete teachings of BKS Iyengar for mind, body, and health, and is suitable for every level of yoga ability, age, and physical condition.

Importance of Vitamins and Your Chance to Win $50 Worth of Coupons for Webber Naturals

Recently, I talked about the importance of Vitamin D for those of us living in Canada, where in winter the UV rays that make vitamin D does not reach us. Research shows that the essential vitamin D3 is naturally made by the skin on a sunny day is essential for calcium and phosphorus absorption to build healthy teeth and bones. This reminded me the importance of giving supplement to my children, as I do not think they are getting much from regular food.

Kid Friendly and Parent Pleasing Kandoo® Personal Care Products

Kandoo® makes getting clean fun for kids. Both my children and I really like the cute, unique shape of the containers. We like that the bottle can be kept to sit snuggly in the corner of the tub for children to use easily. Kandoo hand soap and body wash pump out bright, colourful foam that show kids when they are covered with soap, this ensures they are getting a good clean. Getting toddlers to wash their hands or take a bath can be a challenge sometimes especially when it feels cold in the morning. Having a product like Kandoo that looks fun and foamy encourages children to use it.  

Learn How to be Green When School Starts

My children enjoyed watching EPIC when they were flying to Asia this week and excited that the Blu-ray and DVD will be out on August 20th.

Soon our children will be heading back to school and will be excited to see their friends and experience new things. The new school year is a new beginning filled with new teachers, experiences, and lessons. We can start off in the right direction by being environmentally friendly in our preparations for this school year. 

Crocs For My Little Crocs

With so many activities to do in the summer and places to explore, having proper footwear is very important. There are many choices of stylish, comfortable crocs for children that it becomes hard to choose just one. Both my children like wearing their lightweight, slip resistant, functional Crocs™ summer shoes. 

Comfy Relaxing Crocs for Adults

If you thought Crocs were only clogs, then think again! There are so many fabulous styles and colours of Crocs shoes and sandals that it is difficult to pick just one. Crocs offer stylish footwear for the entire family.

Wisdom of Drinking Water to Stay Healthy

Hydration, daily exercise, a good night’s sleep and proper nutrition are all part of the equation when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle. After all our bodies are mainly made with water, and we all know without water no living thing can exist. 

Staying hydrated is very important to my family and I, so we follow the wisdom and Islamic etiquette of drinking water to stay healthy.

Stay Fit Cycling

My husband believes the most fun way to stay fit for him is cycling. He just wishes there is more good weather to do this often. We introduced our children to cycle with a tricycle first and now they are in the process of learning to ride a bike. This has become one of our favourite summer activities.

Riding a bike not only benefits our body, but also the environment as it is emission free. We should be walking/riding the bike to help our environment, whenever we can. Lets celebrate the World Environment Day on June 5th by doing something that will help the environment.

Dermatologists recommended daily essentials for our skin

We like using this Lipikar Huile replenishing cleansing oil because it is an anti-irritant body wash, which is free of colourant, alcohol, soap and paraben.  We like moistening our skin using this cleansing oil during a shower, as it lathers quickly and doesn't have a strong fragrance. We can also pour 2 to 3 capfuls into the bath, gently rinse and pat dry. 

Green products are better for us and the environment

Happy Earth Day to all of you. Today many of us are thinking global and green. With this thought, I think we need to make lifestyle changes and use greener products, which are better for the environment and us.

New Tortilla Popchips and Healthy Tips

We really enjoy popchips and glad to see their new tortilla popchips, which are made with stoneground corn masa without any preservatives, artificial flavours or colour.  These cholesterol free chips are packed with natural flavours, without the extra calories. I think popchips are a healthier lunchbox and snack alternative as it has 0 grams of trans fat.  

My children and we enjoy the delicious flavours of the tortilla popchips; our favourite is the salsa flavour. We enjoy snacking on these flavourful, delicious, healthier alternative chips that are not greasy. I think these naturally popped tortilla popchips are a healthy snack option for everyone.

Our Birdterfly Soap Dispenser and Contest to promote hand washing

As parents, we always have debates with our children about washing their hands properly. This contest by Lysol No-Touch Hand Soap is a cool way to encourage and engage our children to make a healthy habit of washing hands before eating. I believe when children become a part of something and get involved they value things a little more. So I really enjoyed designing our unique Lysol No-Touch Hand Soap Dispenser and happily displayed it by our kitchen sink.  

To decorate our bird-butterfly dispenser, also known as Birdterfly we needed...

Lysol No-Touch Hand Soap Dispenser

craft foam sheet

scissor

2 beads for the eye

2 craft metal wires for the antenna/ear

red duct tape for the beak

1 craft bird feather

a piece of silly band for the worm 

a piece of thick wool

markers and acrylic paint to decorate

a piece of women's stockings

glue gun

First cut a piece of the women's stockings to fit over the Lysol No-Touch Hand Soap Dispenser.  This way we can operate the on/off button behind the container and change the refill without damaging our crafty piece.  

I also put a hole so the liquid can come out. Since the stocking is very light the sensors work we didn't have to put holes in those areas. We used a glue gun to attach the metal wires over the stocking then placed the beads.  

Then we secured the top portion by tying a thick wool and covering the written area that was visible.  

My husband suggested we put a mohawk feather like a Cardinal on top to camouflage the stockings.  

We cut a piece of red duct tape and attached it over the dispenser piece that was sticking out to make it resemble a beak. My daughter suggested that we put a piece of silly band to make it look like the bird is having a meal. We placed the tape over the stocking and secured it with the glue gun.

For the bottom part of the dispenser we cut a craft foam piece and made sure to make two holes so the sensors work, then decorated it using markers and paint.  

Everyone took a turn to colour and paint before we put glue to the middle section of foam and attached it to the dispenser.     

Here are some tips...

First plan so everyone is in the same page :) We started off wanting to make a squirrel, then thought a bird would be better but also wanted to include our butterfly idea. So we combined all our ideas to make this Birdterfly.

Get all your materials ready and see if they work.

Remember to not cover the sensor after all we want the No-Touch Hand Soap Dispenser to work.

Lysol Hand Soap Contest

You can be part of this initiative and get your crafty children involved by joining the Lysol contest starting March 11th.  

Decorate and share the pictures of your crafty creatures and enter for a chance to win a mini-tablet daily. Here are the contest rules and regulations, don't forget to read them before you start your project :)

Disclosure: I am participating in the Kid Who Touches Everything blog tour by MC Canada on behalf of Lysol.  As a thank you I received compensation for sharing my opinion.  All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2011 - 2013. Please Ask First

Steamed veggies with white sauce + Perks & Contests from @DisneyJuniorCA

I am super excited to be part of Disney Junior Mom Ambassadors and to bring you the good news and special perks from Disney Junior for March.

Disney Junior English will be available for us to preview for the whole month of March for FREE if we have any of these TV service providers *  You don’t have to have Disney Junior in your TV package to take advantage of this preview.  Find out which channel to tune into using the channel finder.

*Bell, Rogers, Shaw Cable, Shaw Direct, Cogeco, TELUS, SaskTel, Westman, Mitchell Seaforth Cable, Source Cable, Cable Cable, Videotron, MTS, TbayTel, Citywest Cable.

A contest from Disney Junior: 
Watch and Win a $500 gift card to shop at any retailer of your choice.

• To enter the contest tune into the Disney Junior channel daily this March between 6-7pm ET and look out for the secret code.  
• Then, visit DisneyJunior.ca and enter the contest on the same day with the daily Secret Code.  
• There will be a new secret code and a chance to win every day starting March 4th

Don’t forget to set your PVR so you don’t miss the code, while watching the commercial-free programming airing during the watch and win times.  

Keep some healthy snacks like fruits, crackers and cheese with water or juice for your little ones to munch on while they watch TV.  

I like to serve healthy foods like this steamed vegetables with white sauce.  To make the white sauce you will need...
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cube Knorr vegetable or chicken stock
1 cup of milk

Heat the butter, then add the flour and wish.  Add the stock cube crushed and keep whisking.  Then add milk and whisk well till there are no lumps and it is smooth.  
Pour the white sauce over the steamed vegetables or serve it warm as a dip and enjoy.  

The upcoming March break will be We Love our Toys Week at Disney Junior.  From March 11th to 15th, 6-7pm ET we can watch back-to-back episodes of Doc McStuffins with Toy Story shorts between them.  This will lead into an exciting network premier of “Toy Story” on Saturday, March 16, at 6pm ET. 

Disclosure: I am part of the Disney Junior Mom program and receive special perks as a part of my affiliation.  All rights reserved on mentioned photographs and opinion of the written content Createwithmom © 2011 - 2013. Please Ask First