Spotlight on: Thanksgiving

Rexanne's Web Review
Web Sites & Insights

Issue #99 - May 1, 2006

Brought to You By: Rexanne.com

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Welcome all newcomers and faithful readers!

Mother's Day is in two weeks, on May 14. What does that mean for moms? It means spending a day being pampered, being with our children and generally basking in the glory of motherhood. For those honoring mothers, you'll find plenty of resources and ideas for making Mother's Day special for the moms in your life on my Mother's Day site: Rexanne's Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all moms! I wish you a beautiful day and all the benefits of motherhood throughout the year!

And we are also honoring teachers this month, during the first full week in May! You'll find lots of teacher appreciation ideas and resources on this site: Teacher Appreciation

For those who have yet to register to become a member of Rexanne's Community Forum, please take a moment to visit our boards, read what others have posted, maybe answer a post if you would like to leave your input or post a question, a topic you'd like to discuss with other members or head on over to the food and cooking section to find a recipe or share one (I'm posting my favorites and some really good ones!). This forum is a community for my newsletter readers and site visitors. Your interaction and support in this community is vital and would be greatly appreciated. At times, I feel as if I'm alone in there, which isn't the idea. :-) Please join today and get to know your fellow readers, find inspiration or amusement (check out the humor section) or generally to let us know you exist. There is no cost to join and I think you will gain much from our community. Please join us today: Rexanne's Community Forum

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Reader's Comments:

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Andie wrote:

"Where do you get the time to do and create everything you do? I love the new forum and look forward to getting to know you better in there. You're an inspiration!"

Thank you for your kind and encouraging words, Andie! I don't know where I find the time to do half of what I do but it's always fun and enjoyable. I look forward to getting to know you and all my readers better through the forum, too!
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OK, here's the scoop:

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Quote of the Month: A garden is evidence of faith. - Gladys Taber

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Supporting the sponsors and advertisers in Rexanne's Web Review keeps this newsletter alive and a portion of revenue is donated to various children's charities. . Each advertiser has Rexanne's Seal of Approval. Please visit them today.

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This Month's Web Review Sponsored By: Time4Learning Online Learning & Games

Do your children like learning on the computer? Time4Learning has an online learning system that provides a complete interactive curriculum from Preschool through middle school (including algebra), language arts and math, science and social studies. Great for homeschoolers or for keeping up academic skills during the summer months. Free Lesson Samples

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Parenting & Family Topic of the Month: Gardening and Children
By the team at Parentbytes

Today more than ever, we need to educate our children about caring for the environment; what better way to accomplish this than by introducing them to the pleasures and rewards of gardening? Gardening affords us as parents the opportunity to teach children to understand and respect nature; while at the same time reinforcing valuable lessons in organization, patience and responsibility.

If you are skeptical about the logistics of getting your children involved in “greening” your own backyard, picture this scenario: squishy, cool dirt, buckets of water, mud pies, slimy worms, bugs and gum boots. Before you know it, your kids will be begging you to help in the garden. Of course, one way to really get them involved is by giving them “ownership” of their own garden. No matter where you live there is a space for a garden: a marked off section of the suburban family garden or a container or window box garden for the city dwelling family.

How does your garden grow?

* Vegetables are a reliable choice to start with. They germinate quickly and children are rewarded with the bounty of their efforts.
* Older children can plan a garden that reflects what vegetables the family enjoys eating. They can also include flowers and herbs according to their appearance and scent and their suitability as “companions” to the veggie patch.
* Even children as young as two can get in on the act by helping to dig, plant and water the family garden. Little ones especially enjoy having their own personal watering can and tools.
* Let your children be creative and don’t insist on perfection. Weeds will be missed and rows will be crooked, but that’s part of the beauty of a child’s garden.
* As the garden grows, science lessons about the life cycle of plants can be explored. Not every plant will thrive; there will be failure; this is also part of the learning process.
* Other skills called upon included maths for costing the plants, measuring fertilizer and counting seeds or bulbs.
* Keeping a gardening journal to chart their progress will help older children to be organized; this is a valuable life-enhancing skill.
* If your children are lucky enough to have a bumper crop, this is a good time to teach them the virtues of compassion and charity by donating the excess produce to those in need.
* Gardening allows for something precious that we all want to experience with our children: a relaxing time together to talk. Not just about how plants grow and how to attract birds into the garden and what place insects have in the garden, but also about everyday events like school and friends and feelings.

Some suggested plants

Vegetables such as asparagus, beetroot, broccoli, carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, everlasting lettuces, peas, potatoes, salad onions, small golden pumpkin, radishes, sweet corn and zucchini are popular. Correct choice of vegetable is partly determined by season.
Flowers that interest children include marigolds, nasturtiums, pansies, snapdragons and sunflowers.
Herbs suggestions are basil, chives, coriander, mint, parsley, tarragon and thyme, among others.

Tips for outdoor container planting with your children. How to do it.

* If you are using a flowerpot, check that it has drainage holes; put some pebbles in the bottom or bits of brick to assist with drainage and to prevent soil from escaping. A polystyrene vegetable box, (you can get this from the fruiterer) is an acceptable pot substitute.
* Fill the container with a quality potting mix, making sure that it has some sort of water saturation product in it to assist with keeping the potting mix moist.
* Choose plants that will be happy in the environment you provide.
* Pots can easily dry out and need to be planted with hardy plants and watered regularly.
* If you are growing on a balcony, it is often windy; anything that you plant needs to be able to tolerate breezes.
* Observe the amount of sunlight that your balcony gets, this too will help you decide what to plant, sun loving plants require 4 – 5 hours of sunlight.
* When you are gardening or planting with your children, overplant; they enjoy pots that are bulging with activity.
* Beans or vegetables, they can be easily started from seeds, which can be placed in moistened cotton wool. The children can watch as the roots and leaves start to develop. When the plants are bigger, they can be transferred into pots.
* Mound the potting mix generously above the level of the pot.
* Involve your children in the selection of what they plant, read the labels on the containers or packets, or ask the sales assistant to help them to choose.

What to plant.
Food: Children love to grow anything that is edible, therefore consider planting vegetables, fruits or herbs. Our suggestions for containers are carrots, parsley, mint, broad and green beans, cherry tomatoes, oregano, strawberries.

Colour: If you just want some easy colourful smallish plants, then geraniums are a good choice. Alternatively, a pot of seasonal bulbs and annuals can be really rewarding. Buy a bulb or two, bury it in the pot, and then on the surface plant with any annuals that take your fancy; pansies, alyssum, lobelia or polyanthus work well together. It is exciting to watch as the plants establish themselves and the highlight of all is when the bulbs finally start to peak through.

Something that will last: Small trees or shrubs that work well in containers are olive trees and cumquats, or a standard fuschia.

“Plant a seed and watch it grow.” When children are exposed to the wonder and delight of feeling the cool earth flow through their fingers as they dig deep to plant a seed, a powerful phenomenon takes place. Suddenly there’s a part of their world over which they have control.

The advantages of gardening are numerous. These include teaching your child respect for the environment; enhancing their skills in a fun way - planning, organization and responsibility; new opportunities for communication and sharing between parent and child. One of the greatest pleasures is to ask your child to go to their garden to pick a herb or vegetable required for the evening meal. What a delight!
This article was originally published on: Parentbytes

Know of a good parenting or family site your fellow readers might enjoy or do you have a topic you'd like to see covered in this section? Please send your ideas in for possible publication in an upcoming issue. Parenting Site

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Food & Cooking Site of the Month: Heart-Healthy Recipes

Marilyn has put together a super collection of heart-healthy recipes, broken into fun category titles that will make you smile. You'll find many good-for-you yet delicious-sounding recipes of all kinds on her pages.

Bon Appetit!

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Advertisement: Flowers for Mom
Flora 2000 sends gorgeous flowers anywhere in the world to make sure you are able to let mom know how much you love and appreciate her this year. Very reasonably priced and excellent customer service ensures a positive and perfect shopping experience every time. Mom loves flowers and sending her flowers is a must on Mother's Day. Make it easy and visit Flora 2000 to send Mom flowers anywhere in the world today.

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Kid's Site of the Month: Mother's Day & Graduation for Kids

Crafts, coloring pages, activities and lots of fun stuff for kids to do for Mother's Day:

Mother's Day for Kids
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And because the little ones are celebrating their graduations just like the big kids, let them investigate all the Internet graduation offerings just for them:
Graduation for Kids

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Freebie of the Month: Mother's Day E-cards

Card Fountain has a good selection of Mother's Day e-cards to send to your computer loving mom, including the all-popular talking ecards, where you type
it and the card says it for you. You will also find Mother's Day cards to customize and print from your computer. All services and cards are free with easy registration.

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Advertisement: GoodBulbs

Looking for one of the very best places to buy flowering bulbs for your garden?

Goodbulbs.com provides quality flower bulbs, including tulips, lilies, and color-themed multi-variety bulb packs. All bulbs are hand-inspected and guaranteed to grow. A highly recommended merchant!

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Tip or Trick of the Month: Keep critters out of the trash cans

A good way to keep pesky critters from invading your trash cans and spreading gunk all over your property on trash day is to spray your trash cans with ammonia or bleach every time you put them out on garbage day. The smell will keep the critters away and you'll be disinfecting your trash cans at the same time.

Have a tip or trick your fellow readers would enjoy or could use? Please send it in for possible publication in one of the next issues: Tips

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Time Waster of the Month: Animal Ark Game
(Because life is supposed to be fun!)

Ready to test you concentration skills? Match up the animal pairs on the board before the storm hits (hurry!) to save the animals.

Feed the kids first ...

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Featured Site of the Month: Amusement Park Tickets Online

One of the great benefits of the Internet is being able to purchase just about anything you need in the comfort of your home or work space and buying amusement park tickets online is a notable option. You will find discounted tickets to all major amusement and water parks in the U.S. such as Walt Disney World Resort, the Disneyland Resort, Cedar Point, Universal Studios Hollywood, Raging Waters, SeaWorld San Diego, and many others. Print them right from your computer and you're ready to take the kids (and yourself!) for a day of fun:

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Advertisement: Cameo Jewelry

For lovely cameo jewelry ... earrings, bracelets, necklaces, rings, etc. you'll find the very best collection and the most reasonable prices at this super online cameo jewelry store.
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