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Monthly Archives April 2011
Tuesday Tales – Afikomen Mambo
Imagine dancing around your Passover Seder and singing the Afikomen Mambo with your children as you search high and low.
Thanks to Kar-Ben Publishing, I recently received a copy of the book and CD Afikomen Mambo by Rabbi Joe Black. In a few short weeks, we will be celebrating Passover with extended family and look forward to bringing this book along to our seder. I think the boys will have a blast singing and reenacting the scenes from the book.
More about Afikomen Mambo:
You can put it in your pocket
Put it under the TV
But you can’t hide the afikomen from me!
Popular children’s songster Rabbi Joe Black returns with a catchy rhyme to enliven the afikomen hunt at your seder. Afikomen Mambo, a story-and-song combo for the holiday of Passover, makes a greast “afikomen finding” present and can entertain kids both at the family seder and leading up to the holiday. Includes a CD.
Joe Black is a Congregational Rabbi, a singer, songwriter and guitarist whose music for children is celebrated and sung in Jewish communities throughout the United States, Canada, and Israel. Rabbi Black’s recordings have received accolades from The New York Times, Hadassah Magazine, and The American Library Journal. He has shared his music with hundreds of communities. His previous children’s book was Boker Tov! He lives in Denver with his wife and two children.
Afikomen Mambo – Written by Rabbi Joe Black– Illustrated by Linda Prater– Kar-Ben Publishing – Spring 2011 – ISBN 978-0-7613-5639-4 – $8.95 (paperback) – Ages 1-4 (PreK)
What I Thought:
Over the years, we have collected a number of Passover books for our kids. Afikomen Mambo is not like any of the others that we have. Rather than tell the story of Passover and guide us through the seder, it focuses the importance of the afikomen. The reality is that if we do not have the afikomen, the seder can not be finished
Rabbi Joe Black does a great job for the preschool set. He incorporates just enough key terms from the seder with karpas, charoset, four questions, and other items in a fun rhyming way to keep the beat of the song going. When you listen to the CD, you can imagine a room full of kids dancing around searching for the afikomen during a mock seder. I can not wait to bring this to my son’s preschool to let them dance around to while learning about Passover.
If you are looking for a light hearted book about Passover for younger children, this is a great book for you. Rabbi Joe Black’s singing and fun mambo beat will keep your family dancing while you search for your afikomen.
What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your Book Posts, and/or leave a comment below. Include something you read on your own, with a child or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.
Disclosure: I received this book complimentary of Kar-Ben Publishing in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed in the review are my own. One widget within the review is for my Amazon Affiliate where I will receive a percentage of money for the sale of the books should you opt to buy the book mentioned.
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Hello UBP11
Welcome to all who have traveled from the 5 Minutes For Mom Ultimate Blog Party 2011! I am a bit behind in joining this year. There has been a lot going on in recent weeks. Some of you may recall that I am familiar with the UBP. Last year, I was the grand prize winner of the Toshiba Laptop. It all seemed like a dream at the time.
Why?
Well, the night that they randomly selected winners, I had gone to bed early. I was not feeling well. Then, suddenly, my cell phone started going crazy. Tweets with mentions of my name were coming in one after the other. Half asleep, I noticed I was being congratulated, but I did not know why. Then I saw the #UBP10 at the end. Sure enough, I was the winner. Thank you again to Susan and Janice from Five Minutes for Mom for doing this fun event. I am not just saying that since I won last year.
At the end of the UBP last year, I wrote about people that I met and blogs that I loved. One of those was Kelly’s Lucky You. Little did I know that I would meet Kelly at DisneySMMoms a few weeks ago and participate in the Wild African Trek with her.
Please say hello to my family. Here we are with Minnie Mouse after our recent adventure to Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.
So who is The Angel Forever? Here is a little bit about me:
- I started blogging in February 2007 while I was pregnant with my youngest son.
- For almost four years, I have been at home with my boys. Although I love this special time with them, I do miss teaching.
- My blog webmaster is also my hubby. You may know TechyDad from his blog or Twitter. This June we will celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. The two of us had our honeymoon at Walt Disney World for 10 magical days.
- I am a HUGE fan of all things Disney – check out my category list on the left and you will see what I mean. Still processing all things from our recent trip there for the conference.
- It was only a year ago that I came out of my bloggy shell. Before this I was pretty anonymous, never said where I lived, and was happy with that. Now thanks to recent opportunities, I am reinventing my online self.
- The teacher in me loves to read books and share what we read. Most weeks I have a Tuesday Tales segment where I share some of our recent reads.
- In addition to writing on TheAngelForever, I cover Education on The Disney Driven Life (I am NDM183 and proud of it) and am a columnist/blogger for KidsFunPlaza.
- I love meeting new people in real life and online – so please explore and leave some comments, link up to your UBP blog below, and I promise to stop over to say hello and get to meet you. You can also catch me on Twitter and
I am still working on my Facebook fan pageI just finished/published my Facebook page.
Enjoy the 2011 Ultimate Blog Party and see you around!
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Dreaming of a Disney Wedding
The 2011 DisneySMMoms event began with the Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons Platinum Soiree. I already wrote about how we were greeted. Now, it’s time to share the event that was held inside the Grand Floridian Wedding Pavilion. We all walked down the aisle and took our seats. Imagine being a bride and having this view before your eyes:
The first speaker was Michael Shettell from Alfred Angelo. He came to talk about the new line of Disney Princess inspired dresses. We had seen some on our way into the pavilion. 
Shettell shared how he came up with the designs. Here is a video that Alfred Angelo made about the new line.
We were then in for a surprise. Everyone at the event was going to be the first to view the Cinderella Gown. To say that this dress could take your breath away would be an understatement. Here are a few photos courtesy of DisneySMMoms:
Next, we were told about the new options for people from Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings and/or Honeymoons. The new Disney Ever After Blog has a wealth of information, stories, memories, and more. They recently wrote about the trend in candy buffets at weddings – like the one they had for us at the soiree.
We were also introduced to a couple that had been married at Disney World two years ago. That is about the time that I knew we were going to see a wedding take place before our eyes. Suddenly, Kristen and Greg were whisked away and an energetic Carley Roney from The Knot and The Bump talked to us. She told us about the start of The Knot and how it grew from the original days on AOL to where it is now. She reminded all of us that in order to be successful, we have to find a way to engage our audience and ignite their passion. She showed us just how they used this in their online community to grow, expand, and mature.
Next up was David Tutera. I have to admit something here. I had heard of him, but never seen My Fair Wedding before.
Tutera was so personable, even hugging one of the fans within the crowd. Then he told us about an upcoming episode where he goes to Topeka, Kansas to do a wedding that is part of a Make a Wish Foundation wish. I know I want to see this episode now that I know the background behind it and the passion to making a magical wedding that Tutera has.
Next thing we knew, we were thrust into a party – a wedding was taking place before our eyes. Yes, Kristen and Greg were renewing their vows during the DisneySMMoms event. There were dancers, amazing gowns, Cinderella coach, fireworks, champagne toast and more.
Then it was time to head over to the beach front at the Grand Floridian Resort where our families were waiting for a fun filled evening that included a delicious dinner. 
Lots more from the 2011 DisneySMMoms coming soon.
Disclosure: Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, we were given an incredible deal thanks to Disney. The sweet conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, several meals for the entire family, 7 day park hoppers for everyone, conference/meals for me and some other items to take home. Also note that Disney never asked us to blog about this event. As a long time Disney fan it is my pleasure to share my experiences from the event. All photos used before the final collage were taken by Disney Fine Art Photography & Video.
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Our Splash Mountain Adventure
Dear NHL,
On our last day at Disney World, we decided to spend time at the Magic Kingdom. We knew that there were a lot of rides that you wanted to go on, but that JSL was still too small for according to Disney. One of these rides was Splash Mountain. After arriving at the park, we went to get some Fast Passes. When it was time to head back, we got a Child Swap pass so Daddy could go back on with you later.
The two of us immediately went through the quickly moving Fast Pass lanes. Before we got to the area to board our log, I sent Daddy a text message. I had goofed and left my prescription sunglasses on, which made it hard to see in the darker areas of Splash Mountain. Before we knew it, they were looking for a party of two to move even further up the line. Within minutes, we were on our way to the back of a log and starting our adventure.
This was not our first time on Slash Mountain together, so we knew what to expect. We just went around a corner and were heading up the giant mountain. Suddenly our log STOPPED. We were way up the incline and about 3/4 or more of the way in a pretty dark area. We sat there for a bit and then you wanted to know what was going on. I had no clue and could not get my cell phone out of my pocket. Turning around to look was next to impossible thanks to the steep incline that we were at.
After about five minutes, we heard them cut into the PA system asking all cast members to immediately go to Tower 3. I have a feeling we were stuck in that area. They never told us much at that point, just to stay seated and not attempt to get out of our logs. After another five minutes or so, our log started to move into the first animated section of the ride. As we left that area we were hopeful. Then we stopped again with a bunch of logs unable to move in front of us.
We were baking in the sun and crowds were forming below. There were no logs going down the mountain and people knew something was up. More messages on the PA system to stay still and know they were looking into the problem. By this time, I had pulled out my phone and the two of us worked on sending photo messages and Tweets.
Daddy knew that we were stuck and was trying to find out more. We could see him from where we were, but he did not realize that at the time. Here is a photo that I took with my cell phone:
We were both getting a bit worried because we had no clue what was going on. Plus we had another little issue with the other people in our log. I think this photo sums it up:
Then, a cast member appeared along the edge of the ride.
We thought perhaps that we were going to be rescued, but we were wrong. People asked what was going on, but little was said except that we would be moving soon and the ride was safe.
After what seemed like an eternity, our logs moved again. 30 minutes after we started the adventure, we were able to get off the Splash Mountain. NHL, thank goodness you were there. I was shaking quite a bit and my back hurt. You led me through the maze to find our golden fast pass ticket for our trouble, and then out to Daddy.
At first, you said you were never going on Splash Mountain again. Much to my surprise, after dinner at Chef Mickey – YOU asked Daddy to go back on Splash Mountain. I was so proud of you.
Thank you for being so good while we were stuck and not letting this experience ruin the magic of Splash Mountain. I love you my brave big kid.
Love,
Mommy
Disclosure: Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, we were given an incredible deal thanks to Disney. The sweet conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, several meals for the entire family, 7 day park hoppers for everyone, conference/meals for me and some other items to take home. Also note that Disney never asked us to blog about this event. As a long time Disney fan it is my pleasure to share my experiences from the event.
_______________________________________
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