Mother’s Day Contest – Win a FREE Emily Rosenfeld “Ahava” Bracelet

Next Sunday, May 9, 2010, is Mother’s Day! Lisa did a great job writing up our Top 10 Jewish Mother’s Day Gifts. Also, we are excited to have a Mother’s Day Contest. We are giving away one free Emily Rosenfeld Hebrew/English Love  Bracelet.

To enter, you will need to answer this question:

“What does Emily Rosenfeld like to do for fun?”

Send your response to risa (at) jewishgiftplace.com to enter the contest. (Hint – have you seen our AWESOME “Interview with the Artist” series?)  Get in your entries by 5/1/10.

Here’s an excerpt from of our Top 10 Jewish Mother’s Day Gift article, but don’t miss the entire article for great ideas to give your Jewish Mother.

She loved you before you were born and continues to love you no matter how old you get, no matter how far apart you may live. At Jewish Gift Place, we love this day not only because we are moms, but it falls right in the heart of spring, when the flowers are in full bloom and it’s not too hot yet, but not too cold. However, our mothers would still make us put on a sweater, for sure. But that’s what we all love about our moms. They are always looking out for us and putting us first. So now, more than ever, is the perfect time to show your mom your love and appreciation for all that she does.

Have a wonderful Mother’s Day!

The Moms at Jewish Gift Place

Risa Borsykowsky, Ulana Illiano, Lisa Storms

Ben’s Matzah Balls and Joshua’s Passover Mini-Marshmallow/Hail Launcher

I’ve been meaning to get these photos up for almost a month now. It seems like Passover was ages ago. So much preparation and then it’s over like a flash. Well, it didn’t really go by like a flash at the time, but it seems that way now. I spent a lot of time with my brother and his kids, who were in from Maine for a week. We went to the Central Park Zoo one day, then the Metropolitan Museum of Art another day, and we fit Passover in between those days.

Here are photos of my baby, Benjamin, 5, who will be 6 in June. He loves to help me cook and he has become quite the matzah ball maker. He loves matzah ball soup, so we had already made it a few times before Passover. He did the whole thing, from opening up the bags, to cracking the eggs, adding the oil, and making the matzah balls. The only problem is that I used 3 boxes instead of the usual 1 box, but still put them all in the same pot (see the last photo – you only see the top layer of matzah balls – the lucky ones that floated to the surface), so instead of having lots of big matzah balls, we had lots of small ones. They were still tasty anyhow.

Also, check out the photos of my big boy, Joshua, 10, who will be 11 in a few weeks. I bought mini-marshmallows for the plague of hail. For everyone at the table, they had little cups filled with the marshmallows. But that wasn’t good enough for Joshua. No – he had to design and build the FIRST EVER PASSOVER MINI-MARSHMALLOW/HAIL LAUNCHER!!! (His dad and 2 grandpas are/were engineers so that explains it.) Joshua spent over an hour building this out of blocks and rubber bands, pencils, and a doubled up plastic spoon. We were doing some painting in the house (nothing like company to get a house in shape – sort of), so that’s why he’s covered in white paint.

Here you can see the PASSOVER MINI-MARSHMALLOW/HAIL LAUNCHER in action. The video is really lousy. My always reliable digital camera, which used to take great videos, now takes lousy videos, so I’ll have to get another one (and NOT give that one to the kids). Enjoy the video!

And, to wrap things up, my first Passover went very well (or at least that’s what my family told me). It was really unlike any Passover I’ve attended because there were lots of songs, and I spent time talking about Miriam’s role in the Passover Seder, and showing off the Emily Rosenfeld Miriam’s Cup. I played Debbie Friedman’s Miriam’s Cup song, which was great.

I hope you had a very Happy Passover, as well.

JOSHUA’S FIRST EVER PASSOVER MINI-MARSHMALLOW/HAIL LAUNCHER!!!