Chinese New year

So here is my list of ideas and things we are going to do to celebrate

A brief video on the topic from the History Channel

We are starting with making a paper dragon, just his head. Every time we learn something new they write it on a piece of paper and fold that into another section. The more they learn, the bigger their dragon. Whoever has the longest dragon at the end wins a special prize

 

Red envelopes found at World Market filled with Chinese chocolate coins, also found at World Market. Or you could make your own with this pattern from Activity Village.

Food Ideas

 The local Asian market sells some really good frozen dumplings

Scallion pancakes

BBQ Pork

And a case of mandarin oranges

More info on 10 foods that are supposed to bring good luck

 

Books and Education

The book World Holidays: A Watts guide for Children has a great section on the holiday

 The story of why the rat is first in the Chinese Zodiac

Look through 100 Cities of the World at Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai. Then they are going to fill out a page on each city. The page has a map to pinpoint the location, three interesting facts, and a place to draw an interesting feature. 

Digital Chinese Fairy Tale book

Word Search and Questions to answer (found on page 5)

Topmarks is another site with a lot of info

Fun and Games

 Making Paper Lanterns

Chop Stick Game

Brush Painting

Learn to draw their year symbol

Paper doll girls and boy

Origami Dragon (and lots of other great direction)

Chinese Knot, very pretty, very complicated

Other Stuff 

Vacation Photos someone sent me

Gung hay fat choy!!

Christmas Around the World Festival

Our homeschooling group has Christmas around the world festival with out Christmas party.

We chose Colonial American customs to go along with our study of the American Revolution. 

Small samples of Colonial Peanut Soup as served in the King's Arms Tavern

And other tasty treats consisted of Shrewsbury cakes 

and Williamsburg Orange Cake ( added cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice)

And I add a drop of rose water to my cookies

Head Adornment

Weekend in Charleston, no kids, great food, lots of fun and touristy stuff.

John got me my first hat.

The tree is actually shiny silver thread

He got himself a derby hat.

Poutine

My hubby lived in Montreal for 2 years before we met,
thats where he learned of the greatest
thing Canada has ever produced.

Poutine.

Start with well seasoned, hot fries



Add cheese curds
(I didn't have any so I subbed shredded cheese, it's not as good)

Add hot gravy.

Eat immediately.

The type of gravy depends on you. I like either a nice brown gravy made out of both beef and chicken or a chicken and mustard gravy.

Plethora of Pictures

Camping in the van

Hu Hots!!

Hogle Zoo

I have my little sister to thank for dragging me up to Hogle Zoo yesterday to let the girls see all the lights. It was awesome.

And how the girls measure up to Gorillas.

The girls thought the reindeer where cool too

We also stopped at a cafe on the way up called the Corner Bakery Cafe that was pretty good.

Wyoming

I didn't get too many pictures of driving cross country but when I was in Wyoming it was so gorgeous I wanted to paint what I saw. The dead grass was a pretty yellow color that contrasted beautifully with the bluest sky I have ever seen. The dusting of white snow that went with the puffy white and gray clouds just added an extra dramatic effect.

Also, I am finally in UTAH!!