Week 6, Day 5 - Party!

Today, we did Bible, reading, writing, math, spelling, poetry, vocabulary Spanish, and finished our read aloud. Plus, we squeezed in our re-patterning. Then we got ready for our Fiesta!

First, we had to go to the grocery store for supplies. We had read a book called "Cactus Soup" this week. It's a cute story, and the kids wanted to try to make Cactus Soup. Here's my version of the recipe:

Fill 1 large pot about half full of water and start to heat

Add 2 to 3 tsp of chicken bouillon,

1 onion, quartered and sliced,

5 cloves garlic, minced,

1 can of kidney beans (rinsed and drained),

1 can of kernel corn (drained),

1 can of diced tomatoes (drained),

1 can of chile beans (drain off some of the chile sauce),

1/3 cup of lentils (make sure you sort them first),

2 chicken breasts, cut up into cubes,

salt and pepper to taste.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for 2 hours. Top with crushed tortilla corn chips and Mexican cheese. (For those who like spicy, add some hot sauce after you've dished it out for the kids.)

Rabbit couldn't have it with the cheese, but she loved this soup (and she usually doesn't like to try new things). Dad and I thought it was tasty, too. The chile beans added just the right amount of spice. There was enough left over to freeze for later. We also had Taquitos (Delimex Chicken Taquitos are dairy free), Spanish rice, and guacamole. (Monday is usually Mexican night at our house, but we moved it to Thursday this week.)

After dinner, Rabbit gave us a short presentation on Mexico. Last year for our home school support group's Geography Fair, she had done Mexico. So, she got out her presentation board, and read it to the family. Then, we tried to break the pinata. We have an open "balcony" at the top of the stairs, so Dad held the string to the pinata from up there (to be safe - who hasn't seen those videos on America's Funniest Home Videos), and Tigger had the first go. He got 2 or 3 hits, but didn't break it. Next up, Pooh. He whacked the pinata so hard, it pulled it off the string (or yarn, rather), but it didn't break. So then we gave the pinata to Rabbit and let her drop it off the balcony, and it broke. The kids gathered up the Smarties. So, another tip for the pinata - lots of layers around the end where you pull the balloon out, so the string doesn't rip through before the kids break it.

The kids really had fun with the Fiesta. Now, we're off to Canada. Brrr!