Hominy

 I hope you like pictures of corn, because I've got a lot of them!  We used the Evan-Moor Native Americans History Pockets to learn about different North American tribes.  One of the activities for the Seminole was to make hominy, so we gave it a try!  You start by mixing a cup of water with 3/4 tsp. baking soda and adding 1/2 cup popcorn and then letting it set overnight.  (This is actually a cup of popcorn since I doubled it--just in case you were thinking it looked like a lot.)

 Bring the corn to a boil and then turn down the heat, cover the pot, and let it simmer for about three hours.

 Drain off the water and run cold water over the corn.

 Use your fingers to remove the popcorn hulls.

 This takes a while.  I ended up trashing some of ours just because a cup of popcorn makes a lot of hominy when you're doing it by hand!  Then boil the popcorn two more times, removing more hulls after each time.

 This was our final product!

We added some butter and salt and the kids LOVED it!

Weekly Wrap Up (11/29)

 (This one should probably be called The Thumbs Up Edition.)

I'm not sure exactly how we started our week, but it must have been pretty low key, because the first picture I have is from Tuesday when we went to pick our ornaments and have Dippin Dots.

 Each year we pick one new ornament (which makes finding a free spot on the tree a little tougher every year).  These are this year's picks--Jay, Jen, Jack, and Alice.  I'm tied in to the Twelve Days of Christmas series for a while longer.

 Wednesday we made the spice cake recipe from Goody O'Grumpity, which Alice used for school.  (Homeschool Share has a free unit study!)

 I'm not sure if our cooking skills were poor or if pilgrim cake was really that bad.  It should have been called Plymouth Rock cake, because that's about what it looked like.

 Wednesday night we had a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving dinner while we watched the show.

 Accompanied by a turkey cheese and meat plate for some less carby options!

 Alice was very excited for Thanksgiving!

 Playing games with cousins

 Everyone around the table!

 Thursday night Jay took the kids to see my grandma, who just got out of the hospital after three weeks.  Since I've had a cold for the last month, I went and got our Christmas decorations out of the storage unit while they did that.

 Our tree!

 Friday the kids got to go up in the cherry picker my dad rented.  They loved it!

Today Alice tied a shoe for the first time!  Otherwise it was pretty relaxed around here!

Weekly Wrap Up (11/22)

 This week started off cold!  We got snow on Sunday!

 Tuesday there was a small PE class so Alice got to join in.  By the time she's old enough to officially be in the class next year she will have been going and waiting on Jack for four years, so it was nice for her to get to play for once!

 Wednesday we had a realtor open house.

 There wasn't much to do, because my counters are always clean like this.  Just kidding.  It took me hours to get ready.

 Boris wasn't thrilled about being put in his carrier when we left, but he eventually settled down.

 Friday we went to see The Adventures of Robin Hood.

 I think this was one of the best plays we've seen.  The only scenery and props were boxes, but it was amazing!

 We spent some time at the children's museum afterward.

 Today was rainy and dreary and the perfect day for a movie.  We went to see Big Hero 6 (which we all really, really liked) and were excited to find that they had put in recliners!

This afternoon I was looking around Pinterest and saw Jack's Lego Presidents pop up!  If you missed them the first time, you can check them out here.

I'm looking forward to our short week next week!

Kids' World

 Yesterday we went to Kids' World for the first time!

 This is an event that allows kids to explore other cultures from around the world.

 Jack learned about British words for food.

 At the Burmese table, the ladies were applying some of the makeup they use.

 It was so crowded I couldn't hear well, but apparently they make it by grinding the wood on stone with water.  (If anyone knows differently, please let me know!)

 Alice has it on her cheeks, forehead, and nose.

 A hot air balloon ride!

 They also learned about ballet!

 There were some local sites there, too, and the kids learned about how locks work.

 They got their names done in Chinese calligraphy.

 I can't remember where this tent was supposed to be from, but it was full of elementary school kids inside.  Did I mention how crowded this was?  It was pretty crazy.

 We went to Holland!

 Wooden shoes!

 After visiting the Japanese table

 Working on pottery designs

 Listening to different words in Cherokee

 

We had a good time in spite of the crowds!

Thanksgiving Dinner 2014

 We had our annual family Thanksgiving dinner Saturday night.  Usually I start cooking the day before, but we were so busy Friday that I didn't even get the turkey out to thaw until Saturday morning and I cooked all day!

 They split the wishbone right down the middle!

 Alice found a check bone.

Happy Thanksgiving!