Year of the Rooster

We love Chinese New Year and all that it means to us - good food, fun clothes, treats and laise.  As the years have gone past we've begun a new tradition of sharing this part of our culture with everyone.  With 4 munchkins it's become harder to do all the usual- cleaning the house too to bottoms, haircuts, new clothes - but we hold on to the ones we have loved best.   Sharing this fun with our friends is one of the favorite.   This time we shared with our little homeschool coop and had tons of fun!

 We started off by looking at how Chinese characters developed over time and how some of the more complex characters give layers to the meaning of the words.  Then they got to try their hand at copying some of the characters.

One of the boys loves origami and he and his mom taught us how to fold cranes.

We had to slurp our 'long life' noodles and everyone got to try tofu and other new year candies.

There was a story read, Chinese lanterns made, a video of the complex lion dance competitions.  It turned out to be a full morning with lots of fun memories.

We thought we missed the festivities in Phoenix since the oldest two and Kent went out of town for the Tucson gem and mineral show.  Luckily we found out it was after the new year and it made for a fun weekend morning.

Don't mess with this little guy, he was impressive!

Pumpkin was absolutely fascinated with the kung fu boys - asking all sorts of questions about the stick, swords and movements.  She didn't want to watch the girls dancing though and came up with her own little moves.

The older two wandered more with Kent and learned more about the culture.  You could try out Chinese yo-yo's, get some cooking lessons, play some of the drums.  Unfortunately Kent forgot to take pictures but we did capture someone else on video.

While we miss so many of our Asian friends and wish they were nearer to celebrate with, we were glad to enjoy sharing it with friends.  Happy Year of the Rooster and many wishes for a Long and Prosperous New Year!