Familia Part Two...

Here are some additional family vocabulary terms to add to last week's terms. There are still others which you can find at the site below. Hopefully you are keeping up with la familia and can now call your hijo or hija.

hermana - sister
hermano - brother
tía - aunt
tío - uncle
primo - cousin - male
prima - cousin - female
sobrina - niece
sobrino - nephew
abuela - grandmother
abuelo - grandfather
nieta - grandaughter
nieto - grandson

Pronunciation Guide

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

I'm not sure if this is officially "Mexican", but when I'm in the mood for it, IT COUNTS! There are a lot of recipes for this out there. This one is pretty easy and fast. Plus it's very tasty! Serve with beans and tortilla chips.

1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 4 ounce can of Ro-Tel
2 1/2 cups boiled chicken breast chopped
10 corn tortillas cut into fourths
12 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese

Mix together and heat the soups, Ro-Tel, and chicken. In a 3 quart buttered casserole dish, place a layer of tortillas, a layer of soup mixture and a layer of grated cheese. Repeat. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

Familia Activities

These are great activities for working out the vocabulary.

Family Activities
Family Worksheet
Family Quiz

Another way to practice with your little one is to go through pictures of your family. Point to each member and say the Spanish word. For example, show a picture of their grandmother and say "abuela." Remember that your pronunciation doesn't have to be perfect, as long as they are hearing Spanish spoken and getting those connectors in their brain. This will make learning the language easier when they take it in school! I hope your lessons are going well.

Familia Part One...

Let's start today with a few essential vocabulary words for family. I will add some more next week. To hear pronunciations, please go to the links below as I couldn't get them to paste too.

padres - parents
madre - mother
mamá - mother
padre - father
papá - father
niño - child - male
niña - child - female
hijo - son
hija - daughter

Pronunciation Guide
Family Tree -- Put your mouse over each picture and hear the correct pronunciation of each family member on the family tree! This has a ton of great vocabulary for family!

Sopapilla Cheesecake

A teacher I knew made this for a luncheon once. SO YUMMY!!! Enjoy!

2 cans crescent rolls
1 1/2 c sugar
1 8 oz. cream cheese
1 t vanilla (Mexican is best)
1 t cinnamon
1 stick butter

Open first can of rolls. Roll out into bottom of 9 x 13 baking dish. Press out making sure all perforations are closed. Cream 1 cup of sugar and vanilla with the cream cheese. Spread over the dough in the pan. Open second can and roll out on wax paper pressing out the perforations. Lay dough on top of cream cheese. Melt butter and pour over the top. Mix 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle over all of the rolls. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F in the oven. Serve warm.

Fiestaware!

Fiestaware is awesome! I have been a collector of Fiestaware for a number of years and have got quite a collection in many different colors. I have vases, plates, bowls, coffee mugs, tea cups, pitchers, and many other kitchen accessories. I have never had a problem with it and I think it holds up great! I love it because it's so colorful, looks nice and is a great quality! I also love that it is not very expensive compared to other everyday plates. They also have a collection of Christmas/holiday plates and glasses that are very cute. Recently I bought a plate that we'll use for special celebrations that says, "It really is all about you!" and has dots all over it in many colors, so it will match everything! Check out my Fiestaware squidoo page to start a collection of your own!
I guess the only connection it has with Spanish is its name. Maybe that's why I love it so much!

Check this out: Fiesta Kitchen

Deals this week

Thankfully I was checking Money Saving Mom the other day and noticed she had some deals for Wal-Mart right before I was heading there. So I sat down, clipped the rest of my coupons and got them organized. With my list in hand, I headed out and saved 66% of my bill! It ended up being $10 for some stuff we needed, but I got a lot of it free--plus overage! Thanks MSM!
Then I headed to Kroger with no list. I was able to save 59% just by looking through the ad and my coupons. I got some milk for free because I bought 2 things of cookies and Pop-Tarts (which I was out of)! What a deal!! I still haven't tried CVS... I don't get the Sunday paper any more because double packs are now $3 instead of $2. I might start that next week...

Take a hike!

Take the bus! While I lived in Mexico, if I needed to get somewhere quickly (or if it was farther than I could walk), I would take the bus. Taxis will charge a lot of money. I once paid $70 (pesos) to take a taxi to a school that I could ride for $8 (pesos) taking 2 buses. It was a lot quicker to take a taxi (most of the time), but worth it to ride the bus and save money. Yes, it does take a little while to learn the bus system, so if you're only going to be visiting for a short time, it would be worth it to ask someone to help you figure out what exactly to do.
The Metro in Mexico City is also really cheap. You could ride it for around 20 cents and get anywhere in the city! When you're down there, you don't have to pay for connections as long as you don't come back outside. I would advise against riding it late at night, but I never had any problems riding during the years I lived there. If you have on a backpack, put it on your front and carry your purse in front of you. There is a ton of traffic during "peak" hours, so I would avoid that too! I once was riding with my brother (a rather non-Spanish speaker) and it was during the "peak" time. A man behind me decided that he was going to get on the next car that came through, and it was PACKED! He put one arm on either side of me and started pulling me in! Out of fear of being separated, I started yelling, "NO" and he finally stopped. We took the next, less-crowded car that came!

Basic Work

TODAY IS MY 30TH BIRTHDAY!!

Here are some sites to check out for basic vocabulary work. Some of the sites use more vocabulary than was listed yesterday, but most of the words are pretty easy to pick up! I hope you find some activities you can enjoy doing! Remember to keep practicing colors and try to add this new vocabulary.

Quia.com -- has many extra vocab words, but you can click on the link and it will show the words and their meanings

edhelper.com

spanishspanish.com

spanishpronto.com

Basic Vocabulary

Here are a couple of VERY basic vocabulary works to get you started! More to come!

hello Hola
good-bye Adiós
yes Sí
no No
friend Amigo (m), Amiga (f)
thank you Gracias
where is the bathroom? ¿Dónde está el baño?

Once again this site from last week should be very helpful: Basic Spanish