Bye bye Rudolph, there’s a new Christmas king in this house

Ree (left) and Ro are absolutely enamored of the new Christmas movie "An Elf's Story."

Here they are watching it for the (cough cough) fourth or fifth time and holding up their own beloved elf (renamed Chippey in honor of the movie) so he gets to experience the joy too:

If your kids haven’t seen An Elf’s Story yet, CBS will show it again on the 9th, so check your listings and set your DVR. Also, if you have a hard time coming up with your elf’s next creative hiding place like me, you can find some fun ideas of what to do with your elf at 15 Creative Ideas to Hide Your Elf on the Shelf (I like the Chef Elf idea and the Just Back from the North Pole one), and I like the Kleenex Box idea at Elf on the Shelf Ideas {elf on}, and you can browse fun ideas at the Flickr group called Elf On A Shelf – I love the wintery elf and cool whip in the fridge and the flour snow angel oodles.

PS: Lisa’s comment reminded me to mention that with the Elf on the Shelf thing (as with almost everything in life) we don’t follow the official rules. Nope. Never did. We let the girls touch Chippey as much as they want (they carry him everywhere and love on that little dude), and then they just have to make sure he’s on the stairs before bedtime. The story is so that he never gets trapped or confused and can always make his way to Santa’s every night. But that’s a big load of bull. The real reason is because if I don’t literally trip on that damn elf on my way to bed, there is NO chance I’ll remember to find that thing and then hide him in a way-cool someplace. Oh, and we also don’t use Chippey as any kind of behavior spy like they mention in the book. He’s just a fun, happy dude who helps to spread the magic and fun of Christmas and has a direct line to Santa’s ear each night if you think of something else to add to your Christmas list. And he hides every morning in places that make the girls scream with laughter.

It’s almost 10 o’clock? You have got to be kidding me!

We just finished mixing up our Pumpkin Dump Cakes for tomorrow, one for my mom’s house and one for our cousins’ house, and didn’t even look at the time until we popped them in the oven. Gah!

They have to bake for at least an hour. Gah again!

At least the girls had fun whipping them up. Since we were making two cakes, they each got to do everything in their very own bowls and pans.

They are both quite serious when they’re stirring. Oooo, so serious.

The whirling swirl behind Ree is her sister, who was dancing with joy that they accidentally got to stay up so late:

Thanks for the culinary help, cuties:

The stuff is delicious, like a gooey pumpkin pudding with a hint of cake. If anyone needs the recipe (which is my mom’s), here tis:

Pumpkin Dump Cake

1–29 oz. can pumpkin
1 –12oz. can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 C. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 T. cinnamon

Mix above ingredients and pour into 10 x 14 cake pan, ungreased. Then:

1 box yellow cake mix – sprinkle over pumpkin mixture
1 C. chopped pecans – sprinkle onto cake mix
¾ C. melted butter – pour over everything

Bake at 350 for 45 to 50 minutes (or until a knife in the center comes out clean, like a pumpkin pie – if you use a slightly smaller pan your cake will be thicker and will need to cook a little longer)

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow, hope you all have a wonderful day with family and friends and you eat too much, and laugh even more.

Today’s forecast: cloudy with a chance of goofballs

Little sweeties were definitely a bright spot on a rainy, cloudy day. Well them and the hugomungo shopping spree I finally went on for myself. Yes that’s right, I actually went to a mall and didn’t come home with a single little-girl item of clothing. Everyone who knows me is gasping in surprise right about now.

Caught Ree in the middle of a smug little smirk:

And caught Ro in the middle of a belly laugh:

Sooooooo, can anyone guess the item of clothing I bought for myself that I would never in a million years have thought I’d buy?

And today’s post, just because they’re cute

Cheers and Happy Friday (a few hours early).

PS: They always make me smile with their eclectic clothing choices and sometimes the camera practically begs me to capture their feisty fashion on film. Heh. This morn Ro put together a fun outfit with a new sweater and shirt from Children’s Place, a silver bubble skirt from the J.Crew outlet, striped grey and white spring leggings, and last year’s Lelli Kelly school shoes (which she calls “Yelly Kelly” and has suddenly decided she likes again). Ree decided to put together an outfit that ended up being head-to-ankle vintage H2/S2 clothes (hand-me-downs). She paired a pink and purple Mini Boden top with a soft pink velvet Hanna Andersson skirt and added footless tights – all things that her buddies sent over at some point over the years. She’s also wearing her new pink tennies from Children’s Place (her old ones had to be burned they were so awful).

Let’s talk coffee, shall we?

So what do you guys know about home espresso machines? We’re looking to purchase one and the choices, options, and price differences are kind of mind boggling. We want something that will make a good (dare I ask for foolproof?) latte. Any machines or features out there that are universally beloved (or hated)?

And because my family gets riled about any posts without pictures, here are a few random snapshots...

Ro (left) and Ree at their fave Japanese restaurant, Nijo Castle, wearing their new Mulan costumes:

We went shopping for some winter boots and the girls chose these hot pink numbers from Old Navy. SOOOO not my style, but SOOOO cute on them. Ro left, Ree right:

On a recent dinner trip I was amused to see that Ro found it necessary to tote two bulging extremely heavy bags into the restaurant while Ree carried only her new teeny, tiny lavender patent leather purse:

Cheers! Now please let me know your best tips for home espresso enjoyment. Thank you thank you thank you.

Daddy Comes Home day

TubaDad traveled a really, really long time to get home from Asia today (or yesterday I guess), and Ree and Ro were delighted to see him this morning. And they were delighted to eat cookie dough, as is our tradition on Daddy Comes Home day.

I found a new recipe that doesn’t use eggs and thought it was just begging to be eaten raw. So we whipped it up.

And they sampled away (those bulging cheeks aren’t subtle, are they?):

They pronounced it very good, although truth be told I vastly prefer the regular full-egg version for my dough consumption. Four decades of dough eating has obviously refined my palate quite a bit.

They tried to entice TubaDad with some dough, but he was inexplicably more interested in sleeping. Go figure.

So they covered him with blankets:

Before you go thinking they are just too sweet, you should know that after the blankets they held a suspicious whispered conference, gobbled his portion of the dough, then turned him into some kind of elaborate playhouse, making sleep almost impossible:

Notice I said “almost.” Somehow he soldiered on. The boy really has excellent sleeping skills.

PS: I wasn’t going to link to the recipe because I didn’t love it, but the very first commenter asked about it, so here it is.

11:11 on 11/11/11 !!

So not the same

Ro and Ree are two very different little girls, of course. I know that. But I’m still just tickled to find obvious physical differences between them.

Remember back in October I posted that they scooter with different legs? (Ree pushes with the left leg, while Ro pushes with the right one).

Well that made me curious about other stuff. So I grabbed the camera and asked them to indulge me in a few tests. They thought it was hilarious.

Turns out they cartwheel with different legs and arms too:

Hopping was inconclusive (Ro always hops on her right leg while Ree uses both the left and right at different times):

They both gallop with the right leg in front:

And they both hold a bat the same direction (although Ro looks tough as hell in her stance, ready to cream that ball and anything else in her path, while Ree seems gigglingly ready to hug the ball):

They both kick with the right foot:

And they wink with different eyes (Ro closes her left eye and Ree closes the right one):

Anyhow, funny to see what they do and how they do it. They’re both right handed, by the way, for writing, cutting, eating, etc. But Ro’s handwriting is quite a bit neater, and sometimes I wonder if Ree originally started as a left hander but saw her sister using her right hand and ended up copying her? I guess we’ll never know...

Asian Ginger Broth

Mmmm, mmm, I’ve been craving this soup ever since I happily stumbled upon it at Sweet Tomatoes one lucky day. It’s a delicious, mild little ginger broth, with a boatload of things to sprinkle in it. And every time I visit Sweet Tomatoes now, I run to the soup bar to see if it’s one of the featured soups again. And it NEVER is. Pfffft.

That’s okay, now I can make it myself. This little recipe is purported to be the exact brew that the restaurant whips up, and it seemed pretty darn close to me.

Asian Ginger Broth

4 TB finely minced ginger
3 TB finely minced garlic
2 TB canola oil
Combine ingredients in a pot and saute for 5 minutes

6 TB corn starch
2 cups cold water
Combine ingredients and whisk to dissolve

14 cups water
6 TB Vegetarian base (*the restaurant uses Custom brand vegetarian base   powder. I couldn’t find it anywhere so I used 4 big vegetable bouillon cubes.)
Corn starch mixture
Add ingredients to pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve with a plethora of fun add-ins that everyone can choose from and sprinkle in their bowls. We used sliced green onions, shredded carrots, chopping spinach leaves, sliced mushrooms, cubed tofu, and soft wheat noodles. Oh, and I wanted those crunchy wonton strips, but couldn’t find them in the grocery store. Next time!

We have the leftovers in the fridge and I can’t wait to have it again.

PS: Has anyone ever found vegetarian base powder? Where do you get it?

Fun fall fashion (AKA: Coats make me smile)

The girls have a couple of fun, light coats that are perfect for our barely-chilly-but-still-counts-as-fall weather, but they don’t yet have winter coats. Has anyone seen any cute ones that we should look at?

PS: I wrote who’s who in the alt tags, so mouseover if you’re curious