Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Cards have been ordered and will be picked up tomorrow, as well as gifts for at least 6 people.  A Christmas letter draft has been written, a gift for my dad should be in Idaho next week, and more piano practicing for the recital happened today (as well as dance practicing for THAT recital).  What shall I do tomorrow?

I spent the morning in our storage room, taming the chaos and (FINALLY!) finding the winter coat my two-year-old will be wearing this year, which means that my lower back is killing me.  Here, then, is a short review of unhealthy snacks, for your reading pleasure:

Hershey’s Gold Bar:  Weirdly delicious.  Even my hubby, who was disappointed when he read the wrapper and realized it wasn’t actually chocolate, liked it when he tasted it.

Hot Cocoa Oreos:  Mmmm.  These are tasty, too.

Trader Joe’s Scandinavian Tidings:  Hmm.  Love the white ones, the red ones are pretty good, and the green ones are just weird.  Gummy candy shouldn’t taste like a Christmas-Tree-scented candle smells.

What snacks are YOU enjoying this holiday season?

You know that feeling you get when you finish a book and know, just KNOW, that someone you love is going to love it?  I finished Trenton Lee Stewart’s The Mysterious Benedict Society last night, and I’m kind of ridiculously excited to hand it off to my daughter.  What’s not to love about a rigorously tested group of gifted kids saving the world from the plans of an evil egomaniac?  If you can imagine a mashup of Harry Potter, A Wrinkle in Time, Ender’s Game, and the movie “Sneakers,” you’ve pretty much got The Mysterious Benedict Society–and if you enjoyed all four of those, I’m betting you’re going to love this!  (And if you need a Christmas gift for a reader who loves mystery and adventure, look no further.  I may not bother giving my oldest the library’s copy, considering…)

Okay, so I know I skipped a post on Wednesday, but that was because my fabulous hubby took me to see Billy Joel in concert.

We were a little busy.  And it was AWESOME.

I suppose I’ll spare you the play by play, however, since it would take forever to type, and instead pass along this lovely recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes.  Everybody in the family likes it, doubling it just feeds our family of six (although our youngest is two, so definitely triple it if you have four kids but they’re all in elementary school or older), and it’s beautifully forgiving.  Forgot to do self-rising flour instead of regular?  No worries, just throw in some baking powder and salt before you pour the batter on the griddle.  Want to do half whole wheat?  You’re good!   Don’t have quite enough leftover pumpkin?  Just use more applesauce instead.  If you want a lovely fall breakfast–or breakfast for dinner–my family can wholeheartedly endorse this one.