Elf and the 7 Year Old

A few days ago we decided we would let the kids watch Elf with us. Munchkin has been asking about how Santa gets in the house. We don't have a chimney you see so she is understandably curious. Hubby told her that there must be some magic involved. You must understand that movie lines are quoted frequently around our house so it comes as no surprise that many lines from Elf have been heard from my daughters mouth.

Yesterday as I was driving to work, I had my kiddos with me. There was a Santa on the side of the road waving in front of some jewelry store sale. Now, traditionally we see Santa the big white guy and this was a pretty slim black guy. So when the response I got from the back seat was "That was sooo not a real beard" I laughed really loud.

Yesterday the kids got to see Santa at the Bass Pro Shop. Bobby asked if they thought that was the real Santa and she said "No, I don't think so, he smelled like smoke!" Talk about killing the Christmas magic. I can just see Santa out back in the alley getting a quick drag before letting a bunch of kids sit on his lap. Nice. At least he looked good in the pictures.

Another line, not from Elf, is Scroogy McScroogy Pants adopted from her father who said that about the houses without Christmas lights on them. He has actually called me that on a couple of occasions when I forgot to turn the lights on. Denver and Amy, if you are reading, she called you guys Scroogy McScroogy Pants the other night when we drove around your neighborhood looking for lights. We made sure to point out your beautiful trees but she could not be swayed.

All this to say, the kids saw Elf and apparently liked it as attested to by the lines being quoted in our house!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

This is the first year Little Man has not freaked out seeing Santa. Here he is telling Santa that he wants a puppy for Christmas. Ummmm....yeah, that came out of left field.

Kim Peek died :(

You may or may not have heard of Kim Peek and likely won't hear as much as would a celebrity. He was the inspiration for the movie Rain Man. I know about Kim Peek because my son shares a brain anomaly with him. Both have Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum. This is the part of the brain that connects the two halves of the brain. We did not get the chance to meet Kim as he started attending the conferences the year after we went but he was an extraordinary man. Here is an excerpt from the Salt Lake Tribune the rest can be found by clicking the link.

"Kim Peek, the Murray man who inspired the 1988 movie "Rain Man," died Saturday of a sudden heart attack.
Peek, 58, was likely the world's most famous savant, enduring mental handicaps while at the same time possessing extraordinary gifts of memory and recall.
"He had a depth and breadth of knowledge and a memory that was just unbelievable," said Daniel Christensen, a professor with the University of Utah's Neuropsychiatric Institute. "He was unique. I don't know if there will ever be another person quite like Kim."
In recent weeks, Kim Peek had suffered from an upper respiratory infection, his father, Fran Peek, said Monday afternoon. Peek had been retaining water, gaining nearly 30 pounds. Water pills did not seem to ease the situation.
Peek was born on Nov. 11, 1951. At 9 months, doctors said he was severely mentally retarded.
"They told us we should institutionalize him because he would never walk or talk," Fran Peek said. "But we refused to do that."
By 16 months, Peek demonstrated extraordinary abilities. He could read and memorize entire volumes of information.
"He could find anything he wanted to. He read all of Shakespeare, the Old and New Testaments," Fran Peek said.
An MRI later showed that his brain lacked a corpus callosum -- the connecting tissue between the left and right hemispheres. Peek said his son's brain lacked the normal filtering system for receiving information". To read the rest of the story in the Salt Lake Tribune click here.

{TWD} My favorite Pecan Pie...except not this week

A big thank you goes out to Beth of Someones in the Kitchen for choosing this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie Recipe. She chose "My Favorite Pecan Pie". When I asked hubby if he liked pecan pie he kind of gave me an "eh" look. I am not a huge fan of it either but I am willing to try it. This week has been full of Christmas cookies (that I had ingredients for in the house) and other baking though so I have not had a chance to make it yet. Sorry Beth! I will try it soon though. For the recipe you can check out her blog.
I did spend all of yesterday baking these:

Kids Thumbprint cookies.

Grandmas All Occasion Sugar Cookies

My helpers

Andes Candies Cookies

May all of your holiday baking be as sweet!

New (to me) Music Monday: Salient

There are so many bands and musicians out there that I never seem to be able to keep up. Each week I would like to feature a new (or old) band or musician.
This week I of course will start out with my hubby's band, Salient.

Bobby has been playing with Salient since around October of 2003. His first show with them was New Years Eve at Rocketown. Bobby's mom was in town and got to be at the show. We hung out in the balcony as Munchkin was with us and was quite rambunctious. She was 15 months old so, for her, Salient has always been part of her little life. Little Man was born in June of the next year so he too has always know "Mr. Mark" who is the singer for the band. Both have gotten to know several other musicians as well. Salient consists of Mark Duckworth (vocals), Bobby Reinsch (guitar), Craig Woelber (bass) and Jeromy Rowe (drums).

Recently the band released their 4th album "The Constant State of Change". Barry Blair (of Audio Adrenaline fame) was the producer.

Obviously in this case I am a little biased, but I think this is the best album they have produced to date. You can check out the band on facebook, myspace, garageband and at their website. You can download the new album on itunes and you can find them on youtube. Check out their site to see when they will be in your neck of the woods. :)

Fun Friday

My kids get to have Fun Friday at school each week. Actually I am not sure if it is every week or the weeks that they earn it. Anyway, they love fun friday so I am going to start including Fun Friday on the blog. I love to go out and do fun things with my kids and my husband but we try to be conservative when it comes to spending money on outings. So, we look for free places to go as a family. Most of the time I find our free outings in the Nashville Parent, through online groups, and the Nashville Scene.
Some of the things we may check out this weekend are:
Tonight:
FREE Make It and Take It: Hershey Kiss Tree All ages can drop in and make a colorful Christmas tree made from Hershey Kisses. Delmas Long Community Center, 200 Memorial Drive, Goodlettsville; 5 - 7 p.m.; 851-2250 or www.cityofgoodlettsville.org.

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire and Hot Cider
Date/Time:Fri., December 18, 4:00pm-6:00pm
Price: free
Whole Foods Market
4021 Hillsboro Pk.
Nashville, TN
440-5100

12/19
FREE Polar Express Pajama Party and Storytime All ages can wear their PJs for a reading of The Polar Express along with games and hot chocolate. Barnes & Noble, 2615 Medical Center Pkwy., Murfreesboro; 11 a.m.; 895-8580 or www.bn.com.

FREE Storytime with Miss Sharon All ages can listen to a reading of Great Joy. Barnes & Noble, 300 Indian Lake Blvd., Ste. 340, Hendersonville; 11 a.m.; 264-0183 or www.bn.com.

Holiday Art Show
Date/Time:Daily from Sat., December 5 until Thu., December 31
Price: Free
Art & Invention Gallery at The Garage Mahal
1106 Woodland St.
Nashville, TN
226-2070

12/20
Holiday Ice Show Figure skaters and young students in the Learn-to-Skate program perform holiday-themed routines on ice. Centennial Sportsplex, 222 25th Ave. N., Nashville; 2 p.m.; $6 adults, $5 ages 12 and younger; 862-8480 or www.nashville.gov/sportsplex.

FREE A Little House Christmas All ages can hear the music and stories the Ingalls family shared. Related craft activities include making clove apples, bead strings, rag dolls, Almanzo’s jingle bells and mitten ornaments. Bellevue Branch Library, 650 Colice Jeanne Road, Nashville; 2 p.m.; 862-5854 or www.library.nashville.org.

Have fun and be safe! :)

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Sunday was the 12th anniversary of wedded bliss for me and my hubster. I walked and found these beautiful flowers awaiting my arrival. Thanks my sweet husband, you still make my heart go pitter pat! :)

{TWD} Cafe Volcano Cookies

It is Tuesday once again, which means tasty treats are making their way from my house to work. Thank you to MacDuff of The Lonely Sidecar for this amazingly simple recipe. You can go to her site to get the recipe or you can purchase Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours.

When the recipes for the month came out and I read the title my thoughts immediately turned to dark flowy chocolate spilling from a soft chocolaty cookie. Then I read the ingredients and kind of scratched my head. How could the 5 ingredients that included 2 kinds of nuts, sugar, egg whites and espresso powder make the cookie that I saw in my head? They couldn't, but they did make a lovely crunchy meringuey cookie. Hubby and I have started on a diet...I know, right during the holidays is a perfect time for that....so I only kept a few of these at home and took the rest to work.

Last week I made Sables and immediately made these. The sables required 2 egg yolks and these required 2 egg whites. It was a no brainer to do them at the same time. Thankfully I actually had almonds and pecans in my cabinet...I am not sure how long they had been in there but they hadn't passed the expiration date so I figured they were fine.

I toasted the almonds and the pecans together and didn't bother to let them cool before throwing them in the pot with the rest of the ingredients. I probably should have let the other ingredients warm up so the sugar was dissolved before throwing the nuts in but the directions didn't say to do that. I was quite skeptical that these were going to turn out even close to edible, but I should know by now that things I think will be terrible will be really good.

These turned into a light, airy, if rather crunchy cookie. Can all of those descriptive words go together? Please forgive my made photography skillz. I was trying not to take flash photos of my cookies but I didn't have any natural light...I really need a light box (hint hint!). :)

When I took these to work I really though they would be gobbled up quickly. For some reason it took longer for these to go but the people that ate them really liked them. I had one instructor tell me they were horrible so he needed another one to make sure they weren't poisoned. My kind of humor! :)

I am not a nut girl..I generally go by the rule, if it doesn't need nuts I am not going to put them in and kind of feel like brownies with nuts are a sin against nature. However, I really liked these a lot. I am glad I took them to work because I would have made myself sick eating them at home. If you need a good easy recipe, this fits the bill.