Wacky Wednesday

This week is Spirit Week at Evelyn's school, with a dress-up theme every day:

Monday was dress up as a favorite book character. This was tough to do for two reasons: Evelyn had P.E. that day, so she didn't really want to wear a bonafide costume; and we don't have any book character costumes. Evelyn decided to be a fairy from one of her fairy chapter books, which was easy to do with her removable wings.

Yesterday was sports day. You know our artsy, musical Evelyn...she didn't have anything to wear to match that theme.

Today is Wacky Wednesday! She picked out stripes, tie-dye and polka dots for her clothes, mismatched socks (Julia reminded her time and again that her socks didn't match), and her hair was half French-braid, half pigtail. I thought she looked a little like something out of an 80's music video.
Tomorrow - Thursday - is pajama day. (I'm sure Julia will protest to Evelyn wearing PJ's to school.) And Friday is green-and-yellow day, which are the school colors.

Christmas Cake Pops

Every December, Evelyn's school PTA sponsors a sweet-treat event for the teachers called "Crumb and Get It." They ask for about 100 volunteers to each make 2-3 dozen cookies or treats. This is the third year I have baked something, and I decided to get a little fancy this time around. I aimed to make 36 cake pops, and thankfully that is exactly how many good ones I got. The good news for our family is...we got to eat the "mess-ups." They might not have looked good, but they still tasted fine!

Visiting Santa at the Train Museum

We went to the B&O Train Museum in Baltimore today to see their holiday festival of trains displays and to visit with Santa. This is the third year we've gone to the museum for this event, and they had something new this year - giant nutcrackers. Look how small the girls are next to this one -As has become tradition for us, we went on the train ride with Santa. But a new tradition for Julia is actually getting close to Santa. She hopped right up to be in the picture with Evelyn.
We all enjoyed snacking on candy canes during the 2-mile (round-trip) train ride. The sweet treat made Julia especially giddy.

Egg-Free Chocolate Cake

I volunteered to make an egg-free holiday treat for the teachers at Evelyn's school. Since I had already made egg-free cake pops for a kids' party (and they turned out great), that's what I plan to make for the teacher treat-fest this Friday.

I got the recipe for this chocolate cake from a friend whose daughter has an egg allergy. My friend says that egg-free cakes tend to dry quickly, but if you make cake balls or cake pops with them - where you mix lots of frosting with the baked cake - you won't run into that problem.


Egg-Free Chocolate Cake

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons white vinegar
2 cups water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 9x13-inch pan.

Stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add the oil, vanilla, vinegar and water. Mix together until smooth.

Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes (do not overbake!) Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Christmas Card Helpers

No, my Christmas card helpers this afternoon were not Julia and Evelyn. However, I believe Julia had something to do with the five equine assistants that showed up on the desk . . .

Flowers for the Ballerina

Evelyn danced in her fifth and final Nutcracker performance tonight. I saw three of her performances, and she did fabulous in all of them. Last night, the music teacher from Evelyn's school came to her performance, and tonight several of the teachers from the Little Gym were in the audience. The teachers brought flowers for the budding ballerina on both nights, and we put all of the carnations together to make a beautiful bouquet.Gorgeous flowers for our gorgeous dancer!

Sweet Treats for Breakfast

Julia and I ran out to Shoppers and Starbucks this morning to pick up breakfast. Add the girls' advent calendars (with little pieces of German chocolate behind each day's door) to hot chocolate and chocolate donuts, and they had a very sweet breakfast!And, if you have ever seen a "Collosal" donut from Shoppers, you understand why the girls only each got half a donut.