*{Let Them Eat Cake}*

I finally did it.  I had been wanting to make the cake balls and cake pops that I had seen on Bakerella's website for an eternity (or so it seemed!).

They are fabulous!  I had never seen such a thing before and was excited to try them.  My friend Leslie was just as excited and next time I want to make them together. Baking + Friends = *FUN*

Anyway, after hearing about a  mexican dinner fundraiser for my friend Steven, who has bone cancer, I decided to make the cake balls/pops for the bake sale portion. Steven has to travel to Chicago (about a 3-4 hour drive) for treatments, so this fundraiser was to help with those expenses.  I was hoping they might fetch a little higher price than a chocolate chip cookie so that we could gather as much donation money as we could for Steven & his family. From what I heard later, the fundraiser was a complete success!  A lot of people spent many hours planning it and they pulled it off beautifully. I enjoyed cooking, baking and serving for this event. It really feels good to serve others in their time of need. Heaven knows I've had friends and family serving my own family in our time of need, so I'm glad that I was able to repay a little of what was done in the past for myself.

Anyway,I didn't make the cake balls/pops too fancy, but I hear they flew off the table, so I must have done something right! Next time I would like to make different fun pops. Maybe flower shaped or Hello Kitty shaped. That would be fun! Aren't they cute?  Bakerella is the queen of baking!

Anyway, if you're wondering what a cake ball/pop is, here is the low-down.

I baked a boxed cake mix in a 13x9 pan. Let it cool and then broke it all up into pieces.  I thought that might feel liberating, but truthfully, it just felt....wrong. I felt like I ruined the cake! Haha.

Next, I mixed all the cake crumbles with a can of cream cheese frosting.  This is a messy process, but nonetheless FUN.  I rolled most of them into quarter sized balls.  Some I made extra big. The small ones where pop in your mouth-able, while the larger ones were meant to be eaten with a fork.  Well, actually, you could just take a big 'ol bite out of those too. Doesn't matter when it's so tasty!

Next, I put them in the fridge to firm them up. To go faster, I froze some of them (I'm always behind and late for events!).  For the cake pops, lollipop sticks were inserted and then dipped in melted chocolate or white chocolate coating.  They turned out cute!  I wrapped them in cellophane tied with a twisty and they were ready to sell.

The cake balls were dipped, finished off and placed into a small cupcake liner. Or a big liner for the monster ones.

I made double chocolate balls and pops. And red velvet balls dipped in white chocolate. Next time I might use a home made cake mix instead of a store bought one. I think they would be tastier made from scratch.

Of course I HAD to try one....

....or 5.

 Mmm....delicious!

SlingRider & Wendy Bellissimo Baby Slings Recall - Product Recalls - Parents.com

Yes, I own one of these. It's a pretty black toile one. I bought it on Ebay.

I only used it *one* time. I felt like I was smothering Ava. She was cocooned in there toooo much. It's been sitting in her bedroom closet on a hook for almost 3 years. I kept saying it was a waste of money. I was going to re-gift it to someone, but then I thought....duh...if Ava was too squished, why would I hand it over to someone else?

They are offering replacement products. Tie carriers (these are really cute), shopping cart covers (I already have a black toile one of those and totally love it), and an activity gym. Ava is too old for the gym and carrier. So I guess I'm ordering the gym anyway and giving it as a gift.

I was also looking at the Infantino website and saw that they had several other things that have been recalled over the years. I'm wondering if Infantino is a good company to buy things for our precious children! They obviously don't do enough research before putting our children at risk.


SlingRider & Wendy Bellissimo Baby Slings Recall - Product Recalls - Parents.com

Snow Much *{FUN}*

Since it's starting to look like spring is upon us, I thought I had better squeeze in a little post about *sNoW.

 
Ava was kind of small to be out in the snow last year, so this year was super fun for her.  She had a new coat, boots, snowpants, gloves etc. 

She looked the part!

So off she went to play with Molly.....

....and Jillian.

But soon it was getting too cold & dark, so it was time to come in.

But Ava didn't want to of course.

How did she go so quickly from this.....

To this??!!!

*sigh*