Fun Cake Pops

I saw the cutest idea for a sweet treat HERE that would make a great gift or party favor and thought it would be fun to try them. My sister has made truffles in various flavors this way for years but this is a new take on that idea.

BAKERELLA makes cake pops from basic to amazing in design and I must say looking at her site and all of her ideas is addicting and causes me to long to do things I have absolutely no time for. But, being that we are still in celebration mode and being that John has off of work today I thought I would take a shot at making cake pops.


All you need to make Cake Pops is:

-- Cake Mix (I made my favorite chocolate cake last night and added peppermint flavoring)
-- Can of frosting (I whipped up chocolate butter cream with a bit of peppermint and vanilla)
-- Candy melts, or chocolate/white bark.
-- Lollipop sticks (I had short ones but the long would work much better I believe)
 
For step-by-step instructions with pictures click HERE. They are more time-intensive than I anticipated.

My tips --
I found that the balls need to be quite cold but not frozen otherwise the chocolate does not adhere quickly making the process ever so much longer.

If adding color to your chocolate or candy melts I found that even the paste I use to tint frosting contains water and does not work for this as it hardens too quickly - hence only 1 green tree pictured below) You need oil-based coloring.

 To dry you can use a block of styrophoam if you have it otherwise I used an old cereal box and poked holes in which worked fine.

My original intent was to use white
chocolate sprinkled with candy cane dust
but that didn't look very interesting so
I added red and green too.

I am thinking I may try this again (on a weekend) and might even bring myself to buy a flavored cake mix and a container of frosting such as lemon to make these for a gift. That would at least cut out a few steps. I also have a bridal shower coming up in March and I think the little wedding cakes Bakerella makes might be fun to serve then.

The snowman was just for fun and is the children's favorite but is too much work to make more than one. The trees were quite easy though. Just shape the dough as a tree.

If you have children that want to help -- it works great for them to put the sprinkles on as long as you aren't going for perfection here! :) Seppy only helped by eating them.

From Our Family To Yours...

Look before you go...

Now that Seppy turned two just over a month ago I find myself going crazy trying to keep up with him. It seems as soon as I turn around he gets into a mess. Leaving food or drinks out on the counter is not a good idea because he maneuvers his high chair to access whatever it is. His favorite thing right now is to dump the contents from one cup to another. A great learning skill I am sure but I cannot count how many times a drink is flowing on the counter down onto the floor.

I know we go through this with each child but it doesn't get any easier. I told John today I am about ready to gate Seppy off to certain rooms only which is what we had to do when Pete and Re-Pete were this age. When I think back to that crazy time of our lives with twins at age two I cannot remember how exactly we handled that, although I wasn't near as busy at that time either. And so, onto the latest in the Seppy Adventures.

Missy Blue announced she was going to the bathroom but came back to tell me: "Seppy's bankie is in the toiwet (toilet)!" What? I went to check this out and sure enough. He had stuffed his blanket into the toilet and it was soaking up all the water, at least I hoped it was only water but having this many boys it isn't exactly likely. I was laughing/crying at the same time my emotions didn't know what to make of this as I pulled out the blanket and wrung it out.

Of course, I did decide that I needed to capture this on camera to remember. I do regret not taking a picture of our fish tank when Pete and Re-Pete deluged it with books, socks, cars, and overfed them. No more fish. :)- The moral of the story as I announced at the supper table is to always LOOK before you go to the bathroom! You just never know what you might find. :)-

Girly Jammies

What do you do when your little boy needs new pajamas and all of his are in the wash? I found a pair that no longer fit Missy and so Seppy happily wore pink and purple hearts on his jammies. The boys weren't so sure it was a good idea but they were clean and he has no clue at this point so all is well. :) He looks cute in everything he wears and he definitely looks like a boy!

I was going to post this the beginning of December when it happened but was having problems adding a picture. So here is a jammie update --

Thankfully after a month of searching I found the rest of our 2T boys clothes and it had three pair of pajamas! I was so excited to find the missing clothes!!! It also brings back memories of when so and so wore that. :)

 

Blog -- Under Construction

If you happen to read my blog when things are not matching or some such thing I am working on it. I am trying to update the background and header and change colors of words but homeschoolblogger is EXTREMELY slow tonight and is not letting me get this accomplished. And so, I will let it looking strange for now. And for those of you who still use homeschoolblogger -- is your entry screen different now so that you cannot change fonts, sizes, add links, etc.? My last post I wasn't even able to make paragraph breaks. Kind of frustrating!

Miss Perfection -- Not Me!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week! (More to come on that next post when I can add pictures). Seeing as it was a my house this year (we are in a three-year rotation) I thought that I might get stressed in getting the house in order and preparing but I was so glad that I took each day to prepare my heart and mind for each day ahead and the Lord gave me what I needed for each day. I never did get to the point of frustration.

In having this many children I have learned a lot about going with the flow and not sweating the little stuff. No matter how much I may want things to be, nothing will be exactly as I desire and I have come to the point where I am content with that. Oh, don't get me wrong, I struggle at times wishing I no longer had walls with splotches awaiting priming and paint or that my "free" furniture matched the red walls of the living room but I am thankful that I have new furniture that I did not have to pay for. It may not be my style and eventually I will have them slipcovered but it serves it's purpose. Maybe I missed a cobweb or two or you might find dust in places someone missed but it is okay. Why stress about it and cause strain on the rest of the family? Not that I don't go crazy from time to time when preparing for company but not to the extent that I might have years ago.

The other week we had college students over and I didn't realize it but there was my laundry dumped on the loveseat. Seeing as that is often where it is I suppose no one realized that it didn't belong. :)- I am also very thankful for a husband who willingly gives of his time to help me out even after a long day at work. Last Wednesday I needed to go to church with the kids for Christmas program practice. I was telling John how I still needed to get the kitchen cleaned up after a day of running and the bathroom floor was in desperate need of attention. He said, "Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it." And so he did. I came home to a clean smelling house and everything looked presentable.

I will say, that I am trying to work a little harder on the area of keeping up with the house before it overtakes me but it takes time to de-clutter and time is something I have little of. I read a poem awhile back something having to do with when our children are gone the things we will realize weren't important. And so, I imagine that one day I will think back on the clutter and chaos and wish that it hadn't left so soon. Although, then I can invite all of my grandchildren over to do the same thing. :)