The 'ALMOST' cake pop disaster. A.K.A The blockhead cake pops!

My parents always told me I could do anything I put my mind to. Well, they never told me about cake pops.

DISCLAIMER: All pics were made with the iPhone.

After stewing over what to give my husband (he is, after all, the most thoughful gift giver I have ever met), I decided that the normal father's day gifts would not do. He didn't need another tie, or a coffee mug (he loathes coffee), or custom labeled beer, or an engraved plaque or something. So I started thinking about what he loves. Mysteriously, BOTH pairs of his good leather sandals have disappeared since we married...so we gave him a nice pair of leather slide on sandals. He Loves them. (Thank God)

He also loves red velvet cake.

Now, understand, this man HATES chocolate cake. I mean HATES it. But red velvet cake IS chocolate cake. But dyed red. Yes. This is true. I didn't know this til I was an adult about 18. (eh, ok...I was about 32). I KNOW it has to be the chocolate mixed with cream cheese icing. I mean, who doesn't like cream cheese icing. It's amazing. Yum.

But I digress.

Since we are doing bootcamp, I decided having an entire red velvet cake around this house would NOT be a good thing for our diets/workouts. So. I got ambitious. I decided to make...du-da-du....CAKE POPS!

Yeah...cake pops. One, MAYBE two bites of yummy goodness. AND I could take some to his dad and my dad and his papa. Yeah, CAKE pops.

So I did like any other do-it-herself crafter extraordinaire and went to Bakerella's website. She is, after all, THE expert on the subject. I found these UBER cute Superman Cake Pops! They look easy enough, RIGHT???

Well, let me just tell you. I almost lost my religion making these suckers. I'm pretty crafty AND I am a good cook. But I STINK at making these. Start to finish it took about 8 hours and 3 days to make these. He better appreciate them! (I'll report back later on my findings!)

I was going to make a homemade red velvet, but after reading her blog decided that it was too moist. (I wanted the blue velvet cake instead of red.) I decided I'd rather have cake that stays on the stick and not just pretty cake.

So I baked a boxed red velvet cake, and made homemade cream cheese icing ::swoon::

I crumbled the cake into a fine mess...then added enough icing to make balls.

I then rolled them and placed them on a tin-foiled cookie sheet and placed them in the freezer to harden a bit, and let a handsome young man devour lick the bowl.

Meanwhile, my friend Gina (aka a baking diva) came over to help me make marshmallow fondant (or Fawn-dahnt as the Cake Boss calls it.) Boy that stuff is an icky-sticky-ooey-gooey mess. But it tastes SO. MUCH. BETTER. than traditional fondant. (I hear Buddy saying it in his Hoboken, NJ accent every time I type that word.)

I made the mistake (well, multiple ones, really...but I digress...again...) of having her help me make it two days before I needed it, which made it REALLY hard to roll out later. She was gracious enough to come back over yesterday to help me roll them out and after HER day at bootcamp, her arms were like jelly and rolling them out simply exhausted her. So, when if I ever do these again, I'll make the fondant the day OF the ball assembly. We stored it in an airtight container:

So here's where things get stupid complicated. Yesterday (remember, Father's Day is the next day) Gina and I got to work...she rolled out the fondant and after realizing I had NOTHING to cut cute little shield shaped pieces, we decided on rectangles:

And while she did that I got to work on melting Almond Bark (since I couldn't get candy melts in the city of Perry and running to Warner Robins with four children for only candy melts was NOT an option.) My theory was I'd melt the bark then add the gel blue food coloring (since following instructions is NOT my strong point). Well. Let me tell you. THAT doesn't work. It turns into a globby mess because it cools the bark too quickly. So failure theory number two was to melt the bark WITH the food coloring IN it. It LOOKED like it was going to work. For about 2 seconds:

Then it globbed up again in a nasty mess. I called Lacy, our ever available sitter extraordinaire, and she ran over while I ran to Wal-Mart for MORE Almond Bark. After discussing the bark plight with Gina, we decided since we couldn't have lovely blue candy melts...I'd just do Almond Bark (which is white) and blue sugar crystals (can you say diabetic COMA????).

Off to Wal-Mart I go...and in my ADD stupor (which happens daily) I get everything BUT almond bark including rotisserie chicken and broccoli and cheese and croissants for a lovely chicken wreath for dinner. I got home with no almond bark so my cake pop assembly comes to a screeching halt the day BEFORE father's day. ::sigh::

I was broken-hearted. Publix (2 miles away) doesn't carry it except during the holidays (jerks) and I was not about to run back to WM since we had to leave for bootcamp in less than an hour...SO I decided to stop BACK at WM on Sunday after I drop Matt to work AFTER church. Sheesh. DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA....I have to do EVERYTHING the hard way, it seems!

SO. I get something different called candy something or another right next to the Almond Bark thinking that the candy melt gods would smile better upon me with that and Alex and I start assembling.

I must say that when I pulled the balls out of the freezer, they had flat tops. SO...I just went with it. It was stressful enough trying to finish these things, so I wasn't ABOUT to add an extra step.

Pure and simple, they are an ugly mess. I used a red food coloring marker to write dad on the FAWN daunt.....and, in all their blockhead glory, stayed on the stick like good little cake pops should.

I never said I focus on perfection in baking...but I am SUCH a perfectionist in my other crafts. Go figure:

They took forever and I MAY try them again but with real candy melts and a not so moist cake. We'll see. But ugly or not, they were made with a lot of love. I hope they taste good...

Happy Father's Day!!

Oh my stars....HE IS FOUR!!!! And he's MINE!!!

Where does time go? I am so far behind blogging that it isn't funny. Add to it that I was in the hospital on A2's birthday and that I have yet to do his 4 year portraits and I feel like a total loser of a mom! But I have to remind myself that my days are full of loving on these babies and extra stuff isn't always top on the list.

SO.

My sweet boy, we fondly call A2 on chore charts, etc; turned 4 on March 2! WHEN did he change from this:

to this:

and from this:

to this last year:

to these recent snapshots:

???????

My sweet boy is into everything. We are learning Bible verses in our morning homeschool quiet time. He is really good with "Love is Patient and Love is kind" 1 Corinfians tirteen four (spelled like he says it). He is learning his letters and numbers and talks up a blue streak around here. He is a loud little booger...after I asked the ENT today about his hearing, he said "it's fine...it's just the Y chromosome talking!" to which I had to laugh. He is all boy and is rough and tumble. Except with his sisters. He turns into pure mush and just wants to love on, kiss on, and protect his girls, as he calls them.

A2 has an amazing ability to retain lyrics to songs. He can hear a song once or twice and can sing it back to you. My favorite one was when I caught him singing "Our God is greater, Our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other. Our God is healer, awesome in power....our God....Our God..." Yes. Word. FOR. WORD. I am amazed. I can't wait to get my piano up here and start him playing. He has skills.

Talking about skills, the boy can flip. Like, literally. My dad gave the boys a trampoline for Christmas and when I first put him on it, he freaked OUT because he couldn't get his legs under him. We made him work through his fear, now it's his favorite place to be in the yard. The boy can do handless cartwheels and flips where he ALMOST lands on his feet again. Dude blows me away. It's so cute that Alex (A4) teaches him all the moves and Aslan gives credit to A4 saying "mom, Alex taught me how to flip!! I CAN DO IT!!!".

A2 is turning into a little man around the house as well. He does his chores MOSTLY without complaint and with a good attitude. He helps keep his room clean, moves the laundry from the dryer to my bed, keeps the living room picked up and collects the small trash bags throughout the house. All of this he does daily. I love how diligent he is becoming with his work.

He LOVES Garfield the cat, much to the joy of Aunt Gay (Matt's aunt). She works for Garfield the Cat's creator in marketing and always has goodies for the boys. He gets his words crossed up when talking about Garfield's movie "Pet Force". He crosses the sounds in "Fun Fest" (another Garfield movie) and so when he asks to watch "Pet Force" it comes out "Fart Force". He doesn't realize what he is saying and it is so funny (considering fart isn't a word we allow them to use in conversations).

He also loves his extended family. He ADORES going to DH's grandparents to visit and spend the night and LOVES when he sees Grandma W. He adores my parents (nana and papa) and DH's parents (DD and JJ) and he talks about Memaw (J's mom) all the time! He loves for his dad to visit and always looks forward to time with family.

A2 is never short on hugs and kisses for mom and LOVES to get in the floor to play with daddy. He is all about doing what A1 does and loves to teach A3 how to play pretend in her kitchen. Every single morning when I get A3 up, A2 runs to her and wants to cover her in kisses. It's a must.

With his favorite kiddos in the world:

He is a child of much compassion and a love for worshipping Jesus. He LOVES going to Waumba Land at church and counts the days until Sunday rolls around again. I love his teachable spirit and every day I get to spend as his mom!

Oh big boy, you make my heart do cartwheels, I love watching you grow and learn and love. You are my favorite 4 year old and I am so blessed to call you mine!!

Bloggity, blog blog....

Ok, so blogging daily is out. Sorry folks, my life is way to boring busy full. It's probably going to be a two-three time a week ordeal. Mamavation Mondays are essential and maybe one or two more. Ok, so I have modified my New Year's resolution from blogging daily, to blogging weekly. But at least I'll be blogging!

I am so excited! My new point and shoot camera should be here today. All you prophotogs know what I'm talking about when I say hauling around a DSLR is a big ol' pain in the rear. My friend, Shannon, said she had this camera. After searching and remembering my friend Christi had this camera and I opted for the latter. My old P&S had not died when my sweet hubby bought my Christmas present. He got me the cute little Panasonic HD palm video camera, and remember my saying I wanted a digital video camera. It was a cute little thing and I was totally disappointed when my P&S died JUST before Christmas and JUST before he gave me the other one. So he sweetly said I could return it to Amazon and get a P7S that had HD vid. Adding my free Amazon gift cards I earned from here and my Christmas money from a few sources, I was able to get it. One of the things I love about this camera is it's manual and RAW shooting capabilities since I am a, self proclaimed, camera control freak! It also has manual video camera settings where you can control the Aperture and Shutter Speed of the vid. AND it has 18x zoom you can use DURING video! I am STOKED! I am so excited to have a new "mama" camera! YAY! Of course I'll still use my pro camera for their portraits, etc. But am just THRILLED to have something to carry around for day to day use!

EDIT: My camera had not arrived when I typed my blog for today, but at 10:45am my doorbell rang and sure enough, it was my camera! YAY! Talking about FAST! I paid for the item yesterday afternoon around 2:30pm and it was here less than 24 hours later! YAY Amazon!

In other news, the new book I have been reading is about home management for homeschooling mothers in a book called "Managers of Their Homes" from Titus 2 ministries. Oh WHAT a blessing it has been to my heart! It deals with managing your time from a Godly perspective and how to be a blessing to your husband, children and home through what you schedule for the day. I am about halfway through the book and have already implemented some of the scheduling techniques with A2, A3 and A4. So far so good! Ava is napping on time, etc...and I am enjoying all three being down at the same time. It's giving me some much needed "me" time to either nap, have some computer time, etc. I HIGHLY recommend this book to ANY mom homeschooling with several children at home!

Another project on the home front is a little decorating project for my living room. I am super excited about it and found a WHOLE BUNCHA items at Goodwill yesterday I am going to paint/resurface, etc for said project. Watch for some posts coming up to show a little sampling of what I'm doing!

Also, I am taking recommendations for some recipes that are diet-ish eatable healthy and can still be fed to my entire family. If you have any suggestions or links, feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Saturday, everyone!

Day 11 of 2011! Bi Polar Baby...lol....

While trying to get a decent shot of how BLUE Ava's eyes were, this is the series I got before I calmed her enough to take it!

Here's the final image up close:

Tasty Tuesday!!-Sausage and Artichoke Casserole

Here begins my "Tasty Tuesday" posts by which I share with you successful recipes I have tried, and/or altered to fit our life.

This week's recipe doesn't sound good at first glance. But, um, yeah...it was super yum.

We, of course, used Venison sausage because we have tons of deer to eat....but you can use pork or turkey sausage. With pork you may want to drain your meat after your initial baking time.

Ingredients:
1 lb "pan" sausage
1 (12 oz) jar of marinated artichoke hearts
1 1/2 (5oz) bag of butter and garlic croutons
1/2 cup onions, bellpepper and celery chopped fine (We used onions only because of my picky eaters)
1 can of chicken broth (reduced sodium)
3/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Prep:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Chop artichokes into small pieces

Cooking Instructions:

1. Crumble sausage and place in a 13"x9" baking dish, bake 8-10 min (you may want to drain after this step)
2. Crumble sausage into fine pieces. Stir in artichokes, croutons, veggie mix, chicken broth and cheese; cover with foil and back 20 min.
3. Remove foil and bake another 10 min or until browned. Serve.

I served it with green beans, but a salad would be good, too! My family LOVED it! (As you can see) Bon Appetit!