Aunt Kiki's Christmas Village

Shout out to Mary!

Hey Mary!!! We wanted to give you a shout out on Campbell's Scoop (it was Matt's very sweet idea)! You'll have to bear with the video, because given that the "actress" is not quite two yet, she needs quite a bit of prompting with her lines. She's a little distracted at first since Shelby is trying to steal the spotlight from her, but she quickly sends Shelby off "dat way"! Campbell also came down with the hiccups right before filming.

Anyways, we wanted to give this shout out to our sweet cousin Mary in Colorado!!! We are thinking about you and sending you hugs and kisses! We hope you get better soon! We love you Earles!

two cute bumble bees!!!

Campbell was a bumble bee for Halloween last year, her first Halloween, along with her friend Karsyn. We were able to pass Campbell's bumble bee costume along to our sweet friend Ellie this year for her first Halloween. The funniest thing is that neitheer of them have much hair - which makes it even cuter!! They sure did make cute bumble bees! It will be hard for a new bumble bee to fill those shoes next year ;) !!

Here are Karsyn and Campbell in 2007......and Ellie in 2008! Too cute!!!

Halloween 2008

Gigi got Campbell a treat bag for Halloween that included a bucket of sidewalk chalk - what a hit that was!! Nannie got Campbell the pumpkin "Crocs" for Halloween, which she is also a big fan of. She insisted to wear them today with her pink and brown jogging suit.

Here are some cute pictures of the pumpkin shoes and the chalk going to good use on Saturday!

Palin and McCain Sighting!

We saw Sarah Palin and John McCain at our Halloween party last weekend!! We're hoping that means good news to come tomorrow ;) !!!

Cake Balls

I had my first try at a CAKE BALLS! I made them for our Halloween party at work! They turned out better than I thought! I made two batches.....one with German Chocolate cake mix, Pecan and Coconut frosting and chocolate almond bark....the second batch with Red Velvet cake mix, Cream Cheese icing and white chocolate almond bark. Then I drizzled orange candy melts over the top to make them festive for Halloween. Although, I was told that both were good, the German Chocolate ones were my favorites!! They turned out pretty cute like a box of chocolates that you would get as a gift. I would probably not use the white chocolate bark again though - way too sweet for me, and did not cover nearly as easily as the regular chocolate bark. It thickened much quicker.

Directions:

Bake a cake mix in the flavor of your choice in a 9x13 pan as directed. Let the cake cool completely. Crumble the cake into a large bowl and mix in the can of frosting with the flavor of choice. Use a large spoon, I used a wooden one, to mash the cake mix and frosting together. Once they are mixed well, roll the gooey mess into quarter-sized balls. Set the balls on a cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator for a few hours until firm. Once the cake balls are firm, roll them in melted almond bark or candy melts and lay on wax paper to dry. You can sprinkle with nuts or sprinkles before the almond bark hardens, or you can drizzle colored candy melts for added decoration.


These are so cute for holiday parties or even as favors or gifts. They were a big hit at the party, and I would definitely make them again! The key is to find the right combination of flavors!!


Good luck! Enjoy!!