Babies & Balls

Catchy title, eh? 

It's exciting times around here. 


We have baby bunnies...

Which is odd, considering when we bought the 2 adult bunnies that these came from they were purchased separately and each was listed as a "bred doe".  Which means, in case you're not up on rabbit reproduction lingo, they were girls already with child, so to speak.  That was 4 months ago, the gestation of a rabbit is 28-31 days, so when months went by without any babies we started to get suspicious.  Sidenote:  ONLY 31 DAYS OF BEING PREGNANT?!?  Lightweights.  I would've had dozens of kids if 10 months of my life weren't spent being pregnant for each one.  And now the term, "breeding like rabbits" has become crystal clear.  In addition to the absence of babies long past the due dates,  we noticed some rather inappropriate behavior for 2 mothers-to-be, if you know what I'm saying.  We then realized we did NOT have 2 does, but wouldn't you know it, we had a doe and a buck, or a boy and a girl.  Keep in mind that this is the same auction that alleged sold me donkeys as mules so I don't know why we would assume they were telling the truth but I guess since we were dealing in rabbits we figured they could be trusted.  Assumption, wrong.  So to make an already long story short, the 2 of them (a boy and a girl) did ahem...what rabbits do, and we ended up with these adorable babies.  And I have no idea if they're boys or girls, I'll just take them to the auction and have them tell me...or not.  All that has been confirmed for certain is that they are stinking adorable and sweet. 

You know what else is adorable and sweet?   This...

And because I'm the proud aunt and I can post more pictures if I want to....This

This is my new niece, Lyla Jean.  I'm sorry but if you look at those pictures and don't have a little pang of "oh what a sweet baby" you may be dead inside.  GI Joe's brother (my brother in law) and his wife L (my sister in law) are Lyla's parents.  I don't really know why I felt the need to spell out that they are my brother and sister in law in addition to GI Joe's brother B, maybe because if I said "my brother in law and sister in law" it sounds odd and could be mistaken for some very weird family dynamics.  Hmm, and now we know why it takes me an hour to do one blog post.  Welcome to my world.  ANYWAY, GI Joe and his brother are night and day in a lot of ways but one thing they have in common is making cute babies.  Lyla has an older brother Hunter who is 3 months older than Blade, an older sister Chloe who is 2 DAYS younger than Ryder.  Here they are.....

The Hulk hands are a nice touch don't you agree?

So what I'm trying to say is that last time B & L blessed me with a niece and nephew I was too busy blessing them with nephews of their own to be able to really enjoy Hunter and Chloe as babies.  I mean, I enjoy them now for sure, Chloe cracks me up with her love of shopping and high heels and her diva like demeanor (it's not like I can relate or anything) and Hunter with his random trivia facts and vivid imagination but when they were babies I didn't really get to sit and hold them for hours because you know, my own baby needed held and fed.  Does that make sense?  All that to say that THIS time they had a baby, GI Joe and I did not, which means I'm completely and thoroughly addicted to Lyla. 

I seriously cannot get enough.  Today is the first full day of her life that I have not seen her and it's taking everything in me to not hop in my car and drive the 15 minutes to their house to hold her for 10 minutes.  And before you tell me it's time to have another one, it's really not.  I have no baby fever or ovary ache-age whatsoever.  In fact, if it's not a baby that's related to me or the baby of a very very close friend, I don't even really like to hold them. I know, I'm not a real woman.  It just kind of freaks me out, maybe it's because I am scared I'll break it and since it's not in the family their parents will be really mad.  Because if they were in the family I"m sure they'd be totally fine with me accidentally breaking their baby.  Sure, I know I'm neurotic especially since so many women are baby maniacs no matter whose baby it is, but that's just not me.  But I do really love having a new baby in the family to hold without fear of breaking and to love on.  And buy shoes for, obviously...

It's been EIGHT years since we've had a baby on this side of the family, the side of the family I see on at least a weekly basis. Unlike my side, who have babies but then refuse to move closer so I have to go weeks and sometimes months without seeing them. Clearly, as an aunt, I've been baby deprived. 

Speaking of aunthood, it rocks. 

In celebration of being an aunt, I made a little somethin' somethin'.  A friend at work and I were talking on Monday morning about cupcakes and such and she told me that her sister had made some Cake Batter Balls over the weekend that were delicious.  Let me say that again...Cake. BATTER. Balls.  She didn't have the recipe but said she would get it for me.  I of course, went immediately back to my desk and googled "Cake Batter Balls" and have been thinking about them ever since.  Today I just couldn't wait any longer, I had to test these out. 

When I googled Cake Batter Balls, I landed upon this blog for the recipe.  I'd never read it before or heard of this lady.  All I knew was that she was a very smart lady and the recipe was easy so I took a chance.

It paid off.  They were really easy, with the exception of the dipping them in the almond bark, I am the worst at that.  But it worked out, I just covered my mistakes in sprinkles and all was right in the world again.  Not only were they easy but they tasted amazing.  I'm pretty sure these will be served in heaven, sprinkled with little flakes of gold and silver. 

Here's the link to recipe again http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/03/cake-batter-truffles.html.

She's much classier than I and calls them Cake Batter Truffles but that's not quite as catchy and demure as Cake Batter BALLS.  Call them what you what but just make them ASAP.  They're so cute you'll want to just schalack (I have no idea if I spelled that right and I"m betting spellcheck doesn't know what I'm trying to say so go with me on this one) them and use them as a centerpiece.  But don't, go ahead and eat them.  And then give thanks that we live in a country where there are such things as Cake BATTER Balls.  As if just plain old cake balls and freedom of speech weren't enough, we have Cake BATTER Balls. 

And bunny ears.....


 And perfect, precious babies named Lyla.   

God bless the U.S.A...and babies and balls everywhere.