Blog Posts by Charlene Prince Birkeland, Shine staff

photo credit: chiccookiekits.blogspot.com
If you're up for trying to make a rainbow cake, I have a feeling you'll also want to try your hand at these adorable poppy cookie pops via The Decorated Cookie by baking diva, Meaghan Mountford.

Meaghan made basic sugar cookies and covered with rolled fondant, which was tinted with different shades of soft color gel pastes. (You can also find other types of gel pastes/fondant coloring at cooking stores like William-Sonoma or Sur La Table, or craft stores like Michaels. Meaghan, however, recommends using the AmeriColor brand, so you'll have to check out their site to find out where to order it).

Cute addition to a springtime birthday party or even an Easter celebration. And, yes, it looks easy enough for the kids to get involved.

[via Crafty Crow]


More itty bitty bite inspiration:
Colorful rainbow cake will blow your kids away
Birthday party inspiration: DIY Hello Kitty cake pops
"Star Wars" birthday party 101
Birthday party inspiration: DIY Curious George cupcakes...no monkey

My kids have not watched "Sesame Street" and I consider this a bit of a tragedy. We got rid of our television long before they were old enough to watch it. I'm considering purchasing this pack of old-school episodes (my boys sometimes watch movies/shows on the family laptop). It just seems like another must-have for the DVD collection.

In the meantime, I do manage to find some cool video snippets online. And right now, my kids love watching how crayons are made, courtesy of "Sesame Street." (And you have to dig the music.)

Photo Credit: Getty ImagesIn a recent Momversation, Rebecca Woolf of Girl's Gone Child asked: "Why is my breast-feeding your business?" Clearly, the subject matter was breastfeeding bullies -- women who are nursing fanatics and find opportunities to ostracize women who feed their babies formula.

Last week, The Atlantic published a story by Hanna Rosin called "The Case Against Breastfeeding." As one would imagine, responses to this story are a plenty. Because how can you not be fired up with a blatant headline that tells you the article will be setting up sides?

I read the article, taking it in with gigantic grain of salt. I honestly don't understand this perpetual need to pit women who breastfeed against moms who use baby formula. (Again: Why is my breastfeeding your business?) I have no opinion either way on breastfeeding or formula, but it was this paragraph that made Rosin lose all credibility in my eyes:

"The debate about breast-feeding takes place without any reference to its actual context in women's

photo credit: AP Photo/Jason RedmondWhen octuplet mom Nadya Suleman brought home the first two babies from her new brood last week, she arrived to the scene pictured at left. Whatever you may think about Suleman, you do have to admit that as a parent, it must have been terrifying to bring newborns home with a swarm of paparazzi and curious people crushed up against your garage door.

So when Suleman was able to bring another two babies home over the weekend, it was done with the help of an off-duty police officer. Police also blocked her street off so that a crowd couldn't form in front of her pad.

Suleman also let a few tidbits slip about out about the father of all 14 of her children. In an interview with radaronline.com, Suleman says he was shocked when he learned she was pregnant with seven babies (she said she was unaware of the eighth baby at the time of the conversation). She also says he lives abroad. But watch the video because it's pretty obvious she's being shifty.

More posts on the Octuplet Obsession:
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Maybe you're looking to assemble a stash of emergency DVDs for those emergency days when your preschoolers are home sick. Or perhaps you just want to stock up your movie library for family movie night (or when you have company and want your preschooler guests to mellow out).

Either way, help has arrived with DVD recommendations for your preschooler. Check out the slide show for my favorite flicks/shows that your little one is sure to love.

photo credit: omnomicon.comThere's nothing like a pretty cake to make your kid smile, especially when it's made on a random day...just for kicks.

I've filed this rainbow cake under the category of "Must Try Immediately" because it's simply too cool (just like the Hello Kitty cake pops. Side note: I did make these with a twist, but it didn't go as planned. Attempt number two will be documented.)

Now, it would be fun to surprise your kids with this cake. But it would be almost as much fun to have them help you make it. Need convincing? Look at the pretty pictures! I know, oh, I know, it has crazy amounts of food coloring. But I'm willing to run with it because of its sheer awesomeness. [via Craftzine]

(Also, since I'm clearly having an "unhealthy food" moment, look at this Root Beer Cookies. Yum!)

More Itty bitty bite inspiration:
Birthday party inspiration: DIY Hello Kitty cake pops
"Star Wars" birthday party 101
Birthday party inspiration: DIY Curious George cupcakes...no monkey business
Tetris birthday cake

A classic children's read...with lead?There's lead in every single thing your kid touches. Okay, not really, but dude. That's how it feels sometimes.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has asked libraries across the country to remove from their shelves all children's books printed before 1986, saying that those books may have been printed with ink that contains unsafe levels of lead. Lead poisoning in children has been associated with declines in IQ, disabilities and other developmental issues.

I spoke with Sonia Pleasant, a spokesperson for the CPSC, this morning and she said the organization has not decided how they will test all of those children's books printed before1986 for lead content.

"We will be issuing guidelines very soon," Pleasant said, noting that those guidelines will be posted on the CPSC's website.

Jay Dempsey, a health communications specialist at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Associated Press that "lead-based ink in children's books poses little danger."

photo credit: aka Kath via flickr.comThe Girl Scouts of USA makes headlines every spring as young girls around the country sell box after box of Thin Mints, Tagalongs and my personal favorite, Samosas cookies. (We just polished off our third box!)

This year, the Girl Scouts is getting a bum rap of being "behind the times." Why? Because it bans the online sale of Girl Scout Cookies.

If you haven't heard this story already, let me break it down for you.

Eight-year-old Wild Day Freeborn is a Girl Scout in North Carolina and she wants to sell 12,000 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. Why 12,000 boxes? To raise the funds to send her entire troop to a summer camp. Certainly a commendable goal.

Freeborn asked her dad, an executive at a Web design and development firm, to help her use the Internet to sell the cookies. He said yes, and the two created a YouTube video, (hosted by her dad's company), which directed folks to an online store where you could buy the Girl Scout cookies from her. According to a Newsweek piece, more than