Champions for Kids & Dole - Back To School Snacks Project

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®, Dole, and Champions for Kids #cbias #Dole4Kids

Have you ever wondered how you could give back to your community? I used to rack my brain thinking of ways that I could help out, but never came up with anything that would make an actual difference. Then I found Champions for Kids. They are a wonderful organization that comes up with clever ideas each month for helping out the kids in your local community. It's genius and I love it. Their goal is to mobilize people across America, hopefully 20 million by the year 2020, to help out children in need. This month they teamed up with Dole to focus on the need for nutritious, non-perishable foods that school children can pack in their lunches. I jumped on board with this project and got ready to find some Dole Fruit Bowls and Dole Squish'ems to donate healthy snacks for kids to a local organization!

I knew right off the bat that I was going to be donating to our local food back, Orangevale Food Bank. It was formed by members of the community, to help out the community. They provide food to a few hundred families a month and sometimes have a hard time fulfilling everybody's needs, such as last summer when they ran out of food. It is heart-breaking to know there were families in need of food, but were unable to get it from a local organization. Orangevale Food Bank is where I donate any & all food I have to contribute!

It's a crucial time of year for these types of donations, as school is starting up again and some families are in need of items to pack their kiddos for bagged lunches. Did you ever "brown bag" it for school lunch? I sure did and I was lucky that my parents were able to provide me with every food group,but not everyone is lucky like I was. Some kids will go days without eating any fruit - and that is heartbreaking. Kids should be eating 2 servings of fruit a day and by donating Dole products, we can help those that aren't able to meet that amount on their own. I love watching my kids eat and get full off nutritious food and it warms my heart to know there is something I can do for another child who may not normally get these items.

We all know what Dole Fruit Bowls are, right?

They are a classic for the kiddos and perfect for a donation to a local food pantry. The Orangevale Food Bank has a Current Needs list on their site and canned fruit is currently at #1. I grabbed 10 in several different varities; Cherry Mixed Fruit, Diced Apples, Diced Peaches, Diced Pears, Mandarin Oranges, Mixed Fruit, Pineapple Tidbits and Tropical Fruit. Each Dole Fruit Bowl, packed with all natural fruit and 100% juice, is one full serving of fruit and is a great source of vitamin C.

Have you heard about Dole Squish'ems yet?

These are such fun for kiddos!! Dole Squish'ems are pouches that are packed with 100% fruit - basically, Dole takes whole fruits and squish'em into a pouch. Cute play on words, huh? The current varieties include Apple, Apple Strawberry and Apple Mixed Berry. Dole Squish'ems are BPA free, GMO free, gluten free, circle u kosher, only 60 calories! They are great for school lunches and such a fun addition to our donation - I am thinking they are certainly going to put a smile on some kiddos faces. :)

I picked up 10 boxes of Dole Fruit Bowls and 10 boxes of Dole Fruit Squish'ems from my local Walmart. I posted my shopping trip on Google+, with lots of pics of all the fun Dole products I found on my shopping trip.

The organization we donated to, Orangevale Food Bank, is only available to accept donation on site every Thursday but has a few donation drop off locations around town. My oldest son and I loaded up our donation into the car and took off to donate the healthy snacks for kids.

We ended up at True Blue Auto Care and put our donation into a drop-off container. I love having my big boy help me with donations, it's great talking to him about what we are doing and why. It warms my heart to see it click with him and him understand it and that he has compassion for those less fortunate than himself.

You may be wondering how I can justify going out and spending money to help others,but it's real easy. There are things that my family indulges in, things like coffee from a coffee shop or new release Blu Ray movies - so we cut out those fun things for a couple weeks. It may sound like a long time to not have anything special for ourselves, but 2 weeks goes by like there is no tomorrow around our house. With 4 kids, I am barely able to keep track of the days as it is! Trust me when I tell you that dropping off a donation to help less fortunate kids feels a thousand times better than enjoying a Hazelnut White Mocha - trust me.

For more information on Champions for Kids or on how you can help in your local communities, connect with them through their
website: http://championsforkids.org/dole
twitter: https://twitter.com/champions4kids
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChampionsForKids

For more information on Dole and their products, connect with them through their
website: http://dole.com/juice/ or http://dole.com/fruitsquishems
twitter: https://twitter.com/dolefoods
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dole
pinterest: http://pinterest.com/dolefood/
instagram: http://instagram.com/dolefood

Helping Fight Summer Hunger with Odwalla and Champion for Kids #Odwalla4Kids

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®, Odwalla, and Champions for Kids #cbias #SocialFabric

The Hungry Harps household was long overdue to participate in one of Champion for Kid’s Simple Service Projects. During the last few months of my pregnancy and a couple months after we had the twins – I was a little housebound. Looking back – we hadn’t donated since September, far too long! However, I was now ready to get out and start giving back to our community this month.

Champions for Kids is an awesome organization that gives people, like me and you, different ideas each for month for how to help the less fortunate children in their local communities. In the past we have put together donations of books, winter care kits, sports equipment and cereal (yes, a big donation of just cereal!!) – this month’s project was to give food to a local food bank. The reason being is this: when school lets out for summer, millions of children from low-income families are without school-provided breakfasts, lunches and after school snacks. The demand for food banks is so high that they often run out of food during this crucial time.

This is what happened last year in our local community. The food bank completely ran out of food. How devastating is that? My husband and I knew right away that we would be giving our donation to the Orangevale Food Bank. A little bit about Orangevale Food Bank from their website:

“As an organization, we hope to make a positive impact in the Orangevale community by providing basic food and resources to families. But we also expect to facilitate participation from people within our community to help improve the lives of families in need through community outreach events, volunteering, food and clothing drives, and connecting people through a common purpose.”

How beautiful is that? These are the type of people this world needs more of!

We decided to host our own little food drive, so I headed to Walmart (check out my shopping trip here on Google+) to buy food for our guests and something for us to contribute to the donation. Although I hadn’t seen them yet, I wanted to buy some Odwalla Bars for Kids to donate. When I found them and checked them out – I was sold! They each contain 11 to 12 grams of organic whole-grains. (I am a huge fan of organic!!) Plus, they are a good source of fiber (12% DV) and calcium (30% DV). I bought 10 boxes of them – leaving a few boxes for other customers too. :) Although my Walmart only had the Banana Dunk and Chocolate Chip Kick flavors, there is also a Strawberry Score.

This is how the invitation to our food drive went – “come over and bring food (non-perishable) that is suitable for children and I will give you a biscuits & gravy breakfast.” Yes, I will totally use bribery for a good cause. I even threw in eggs and orange juice to sweeten the deal. :)

We had a total of 9 people (including ourselves) participate in this donation and was able to collect: 10 boxes of Odwalla Bars for Kids, 3 boxes cereal, 2 packs of boxed juices, 4 peanut butters, 6 cans of tuna, 5 macaroni & cheeses, 10 soups/pastas and 13 cans of fruit.

Also, I had mentioned to our guests that this was a project being sponsored by Champions for Kids & Odwalla and one of them brought a bunch of individual Odwalla bars – very cool!

The Orangevale Food Bank is only open on Thursdays to accept donations – for all other times, they have set donation centers around town. We opted for the one at the Rec & Parks office. It made me sad to see trash inside the barrel – people are so quick to throw their garbage into the donation bin, but not so quick to put donation items in it.

We explained to our sons (ages 2 & 4) on the way to make the donation and also on the way home that all the food was for kids who are less fortunate than we are. Kids who don’t get ice cream & special trips to the quick mart for slushies, kids who don’t have an endless supply of bananas sitting on the counter or even milk to drink with dinner. It’s important to me that they learn to help others who have less than them . Even if it’s just once a month and a little bit – it’s better than never giving anything.

For more information on Champions for Kids or on how you can help in your local communities, connect with them through their
website: http://championsforkids.org/odwalla or
twitter: https://twitter.com/odwalla

For more information on Odwalla and their products, connect with them through their

website: http://www.odwalla.com/ or

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Odwalla

See how @hungryharps is helping to fight summer hunger with @odwalla and @champions4kids! goo.gl/8ALs0 #Odwalla4Kids #cbias
— Jess Harp (@HungryHarps) May 21, 2013

Helping Out Kids with a Book Donation #NickCFK

Last week I wrote about taking part in Champions for Kids SSP (Simple Service Project) for September. Nickelodeon and Chmapions for Kids teamed up and thought of the awesome idea to give books to the less fortunate kids in our local area. As soon as I heard what the SSP was, I knew I was going to participate! Reading is something I hold very close to my heart and knew I could do my part to help out.

If you have never heard about Champions for Kids or want to know more information about their cause - please, please, please visit their website. CFK has so many creative and easy ways to help out kids - they truly make it simple to help out in your local area!

I knew that I was going to collect some books to give to a local children's home - what I didn't know was the statistics for literacy in the Sacramento region. After doing a little research, I was heartbroken. Only 37% of 3rd graders read at their grade level! This is hard to chew folks. Out of the 73% that are not reading proficiently, 54% of them will never catch up. Which leads me to the numbers for literacy of the unemployed in the Sacramento region... 75% of the unemployed adults in Sacramento have reading and writing difficulties. 

Coming from a family that was always reading and that always had books on the bookshelf - this is heartbreaking. When I told my oldest son, who will be 4 in December, that there are kids without books - his expression was heartbreaking. He has been read to since he was in the womb, so a life without books was not even a thought he ever had. 

Bubba was my #1 helper with this project - if it was up to him, we would have gotten all the books at Walmart to give to our local charity. It makes me so happy to see him want to help others. :)

First we went to Walmart (check out our shopping trip on Google+) to get some Nickelodeon books, it only seemed right since they teamed up with Champions for Kids to bring us this month's SSP.

Then we went home and dug through our collection of kids books. At first I didn't expect to pull out that many - as the thought of getting rid of any book was just crazy to me. But then I started noticing some duplicate books - so those went into the donation basket. Then there were some that both our boys have read and read, but no longer pick out - so they went in the basket too. By the time I was done we had a total of 25 books to donate!! I am still smiling about it. :)

Bubba was proud of himself too, which he should be!

 Even after donating 25 books, the kids book collection is still impressive. How did I ever think that there wouldn't be any books to donate from their collection?? Seems so silly now!

Our donation went to Sacramento Children's Home, which actually has children's books on their wishlist. Their focus is to end the generational cycle of child abuse and neglect and has been active in the Sacramento region for 150 years. They are truly an amazing organization and I couldn't think of a better place to have donated the books to.

Do you have any extra kids books at your house? Maybe you do and don't even know it. I never would have thought we had a whole basketful - but we did! It wouldn't hurt to take a look and help out some kids in your local area. It's so easy to help out in little ways - even one book can make a difference to a child who has none.

Thank you so much for reading! To check out more about Champions for Kids or Nickelodeon, here are a few links:

Champions for Kids on Facebook or Twitter

Nickelodeon on Facebook or Twitter

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Champions for Kids. #NickCFK #CBias

Donating Books to Help Kids #NickCFK

Having my Mom read to me is one of my favorite childhood memories. I specifically remember one book in particular - I don't remember the name of the book, but I do remember it was a Christmas story. She must have read that book to me more than a thousand times, per my request I must add. :) Even in the middle of summer, it was my book of choice because I was slowly learning to read it and there was nothing I wanted more than to learn how to read.

Now that I am the Momma to 2 (soon to be 4!) young children, it's my turn to pass the love of reading to them. My husband and I started reading to them when they were still in the womb. I would check out books from the library to read to my unborn children - that is how much I love reading and want to pass my love of it onto them! Having story-time has not stopped since then and both our boys LOVE being read to or just flipping through books on their own.

I couldn't imagine my childhood or my children's lives without books - it honestly makes me sad to even try and imagine it. So much joy and learning would be gone from our lives. When I heard that Champions for Kids' September SSP (Simple Service Project) was to help get books to children who need them - I was game. Reading is something I hold very close to my heart and knew I needed to help somehow.

Did you know that 61% of low income families have no books for children in their homes? And more than 80% of the preschool and after-school programs serving at-risk children have no books at all? The numbers are very upsetting, as I think 1 child with no books is already 1 too many.

So, Champions for Kids teamed up Nickelodeon this month and came up with the Nickelodeon Big Help Book Drive. The ways we can help are so easy! Whether it's starting up your own book drive amongst friends and collecting children's books to donate or putting together a donation of gently used books you have on hand already - every little bit helps. Even 1 book is going to help that 1 kid who doesn't have a book of his/her own.

We decided to buy a few new books to start off our donation, and since it is Nickelodeon who teamed up with Champions for Kids this month - we headed to Walmart (check out our shopping trip on Google+) where I knew some Nickelodeon books would be! I had heard that there was a new Dora the Explorer book out, Dora the Gymnast, but was unable to find it. Lucky for us, there were other Nickelodeon books on hand!

I even had a helper to find books with me. :)

Not to mention was able to check out some extremely cute Halloween items!

I am very happy with the start of our donation. This week we will be searching for more books to add - some from around our house, our friends/family or perhaps even second-hand stores. I can't wait to see how many books we come up with!

The books we collect will be donated to Sacramento Children's Home. I was looking for local organizations that not only help children, but also NEEDS books. Sacramento Children's Home has a wishlist on their site and books is one of the items listed!!

Make sure to check back next week and see how our donation turned out, I am very excited. :)

Follow Champions for Kids on Facebook or Twitter

Follow Nickelodeon on Facebook or Twitter

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Champions for Kids. #NickCFK #CBias

Champions for Kids #OdwallaCFK

Earlier this month I posted about Champions for Kids and Odwalla teaming up to promote a SIMPLE Service Project - a Game Day Challenge! The idea was to collect new and/or gently used sports equipment and then donate it all to an organization in our community that serves children. I can't believe I never thought about donating sports equipment before, it is such a great idea! Kids already love being outdoors, so some sports equipment would be great to encourage an active and healthy lifestyle. :) 

We didn't have any gently used sports equipment to donate, so we ended up buying several things from Walmart (I love their low prices!) instead. Walmart had a huge selection of toys and sports equipment to get the kiddos moving, it was so much fun picking stuff out! Check out our shopping trip here on Google+.

The organization we decided to donate to was the Children's Receiving Home of Sacramento, where they provide hope and healing for children and their families who suffer from the effects of abuse and neglect. They were founded in 1944 and have been at their current site since 1965. It has been great to see such a wonderful organization improve it's location over the years - it let's you know that others are helping as well. :) 

With the help of Bubba, we loaded up the car - not only with the sports equipment, but with bags of clothes. That's right - we were hitting two birds with one stone today! On the way to the Children's Receiving Home of Sacramento we drive right by a thrift store that donates proceeds to the Wind Youth Services of Sacramento - so we dropped off the bags of clothes and then continued on our way! 

It had been awhile since I made a donation to the Receiving Home, and let me tell you - the location looked GREAT!! There are kids that live on-site, so I couldn't take any pictures of the buildings - but if their entrance sign tells you anything, it is a safe and secure place. It made me smile that such great improvements have been made - we actually drove by it the first time because I didn't' recognize it. :) Recently, the Children’s Receiving Home underwent a major renovation and added cottages and a multipurpose building - all made possible through the generosity of donors in the area. Waste Connections Inc was one of the biggest contributers - thus their name being so big on the sign!

If you have read my posts about Champions for Kids before, then you already know I love them. However, if this is your first time - let me tell you... they make helping out in your community so easy and so fun! The Game Day Challenge was April's SIMPLE Service Project and wait until you find out what is planned for May!! If you want to check them out, here are the Champions for Kids links:

website

twitter

facebook

One last thing, I have a new love. Odwalla juices have stolen my heart. To be honest, I used to just balk at the price and keep walking - but learning what is in them has made me a believer. Plus, my kids and husband just LOVE them - so no convincing needed there. Check them out next time you see them, I am pretty sure they are the only juices that have Good Vibes as an ingredient. ;)

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #CBias #SocialFabric

#OdwallaCFK "Game Day Challenge"

When I first started participating in Champions for Kids SIMPLE Service Projects, it was very saddening to me. I would read the statistics of kids in my area who need help, and it brought tears to my eyes. It's completely heart-breaking that there are kids out there that don't have the most simple things in life - and it's through no fault of their own.

Since my first SIMPLE Service Project with Champions for Kids, my feelings have changed a little. I am still heart broken, without a doubt - but I am also happy to be helping out too. My sadness is what got me helping in the first place, but now my happiness is what keeps me going. Besides, it's hard to have fun when you are sad - and trust me, these SIMPLE Service Projects are a blast!

For this month's SIMPLE Service Project, Champions for Kids teamed up with Odwalla and came up with another great idea to help less fortunate children - a Game Day Challenge! The idea is to collect new and gently used sports equipment and donate them to an organization in your area that serves children. I am completely LOVING this idea!

And after reading a bit more about Odwalla - I am LOVING them too!!

Odwalla has been in business for 25 years and has lived by 3 key principles:

1. Make great juice.

2. Do good things for the community.

3. Build a business with heart. 

How can you not like that?

One feature I really like about Odwalla juice is the picture breakdown of what's inside the bottle. They even add some Good Vibes - how awesome! ;)

We headed to our local Walmart to start our collection of sports equipment and grab some Odwalla juice - to really get into the spirit of this SIMPLE Service Project! 

I also found a few tomato plants, a jalapeno plant and some other gardening goodies. One of our most favorite times is working in the backyard while the kids play. Their laughs sure make any work we are doing seem not so bad. :)

Here is what we found at Walmart to start our sports equipment collection! A little bit of everything, and hopefully something for everybody. A basketball, soccer ball, football, baseball & bat, a scoop & score, 2 jump ropes and 3 frisbees. 

Just looking at this picture makes me want to go outside and play!!

If you are in need of outdoor activities for the kiddos this spring and summer, Walmart has a HUGE selection. (Shameless advertising, but I LOVE Walmart) Not to mention the prices are AMAZING!! Check out what we found here on Google+.

We have decided to donate our collection of sports equipment to the Children's Receiving Home of Sacramento. They provide hope and healing for children and their families who suffer from the effects of abuse and neglect. Founded in 1944 and right up the street from where I grew up - this has been a place that my family and I have donated to on a several occasions. I am so excited to bring them the sports equipment we collect!

If you want to get involved, it is SO easy to help out.
Check out Champions for Kids on their:

website
twitter
facebook

I would love to hear if you get involved!
By the end of the month I will post an update on our donation, can't wait to share it with everyone. :)

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #CBias #SocialFabric

Winter Care-Kits for St. John's #EnergizerCFK

Last week I posted about the Champions for Kids project of the month, Light Up a Life. CFK teamed up with Energizer and came up with this awesome idea of putting together winter care-kits for an organization that serves children in your community. As soon as I heard about this campaign I was LOVING it!!

We decided to put together 4 care-kits and donate them to St. John's Shelter Program for Women & Children. They are a great organization in Sacramento that exclusively helps homeless women with children. St. John’s helps women become self-sustaining, productive members of society. I immediately knew that this was where I wanted to donate the care-kits we were going to be putting together.

I rounded up the crew (The Hungry Harps) and headed to our favorite store...

For the winter care-kits we were putting together we looked for items such as:

Flashlights – with batteries
Toiletry Kit
First Aid Kit
Gloves
Bottled Water
Kleenex
100% Fruit Juice Boxes
Snacks (Such as granola bars, fruit snacks, etc.)
Notepad & Pens
Something fun (a deck of cards maybe?)
A bag to put it all in

Check out what we found here on Google+.

We had so much fun shopping for items to put in the care-kits. How could I not with these guys??

I was very lucky to have Bubba help me put the kits together. He just turned 3 in December, so he is still a youngin' - but that does not mean he does not want to help!! He decided (with a little help) which items would go in which bag. He did a great job. :)

These are the Energizer flashlights we decided to buy for the care-kits. Aren't they stinkin' cute! I think the kids will like them. :)

Bubba was so proud of the finished bags. We had company over and he kept showing them the bags. I had told him they were going to kids who needed these items and he couldn't wait to deliver them!

Unfortunately he fell asleep on the way St. John's Donation Center. :( I was totally looking forward to seeing him hand the bags over (Not to mention the incredibly cute picture it would have been), but let me tell you - I don't disturb the beast when he is sleeping. (He gets it honestly...) So, I handed the bags to a very nice lady who thought they were AWESOME - which made me smile. We headed home, kids sleeping in the back - feeling incredibly good to be able to help people who are less fortunate than us. I can't wait for next month's Simple Service Project!!

Check out Champions for Kids and/or their Simple Service Projects!

• Champions For Kids Website

• Champions for Kids on Facebook

• Champions4Kids on Twitter

And we can't forget about Energizer!!

• Energizer’s Website

• Energizer’s Positive Energy Website

• Energizer on Twitter

• Energizer on Facebook

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias

Champions for Kids - Energizer Light Up a Life #EnergizerCFK

This post is not about an awesome new recipe or product I have discovered, it is about something much more important.

When I started researching the statistics of homeless people in the Sacramento area I was very saddened to see that there are about 2300 homeless people on any given day, this number includes children – and about 30 of them are children without an adult. My husband and I were at a loss at how 30 children could possibly be all by themselves in our area – so I did more researching. The facts are sad, if a child becomes homeless before the age of 15 it is most likely due to them trying to escape sexual or violent abuse. They run away from home because they deem it to be safer on the streets than at home. This is truly heart-breaking. Most children that runaway will do so at the age of 13, but some have been as young as 6 years old. These are not kids being bratty because their parents won’t buy them an iPod, these are kids that are trying to escape a bad situation and survive on their own without any help. But they need help – they are just kids. This is where Champions for Kids comes in…

photos via Champions for Kids

“Champions for Kids works to mobilize MILLIONS of people by providing training and resources to improve the lives of children in communities across America and beyond."

I took the quote above from the Champions for Kids website. You may be wondering who these “MILLIONS” of people are – well let me tell you my friend, it’s people like me and you. We can all help – and Champions for Kids keeps coming up with creative, effective ways we can help the less fortunate children in our area. For their most recent Simple Service Project, CFK has teamed up with Energizer and created the Light Up a Life campaign. It’s real simple, hence the name Simple Service Project. ;) The project is to assemble Safety Kits with items that children would need out in the elements this winter and then give the kit(s) to a shelter, school or other community organization that helps children in your area. I told you it was easy – and it’s effective, this is why I love their campaigns!!

Hungry Harps has decided to put together 4 (one for each of us) safety kits for the Light Up a Life project and give them to St. John’s Shelter Program for Women & Children. St. John's assists families in transitioning from crisis to self-sustainability. They are not just shelter for an overnight stay – they help teach the skills necessary to obtain employment and give ongoing support towards living independently (without government assistance) as self-sufficient and productive citizens. I love everything about this – they are really helping these women and children get on their feet and setting them up for success.

We will be putting together our kits this weekend and delivering them to St. John’s. I am so excited about our 3 year old being able to help, he was my little helper with the Disney Stocking Stuffer project back in December too. :) Here is what we have on the list for the kids safety kits:

Flashlights – with batteries

Bottled Water

100% Fruit Juice Boxes

Granola Bars, Fruit Snacks, PB&J Crackers

Gloves

Toiletry Kit

First Aid Kit

Kleenex

Notepad & Pens

Playing Cards (I ♥ cards)

A bag to put it all in

I can’t wait to put the kits together. My parents will be coming over as well to help add to the goodies. It feels so good to give to those in need – I hope I inspired at least one of you to help out any way you can. Thanks for reading!!

If you want to learn more about Champions for Kids and/or their Simple Service Projects, here is the info to find them on the internet:

• Champions For Kids Website

• Champions for Kids on Facebook

• Champions4Kids on Twitter

If you want to learn more about Energizer, here is their info:

• Energizer’s Website

• Energizer’s Positive Energy Website

• Energizer on Twitter

• Energizer on Facebook

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes & Champions for Kids

When I was younger and my parents would take me out to breakfast we would almost always get a cinnamon roll and split it, three ways. It would be our treat before breakfast, as we would eat it while we were waiting for our food to be served. It may sound little, but the ooey-gooey deliciousness was something I looked forward to every time we went out for breakfast. To this day Cinnamon Rolls are a special treat to me, perhaps because they hold a special place in my heart. ♥

The other day I was looking for a new Cream Cheese Frosting recipe when I stumbled across a recipe for Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes at Confessions of a Cookbook Queen. I was frozen in awe. My mind was no longer on a quest for the perfect Cream Cheese Frosting, but now on a quest to make these cupcakes. And into the kitchen I went...

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes
Ingredients
1 box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup of water
1 stick of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix together brown sugar and cinnamon – until well combined
3. Mix cake mix, eggs, water and butter - until well combined
4. Place cupcake liners in muffin pan
5. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full
6. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of brown sugar/cinnamon mix on top of each cupcake. Swirl into batter using knife or toothpick
7. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean
8. Cool on rack

Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 ½ cups powdered sugar
Directions
1. Mix all ingredients together in mixer until well combined. Honestly, I used my blender and it turned out wonderful.
2. Let chill in refrigerator for 15 minutes and frost your Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

Last week I mentioned that we were participating in the Champions for Kids Disney Stocking Stuffer Celebration. It was a blast going shopping for the stocking stuffers and checking out the Disney merchandise available at Walmart. Check out my shopping trip on Google+ here.

Champions for Kids works with people across America to improve the lives of children in their communities. They are a wonderful organization and I recommend everyone to check out their site and see what they are about.

The recipients of the stockings we put together are two little boys of a family friend. It has been a rough year for them and without going into details; the economy has greatly affected their family. This was a small, small thing we could do to help them out this season. The stockings are not going to be given to the children until Christmas, but I am sure they will be overjoyed to be receiving stockings filled with items from some of their Disney movies. It honestly feels great to give back – even if it’s something small like this. I encourage everyone to try to do one thing for the less fortunate this season, however it is you can help.

The holiday season is so magical – and the more magic we can spread around the more joyous the season will be. :)

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #Cbais #DisneyCFK