Dr. Dickson, MOM Magazine's Healthy MOM, shares this great NPR story on vaccinations. If you wonder how vaccines really work, check out this article.

Adapting Vaccines For Our Aging Immune Systems

Thanks for sharing, Dr. Dickson!

Mia started planning her "Dora the Explorer" party to celebrate her 4th birthday a few days after her 3rd birthday party. We planned a big outdoor party, but at the last minute had to switch to indoors due to rain.

We made an "adventure" the kids had to go on to find the party (through the dark cave, through lollipop field, and finally to treasure island)

We kept the decorations and food bright and colorful "Dora" colors. We made chocolate dipped pretzel rods with colorful sprinkles:

We also made flowers and stuck little Dora character punchouts in the middle, then taped them to tooth picks for the cupcake decorations.

Our Swiper the Fox was the ingenious creation by my husband. He put a picture of Swiper on an overhead projector, and traced it onto a piece of cardboard, then colored it in.

We filled a round jello mold with water and fruit slices and froze it for the ice ring.

We made a colorful bunting with fabric scraps to hang up - a tutorial can be found in the Feb/Mar issue of MOM Magazine.

Dollar store telescopes made perfect favors and decorations!

by Krista Klinkhammer

A birthday without Wacky Cake is just another ordinary day. This is an old family recipe, and I've requested Wacky Cake on my special day for as long as I can remember. For my aunt's birthday this year, we had a virtual birthday party for her since she lives in Massachusetts. I videotaped my kids making this cake for her-I measured out the ingredients and let the kids go at it while I sat back and captured every lick of the spoon in between every stir. After it was done baking, we sang happy birthday, sliced the cake and ate it in honor of Auntie Lynn. We then burned all the footage to a DVD and sent it to her. It was hilarious…or should I say "wacky!"

Wacky cake

• 1 ½ cups of flour
• 6 Tbls. cooking oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 Tbls. white vinegar
• 3 Tbls. cocoa
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup cold water
• ½ tsp. salt

Directions: Place all dry ingredients in sifter - directly into ungreased 8x8 pan. Make 3 holes in mix. Pour oil in one hole, vinegar in 2nd hole and vanilla in 3rd hole. Pour cold water over all and stir with fork until evenly blended. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Invert to cool and remove from pan. Or frost it right in the pan. (That's what I do.)

Vanilla butter frosting

• ¼ cup soft butter
• 1 ½ cups confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 Tbls. milk

Directions: Blend butter and sugar, stir in vanilla and milk; beat until frosting is smooth and of spreading consistency.

Make decadent chocolates for your special valentine, and for yourself. Create simple, elegant balls or prepare fun shapes in chocolate molds. You can find molds for shapes like hearts and kisses at the local craft store. I'm not patient enough to wait, so I roll the filling into balls, coat in chocolate and then pop in the freezer to harden quickly.

Coconut mounds 1 cup coconut 1/2 cup light syrup melted chocolate Mix coconut and syrup until coated. Form into balls, dip in melted chocolate and set until hardened.

Peanut butter balls 1 cup peanut butter 1 cup Ritz crackers, crumbled 1 cup powdered sugar melted chocolate Use a rolling pin to crumble crackers in the sleeve. Mix with peanut butter and sugar. Form into balls, dip in melted chocolate and set until hardened.

This is the closest combination I’ve found to resemble Reeses brand candies. The crackers give the filling a bit of unexpected crunch that is addicting. I recommend refrigerating the filling until firm, making it easy to form into balls and dip. Better make a double batch - they don't last long!

MOM Magazine, January/February 2009. After great reviews from readers, we're sharing these recipes online too!

We're working on the Feb/Mar 2010 issue = Birthday Party Guide!

For those of us busy moms with no time to make cakes, I stumbled upon the greatest bakery EVER in Albany. She made a cake that looked exactly like this one (I took her the photo) and it was amazing! Check out Sweet Things Bakery for their cakes, cupcakes and lunch.

In the meantime, need more ideas from you to finish up the cake section for the magazine. A while back we asked MOM Blog readers, "Do you make your own birthday cakes?" Here's what some of them had to say. Add your own note in the comments section below.

raeann--I used to make my own b-day cakes. Now Dairy Queen makes them for me. She rocks!
madisynlynae0--YES! My hubby and I make them together. The biggest hit so far has been our castle cakes. My daughter requests this every year. So far we've done it twice!
momofEs--Yes I do, I figure it's my one time a year to make something special and different, especially now that my oldest can give me input. I like being creative.
alhelms-- Yes, my favorite is cupcakes made into a cake! (last year it was a big flower) Easy to hand out and fun to frost with my daughter. (and to eat of course!!)
Scrappincannon-- Half the time I make them and about half I buy them! Costco, Basket and Robbins, or New Morning Bakery.
Krista-- I do!    In fact, my son is turning two next week and is totally into trains. I got a train cake mold (the one from Willams Sonoma, have you seen it?) and can't wait to make it!
cnhrogers-- I have done both~
elizabeth-- Sometimes depending on how much time I have. I often add toys to the top of home made or store bought cakes.
vanderwal-- Of course, can't decide a favorite between a train with 10 cars or the pile of "dirt" with bugs, etc. crawling on it!!!
oddbirdd-- My twin girls are only 10 weeks old so no cake for them yet! My mom always made our cakes growing up and I plan to make b-day cakes for my girls too!
madisynlynae01-- I guess I should say I have made the cakes and I have bought them too. Making them every year would be giving me too much credit.
lzbthj-- Ice cream cakes are the only way to go.
Kassie-- I have tried and failed at many cakes. They all look better in my head than in reality. My youngest turns three on Sunday, and Costco will do the baking.
laninamialegria-- Not always but when I make them I try to do my own creations with m & m's, little kisses, white chocolate figures or lollipops.
adc397-- My mom has a great recipe for an ice cream cake that my son just loves!
lynnbos-- the latest for me is doing the Cold Stone Creamery cakes! Like them better than DQ…or i sometimes go with homemade Cupcakes(with cherries in the middle of course)
hosersgirl-- Yes I do make my own birthday cakes, sometimes my cake making mom makes them for us, and my sister has even made a cake for our family birthday parties….this last party we had it at the bowling alley and I made bowling pin cupcakes and bowling ball cupcakes….much fun!!
sabrina-- I usually make the birthday cake myself.
dhoover-- I have made birthday cakes since I was 9 years old, I am now 50. I just have always liked making cakes.
kimberlr-- I have 10 kids and 1 grandson. We have nearly one birthday a month so sometimes I will make them, sometimes my mother will make them, sometimes my 2nd & 3rd oldest will make cakes….but lately most often it seems that we have been SOOO busy with sports that we have just been buying them from Costco and adding out own special touches to them! We also do those nice little cupcake cakes from Wal-Mart. They are adorable! My answer would be a bit of both depending on how busy with sports, etc., we are!
Tammy-- My kids love homemade cupcakes. Brownies are also a big hit. I enjoy baking for them and with them so it is always a treat.
Kristal-- Are you kidding me? What Mom has that kind of time? I don't! Although I do seem to have the hour or so to get in the car, go to the store, reserve the right cupcake/cakes, drive home, go back to the store on the birthday party day to pick up the cupcakes/cake, drive home, etc….LOL…PERHAPS I do have the time… Although, it doesn't help that I am not very creative, either!
MaryWebb-- I make them sometimes, or Dairy Queen makes them. We really like those ice cream cakes. This year my 14 year old son wanted a homemade cake…so that's what we had!! :o)
jbrobidart-- When my oldest was very young I would buy the Wilton character cake pans like bunnies, Big Bird and the very favorite was a bear pan that was sitting upright and you baked the cake upside down in the oven. Then, you would take the pan off (it was in two peices and it had clamps to hold it together while baking) and sit it up and decorate it. If you were having a baby shower, you could cut the ears off and decorate the face and skin color like a baby. We loved that cake pan!! I did this until my youngest of four was born and I didn't have time to cook a cake. Walmart Bakereis are wonderful things!!

MOM Magazine reader Karen Mockler recently started her almost-3-year-old son, Shane, in Lil' Kickers at Corvallis Sports Park. According to Karen, Shane just ran and ran, and had an absolute blast. Karen also added,"The coach was awesome! And I really was impressed by the way the class was set up. He incorporated a lot of learning through very creative ways."

Looking for something to do with your child this winter? The Corvallis Sports Park Winter 2 session starts February 2nd-6th. Parents can sign up anytime before that for kids ages 18 months - 12 years old. Classes are open enrollment and the session is only 9 weeks long for parents' convenience. Learn more here!

The Timber Ridge Elementary 4th grade music class put on quite a rocking concert. Our 9-year-old daughter has been raving about the music teacher, Mr. Von.  I don't know about you, but our 4th grade music class involved sticks and recorders and things that really didn't inspire us. We wanted to listen to Another One Bites the Dust (Queen) and I Love Rock and Roll (Joan Jet). The only thing biting the dust was our enthusiasm for music.

Mr. Von, however, is a whole other story. Not only are these kids excited to learn about music, they split into rock bands and performed in front of about 50 people. Their excitement, knowledge and confidence was so inspiring! Our daughter had a blast performing Smoke on the Water with her band, The Crazy Tacos. And then she taught her dad how to play it with her.

If music inspires the little rock star in your family, check out our amazing Gift Giveaway. The Grand Prize is a Rock Candy Princess Electric Guitar. And don't miss this issue of MOM Magazine, featuring pop star Savannah and her mom Lisa Outen. Savannah is joining us for a live meet and greet - and you're invited! See here for details.

Rock on MOM! (Click on these links.) - Enter to win the guitar. - Meet Savannah in person. - Read about Savannah.

We headed out to our favorite place to get a Christmas tree yesterday - Sunrise Tree Farm. This place is incredible - it's in the beautiful King's Valley, and the entire experience from start to finish was awesome.

When you first get there, a staff member dressed in yellow greets you and tells you about the different trees and how the process works. They give you a map of the different types of trees and the different sizes, and when you decide what kind/size you want, they take you on a sleigh ride to that area.

It didn't take us very long to find our tree, which was good because that left plenty of time for making ornaments and petting the goats and bunnies.They shake the tree, and then net it and you are all set to take your tree home! Such a fun experience - I'm happy to be featuring Sunrise Tree Farm in the Dec/Jan issue of MOM Magazine.

In addition to our tree hunt fun, you can read about the Fruit Loop garland we made for our tree here:  http://klinkthink.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-prep.html