Put on your aprons!

This is your mission, should you choose to accept it: Brighten the day of our soldiers who are serving in the Middle East.

How? Well, it's simple. Packages from home. From YOU.

Remember my post about Operation Baking Gals? Round 6 is officially upon us, and we need to get started. So many of you left comments and sent me e-mails about wanting to participate, and well, now I'm asking you to put your money where your mouth is.

I really, really want the participation to be great, so I'm hoping that most of you that said you were going to volunteer actually follow through.

We have two teams, baking for two deserving soldiers. All you have to do is go to http://www.bakinggals.com/, create an account (it's free, super simple, and you won't get spammed by a ton of e-mails), and then register with one of the Heather Drive teams. You'll do this by clicking on "Join a Round 6 Team Here." Please try to keep the numbers fairly even on each team. If there are more people registered for Team Heather Drive - Fuller, please register for Team Heather Drive - Archer instead.

You will find the shipping address information for each soldier under "Round Six Info - Meet the Teams." There is an article in there for each team with details about the soldier (if I received any), and the address for where to ship your packages.

DON'T BAKE? No TIME to bake? Well, that's NO EXCUSE. :) There are plenty of store-bought things that the soldiers can use and enjoy. Please visit the Baking Gals FAQ section for a list of acceptable items to send.

Ship dates for Round 6 are between February 7 and February 21, so you can basically bake and send at any time now. I think the sooner, the better because one of our soldiers is actually going to be coming home sometime in March... Also, don't you think it'd be great for our soldiers to start receiving packages around Valentine's Day? So preheat those ovens and start whipping together those baked goods!

Be sure to include a bit of "yourself" in your packages as well. Cards, letters, pictures... anything that will give the soldier a little bit of an idea of who you are, and let them know how thankful you are for the sacrifice they are making for all of us. You may even want to include a link to your blog, or an e-mail address. I've heard that some of the soldiers like to write you to thank you. I did not hear from my soldier in Round 5, but of course, I do not hold it against him. :)

If you are baking, there is important information for you in the FAQ section, too, including tips on how to ensure that your baked goods get there in good condition. Additional info about the organization and my experience with it so far can be found in my original post from December.

Remember, the best thing to use is a large Flat Rate box from USPS. You should be able to pick one up at your local post office (the box is free). Take it home, pack it full of as many goodies as possible, and then take it back to mail it. You'll get a discounted rate for sending it to an APO/FPO address. Normally, it costs $12.95, and I think it's $10.95 to send to the soldiers.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. E-mail me at roadtotheaisle@gmail.com, or leave a message in the comments. If you do that, though, just make sure to check back, because I will answer you in the comments as well.

Also, if you participate, I want to hear about it! If you have a blog, post about your experience--Pictures of your baking, you with your package, etc., maybe post the recipe for the goodies you made. Then send me a link to your Baking Gals blog post, or leave a link in my comments section. I am going to try to compile everyone's pictures and stories and post about them later this month.

So come on, baking gals! Get baking! :) And thank you so much!