dark chocolate elvis cupcakes

these cupcakes are super rich and yummy. i was inspired by a recipe found here, i tweaked it just a bit.

cupcake ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/3 cup dark cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup sugar

1 cup mashed banana (about 2.5 bananas)

2 eggs

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

directions:

step 1:

preheat the oven to 350 degrees. grease a 12 cup muffin tin or line with paper liners. in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. set aside.

step 2:

in a large bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients until combined – sugar, mashed banana, eggs, oil and vanilla. whisk the dry ingredients into the wet until combined. divide evenly among the muffin tins.

step 3:

bake the cupcakes for 22 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in comes out clean. allow to cool completely before frosting.

peanut butter frosting ingredients:

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 heaping cup peanut butter

4 cups powdered sugar

dash of milk

cream together the peanut butter and butter until smooth. sift in the powdered sugar, adding milk as needed. stir together all the ingredients until you reach the consistency of frosting you prefer. frost your cooled cupcakes.

DIY: airplane magnets

we have had lots of rainy summer afternoons here lately so indoor crafting has been a must! i saw these cute airplane magnets on pintrest the other day and knew that the boy would love them.

step 1:

collect all your supplies.

you'll need a clothes pin, popsicle sticks (3), paint, glue, and a magnet.

paint all your pieces.

step 2:

glue the wings on either side of the clothes pin.

step 3:

glue the tail wings in place.

adhere magnet to the bottom of the plane.

enjoy.

10 things i couldn't live without this week:

1. some amazing 4th of july activities. i had so much fun setting off tons of fireworks with the hubs and watching the annual lake worth raft race. to bad the boy was terrified of the fireworks this year.

2. coffee! i probably could have used about twice the amount that i actually consumed!

3. my new stroller tire...i was starting to really miss those long walks/jogs with the boy and the dog. but no worries, we are back in buisness.

4. going out to dinner with some of my favorite lake worth ladies to celebrate lori's birthday. had an amazing time eating stone ground hummus and throwing napkins. opa!

5. got some serious crafting/sewing done this week. finished the project i have been working of for my cousin's baby. now it's hanging up in my living room and every time i look at it i fall more in love with it....it's a good thing it's so pink or else it might have found a permanent residence here at my house. haha hope to get pictures of the finished project up this week.

6. mod podge. i am not sure why it too my until now to try this wonder of the crafting world...but i am in love. i have been mod podge-ing anything and everything that i can imagine. and to top it all off, it's super fun to peel off your fingers once it's dried.

7. a fantastic playdate/lunch date at the south florida science museum. our friends christine and ebba are hands down some of our favorite people in the world. we met here in lake worth, but oddly enough christine and i went to high school together (although we didn't know each other then) in orlando. she is one of the sweetest ladies i know, and has impeccable taste in music! she has been a busy little bee with a work project that's finally over...so now we have her back in mommy world! did i mention what a joy her daughter is. ebba and the boy are just 2 weeks apart in age and she is definitely the apple of his eye. when they play together there is nothing but giggles, giant smiles, and tons of fun!

8. i know the hubs has got to be tired of my dropping hints in his ear about how much we miss him. he's been working so much lately. but i have to say, the other night the hubs had to stay out of town over night for work, and it was one of the most productive nights i have had in a while. i didn't turn the tv on once (except while i was trying to fall asleep - the irony in this is that i tell the hubs every night that he should try to go to sleep with the tv OFF. he will sleep better. and here i am tossing and turning with the tv ON). thrusday night i cut two friends hair, worked on baby k's gift, read a ton of my book, and even did a little laundry. but looking back on it all now, while i enjoyed my night of "me" time...i would have rather had the hubs with me, curled up on the couch, falling asleep watching tv.

9. saturday's much needed family fun day. we woke up to black skies, so we knew we had to set our sights indoors (which is kinda weird for us), we were not really sure what to do with ourselves. after much deliberation, and almost sabotaging ourselves at chuck-e-cheese, we decided to head to downtown west palm beach. we grabbed lunch on the water and then headed to leaping lizards. we knew that there was potential for this place to be out of control on a rainy saturday, but we didn't care....we were ready to play. it was a mad house, but then again we generally think that anywhere with more than 2 kids is a mad house. the boy had a blast in all the bounce houses and we watched and laughed about how smart/funny/silly the boy can be. 10. the boy peed on the potty like "daddy does" last night. it was so cute. for a few weeks he's been saying that he "wants to do it like daddy does", but i wasn't really sure that we could make that work for him, but turns out we could. he was so proud of himself. mom's of boys, how do you feel about potty training standing up?

i want that art.

oh wait...i already own all of it, because all of this is done by the hubs. i have been so proud of him for getting his hands back in the paint lately. he's had a sudden creative spike and i love it. he asked me to take some new/better pictures of some of the permanent pieces in the house. hope you love them just as much as we do!

this is the hubs most recent project.

this ninja turtle lamp was made of all the hubs old collection.

it's perfect in the boys room.

this is our family portrait wall.

a peak inside: the boys room

remember the awesome print i got for the boy from jsgd? well here is a little peak in his room to see it hung up. i love the print so much and so does the boy.

happy independence day

i wish this was scratch and sniff so you could smell the deliciousness coming from these nectarines. hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday. please take a minute to stop and think about all that you have to be thankful for. don't forget to stop and smell the flowers....or the fruit bowl.

sweet little birdie

these little ladies have been keeping my too busy to blog. hope you all have a fantastic holiday weekend.

looking forward to some sweet homemade gifts and sundays 10 things.