vegan banana split cupcakes

One of my favorite little guys turned one the other week.

And to mark his 365 days of life in Iowa, I made him some banana split cupcakes.

His choice, of course.






I followed the recipe to a "t" from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, with a few modifications {of course}.

I subbed out the all purpose flour for whole wheat pastry flour, because I like sort of healthy cupcakes.
I used almond milk instead of rice.
And I made up my own pineapple preserves by boiling 1/2 chopped pineapple with 1/4 cup orange juice until the pineapple was soft, and then pureed it with 1/2 T chia seeds. Much better than store bought stuff {plus, my HyVee didn't carry pineapple preserves}.





I ended up making two batches of the cupcakes because the first batch sank so badly.

The second batch wasn't too much better.

But nothing that a little extra icing couldn't take care of.

Plus, that just meant that I was able to make special cupcake deliveries to a few friends.





They didn't complain.





And I am pretty sure the birthday boy approved of them too.




That Kierstan is my favorite person ever.


Hurry up, I want some cupcakes.  Get your grubby hands away from my cake!


OKay, now you can have a taste.

Happy Birthday Ray!

no babies were harmed in the taking of these photos...

This past weekend Nic and I were able to road trip out to Topeka, Kansas to visit our good friends, Ben and Debbie, who ditched us approximately one year ago and moved to Alaska.  We planned never to forgive them, but then they went ahead and had this cutie - Sammy.  I am afraid my "two year plan" is ruined...My mom would be so happy.

Before Ben and Debbie moved to Alaska, the four of us would get together often for dinners, drinks, game nights and even had a few Sunday afternoon coffee and cake days (doesn't that make us sound old??).

And then they moved.  And I cried.  And they blamed us for making them move to Alaska.

So when we found out they were going to be in the Midwest again, we packed our bags and hit the road.

I bet Ben and Debbie wished we would have stayed put in Washington, especially when I started feeding their baby Bud Light...

At the end of the night, I am so glad we made the trip to see the Stanton family. Now it's our turn to make the trip up to Alaska.  They really had to twist our arms to agree to go up there again.

it's a boy

Congratulations to our good friends, Ben and Debbie, who welcomed their baby boy into the world today, July 8th.

baby shower for ben and debbie

You all know Ben and Debbie, right? So you know that they decided to be too cool for school and ditched Iowa for Alaska a few months ago. Well, they are expecting their first kid in less than a month...July 17th! Today, their moms decided to throw an online baby shower for them since most of us just can't pack up and head to Alaska for the day. Well, we decided to have a baby shower in their honor last night with a few friends...complete with games! lol Weird, right? A baby shower without the mom-to-be in attendance?

So, Ben and Debbie - this one's for you! We all hope that you have a wonderful baby shower today, complete with lots of emails and phone calls from all those who love you. We all miss you and wish you the best of luck for these last few weeks as a family of 2, and even more luck when you welcome little Kiera (am I right...?!) into the wonderful tundra of Alaska. :) Hope you received the gift from the 6 of us (gmail) and are able to get a few necessities before your little one arrives.

lots of love - Nic, Kier, Joe, Laurie, Emma & Elyse

Guess how round Debbie's belly is!

I think I might have won...unless your tummy is really this round,

But I am pretty sure that Elyse had the most fun playing this game.

Next up - the "guess what kind of candy bar is melted into this diaper to look like poop..." game. (Nic wanted me to ensure you all know that this truly is just a melted Hershey's bar, and not a real poopy diaper, although it was suggested by Joe that we just use the 'real thing'.)

I think this was the first (and probably only) baby shower Nic has attended. Lucky him.

Looking at all the stars.

Elyse - still a happy baby...for about the next five minutes.

No bonfire/baby shower is complete without some guitar.

Laurie's friends came down to visit for the night! Lucky them..."what? you guys are having a fake baby shower? You guys are weird..."

Look - Elyse is not crying!

Too many baby shower games for Elyse and Joe...time to go.