Red Velvet Cupcakes

Valentine's Day wouldn't be complete without a delicious dessert.  

In memory of my beloved Grandmother who made me a Red Velvet cake for all of my Birthdays, except the year I made her tint it blue instead, we made Red Velvet.

Also, because Red Velvet goes along with the red and white Valentine's color scheme.

I did not use Grandma's recipe, instead I turned to Pinterest to find something a little bit easier.

Pinterest never disappoints.

I picked these zebra striped Wilton baking cups at our 

local Wal-Mart.

I thought they added just the right amount of wildness to our cupcakes. 

Then we got to the task of mixing up our batter.  The best part of Red Velvet is it's beautiful red color. 

 My friend Mikayla lent me a hand with the baking.  Actually she lent me two, buts that's not how the phrase goes.

Wyat is always around to help with the baking as well.  

You can see what part he likes to 'help' with the most.

Oooh, there's our pretty batter!  

Looks like a bowl of blood.

Well it does! 

Come on, give me a break, I live with boys!

Our cupcakes took exactly 18 minutes to bake.  I over filled most of the cups, I guess they really only need to be half full. Fortunately they still turned out okay.

Aren't they pretty? We topped them off with some really yummy cream cheese frosting.  I used a zip-loc bag and just cut off the corner.  That worked so much better than trying to spread it on. Plus it looks prettier too. 

These cupcakes get a 5 star rating in my book. 

I'd share the link with you.  But I can't find it! Good thing I wrote down the recipe.  I'll keep looking for it and when I find it, I'll come back and post the link. 

Otherwise just search around pinterest yourself! You'll find lots of delicious options to choose from.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! 

 We like to celebrate this holiday in our house.  Well, I like to celebrate it. But it isn't hard to get the boys involved. 

So this week I made plans for us to have  a little Valentine celebration.

For just a few dollars you can pick up a few decorations to make a festive and fun table for the family.

The boys also got involved in the decorating by cutting out hearts, and making me some Valentin'e day cards.  

A little crepe paper, some home made heart garland, and it looks like a veritable Valentine extravaganza! 

Don't you just love it?  

I do.  

Especially the home made cards. 

They are so precious.

Let me quote one for you: "P.s. I really, really, really love you.  Thank you for being my teacher, cook, mom, caretaker, adviser  instructor, and thank you for loving me."

Doesn't that make your heart just melt?  

I couldn't share the main message of the card, but trust me, that boy was being real and letting out his raw, true feelings in a sweet and loving way.  

I can just imagine the love letters he'll write to his wife one day.  He's starting out good! 

My personal favorite decoration I picked up at Wal-mart:

Mustache straws!!!

Isn't it crazy that one day my little boy might be able to grow one of these bushy, fuzzy things on his very own lip?  I hope not. I like the fake ones a lot, but the real ones.  Well, let's just say, it takes a special man to pull it off.  And he's usually wearing cowboy boots and dirty dungarees.

My middle son made me a flower vase. I'm sure when it's all done it will be painted up in a glorious fashion! I kinda got it in it's raw undone form.  But it's the thought that counts! 

A jar full of candy makes a festive table centerpiece.  Plus the boys were excited about all they would get to eat.  They are currently rattling the walls upstairs.  They are supposed to be working quietly.

We made Red Velvet Pancakes for breakfast this morning.  To get them in a heart shape, because that's the only shape that would have been acceptable this morning, I used a ziploc bag and a frosting tip.

You may accidentally have pancake batter pooling on your counter top if you are a messy cook like me.  But it all washes up.

Aren't they pretty?

Here's the recipe.  I got it off of Pinterest.  But I don't think it is pinned and now it's lost in cyber space somewhere.  You could probably Google it.

So, I mustache you a question . . . 

How does your family celebrate Valentine's Day?

Happy Valentine's Day

We celebrate V-day here at the Beaber house. No we don't do chocolate and roses but we do have heart shaped food. Hunky Hubby is the breakfast chef in this house. Mmmm didn't he do a fine job?

This year, even though there were a thousand cute ideas on Pinterest, we restricted the heart shaped food items to pancakes. Which the boys loved. Which is really why celebrating Valentine's Day is so much fun. 
We also usually get the boys a little gift. This year, because the two older boys have been burning through paper on drawing after drawing after drawing, they each got sketch books. Seth has already used up about five pages in his.

 I also made them each a beaded book mark.  I made them from the bead stash of a friend of mine, and in the bead stash I found some little medallions that had owls on them! And there were three of them! And she said I could use them all! Perfect!

Tate noticed the owls right away and pointed it out to his brothers. They all got excited about them. It was fun that Tate looked at his bookmark close enough to notice this small, but special detail without me having to point it out. He is probably the most observant one of the boys. We celebrated the rest of the day with friends that came over for a visit. I wanted to make a cute Valentine's Day banner and decorate (using some of those cute ideas on Pinterest) but I totally dropped the ball on that. And even though we didn't eat anymore heart shaped food, I usually try and keep our lunch special by making as many things red or pink as possible. My friend actually brought over red napkins, plastic silverware, and table cloth. So even though I dropped the ball on decorations, it still worked out and looked festive. Then we let the kids decorate book marks with a valentines theme and make some cards for their friends.
It was a fun day. Plus, I was reminded of what sweet boys I have when they each thanked me and their Dad three or four times for their gifts. It's so much fun to give them things when they have thankful heart attitudes.
Now you are probably asking what I received for V-day. Well this is what my little boys did for me:

Sweetest. Gift. Ever. Needless to say I went for the deluxe. And the foot rub. And the scalp massage.
And they did a great job. I have the sweetest son's.
Hunky Hubby gave me a sweet card (that I will not be sharing with you) and a necklace (not diamond, that's not how I roll). Plus we went out to eat with one of our 'adopted' daughters as a family tonight. After 4 false attempts, we finally found a restaurant that was open and serving (this seems to be a valentines night tradition for us). The sweetest thing was that our 'daughter' treated us to dinner! Nice!
I am greatly blessed. Today was a reminder of how much love surrounds me.
I guess that's why I like to celebrate this silly holiday.