I made these delicious cupcakes for my son’s birthday last year.  I searched everywhere for a good banana cupcake and finally found a good recipe on Martha Stewart’s site.  These were a huge hit and were favored over my chocolate and peanut butter cupcakes.

Ingredients

I am still in shock that my little man turned two last weekend!  It seems like just yesterday that we were looking through a book of Baby Names trying to figure out what we were going to name him! Of course I had to pick the perfect theme for my little guy and he loves nothing more (except for his daddy) than Mickey Mouse!  I wanted to do something else, but I just couldn’t when I saw how much he lights up whenever Mickey Mouse comes on.  Parties are supposed to be for the kids, right?  So if I was going to do a character themed party, I was going to do it my way.  No cutesy cartoon character plates and napkins with banners and crate paper streamers, I wanted it to be sophisticated (well as sophisticated as a Mickey Mouse party can be).

As with all the parties that I throw, it begins with the invitations.  I found these adorable Mickey Invites from Announce Your Day Etsy shop and thought that they were perfect.  They set the tone for how this party was going to go!

Next, I knew that I had to have some Mickey Mouse ears for the guests to wear at the party.  I looked at some party supply shops and didn’t care for the cheap looking ears that I found, so I decided to make them myself.  I found a tutorial that my blogging buddy, TheSuburbanMom, posted and I made my own!  Now, I must admit that originally I was going to make them for everyone attending the party, but when the time came I simply ran out of time and decided just to make them for the kids and my husband and I.

I had a hard time getting TJ to wear them, but he finally did!

Next I had to have the perfect birthday shirt for TJ.  Of course I visited my favorite online marketplace, Etsy, and found this adorable shirt that I customized for TJ!  You can find them at Ella Grace’s Closet.

What would a party be without the food and the cake?  I spent way too much time on the cake.  It didn’t turn out exactly the way that I wanted it to, but after a lot of swearing frustration, I finally let it go and decided that it looked good enough!

I bought the characters from The Disney Store.  They all came together in a set and I was very thankful that they were there to cover some of my mistakes!  I also made TJ his own little smash cake.

I used a cookie cutter to cut out the Mickey Mouse head, something that I learned that I will never do again.  It was next to impossible to ice this cake.  Next time I will use fondant!  I was so happy that TJ actually ate this cake.  Last year he didn’t even touch his cake!

Here is the table without the food on it.  We ended up having sandwiches.  I cut out Mickey Mouse shapes in the bread for the little ones.  I also found some Mickey Mouse Macaroni and Cheese online and made it for the kids.  My niece loved it! I found some adorable Mickey hand plates at Target that were perfect for the cake cutting!

TJ’s birthday is always around Easter (this year it was actually on Easter) so there are some adorable Easter baskets available that are perfect for decoration.  I found this Mickey Mouse basket that doubled as TJ’s Easter Basket and put the plastic forks, spoons, knives, and napkins in it!

I created some adorable Mickey cookies to go along with the cake.  These were simple to make.  I just melted some red chocolate, dipped a double stuffed Oreo into it, attached some mini-oreos for ears and then added the “buttons”.  They were yummy and a big hit at the party!

We had to have balloons, and I caved and bought a character balloon, but isn’t it cute?

Here are some pictures from the big day!

The Gift Bags!

Well… I still can’t believe he is two!  I loved creating his party for him.  I am off to start planing for next year.  I am thinking pirates…

I can not believe that it has been two years since you were born.  I walked into that hospital with so much anticipation, wanting nothing more than to be a mom.  What I got was the most beautiful, kind, sweet boy full of life who has made me much more than just a mom.  Being your mom has made me a more loving, compassionate human being and I can not thank you enough!

This year you have developed a carefree personality.  You have learned to walk, talk, and throw an amazing tantrum.  You love playing “Night, Night Ball” with daddy.  You can not live without balls, trucks, choo choo’s, bubble baths and Mickey Mouse.You love playing with your cousins and you love your puppy, Eli!

Your favorite thing to do is to play with balls.  You haven’t met a ball you haven’t liked.  You and daddy have so much fun together playing with your football.

You love your daddy!  He can make you laugh so much you have a hard time catching your breath.

Your smile can light up a room.  Your carefree personality amazes me, I wish that I had even a pinch of that.

Every day you learn more and more words.  Sometimes you can get frustrated because we don’t understand what you are trying to tell us, but you are building your vocabulary every day!  We can’t tell if you are right or left-handed yet.  You like to color and eat with your left hand, but then just when we think your a lefty you will switch it up on us.  You love to watch Mickey Mouse and Jake and if we let you, you could sit and watch your shows for hours!

You have been a picky eater in your short life.  You only eat certain foods, but luckily the list is getting longer every month.  Your favorites are chicken fingers, spaghetti o’s, applesauce and pizza.  You love your Elmo juice, but you drink a lot of milk!  You also will eat peas only if we call them “little green balls.”

You love your family with all your little heart.  You love playing basketball with Pop Pop, coloring with Grandma M, playing with your cousins Louis, and Grace and visiting your family in Idaho.  We love to Skype with Grandma and Grandpa, and you love visiting them in Boise.  You and your dad love to dance to Rock Roll as you look for balloons when you drive home from daycare.  We love to cook together and we have a special Mommy and Me night once a week when daddy is at work.  We love to rock together at night and you love it when I sing the Winnie the Pooh song to you!

Happy Birthday little man.  I am so excited to see how much you grow this next year as you get ready for preschool.  I can’t imagine a more amazing life than the one you have given me.  I love you!

Many of you mentioned a few weeks ago that you would like my recipe for TJ’s birthday cupcakes, so better late than never here you go!

The monkey face cupcakes are peanut butter flavored cupcakes with a chocolate glaze. I found the recipe from Iheartcupcakes.com. Here is the recipe from their site:

Peanut Butter w/ Chocolate Glaze Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

For cupcakes
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter, room temp
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

For chocolate glaze
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

To make cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl and set aside

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until smoothly blended and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Mix in egg. Add vanilla and beat for 1 minute or until batter smooth.

On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and mixing until the flour is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

Fill each liner with a generous 1/4 cup of batter, to about 1/3 inch below the top of the liner. Bake just until the tops feel firm and are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 22 minutes. There will be cracks on the top. Cool cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on wire rack.

To make chocolate glaze
In a medium saucepan, heat the cream and butter over low heat until the cream is hot and the butter has melted. The mixture should form tiny bubbles and measure about 175F on a thermometer; do not let it boil.

Remove the pan from the heat, add the milk chocolate and let it sit in the hot cream for 30 secs to soften. Add the vanilla and whisk the glaze until it is smooth and all the chocolate has melted. (Return the glaze to low heat if necessary to melt the chocolate completely, whisking constantly.) The glaze should be thick enough to hold its shape when spread over the cupcakes. If it is too liquid to spread, let it sit at room temp for 5-15 minutes, depending on the temp of your kitchen.

Using a small spatula, spread 1 tbsp of glaze over the top of each cupcake.

The cupcakes can be covered and stored at room temp for up to 3 days.

The night before  I made the cupcakes, I made the candy monkey face decorations to place on top of the glaze.  I adapted the monkey faces from a Wilton recipe that you can find here.

I used Wilton Candy Melts in a light tan Peanut Butter flavor for the main part of the face, and dark cocoa Candy Melts for the ears.  Instead of using Candy Melts for the eyes, mouth and nose, I used Wilton icing in the small tubes (I found this much easier than trying to tint the Candy Melts. I am a true beginning baker and decorator when it comes to birthday cakes so I found this much easier for my first time).

Here is the result…. TJ’s birthday cupcake tower (Wilton has a great cupcake stand).  If you are interested in the banana cupcakes that  I also made for his birthday, check back next week.

Last weekend we celebrated BJ’s first birthday with a monkey themed party with close family members. BJ’s grandparents flew in from Idaho just like they did a year ago to spend some quality time with BJ. Here are a few pictures from the big day.
BJ and his “Camera Face”.  It is adorable how he gets a big grin on his face when you are taking his picture. 

BJ didn’t eat any of his cake. He didn’t like the frosting on his fingers and wouldn’t even taste it. Maybe next year.

Here is BJ’s “cake.” I actually made 2 different kinds of cupcakes instead of a traditional cake.

This is the first kind of cupcake I made. It is a peanut butter cupcake with chocolate frosting decorated like monkeys. The other kind were banana cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting with birthday picks in them.

Here is BJ in his adorable birthday shirt we got from Stitcheroos. He had so much fun crawling in and out of the screen door. Luckily the rain held off and we were able to enjoy being outside.

Here is BJ and his cousin sitting in the wagon.

All the cousins couldn’t resist taking a ride in the wagon up and down the street being pulled by PopPop.

Taking a break with Grammy and Gramps on the couch. It was a long, exciting, and perfect day!

We had a wonderful birthday celebration for BJ.  To end our Monkey Mayhem Birthday Bash we are showcasing our final sponsor of the event Stitcheroos.

I have been dreaming about my son’s first birthday even before he was born.  In my mind I had everything planed out from what the cake would look like, to the presents I would buy for him.  One thing I really wanted was a special outfit for him to wear.  It seems like the girls get to have all the fun when birthday time rolls around.  They have cute tutu skirts that they wear and princess crowns.  What to do for a boy?  Well, I found this adorable online shop called Stitcheroos.

Stitcheroos creates custom embroidered clothing and gifts for your little one. For BJ’s first birthday we ordered him a monkey onesie with the number 1 on it.  He wore it with pride on his first birthday.  All of our guests commented on how cute he looked in his special shirt. I was able to completely customize his shirt from the thread color to the font to the design colors.  If you have the perfect outfit designed in your mind, Stitcheroos can make that vision a reality.

(BJ is going through this phase when he sees the camera he makes a “cheese” face and scrunches up his face.  This is the best picture I got of the entire shirt.)

If you are looking for a special gift check out Stitcheroos embroidered blankets and gift sets.  All of their special products would make an excellent gift.

Buy It:

You can purchase customized children’s clothing and gifts at Stitcheroos.com.

Win It:

One (1) lucky winner will receive a t-shirt or onesie of their choice from Stitcheroos.

How to Enter:

Visit Stitcheroos and tell me what design you will pick if you are the lucky winner.  (You must complete this entry before completing any of the bonus entries)

Bonus Entries:

• Follow me on Twitter and Tweet: Win a Custom T-shirt From Stitcheroos @AMomsImpression http://wyn.cc/bnfr1(You may enter daily, just leave a comment with each Tweet’s link)
• Follow Stitcheroos on Facebook
• Follow Stitcheroos on their blog
• Follow A Mom’s Impression on Facebook
• Blog about this giveaway (Please leave a link to your post)
• Grab my Button and post it on your blog.
• Grab my Car Seat Giveaway Button and post it on your blog.
• Subscribe to A Mom’s Impression by Email (2 Entries, please leave 2 comments: Please remember to confirm your subscription)
• Comment on any non-giveaway post on A Mom’s Impression. (just tell me what post you commented on)

Please leave a comment about each entry, include a valid email address or you may contact me directly with your contact information. This giveaway will end at midnight on May 15. Winner will be picked from Random.org. 
Open to US residents only.  Good Luck!

This product review was made possible by Stitcheroos.  I was not compensated for this review other than a product sample.  All opinions are 100% mine.

My little man was born!

I can’t believe you turn a year old today.  People have always told me that they grow up fast, but I had no idea what they truly meant until I became your mom.  I wanted a child for a long, long time.  There was a point in my life that I wasn’t sure if I would be able to have kids, but I am so happy that I was able to.

Your arrival was scheduled.  We had an appointment for my cesarean section and we made it to that date.  Of course everything doesn’t always go according to plan and they had to take you a little early because your little heart rate plummeted about an hour before my scheduled surgery.  We were nervous, but I can’t explain the feeling that went through me when I heard your little cry for the very first time.  Daddy made sure you were okay and then brought you over to me so I could give you my first kiss. I haven’t been that happy in my entire life.

You have been relatively healthy this year.  We have had a rough road with your eczema and allergies, but every day your skin is looking a little better.  You have a strawberry hemangioma on your forehead that I don’t even notice anymore and should disappear before you even are able to ask what it is.  You are perfect!

From what I understand about babies, you have been an easy one.  You are happy.  Your favorite thing to do right now is to take off crawling across the floor and look back at us chasing you and laugh.  You love the camera and smile most of the time when I take your picture.  Your a little daredevil that is going to give your mom a stroke one of these days if it continues. You love sweet potatoes.

Your best friend has been your puppy Eli.  You two love each other so much.  I am amazed at how much patience Eli has with you when you poke him in the eyes all the time.  I can tell you from experience that Eli doesn’t have that kind of patience with everyone, just his little brother.

I love you more than words can possible say, and I hope one day you have a child of your own so that you can truly understand how much you mean to me.  Happy Birthday, Mommy and daddy love you!

Welcome to A Mom’s Impression Monkey Mayhem Birthday Bash.  We are taking time to celebrate BJ’s first birthday with some wonderful birthday products that will enhance any child’s birthday party.  Visit us all week for great products for a very special time in your child’s life!

Its not a party without the cake!  I love to cook, baking is hard for me. You have to be exact or it doesn’t turn out well.  After you finish baking there is the decorating, an art form of its own.  Being the perfectionist that I am I have difficulty with making everything look perfect.  It gives me such a headache.  Luckily Wilton is there to help!

Wilton has been the go to company, since 1929, for all your baking needs.  I can remember a bear cake I had for one of my birthdays as kid and the pan was a Wilton pan.  I have that special photo of me blowing out the candles in my baby book.  I wanted BJ’s special day to be just as memorable.  Wilton sent me products to make sure I couldn’t mess it up.

I decided on doing cupcakes for BJ’s birthday instead of a traditional large cake (after all this is the first birthday I have thrown as a mommy, and I figured I should build up to the large cake).  Keeping with the monkey theme, Wilton sent us several products from their Jungle Pals collection.  We received the Jungle Pals Photo Cake Topper, Royal Icing Decorations, Cupcake Wraps n’ Picks and the cupcakes ‘n more® 23 count standard dessert stand to show everything off.

Wilton makes decorating the cupcakes simple, yet they look so cute.  Here are a few pics of how they turned out:

I feel confident that his birthday is doing to be a huge success largely because Wilton has made my job so easy. I will be sure to take a lot of pictures of the final dessert table (these were practice) along with cupcake recipes later after the big event next weekend.

Buy It:

You can purchase Wilton decorations and baking supplies at major retailers everywhere or on their website.

Win It:

One (1) lucky winner will win a Jungle Pals Wilton Prize Package consisting of 1 of everything they sent me (ARV $50.00).

Your prizes include:

(2) Jungle Pals Royal Icing Decorations

(2) Jungle Pals Cupcakes Wraps n’ Picks

(1) Jungle Pals Photo Cake Topper

(1) Cupcakes ‘n more® 23 count standard dessert stand

How to Enter:

Visit Wilton and tell me your favorite Wilton product.

(You must complete this entry before completing any of the bonus entries)

Bonus Entries:

• Follow me on Twitter and Tweet: Win a Birthday Cupcake Prize Package from Wilton (ARV $50.00) @AMomsImpression http://wyn.cc/kv4bw (You may enter daily, just leave a comment with each Tweet’s link)
• Follow A Mom’s Impression on Facebook
• Follow Wilton on Facebook
• Blog about this giveaway (Please leave a link to your post)
• Grab my Button and post it on your blog.
• Grab my Car Seat Giveaway Button and post it on your blog.
• Subscribe to A Mom’s Impression by Email (2 Entries, please leave 2 comments: Please remember to confirm your subscription)
• Comment on any non-giveaway post on A Mom’s Impression. (just tell me what post you commented on)

Please leave a comment about each entry, include a valid email address or you may contact me directly with your contact information.
Open to US residents only. This giveaway will end at midnight on April 30. Winner will be picked from Random.org. 
Good Luck!

This product review was made possible by Wilton.  I was not compensated for this review other than a product sample provided by Wilton. All opinions are 100% mine.