What do you do when life's got you down?

Make cupcakes, of course!!! They can be nearly any flavour, and their sweet little swirl of frosting will instantly make the world a better place. Throw some sprinkles on top, and well, your day will be right as rain! Maybe not, but they should, at the very least, put a smile on your face.

So, when we started this week off with a bump in the road, I put wee man to work, helping me to make some delicious gingerbread cupcakes. (Recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction) Rather than going for a cream cheese, or what seems to be becoming the go-to gingerbread pairing, orange frosting, I decided to go with a simple maple one. I tend to make frosting by texture, rather than a recipe, when I'm doing a simple buttercream using icing sugar, but I will post a rough recipe below.

Once they were cooled and frosted, he got to decorate them with some festive sprinkles. He probably ate as many as he put on the cupcakes, but that's to be expected when your baking assistant is 2 years old.

I'm not quite into the spirit of the holidays just yet, but a few bites of these sweet and spicy goodies is getting me a lot closer. :)

Maple Frosting Recipe:
1/2c unsalted butter
1-2c icing sugar
1/4tsp salt
1/4c maple syrup*

Cream the butter with whisk attachment in stand mixer, slowly add icing sugar until thick, add maple syrup and salt, then add icing sugar until thick again. I then whisk for 5min to really make the frosting fluffy.

*The thickness of the maple syrup you have will obviously affect how much/little icing sugar you need to thicken the frosting. The kind I currently have happens to be somewhat thicker than one I had before, so I didn't need too much sugar, and it is lovely. In the past, when I have a runnier syrup, I have reduced it on the stove, but that is not to be taken on by the faint of heart or the inexperienced. If you boil it too long, you will end up with candy.



So, what do you do when things aren't going as you had hoped; what's your pick-me-up? And what helps to get you into the holiday spirit?

It's official...

Today is my first official blog entry, and also the day I publicly announced that we are expecting baby #2... Once something is posted on FaceBook that makes it totally official, right? 

Being pregnant the second time around has already presented itself with a whole new set of challenges. Chasing a toddler who is going through all the wonderful emotional outbursts of a typical 2-year-old, while trying to keep my own in check is pretty interesting at times. I think I'll call it "character building". The fortunate part is that he is still young enough that he still has a regular nap every day, which is fantastic for that fist trimester fatigue! It used to be the time I would get things done, but he is old enough now to try to "help" while I'm doing things around the house. (His favourite of which is helping me bake!) The constant state of motion that is toddler life also makes me fear for the end of pregnancy/having a newborn in the house. Hopefully by teaching him how to pitch in now, we can avoid a lot of frustration down the road. 

The sweetest thing is how excited he already is about having a baby. He's recently become obsessed with baby everything, even going so far as saying "awww" to some small pieces of broccoli we had for dinner. He gives hugs and kisses to my belly (which is much more prominent than it was at this stage of the game the last go around), and has been trying to listen to see if he can hear it moving around. We had our midwife appointment last week, the first where we could hear the heartbeat, and when we got home he kept trying to see the baby. I explained to him that the baby is inside my tummy, so we can only hear it, and even that has to be at the midwives' office. He then grabbed my hand and tried to drag me out the door, saying "We go! We go!" 

So while things are definitely not the same, there are still a whole lot of fun new experiences this time around.