We said that this year Lulu’s birthday celebration would be moderate.  We’re leaving for Disneyland in less than 36 hours, so I wasn’t about to throw a huge party, stay up all night piping frosting hair onto a Dora-shaped cake or run all over town looking for a blasted Pillow Pet.  She’d probably want a Taylor Swift cake anyway.  She’s not your average three-year old.

(source)

That’s a little frightening.

I stayed true to my word and kept the celebrations to a minimum, but I was determined to find some time this weekend to bake Lu some birthday cupcakes.  Finding time proved harder than it seemed.

I’m told Lulu appreciated her birthday post as Pea Daddy read it to her the next morning.  I had gotten up when it was still dark outside and was busy rooting on my absolutely amazing friend Melissa as she ran her half-marathon in Wine Country.

I went for a quick run myself while Melissa was tearing up her 13.1 miles in a new PR.  I figured as long as I worked up a decent sweat I’d be entitled to a free bagel and a glass of Pinot.  Maybe I’d even talk my way into a medal.

No such luck on any of those counts.  But I had a beautiful, hand-crafted “medal” waiting for me at home.

“Moderation” is not in any of the Peas’ vocabulary.

My kitchen floor looked like a cross between an Adam Lambert video and a strip club for the rest of the weekend.  I’ll be selling these beauties in an Etsy store for $89.95 next week.

By the end of this post, you’ll want one too.

Between glitter cleanup and the “medal ceremony,” I didn’t get a chance to make cupcakes, but we did make it to the carousel.

And we let Lulu choose anywhere she wanted to go out to dinner.  Did she choose a trendy vegan cafe in an upscale Portland neighborhood? Nah.  But she didn’t choose Chuck E. Cheese’s either.

She, of course, chose a salad bar buffet known as Sweet Tomatoes.  There was obviously no shortage of cheese, though.  What’s “moderation” mean again?

Gift opening at Mimi and Poppy’s was also reminiscent of Chuck E. Cheese.

Whac-a-Mole!  They’ve had a display version of the game out at Target for the last few weeks, and when I asked Lulu what she wanted to do on her birthday, she said, “Go to Target and play Whac-a-Mole!” Thankfully Mimi and Poppy hooked her up, or I might still be on the toy aisle watching my toddler giggle and scream while she simulates animal cruelty.

She gets so into it that she uses two mallets.  Go hard or go home.  PETA is waiting outside my door with a can of red paint and a megaphone.

The Whac-a-Mole tourney went late into the night.  I’m beginning to think Mimi and Poppy had ulterior motives in buying the game.

Once we finally weaseled the game out of Mimi and Poppy’s white-knuckled clutches and made it home, it was too late to bake cupcakes.  But no one ever said you can’t have cupcakes for breakfast.

Except for that one time I did.  Oh well, some rules are meant to be broken…in moderation.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

• 2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 c. organic sugar
• 1/2 c. cocoa powder
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/3 c. canola oil
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 t. white vinegar
• 1 c. non-dairy or organic milk
• 1/3 c. strawberry preserves
• thinly sliced strawberries and organic powdered sugar for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

In a measuring cup, combine oil, vanilla, vinegar and milk.  Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until combined.

Fill prepared muffin cups with batter until 2/3rds of the way full.

Bake cupcakes for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.  Allow cupcakes to cool.

Insert the end of the knife into the center of each cooled cupcake and turn to make a small hole.  Place strawberry preserves into a pastry bag with a medium wide tip.

Place the tip of the bag in the center of the cupcake and pipe the preservers into the hole.

Top each cupcake with a thin strawberry slice.

Dust cupcakes with powdered sugar.

I think they were worth the wait.

Cupcakes for breakfast?  At-home arcade games?  A trip to Disneyland?

Happy Birthday, indeed.

Let’s just hope for Mickey’s sake those mallets don’t work their way into the suitcase.  You know I won’t leave home without my medal, though.