The other day we had a boring, rainy day in Raleigh. Chris was out of town and it was too wet and cool outside to do anything fun outdoors with the boys. In other words, it was the perfect day to bake something. I told Brady we should bake something fun and asked him if he had any suggestions. He quickly replied, “A Dinosaur Cake!” While I was not exactly sure how to pull that off, I knew we had to make it work because he was so proud of his idea.

This cooking session with B-Man was not necessarily about trying a fancy new recipe or pulling off some elaborate Pinterest project- but more about getting messy in the kitchen and having some fun. We didn’t pay attention to swapping out ingredients for healthier alternatives, in fact we used a boxed cake mix we had in the pantry. We indulged in sugar and fat and loved every minute of it. No regrets.

First, we made a list of the steps for making some really cool dinosaur cupcakes. We got out all of our ingredients and got to work.

Our to-do list for making cupcakes. He loves lists! He’s so my kid!

We used a boxed cake mix (watermelon flavor!) for our cupcakes. Actually, we used half of a package of cake mix because we really didn’t need that many cupcakes. We added 1 egg, 1 cup of water, and 3/4 cup oil. Brady helped crack the egg and stir up the batter. We put our cupcakes in the oven and got to work on our homemade frosting.

I used this recipe I found online for our frosting. http://www.supercouponlady.com/easy-buttercream-frosting-recipe/ Brady helped me use the blender to make it nice and fluffy and then we added in green dye-per Brady’s request.

While our cupcakes were cooling, Brady got to work picking out some of his favorite dinosaurs to top our cupcakes with.

Sidenote: Stop what you’re doing right now and go find watermelon flavored cake mix at Target. Smelled and tasted amazzzzzing!

B gave them all a bath so they were nice and clean.

Decorating the cupcakes was definitely Brady’s favorite step. He was so proud of how they turned out and even wanted to bring some to our neighbor’s house.

I loved this time in the kitchen with my Brady-Boo. He was so involved and so happy to be making his “vision” come to life! Also, despite the fact that he is not usually a dessert loving kiddo, he ate every bit of one of these cupcakes. He must’ve tasted the love in them!

Best. Rainy. Day. Ever.

I love that little finger sneaking into the picture trying to get a taste!