Lemon Cupcakes and Bathroom Renovation

So Joe and I have been in the midst of a  (1.5) DIY bathroom renovation  for the last few weeks, so things have been a little messy around our place lately.  This weekend, Joe's brother and his family (his wife and 3 kids) came up so he could help Joe tile the shower.

That means there were 4 adults and 3 kids in our 2 bedroom condo with no shower!

So what do you do to entertain kids when your place looks like this?

Make cupcakes!

I was all set to make some good old chocolate cupcakes when 6 year old Noah politely said "Um, Aunt Mel, I really like lemons.  Do you think you could make lemon cupcakes?"  Luckily, I had lemons, and really, how could I say no?  Plus, I've seen them on a few blogs lately and have been wanting to try them.

So I found a couple of recipes online, I used a cake recipe from epicurious, and found a non-cream cheese (since I didn't have any) lemon frosting recipe here.

I doubled the cake recipe (since it only made 4 cupcakes!) and omitted the cream part. 

Joe, who was initially upset that he lost out to a 6 year old and was not getting chocolate cupcakes, said they were the best cupcakes ever, even better than the Irish Car Bomb cupcakes I recently made.  I don't know about that....but they were pretty darn good, and very light and fresh tasting for cupcakes.

Me with my helpers, note we did not have a working shower so please excuse the greasy hair : )

So  - here's some pics of the bathroom status so far.  

The master bathroom is not yet done, and I also didn't think to start taking before pictures until after we had taken out the hideous green tile and ripped out the toilet.

Pseudo-before shots:

I came home early from work one day and was surprised to see our shower ripped down to the studs.  Joe didn't want me to see it : )  Poor guy is a little afraid of me during this project.

But the original owner put regular drywall in and it was all moldy, so of course we had no other choice so Joe had to re-drywall with cement drywall.

Finished shower and floor tile and toilet:

LOVE the new shower tile.....

So, we've still got some more projects in the master, new countertops, sinks and shower door but its coming along.

Onto the guest bathroom, formerly known as Joe's man-room (when you live in the city your options are limited, one day we'll have a basement and he can put all his crap up again).

Before shots:

UGLY countertop

Sports jerseys, memorabilia, etc.

Jackalope, dogs playing poker, must haves for every man room.

I was out of town for work this week and when I got back on Friday, Joe surprised me with a finished guest bathroom!

Notice no dogs playing poker in the reflection?  We need to get some gender neutral art now....

Aren't I lucky to have such a handy husband?

Speaking of renovations....like the template change?  I think the white background looks much cleaner.