Troy's 6th Birthday!

We had a great time at Troy's birthday party. He invited one of his friends from Kindergarten, a friend of his from preschool, some of the boys from his soccer team and some of the neighbor kids. We had quite the group! He wanted to do a movie party this time and the local movie theatre was more than accommodating. They even allowed a pre-party, behind-the-scenes tour, and showed the kids how the movies come onto the screen.  Troy was the last to leave since it was his special duty to start his own movie, Cars 2! He was very excited.

Troy requested a Lightning McQueen cake, of course. I did not get to spend as much time on the details as I would have liked due to the Summer Theme cake being due shortly before his party. However, the kids loved it, and most of all, Troy loved it. The cake was chocolate with chocolate mousse, Troy's favorite. We made some changes to the car to reflect the details from the second movie.

We also had some great compliments from the staff at the movie theatre. The host of the party, instead of getting a monetary tip from Matt, requested a piece of the cake instead. What a compliment! One more year down...

U2 - End of the Tour

I know you are probably thinking, didn't you already go to a U2 concert? Yes, I did. When they are your favorite band, though, and they are coming to your city, you have to go! Minneapolis was the third remaining concert on their tour, with Pittsburgh and Canada remaining. My girlfriend, Andrea, was more than happy to go with me. However, we had actual seats for this one. We were able to take our time getting to TCF field and make our way to our exclusive, as close to the stage as you can get, seats. Rain was in the forecast, but we thought it might go around us. Time would tell.

Before we knew it, it was 9 p.m. Ground Control to Major Tom... my boys were back. Again, I can not emphasize how great their concerts are. The crowd was pumped, the energy was high and then the rain came...did that stop my boys? HELL NO!

Bono broke out an umbrella and started singing, "I'm singing in the rain..." The concert just took on another level of energy. Those that brought a poncho; it didn't matter. The rain came down hard and we sang and jumped harder.

As I type this, it brings tears to my eyes as I remember it all. U2 are the Beatles of my time. I have been so lucky and fortunate to have attended 7 of their concerts in the last 17 years and can recall each one so vividly. When I say I wish I could have gone to more, Matt thinks I am crazy, but how can you not want to be a part of greatness? I cannot wait until the next one.

SUMMER TIME - SVC Charity Event

The Sexual Violence Center has a yearly event to raise money. They do it in the form of a silent auction at the Solera Cocina de Espana in downtown Minneapolis. Along with a great band, many great items were up for bidding including some U2 tickets! After talking with friends on the board, they convinced me to put up a specialty cake from Constantly Cakes! What a great marketing tool!

Then came the daunting task of actually pulling it off! Some co-workers gave me the idea for a summer theme and initially it was supposed to be a much larger cake, but time was of the essence. I had just finished a time consuming cake for Emma's birthday and Troy's was the next weekend!

Some of the items on the cake worked and some not as well, but it was great practice. The cake went over very well, even though it received no bids. I overheard many great compliments and people intrigued by the cake. I had some newly made business cards there as well, so you never know what kind of business it might generate. The event seemed to be a success and it was for a good cause.   

Any guesses on the location from the picture?

Emma - 4 Years Old!

Time goes by so fast at times. I can remember posting on here when Emma was just 4 months old. My baby is gone and what we have now is a little girl with a mind of her own. She has a great laugh, especially when being tickled. She cannot go many places without her blankie and her blue pillow. This is a habit that will hopefully be going away this week once she turns four. We will see how well that goes.

Emma has been taking gymnastics at Gleasons's Gymnastic School for roughly the last two years. I was not surprised when she said she wanted her birthday party there. We were very happy to hear that Sasha, her usual teacher, would be the one running the party.   Well, the kids had a great time. Sasha ran the show for the first hour taking the kids through various stations. They started at the obstacle course, onto the jumping track into the pit, to the tumbling floor and finally to the large trampolines.

Emma wanted the party to have a Strawberry Shortcake theme. She wanted her usual strawberry cake and strawberry filling (mousse). Since not everyone likes strawberry cake, I changed it up a little bit.
Strawberry Shortcake's face is strawberry cake. The hat is made out of rice krispie treats. The cupcakes on the bottom are vanilla bean with a raspberry buttercream and a strawberry accent.
Emma received some more strawberry shortcake toys among many other girly things which she loves. The kids looked very sweaty and tired, but they all had a blast. Thank you to Gleasons for a great time. On to the next one...

Troy - Soccer [TAKE 2]

Matt signed Troy up for Soccer again. Now, the first time did not go so well. This time, Troy showed us what he could do. This boy came out of his shell, granted we still need some work done, but he was a different person. The process of team work, passing the ball, and scoring was actually clicking! The bottom line is that he was actually enjoying himself and not having the tantrums he was when he initially started last Fall. My baby is growing up...

WANTED: TOOTH MISSING

A lot of kids in Troy's Kindergarten class had been losing their teeth. Troy's teeth remained strong and he almost seemed disappointed that he was not losing his along with them. As the school year came to a close, Troy found he finally had a wiggly tooth. It was not, however, loose enough to fall out.
Apparently we just had to visit Grandma's house. When we woke up after our night out with U2, Troy was grinning from ear-to-ear with a gap between his bottom teeth. He claimed it came out while he was sleeping.  

What do small teeth go for these days with the tooth fairy?

$1

U2 - Almost the End

On July 5th, Matt and I took off from Monroe, Wisconsin and headed to Chicago for one of the last U2 concerts of their 360 Tour. We had these tickets for well over a year, because Bono had to have emergency surgery on his back, and therefore, had to postpone the concert back in 2010. Now that the time had finally come, I was giddy.
We arrived at Soldier Field at around 10:30 a.m. Mind you, the opening act for the concert did not start until 7 p.m. Many people would think this would be plenty of time to get to the head of the line to get a prime spot to watch the concert. However, this was U2 we are talking about. After being counted off later, we were numbers 688 and 689. Now, I am not going to recant the history of me standing in line for U2 concerts. My father is very familiar with this story, but to be in the inner circle was a big deal for me.

Due to the heat, however, U2 and the heads at Soldier Field decided that we better come in out of the sun and allowed us to come in and spend the day in the Grand Concourse of Soldier Field. The day was very memorable and I loved telling Matt that I am not the only fanatical U2 person out there. The proof was right there in front of him.

The time came, however, and my suggestion of not taking a bag paid off. We were able to "walk" into the inner circle when the time came and got to the back as I had wanted. The group lining the back behind us had arrived at 5 a.m. that morning, and I was fine with letting them take my much coveted spot. The only problem now was the wait. Either way, I had my signs ready.

U2 came on at 9 a.m. precisely....Ground Control to Major Tom...
What took place for the next two and a half hours was indescribable. For those that have not been to a U2 concert, you are missing out. Put it on your bucket list or something, but I was enjoying a bucket list moment.



The time then came for Larry (the drummer for those that do not speak U2) to hop off the drum seat and play his bongos around the inner circle. For those that are not in the know, I have a slight obsession with Larry.  As he neared us, I got my "I love you, Larry!" sign out and he saw it! He smiled and just kept on beating those bongos. I looked at Matt and screamed!!   What a concert...

Fourth of July - 2011

Once again, we headed down to Monroe, Wisconsin for the 4th of July. Matt's parents had a nice party for the kids, and Matt, since they were unable to make it up for the other parties we had planned. The kids also headed to the park for the festivities, playing many games and winning prizes!  Emma had an awesome underarm throw!

We were also able to visit Great Grandma before the fireworks went off.

Finally, we headed to a new spot this year to watch the fireworks. The park is usually so packed and takes awhile to get out from the mob, so we sat on the lawn of the local church and the group had a great time celebrating our Nation's independence.

Until next year...