The Merry Mehlbrechs

Troy - First Grade

2011-09-03T22:08:00.000-05:00

Troy is about to start First Grade at a new school. Deerwood Elementary is closer to the house and he has met so many kids from his summer program and from his soccer that are going to be there. This school is also bigger. At an early parent/teacher meeting, the Principal informed us that there are currently 26 to 27 students in each class. There arere four classes. Some plans were in order to bring in a part-time teacher for the morning reading and math activities, but you could tell parents were not happy. Troy had 18 in his full-day Kindergarten to give you an idea.
Last week we attended the school's open house. This is where all of the students are to bring in their labeled school items, find out where their class is and meet their teacher. Upon arriving, we found out that the part-time teacher had been made full-time and the class sizes moved down to 22/23 students for each. What a relief!

Troy was so excited to find his desk, put in his supplies and find out where everything was. His new teacher, Ms. Lindorfer, walked Troy through the rules and showed him where everything was. We even found out that a neighbor girl down the street will be in his class. Needless to say, he is very excited!

Bridal Shower - Becky

2011-08-27T21:38:00.001-05:00

Turns out, it is a lot of work putting together a bridal shower. In the end, however, it was all worth it. Matt's sister, Becky, is getting married shortly and it only made sense to have a shower at our house to make it easier for family in South Dakota to be able to join in the festivities. Matt's grandmother was even able to make it, so we were more than happy to accommodate.

With many appetizers, dips and cakes to make, it was a busy week. The cakes Becky picked, luckily, were not as difficult. She wanted cakes made like their wedding dresses. Now, there is always something that occurs that you do not expect when cake is concerned. For the most part, however, I thought they turned out great!

We had a great time visiting, eating and watching Becky opening her gifts. We soon said goodbye to the South Dakota crew and it was GAME TIME! I am fortunate to have many partners with my firm that own season tickets to the Vikings. Now, everyone at work knows that I am a Cowboys fan, so when one of the partners wasn't going to be able to make the game, I was fortunate enough to snag the tickets. When I suggested to the Wisconsin group that we go to the game instead of the other activities planned, I am told, Becky almost fell out of her chair. She had never been to a Vikings game before.
We all got ready and into our team apparell. Becky had a few extra items on as you can see in the photos. Our group of girls had a great time and my team won! A great day was had by all.

Paleontologist in the House!

2011-08-02T21:25:00.002-05:00

Troy tells Emma, "I am a Paleontologist!"
Troy has been fascinated with dinosaurs for a long time and has even told his previous teachers of his desire to become a Paleontologist. Yes, he is even able to say the word!

For his birthday, I found a great dinosaur project for him; digging his own dinosaur! We were not quite sure how it was going to work out, but at the end of it, he was supposed to have his own dinosaur fossil of a Brachiasaurus. We were a little disheartened, however, when he pulled out a block of a rock, a serrated knife (not sharp) and a brush. We may as well have been digging for a real dinosaur!

We all chiseled away at this thing, but eventually we were finding part of the tail, part of the neck, etc., until he chiseled away at the whole thing! He was so happy to show off the results!

Troy's 6th Birthday!

2011-07-26T19:20:00.002-05:00

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

2011-07-23T20:43:00.000-05:00

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

2011-07-21T18:55:00.008-05:00

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!

2011-07-17T15:34:00.000-05:00

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]

2011-07-06T21:14:00.001-05:00

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

2011-07-06T19:45:00.005-05:00

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

2011-07-05T20:15:00.000-05:00

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

2011-07-04T20:01:00.000-05:00

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...

ITALY TRIP - Day 3

2011-06-11T15:07:00.001-05:00

Saturday – We did not rush getting up today. We arrived at breakfast with the majority of guests at 8:45 a.m. It was a great spread of eggs and tiny hot dogs, breads for toast, meats and cheese, fruit of every kind -chopped up and whole, pastries, yogurt, juice and coffee. We had our fill and headed out on the town.

Cinque Terre is known as the 5 towns, for fishing and hiking, or just general relaxation at the beaches. Many hikers will hike between the 5 communities. The town of Levanto is just past the 5 towns, but appears to have a larger city center. The smells of flowers, the many gardens people have, and the bakery shops with cakes and breads make each step closer into town just wonderful. The center has some butchers, a few pharmacys (farmacia), supermarket , liberia (book store), and many gelatorias, trattorias and ristorantes. There was even a park in the middle with kids playing on swings and a jungle gym.
We made our way out to the beach clubs. You pay a couple of Euro for a beach chair, etc. and you can lounge all day. There was a group learning to surf at one and children making sand castles at another. Again, it is a spot that Emma and Troy would have loved. We missed the ferry to get to the 5 towns, but thought we might just hike to Monterosso, the closest town with a great beach. We started out walking by a medieval castle, the sign said it dated back to 1156 [insert picture here]. As we continued, however, we thought it was going to be a bit too much and turned back. Good thing we did and you will find out later.

So, we headed back another way into town and made our way to the free public beach. Many people were laying out, cigarettes in hand. So many people smoke here, even the lifeguard was smoking. We stuck our feet in the Mediterranean and it was COLD! I got some video on the camera of the waves coming in. We headed back around to one of the Gelatoria’s where Matt had some chocolate gelato. I discovered the limonata, or lemon soda. This is the closest thing I have found to Australian "Lift." We started making our way back to the hotel and stopped for some pizza. The single slices seemed to be served on focacia bread, which was very good!

On the way back to the hotel is a church which has an amazing cemetary. This may sound odd, but wait until you see the pictures. The plots are like a hallway lined up with flowers, lights and various trinkets. The majority had pictures of the people on them and many were quite old. This seems to be a European thing, because we saw another larger version on the train into La Spezia the first day. At night, they were all lit up.

Now, the hotel we booked has a wellness center with a gorgeous pool. The center offers a variety of spa treatments, sauna, turkish bath, emotional shower (I will get to that), and just general relaxation. We made our way out to the pool to relax before the massages started. At the moment I wrote this, I was lounging next to my husband, with the sounds of a waterfall spewing into a gorgeous clear pool, with the most beautiful hills and scenery, and I am in Italy. Does life get any better?

I am about to go in for my massage, but the emotional shower is a walkway of sorts with 4 separate downspouts. You walk to the first one, in your swimsuit of course, and the water starts like a shower with the color purple behind it. The water is luke warm and emits an aroma. Then the water stops. The next spout comes on with a blue light and the water is a little colder with a different aroma. The water finally stops and you move on to the third, which has a red light and the water is much warmer with another aroma. Finally, the fourth starts with a green light, a little colder and a final aroma. Finito.

A few minutes in a turkish bath and that was enough for me. It is similar to a sauna, but with an aroma is my understanding. When you come out, you are supposed to put ice chunks on your skin. When all this was done we laid out a bit more to dry off and then came back to the room for a short nap before dinner.

We headed back into town and stopped at the Café Del Mar for dinner. We sat outside on their open patio and were able to do some people watching. The town is great with families just walking around, playing in the park or riding bikes. Some were wheeling around strollers. Maybe because the buildings are so close there is more of a togetherness? I don’t know.

For dinner, Matt and I share a caprese salad (there is a trend here), glass of wine for him and glass of Spumati – champagne for me. The tomatoes here are spectacular and the mozzarella, this country does not mess around with their mozzarella. We even saw ads for their mozzarella. Needless to say, we enjoyed it. For the main course, I ordered the fish of the day – Grilled Sea Brahm. They served it open faced with the tail included. It was quite good and fresh. Matt had the grilled swordfish and thought it was fair. Then for dessert, Tiramisu!! Scrumdiliocious! Matt had profiterols covered in chocolate, which he really enjoyed.

We soon left with good food in our bellies and continued to talk around town with everyone else. We came upon a side street that we had not been down before. This had the local cinema. The movie they were playing? Hangover 2, however, in Italy it is called “Una Notte de Leoni 2.” The translation is “One Night in Paris 2.” In the first movie, they are in Vegas. In the second movie, they are in Bangkok. So, I do not know what marketing did here. Anyway, we went in and the threatre was really neat inside. Matt bought the supersize popcorn (no refills) which ended up being the equivalent of a U.S. medium. Then with a couple of tall cokes, we proceeded to watch the movie in Italian, no subtitles. This was Matt’s second showing of the movie, so he helped me fill in the gaps. Otherwise, I think the language change made it funnier. I enjoyed it and Matt thought it was funnier the second time around. It was around 11:30 p.m. as we left the theater and the streets of Levanto were very lively. Like an old married couple, we called it a night.

Italy Trip - Day 2

2011-06-10T16:43:00.003-05:00

Friday - We arrived at Schiphol Airport with visions of tulips everywhere! My favorite! We sat down at a cafe for a panini and hot chocolate for Matt, cappucino for me. We have seen many kids on the airplanes and at the airports, so Matt had an interesting question. "What would Troy do if he was here with this little boy who did not speak English?" Our answers were: "Are you speaking Spanish?" and "I don't know what you are saying (with his hands up in the air)." Either way, he would come away with a new best friend.
A charge up of devices and we were soon on our flight to Rome.

So, with a flight time of 1 hour and 50 minutes from Amsterdam to Rome, it is exactly the same time from Minneapolis to Pittsburgh to give you some perspective. I must say I am pretty impressed thus far with KLM services. So, as I am writing these thoughts down, I imagine we are at the top of the Italian boot and heading into Rome shortly. Matt is trying to catch some Zzzz's and I am practicing my Italian with my English to Italian dictionary. One of the many things I noticed flying in were all of the areas that had vineyards.
We were just given "Punselies" - Stroopkoekje - Crispy biscuit with caramel filling. The verdict on taste? Very yummy, especially with some tea. I might have to eat Matt's since he is asleep. I am very much a foodie, so do not be surprised by more descriptions of what we eat. My best meals have been in Europe, although Mum's lamb roast is a close third and in Australia.

For those who are interested - 1) Jules Verne - restaurant in the Eiffel Tower, Paris. That one came with a hefty price tag, but definitely worth it. Not only did you get the food, but you also got the ambience and a free visit out on the tower. 2) Chez George - Amsterdam. I still remember the lobster bisque they gave us before they even gave us our menus. With that in mind, we have A LOT to cover and many things to try.

So, we have arrived in Rome and we step off the plane to a Gelato Shop! I love it! We did not partake, however. The next interesting thing was the chewable toothbrush inside a dispenser in the bathrooms. I almost bought one just becaue I thought you would not believe me. Anyway, we made our way to baggage claim and the bags took awhile to come out. So long in fact, one gentleman walked up on the carousel to peer in and take a bag off. We think he thought it was causing the conveyor belt to stop. No luck.
We got our bags eventually and made our way to the train.

The train platform is quite interesting and just getting there is not an easy task. There are three main platforms, whereby you have to take a train to Rome Termino (Center of Rome). It reminded me of taking the train to Central in Sydney to get another train up and down the coast. That took us about 30 minutes. We then made our way on to the next train to Cinque Terre and it took almost 4 hours to get to our next stop. We were basically heading back north again, past Florence, past Pisa and into the curve.
To pass the time, Matt brought his HBO series "Rome" to watch on the computer. I thought it was a little cheesy, but it helped pass the time. The scenery was beautiful, except for the flood of graffitti that seemed to cover a lot of buildings by the stations. I love the clothes and sheets, however, hanging from the windows. I think I need more coffee.

There are quite a few business men on the train making me believe they work in the city during the week and go home on weekends. It is not a short treck to the first station. Pretty soon we saw the water and my gosh! Bellissimo! We finally made it to La Spezia, but had to get off for our last train into Levanto. This is much easier said than done. We had to get our tickets stamped, so had to get in a big line and ended up missing a train. Once we got to the platform, we got on a "finished" train thinking it was ours. Luckily, an Italian gentleman told us and we got on the correct one. Who knows where we would have ended up. After a quick call to the hotel, we arrived with the shuttle van waiting for us. We arrived at our hotel at 7:15 p.m. So, for those who are counting, it took us a long time to get here, but sooo worth it!
Just in the quick ride, I thought we were going to have an accident. The streets are too narrow for two cars to get through. Then, when you have a parked car to the mix, forgettaboutit! Matt talked about renting some scooters, which is the main mode of transportation around here, but I don't think driving on these roads is good for any type of transportation, especially since everything seems to be up a hill. Our hotel is way up and around quite a few bends.

We finally unloaded our gear and went down to the restaurant for dinner. In Italy, they do not eat until about 8 p.m., so we were right on time. We had our first pasta dish of the trip - tagliatelle noodles with squid. I thought it was a bit bland. Matt's lasagna noodles with pork was fair, he said. For the second course, I had salmon, which was fair. Matt had the lobster which was fair. So, not too impressed thus far with the cuisine. It was hard to stay awake any longer, so we called it a day.

Italy Trip - Day One

2011-06-09T11:43:00.006-05:00

From Minneapolis - Of course it is quite the accomplishment just to get out the door and not forget something. It was a big day since Troy was finishing Kindergarten and I was leaving my big case behind. However, that was all behind us as we closed the garage door and we started making our way down to Monroe. The treck down was uneventful for the most part. Then, we hit the Wisconsin Dells and the sky turned purple. We thought it best to stop at Becky's house, Matt's sister, to ride out the storm. It all worked out well that we could see her new house and her fiance, Mickey. Finally, at about 10 p.m., we headed back out on the road to Monroe to finish the trip. We arrived late and found Val waiting to make sure we were safe. Many trees were down from the storm and some houses were without power. Anyway, after a bit of drama from the kids, they were finally down and eventually so were the grown-ups.

Thursday - I got a bit of a sleep in, but woke up to the kids very excited to play with Grandma's toys, the new scenery and Grandma. After re-packing my bag and making my toiletries just so in the clear plastic bags, there was time to visit with Jen (Matt's other sister), our nephew Wyatt and our new nephew, Briar. The kids were very excited to see Wyatt, Troy especially. Troy and Emma both got to hold Briar. We then realized what we forgot - Troy's school called asking about his attendence. We forgot to call them to let them know he would not be there for the last day of the school year. Everyone else knew, but not offiically, I guess. I then got my own little cuddle with Briar and then we were off to Chicago.

The drive down to Chicago O'Hare was uneventful as was boarding the plane. The people-watching at airports is always quite entertaining, even more so when you add in different cultures and dialects. Matt and I sat in the aisle of different rows which worked out well so he was guaranteed the opportunity to lean back in his seat for adequate leg room. Movie choices galore - I chose the King's Speech again; great movie! We sat next to a group of 19 from Sparta High School, near La Crosse, Wisconsin. They were going on a treck from Spain into Italy.

My fortuitous thoughts of the food running out right before me came true, but since the nice girl next to me took the fish, I got the last chicken. Is this trivial? Yes, but we had a laugh because this always happens to me. After a bit of sleep, I encountered a language course on the in-flight entertainment. English to Italian was an option and I was able to go through common phrases and words with a quiz at the end! A pretty good and uneventful flight as Thursday wrapped up. We arrived at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam at midnight, Central US time and 7 a.m. European time.

HELLO FROM ITALY!!

2011-06-09T11:39:00.002-05:00

I am going to try and cover part of our trip while we are away so I do not forget to afterward. This done mainly for my father who keeps reminding me that I only hae two days of my 10 day trip to Australia up from last year. (I still plan on getting to it, dad.)

The only thing you will hopefully have to wait for are the pictures, since I am not able to upload anything right now. So, just imagine what they may look as you read and I will repost them later when I get home. I promise! :)

Emma's Dress Rehearsal - Bouncy The Clown

2011-05-14T21:07:00.002-05:00

The end of the school year is near and that means end of the year activities. Emma's final dance recital was put on at the Bloomington Jefferson High School nearby. Emma has been taking tap for most of the year and has really enjoyed it. There are roughly 10 girls ranging from ages 2-3. We were not allowed to take any pictures or video from the final recitals (I did get in trouble.) Therefore, what is attached is from her dress rehearsal. The sound and image are not the best, but you generally get the idea. Until next year...

HAPPY EASTER 2011

2011-04-21T22:32:00.000-05:00

I think this was the best trip to see the Easter Bunny that I can remember. Both kids were very excited and very willing to put on their Easter outfits. It is too bad the weather was not a little nicer. We had snow yesterday. Yes, I know it is April 21st. Has anyone heard of Global Warming? Not me.

Happy Easter, Everyone!

PROJECT BASEMENT - Day Two

2011-04-12T22:43:00.004-05:00

Day two looks even more promising as the wall goes up from the stairs, closing off access to the new guest room. The second picture is of the closet that goes in the guest room. The third picture is of our new hallway!! Yes, I am excited about the hallway. Lastly, is our new bathroom with shower. The bathroom is the first room off the hallway when you come down the stairs. The next door on the same wall goes to the furnace, water softener, water heater, storage, etc.

PROJECT BASEMENT - Day One

2011-04-11T22:34:00.003-05:00

The Merry Mehlbrech's are finishing their basement!

Day one showed many changes. As you can see, the wall on the stairway has been cut into for easier maneuvering of furniture. This will be capped off and made all pretty. The second picture is a new door way that will go into the new guest room.

Dancing Princess (as opposed to Dancing Queen)

2011-04-09T20:28:00.000-05:00

I know I need to back track on my posts, but I wanted to put this out there right away.
Emma has her dance recital soon and just recently got her costume. As you can see, it has her two favorite colors in it. So, if she could have it her way, she would wear it all of the time. She was shy about it, but eventually did her Mr. Sun dance for her dad. Her actual dance is to a song called, Bouncy the Clown.
We start the rehearsals next week with the final recitals on Friday, May 13th and Saturday, May 14th.
If anyone thinks they are able to make it, please let me know and I will pick up tickets.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T14:19:00.050-06:00

Matt and I went out for dinner and a movie to celebrate this year's Valentine's Day. At Masa, we had a great mexican feast - www.masa-restaurant.com/. We then made our way over to Edina to see "The King's Speech.". The movie was really good.

During the day, however, the kids helped me try out a new cupcake recipe. The recipe was for strawberry banana cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting. They turned out great and I thought I would share the recipe with you to try.

Cupcakes

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup of white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
1 teaspon of baking soda
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspon of vanilla
1 cup of mashed bananas (about 2 bananas) and
1 cup macerated strawberries (just puree them in a blender)

Cream butter and sugar. mix in eggs, yogurt, flour, baking soda and vanilla. Stir in bananas and strawberries until combined. Full cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Frosting

1/4 cup butter (room temperature)
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese (room temperature)
1/2 cup strawberries (pureed in blended)
3 to 4 cups of powdered sugar (I used 4)

Cream butter and cream cheese. Mix in the strawberries. Add the powdered sugar to the taste and consistency you prefer. Then cover your cupcakes and enjoy!

SUPERBOWL SUNDAY

2011-02-06T13:55:00.002-06:00

Matt did not want to have a party since the Vikings were not in the Superbowl, but we still had a good spread of Australian Sausage Rolls, Chili and some other good eats. The Green Bay Packers were taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers, teams we were both quite familiar with. The kids dressed up in their black and yellow to support the Steelers. Troy, wearing a Vikings jersey like his father, was waving his terrible towel. We cheered for the Steelers, but they ended up losing in what was a really enjoyable and close game.

Next year it will be unlikely that we will get to any games since the Vikings stadium is well, sunk. There may not be a season anyway with the potential lockout, so hopefully the Vikings can get their act together and take advantage of the time to build a new and improved stadium. We just hope they do not move away.

If You Give A Moose A Muffin....

2011-02-05T10:25:00.001-06:00

We went to see the children's play, "If You Give A Moose A Muffin" a couple of weekends ago. I won the tickets in a silent auction for Stages Theatre Company out of Hopkins, MN. The kids loved it since there was a lot of audience participation and most of the characters in the play were children ages 10 and up.
They sat really well for the most part and Troy was so enamoured that he took his program up to the kids afterwards to get their autographs. He told the main actor that his favorite part was when he gave the moose his muffin.
We have a couple of more plays to see before the season is over. Look out for details on our next play, "Pinkalicious" coming soon!

Adelyn's 2nd Birthday

2011-01-29T12:41:00.001-06:00

I had the opportunity to make a cake for our neighbor's gorgeous little girl, Adelyn. There was no theme, but the invitations and plates she was going to have were very colorful. Therefore, I came up with the following cake.

I did have help with this one. Troy and Emma told me which color I needed to insert next. They also loved playing with the left over stars and balls. Emma likened it to playing with playdough!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Addie!

Grandma Zee's Birthday Party

2011-01-24T12:04:00.000-06:00

The party for Grandma Zee went great! We had it down in the Recreation Center Room located at City Hall. There were a few things there for the kids to play on and keep them occupied, so that helped tremendously. The funny thing about the day was my grandmother. She had her lunch and kept asking when we were going to have cake. It was about every 5 minutes or so. She has such a sweet tooth!
We eventually cut the cake.

Rewind to the night before - I was not in a good state. The bottom tier had to be made three times! The first time I had tried to shape the cake and it started to fall apart. The second time the cakes had not cooled enough and fell apart. So, it is the night before we have to leave and I am up all night making cakes!

There was a lot to this cake. The flowers had milk chocolate centers. I have been trying to learn more about molding chocolate, etc. and I thought this would be a nice accent. The end result was worth it since she loved her cake!

The bottom tier was chocolate fudge cake with peanut butter mousse. This is the most popular. However, I tried a new flavor for the top tier. Lemon cake with lemon curd for the filling turned out to be a big hit!

My mother came all the way over from Australia and my Uncle John came down from Alaska for her birthday, so they were able to try out my cakes for the first time as well. The trip was quick, but definitely packed with activties. We were all exhausted going home on Sunday.

Happy 92nd Birthday, Grandma Zee!

GEARING UP!

2011-01-22T02:27:00.001-06:00

We are getting ready for Grandma Zelma's 92nd birthday party! Stay tuned for more photos after the weekend.

The Handiest of Husbands

2011-01-07T19:46:00.000-06:00

Our latest project in the house has been the guest bathroom. Matt had the last week of the year off, so we had Andy (our floor guy) and his crew come in to put in the new tile just after Christmas. Matt then went to town painting, putting in a new vanity and plumbing, new wainscoting, a chair rail, new light fixtures and soon to be mirror and towel bars. It was great when Matt finally stood back to see all that he had done and was very happy with the end result. The towel bar and mirror will hopefully go in this weekend to finish off the room.

BEFORE -

AFTER -

HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2010

2011-01-01T19:12:00.000-06:00

Have a fun and safe holiday from the Merry Mehlbrechs!

Scrapbooking with Troy

2010-12-30T19:13:00.032-06:00

Troy and I had some mother/son time on Thursday. He has been on winter break since the Thursday before Christmas, therefore I decided to take off of work to spend time with him. We had just the activity to do together, SCRAPBOOKING!

Troy received some legos for Christmas and he wanted to make a book of all of his creations. So, we decided to add pages to his scrapbook with them. We went to Archivers in the Mall Of America. You can buy and take some of your tools inside the store to create pages, etc. while you are there. Troy picked out some stickers and paper specific to Star Wars and Lego. We then went into the back room to plan our pages. Troy was a huge helper and really knew what he wanted to do. He did all of the cutting and the majority of the gluing. We left the store with the pages all ready. We just needed to print out our pictures at home.

We had so much fun with the project that he is talking about scrapbooking other toys as well.

How to Make a Gingerbread House

2010-12-22T19:50:00.003-06:00

Matt and I volunteered at Troy's school for the holiday party. When we arrived, we found out the kids were going to make gingerbread houses. Troy's teacher, Mrs. Kunkel, had thought of everything. She had us lay out different candies (lollies) and marshmallows on the table, a tub of icing and graham crackers. She then showed the kids a variety of gingerbread house pictures as examples so they could see how to decorate the roof, the sides, and even the yard outside. You could tell their creative juices were flowing!

Kids started by covering an old small milk carton with graham crackers using icing as glue! They then used their imagination and put m&ms, tootsie rolls, candy canes, life savers, etc. all over their houses. A few candies made their way into their mouths which was all apart of the fun. We had a great time with them.

EMMA - The Tap Dancer

2010-12-13T20:05:00.000-06:00

Last week, Emma came out of her first tap class saying she had so much fun. Now in her second class, she is definitely listening more and trying to learn the routine. She came home singing some of the songs and wanted to put her tap shoes back on, so I take that as a good sign. Her recital is in May, so we have a lot of time to practice. NOTE: I would recommend turning the background noise off.

The Star Wars Story - According to Troy

2010-12-05T09:56:00.000-06:00

NOTE: Troy has been rather enamoured of Star Wars lately. He brought home a Star Wars book from his school library this week, so that may have sparked the following story.

Once there was a spaceship. The people were going to destroy Darth Vader at the station where the storm troopers were. Once they were ready to attack a storm trooper, a guy got out of the spaceship with his light saber. He started fighting the storm trooper and killed him, breaking him into pieces.

They flew back to a restaurant but bad people were there, so they went into the restaurant. The man went in. He "zirked" [according to Troy, this is the sound of a light saber] the storm trooper and he was dead. His friends came over and went in with him. They were seated and were ready to eat good. They ate and they ate, because fighting bad guys makes you hungry! They went back to the spaceship and got in. They drove back home to their planet but a storm trooper surprised them and took a light saber!

TO BE CONTINUED....

AUSTRALIA - DAY TWO [PART ONE]

2010-10-27T08:24:00.001-05:00

Today was going to be the day we were heading to Australia. This time we had tickets through Delta and they do not travel out of San Francisco, so we had tickets to fly out of San Fran to Los Angeles early afternoon. Emma and I took our time getting up. We had to be out of the room by 11 a.m., but did not have to be to the airport until 1 p.m. I asked the front desk how much it would be to take a cab into the city and have a tour before heading to the airport. She made a call and came back with a flat rate. I couldn't believe how reasonable it was, so I told her to BOOK IT!

Emma and I had a quick breakfast and the driver was waiting for us. He put our luggage in and away we went! Talk about making lemonade out of lemons...best decision I made. This cab driver was great! The San Francisco Giants had just made it into the World Series, which was to be played there that night! He started by taking us by the stadium. It was crazy around there with the media. He then took us by the Bay Bridge. We saw some cable cars and he then took us to Pier 39 where all of the Sea Lions are! He dropped us off and Emma and I went running! So much to do around there and we could hear the Sea Lions calling! It was great! You could also see Alcatraz from this point! We got our pictures and we were off back to the cab.

He then took us by the Fisherman's Wharf. I remembered being there as a child, but could not recall much else. Then, he took us towards the Golden Gate Bridge. I was busy taking pictures from the car and had no idea he was taking us to some of the best look out points! We got right in with the buses and we got our shots. We got back into the cab and away we went! What else was there to look at? By this time, I couldn't believe our luck by getting this exclusive tour. He then started taking us up some pretty steep streets. Before we knew it, we were at the top of the windiest road in America! He took us all the way down and then pulled over at the bottom so we could get some photos.

Lastly, he took us through Little Italy, Chinatown, and every other "good" area you could imagine. All of the restaurants were making my mouth water. By this time, we had seen basically all of San Francisco and ready to go to the airport. When he dropped us off, we had been on tour for 2 hours! This was perfect, especially with a little person who doesn't like to spend a long time looking at bridges and windy roads, etc. This made our little pit stop all worth it.

We checked in at the airport and headed to L.A.

AUSTRALIA - DAY ONE

2010-10-27T07:53:00.001-05:00

Emma and I were lucky to leave Minnesota when we did. The weather was horrible and the cold flurries were coming in. Luckily we were heading west to San Francisco, so the weather would not effect us. We found out from the captain on the flight that other planes were grounded and were not allowed into Minneapolis/St. Paul due to the bad weather.

On our trip, Emma decided to take a friend on board with us - George. George was on an adventure from Emma's school. The kids take turns with George, each one taking him for a weekend of adventures and documenting them with pictures to show the class. George has had more of an adventure than we ever thought possible.

We made it to San Francisco in good time. The down side - the waiting. Flights to Australia do not leave until late at night, so we had a good 6 hours to kill in the domestic terminal. We found out early on that flying business class on stand by was out of the question. Children apparently need to be 8 years or older. This made our chances of getting on stand by decrease considerably. With hardly any place to go and no Starbucks to be found, we found many interesting things to do to occupy our time and keep us awake.

As the time neared to board the plane, there were a ton of people. As the staff started to set up for the flight, I was treated very rudely when I asked about the status of stand by passengers. Odds of getting on...plummeting. Closer to take off time, we were told there were 40 passengers waiting to get on stand by and not everyone would get on....plummeting lower. The rudeness continued. After everyone was boarded, they called two elderly couples to get on and stand by was complete. We did not get on the flight...plummeting complete.

Luckily, my fantastic husband was at home with his trigger finger just waiting to click accept on two tickets to Sydney for the next day. There was light at the end of the tunnel. Now, we just had to go back and get our back from the baggage claim and find a hotel. By this time, it was 11 p.m. Pacific Time, 1 p.m. Central Time.

We finally got our bag off of the baggage claim and Matt had reserved a hotel for us. Now, a cab ride over proved to be interesting when the driver had no clue where to go. However, we made it.

By the time we got in the room and got Emma into bed, it was 12:30 a.m. Pacific Time, 2:30 a.m. Central Time. My gorgeous girl did great and that really helped me keep my sanity. Cost effectiveness was out the window by this point, but I knew we were definitely getting on a flight to Sydney, so that eased my mind.

AUSTRALIA - THE PLAN

2010-10-26T07:39:00.004-05:00

Our plan was to visit Australia back in August. Matt's sister was getting married during the time we would have been in Oz, so we decided to push it back to October. This time we had been offered certificates to fly over through a friend. Troy had a week off for fall break. The whole thing was going to be cost effective and the timing was great!

Emma and I were going to leave on October 12th with the boys leaving on October 13th. This would make our chances of flying standby better. The weekend before, however, we found out that flights were oversold and the planes overpacked. We were not going to be able to go during this time. God had other plans...

My trial, originally scheduled for October 25th, was pushed. This allowed Emma and I to head over by ourselves. We could not take Troy out for another two weeks on top of his other week off. Well, we could have, but did not want him missing that much school. Flights were opening up around this time as well, therefore it was still cost effective. Or so we thought...

The End to Soccer

2010-09-29T23:00:00.000-05:00

Troy has had an interesting go of soccer. He did not fair too well in the beginning, but as the weeks have gone by, he has gotten better with each practice or game. The bad episodes have gotten smaller and now he has been able to stay in most of each game.

What he does not realize is that he is really good! He is a great runner and can really kick the ball. My favorite line is from last week when Troy was on defense. The other team was trying to score a goal and Troy kicked the ball out of bounds. We were so excited for him and cheering. He said, "Did I save the town?" I told him, "No, buddy, you saved the city!" He was so excited.

His old teachers, Miss Heather and Miss Stephanie, came to watch him this week. He loved having them there cheering him on. Saturday is his last game and I am kind of happy it will be over since he is in Gymnastics and Swimming as well. I compare the number of activities to Troy's comment to me this afternoon, "Mom, my brain is out of juice."

Corporate Cakes

2010-09-25T13:52:00.000-05:00

I have a lot to add to the blog for last month, but I wanted to get this on here now.

My work had a dessert pot luck contest this past week. I decided I was going to bring in a cake, but it couldn't be just any old cake. It had to be pretty spectacular since there were prizes involved!

The firm I work for has the tiger as their mascot. Yes, I even have one on my business cards. I thought by doing a tiger themed cake with the firm logo, I would get me some extra points. So, I started to design the cake. Matt had some good ideas to incorporate the tiger stripes with the firm logo.

The cake itself is two 10-inch round chocolate fudge cakes. The inside is a peanut butter mousse...which is to die for! Well, the results turned out great.

The good news is that I won first prize! A $75 gift card to William-Sonoma. The cakes were judged on appearance, taste and creativity. I have also had some inquiries about possible side jobs from people at work. Either way, I enjoy doing it.

RECIPE: BLUE CHEESE BEEF TENDERLOIN

2010-09-04T14:59:00.001-05:00

I found a great recipe for Beef Tenderloin. This was submitted on allrecipes.com, one of my favorite new sites. I tried to post it on my new facebook page - "Constantly Cakes," but it was too long. Therefore, it is here for all of you to enjoy.

Ingredients:
1 (3 pound) whole beef tenderloin
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
1/2 cup red wine, and
2 gloves garlic, chopped

Place the beef in a shallow dish. Combine teriyaki sauce, red wine (I used cooking red wine) and garlic (I used the mince garlic you can get in the grocery store); pour this over beef. Allow the beef to marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minute.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C)

Place beef on a broiler pan and cook in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and cook for 30 minutes more, or to desired doneness. (This comes out medium. For medium rare, try for 20-25 minutes). Let the beef set for 10 minutes before slicing.

Blue Cheese Sauce

4 oz. blue cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2/3 cup sour creap
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
In a saucepan over low heat, combine blue cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream and Worcestershire sauce. Stir until smooth; serve over sliced tenderloin.

The flavor from this is fantastic. Enjoy!

CAMPING

2010-08-07T15:05:00.013-05:00

Camping is one of my least favorite activities. So, when Matt bought a tent, I was not too thrilled. We have not had a chance to really go camping this summer, so in order to get some use out of the tent, and I guess a little adventure, Matt decided to put it up in our back yard.

The first weekend in August, Matt and both kids decided to camp out in the back yard. I am not sure who got more sleep, but I was so worried with all of the wild life in our backyard. The kids did not seem worried at all, nor Matt. However, at 4:30 a.m., I received a knock on my bedroom door. It was Troy, who proceeded to crawl in bed with me. That was about it for camping this summer.

Friends have a spot they go to off the lake, which is very nice. We might try that next year. MIGHT is the key word.

Troy's "PUMP-IT-UP" Birthday Party

2010-07-31T23:42:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Troy's 5th birthday with his friends from school at "PUMP IT UP!" It is a place filled with huge bounce houses and slides. The kids had a great time and the adults seemed to have a good time as well! The kids had 40 minutes in one room. Then 40 minutes in another room. Who knew there were so many bounce houses out there?? The last 40 minutes was for the party room, where Troy had his own blown up thrown, crown and sceptor to open his presents.

Troy has been asking for a castle cake with Toothless, the dragon

from the movie, "How to Train a Dragon." Who am I to say no to a challenge? We were able to use some of the same pillars from Emma's cake and change them around a bit, which saved A LOT of time. We came out with the result below. The cake was a huge hit! Matt was a big help, especially with the dragon.

Grandma and Grandpa Mehlbrech (Bob & Val) came up especially for the party, along with Matt's sister, Becky. It was great having them here for it, and I know it meant a lot to Troy. Thanks, guys!

That is it for us for birthday's this year. I am always up for the opportunity to take on an order or two, but no takers yet. Matt would have a fit! I love doing it, though.

Mehlbrech Family Pictures

2010-07-31T21:57:00.000-05:00

We just had family pictures taken with Jen Taylor, a fantastic photographer, out of the Twin Cities.
We had our pictures taken last fall with her and some of those you would have seen on our Christmas cards.
Anyway, we had summer photos taken this time. I can not wait for the rest!

Check out our initial set of pictures on:
http://jentaylorphotography.com/blog/troy-and-emma-minneapolis-family-photographer/

They are fantastic!!

Troy - 5 Years Old

2010-07-27T00:17:00.001-05:00

Troy is 5 years old! It is so hard to believe that he will be heading off to Kindergarten soon, but he is ready. He can hardly wait and asks every day if it is time for his new school. I can wait a little longer...it seems like yesterday he was taking his first step.

Height: Approx. 46 inches tall

Weight: Approx 50 pounds!

Hair Color: Strawberry blond
Eye Color: Blue
Favorite Foods: Chicken Nuggets, Strawberries and Grandma's Sweet Corn

Favorite Colors: Blue

Favorite Activities: Playing with Legos

Favorite Animal: Elephant

Favorite Movie: Hero of the Rails and Dinosaur Train

Favorite Characters: Lightning McQueen and Toby the Train

Favorite Items: Alien Dog
Language: Troy speaks a bit of spanish with me, but we are working on it.

EMMA - 3 Years Old

2010-07-24T10:42:00.005-05:00

I can not believe I am even typing 3 years old. Time sure does go fast. Emma just celebrated her third birthday and I thought I would tell you some of her favorites and facts.

Height: Approx. 37 1/2 inches

Weight: Approx. 33 1/2 pounds

Hair: Curly/Wavy Ash blond hair

Eyes: Blue

Favorite Colors: Pink and Purple

Favorite Foods: Chicken nuggets and broccoli

Favorite Activity: Coloring with markers

Favorite Characters: Dora and Sleeping Beauty

Favorite Movie: Princess and the Frog

Favorite Items: Blanky and Pillow

Favorite Animal: Tiger (so she says)

Language: Emma's annunciation for different languages is very good. She was counting to ten in Swahili in school and does really well with Spanish at home.

Emma 's Princess Birthday Party

2010-07-18T17:24:00.011-05:00

We celebrated Emma's 3rd birthday at The Wisconsin Dells this past weekend. Emma had requested a Princess Dora Castle Cake. After seeing many castle cakes on various cake sites, I thought I was able to rise up to the challenge. I now know what is involved in getting a monsterous cake like that together. Let me just say it takes many layers and many days to get it to what it became. Starting with the cobblestone pathway on the bottom to the Princess Dora figurine, it was all a worthwhile process for a three-year-old princess.

Aside from the cake, we stayed at the Copa Cabana Resort again. The same place we had Troy's third birthday party. It worked so well then, we thought we would try it again. Friends and family came in from various places and it was a nice day outside for some water slides and fun. Thank you to everyone who made the trip up. You really made Emma's day extra special.

The weekend would not be complete if we had not gone to Mr. Pancake's House. This has become the ritual, I guess. One that I am definitely not complaining about.

A Night With Star Wars

2010-07-12T22:54:00.005-05:00

For our anniversary, I bought two tickets to "STAR WARS in Concert". I had heard so many good reviews and couldn't pass up hearing John Williams masterpiece in a live setting. Another great part about the concert was the museum portion. Displays showed movie costumes, head pieces, Chewbacca, Darth Vadar and the mold of Han Solo from Empire Strikes Back!

Matt even ran into some trouble with the storm troopers. I can not take him anywhere.

The show was fantastic! The laser show did not last too long, but the narration by Anthony Daniels, known to us as C3PO, made it that much more real. I highly recommend going if you are able to.

WORLD DOMINATION!!

2010-07-12T22:41:00.002-05:00

Matt thought he would teach Troy a new game over the weekend. I thought it was a little too grown-up for him, however Troy had perfect reasoning for choosing his color red. Red was good and black was evil. When asked why black was evil, he responded by saying "black is not a color in the rainbow." You can not argue with that logic.

Troy proceeded to dominate without Matt actually letting him win. That's my boy!

Happy Fourth of July!!

2010-07-06T22:42:00.003-05:00

We were in Monroe, Wisconsin for the Fourth of July fireworks. Unfortunately, after about 10-15 minutes, the weather decided to not cooperate and proceeded to pour with rain. We have been very fortunate in previous years, so I suppose we were due. Troy took off with a chair over his head and most people just ran for it! We luckily had some umbrellas. The fireworks kept booming all the way home. This is video we took of the beginning. Please excuse any singing and/or commentary.

Matt's Surprise Birthday Party

2010-07-05T16:42:00.002-05:00

We had planned on going to Monroe, Wisconsin for the 4th of July this year. With Matt's birthday falling on a Saturday, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get the gang in from Milwaukee for a surprise party for Matt. With much help from Nick (friend of Matt's from college) and Val (Matt's mum), we were able to pull off a great surprise!

As you can see, Matt's cake was the Favre Viking's Jersey. I thought this might be my last chance to ever do this cake, so I put my plan into action. Val did a great job making the cake, the cookies-n-cream filling (YUM!) shaping and frosting the cake. Thank you so much, Val!

TEE-BALL

2010-06-30T23:23:00.005-05:00

Troy was finally old enough to play tee-ball this summer. An adult has to go with him though and they actually have a lot of kids involved. It appears they go in rotation, so a group does field practicing, while another does batting and another runs the bases.

Emma and I caught a little bit of the action last week. Catch Troy in action with his ground balls!

As for the fall, Troy will finally be old enough for Soccer. Matt has already signed him up and has been very eager. Troy and Emma will both head back to Gymnastics and hopefully more swim lessons. Troy has also been asking when it is going to snow again so he can go back to skiing. I told him that it better not snow any time soon, I want to enjoy my summer!

Enjoy your Fourth of July Holiday if you are in the States!

Happy Father's Day!!

2010-06-20T14:12:00.004-05:00

We have had a nice Father's Day. The kids decorated their own cards for Matt. Troy even drew him a special picture. Matt received some grilling tools and a new hat for his big noggin.
We then went for brunch in the Mall of America. Restaurant "Crave" was really organized for the event today and the kids ate for free. We couldn't ask for me.

We went and saw Toy Store 3 last night. The movie was great and the kids loved it! I knew Buzz and Woody were going to be at the mall today, so we headed over that way to get in line after brunch. The kids were very well behaved and waited patiently. Buzz and Woody flew all the way from Disney World to see us! They were so excited. We got home and they both crashed.

Matt's dad, Bob, and our nephew, Wyatt, have dropped in to stay overnight on their way back to Wisconsin. It's a good day for Matt to spend with his dad.

Swimming Lessons

2010-06-19T10:36:00.004-05:00

Troy and Emma started their swimming lessons this morning. They were so excited!! They both did a great job. Troy had no troubles putting his face in the water and kept wanting to swim on his own. We lucked out with a private lesson and their teacher, Miss Emma, did a great job with them. Troy even wanted to get back in for "more fun!"

Our New Fireplace

2010-06-12T14:26:00.004-05:00

When we moved into the house, you can see by the pictures, the walls were basically white. The trim was a neutral wood color and there was carpeting in the family room you see here.

The only covering over the windows were cheap plastic blinds.
Now, you can see the walls have been painted. The trim has all been changed and painted white. There are white wooden blinds, brown drapes and silver rods. And, wooden floors have replaced all of the carpet.

The final item seemed to be the fireplace. The one we had was not functional. In fact, we found out early on that it was leaking gas. At the time, we decided to just turn off the gas and have been living with the fireplace covered up by our media stand.

The new fireplace is now in place and fully functional. Through the process, we also found out the old fire place was not up to code. That is now taken care of. Looking back how the room used to be, you can see how much it has transformed in the three years we have lived here. Matt has done a great job pulling all of this together.

Troy's Kindergarten Ice Cream Social

2010-06-05T09:59:00.004-05:00

We received an invitation to the Sioux Trail Kindergarten Ice Cream Social on June 1st. This was a way for the new kids to meet some of their new friends, the parents to ask questions, and finally to meet Mrs. Kunkel, Troy's new Kindergarten Teacher.

I was amazed at the diversity of his new class. Some of the kids, however, were only going to be in the half-day programs. Others that we met are going to be in Troy's full-day class.

Troy had fun playing blocks with his new friend, Reilley (I think that is how she spelled it). Chantelle, from his preschool class now, will be in his class as well.

The school currently has 16 kids in his class out of a maximum of 25.

Anyway, he asks everyday when he is going to his new school. He just can not wait to go to Kindergarten.

Memorial Day - Pittsburgh

2010-05-31T18:42:00.005-05:00

We made our way to Pittsburgh for the long weekend to attend a wedding of an old friend of ours. We arrived midday Saturday and headed to the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium right away. Since we have a zoo membership here at the Minnesota Zoo, we were able to get in for free at the Pittsburgh Zoo. So, not only was it free, but the weather was great and the zoo was fantastic!!

We also made our way past our old houses. Everything looked pretty much the same in Moon Township and the neighborhood looked great! My iris bulbs apparently started to come up and the new owners also put a fence around the big back yard!
I wish I could say the same for the first house we stayed in. We rented that one, but it appeared no one was renting it now. The shrubs were so overgrown, it was actually kind of sad.

The kids kept entertained by the hotel pool, which was a great attraction. With the warm weather, it was great! There were a lot of kids out as well.

Sunday afternoon we made our way over the bed and breakfast where the wedding and reception were to take place. It was great to see Jim, Isaac and Cheryl coming together as a family. Being at a bed and breakfast, it was quite a different wedding than we had been to before, but great, none-the-less. Who doesn't love the Pittsburgh tradition of cookies before cake?

We finally headed home on Monday. It was a great relaxing trip, one that we definitely needed.

Mummy's B'day

2010-05-12T10:38:00.000-05:00

I had a great birthday this year. I took off time from work to go see a baseball game with Matt. The weather was sooo cold, but we were able to walk around the new field and really get a look at all of the new attractions it offers. Joe was back to catching and our boys won the game!

That night the four of us went to a Hibachi dinner and came home to a spectacular cake decorated by the kids. It was the best "29th" birthday, take four!!

THE KIDS TAKE THE FIELD!!

2010-05-09T20:12:00.003-05:00

Happy Mother's Day - 2010!

2010-05-09T19:48:00.006-05:00

We had a great Mother's Day! The kids bought me some beautiful tulips, we had brunch at my favorite place and to top it all off, we all went to a Minnesota Twins baseball game! We had great seats, thanks to a woman from work, the weather was great, and Joe Mauer was back in the starting lineup!

All Troy talked about was catching a ball with his mitt. All Emma could talk about was T.C. the Bear. It was a great game! The Orioles knew they were in trouble. We had a lot of action over our way and the boys won 6-0 over the Baltimore Orioles! Our neighbors to the left mentioned the kids being able to run the bases on Sundays. So, we asked around and ended up in line at the end of the game to take the field!!

Troy was so excited he could hardly contain himself. He kept telling us he was excited. You could tell Matt was excited as well.

Once we got the okay and the rules (no running on the grass and no sliding) the kids were off!! Emma held her own against some of the older boys and wanted to keep on running! Troy had a great time too. Troy is already talking about catching some great fly balls as a Twins player some day. So, we better get to practicing!

Thank you to my three for a great Mother's Day! Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there as well.

Troy's Story For School

2010-05-05T09:36:00.002-05:00

Troy and Emma have a calendar full of activities for their school. On this particular day, they had to write a story or tell a story of their own. Here is what Troy wrote:

Once upon a time, there was a dinosaur named Mya. She was a Stegasaurus. She had a friend named Hailee (friend from class) who was a long neck, or a bronchiasaurus.
One day they met up to eat some plants and ran into a Tyranasaurus Rex. His name was Aidan (another friend from class), and he was a nice T.Rex. He wanted to eat plants with Mya and Hailee. All of a sudden it started to rain, so they ran into a tunnel. In there, they ran into a baby bat. His name was Nathan (another friend from class). It rained for a long time. The the rain dried up and the sun came out. Nathan wanted to eat plants with them too, but he didn't like them. He spit them out. Then he found the fruit trees and gobbled up the fruit.
The four friends with full bellies were very thirsty and headed to the pond for a nice drink. On their way, they ran into a nest of eggs. They had baby Triceratops in them. The eggs started to move and crack and the new baby Triceratops came out. They moved very fast and close to the four friends hoping to play with them at the pond. Nathan, the baby bat, did not go because he didn't want to get lost in the water.
When the other friends got to the pond, Earah (another friend from class), an Ankylosaurus was already there, but too busy eating plants to say hello to the new group of dinosaurs. Before she could say hi, they walked away and even after trying to find them, they had gone far far away.
Another Ankylosaurus named Adam (another friend from class), was on his way to see Earah when he ran into Mya, Hailee, Adam and the Triceratops babies. He told the dinosaurs to wait for Earah. They said, "Sure she can come with us!"
When the bushes started to move, Matthew (another friend from class) another Ankylosaurus came out to the group and said, "Can I join your group?" The rest of the group said, "Sure you can come!" So they all walked to the dinosaur museum and they saw a lot of bones like them. They liked seeing the dinosaurs that looked like them.
A long neck named Troy was already at the museum looking at all of the bones of the dinosairs that looked like him. The group saw Troy and said, "Come and join us for a milkshake!" Troy smiled and said, "Okay, I like milkshakes." So all of the dinosaurs trampled down the stairs and sat down for a nice milkshake and then went home.

The Infamous Cake

2010-04-15T10:17:00.004-05:00

My book club was having a baby shower/russian themed meet-up in April. Three of the women were pregnant at the time. So, I volunteered to make a cake for the meeting. Let's just say everything seemed to go wrong, whether it was with the fondant being too hard, or one egg short, etc.

My catastrophe with the cake ended up working out for the best. The kids had a great time decorating the bad cake with all of my left over fondant. I, on the other hand, found a great cake at Sam's Club to decorate with some of my fondant. WIN/WIN!!!
The pictures I think tell the story well.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

2010-04-03T19:34:00.000-05:00

We had a great Easter! The kids hunted for eggs around the house and even needed a little help from Grandpa. We then headed to a really nice mass filled with beautiful music and bells. The next part, however, was my favorite - BRUNCH! We took Bob and Val to one of our new favorite finds near Lake Calhoun. The restaurant puts on a yummy brunch filled with an omelet station, meat station, gorgeous table spread, mimosa's and an unbelievable dessert table. I hope this is a tradition that continues...

Easter Activities

2010-04-02T19:11:00.001-05:00

This year we did things a little different for Easter. We started the weekend with an Easter Egg Hunt at the Eagan Community Center. The kids had a great time running and climbing through "THE BLAST! " We then headed over to Gymnastics where we ran into Val and Bob, who came up for the festivities.

Getting Ready For Easter!

2010-04-02T17:39:00.000-05:00

The kids were very excited to dye eggs this year for Easter. So excited, they did not quite understand the process of cooking the eggs first, letting them cool down, and then dying them. They were quite impatient with me. Emma wanted to make every egg pink. Troy would have dyed each egg every color if we would have let him. In any event, they had a great time and are understanding the meaning and fun of Easter even more as year passes.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T19:12:00.004-05:00

A Look Into Troy's Imagination

2010-03-14T17:08:00.004-05:00

Troy wrote a story yesterday, so I thought I would share it with you.

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Troy. He loved dinosaurs! One day, Troy found a dinosaur. It was a spike-tailed Stegosaurus! It was a bad, bad meateater who liked to eat the good Stegosaurus'. That was his lunch. So he ran as fast as he could into the bushes until he found one. He crashed his tail onto the good Stegosaurus and then he died.
The bad Stegosaurus walked away and saw a big, big T-Rex. The T-Rex took him to Dr. Spike, who loved Stegosaurus'. He took his temperature, but he didn't wake up. When he got some celery, he woke up! The T-Rex and the Stegosaurus became friends and walked away to their home.
Troy walked to the dinosaur island, but did not see any dinosaurs. Then he tip-toed through the bushes and found the dinosaurs. A big silver engine whooshed past them suddenly. His name was Spencer! Spencer saw the dinosaurs also and hid behind the bushes they could not see him. He yelled to Troy, " Climb on board, I will save you from the dinosaurs! " Troy responded, "No! No! They are my friends!" Then Spencer whoosed away.
THE END

Troy was very dramatic when he was telling me, and I found it very hard to keep up with him while writing. He did a great job though, combining his two favorite things - Trains and Dinosaurs.

HOCKEY - MINNESOTA WILD!!

2010-03-14T16:58:00.005-05:00

A friend of mine gave me her club seats for the NHL Hockey game the other night. Matt was in town, so we were fortunate to be able to use them! We invited some familiar faces. Minnesota scored early, so it wasn't an extremely exciting game. However, Matt and I had not been to a Wild game since we have moved here, so it was fun to be in new surroundings. The Excel Center is much nicer than Mellon Arena, in Pittsburgh.

So, it was a good night out with the boys!

Homework and Sticker Charts

2010-03-07T16:49:00.000-06:00

For the past few weeks the kids have been doing various chores to get certain toys that they have been wanting. This worked really well to potty train Troy and it seems to be working now.

As you can see, Troy has various things he needs to do to get stickers. These include doing his homework, eating his dinner, listening, etc. Emma does not have as many just yet, but we have really been working on the potty training, so that one has been the most important. In fact today Emma received her last sticker for going potty. So, she and Troy are now watching the Dora DVD she just won! She is doing really well on the potty, so here is hoping no more accidents!

Both kids are doing great with each of their tasks and we just hope it sticks now!

Father and Daughter

2010-02-19T21:45:00.004-06:00

Two and a half years later...

Happy Valentine's Day, Daddy!

2010-02-14T13:16:00.003-06:00

It is amazing how much money you save when you do these your self. The kids always love to help out as well. We hope everyone has had a great day celebrating love!

Troy's First Skiing Lesson

2010-02-13T22:24:00.004-06:00

We have a local ski hill not far from us called Buck Hill - www.buckhill.com. We have had a lot of snow lately, so I thought it might be worth looking into. I am glad I did, since they have many programs for children, namely the little buck classes for 4-6 year olds. Troy had his first class today in the little buck program. He has som difficulty at first, but he was going down the bunny hill by himself by the end of his lesson. Look at the little ski's!!

Everyone has to learn how to get up after a fall.

They started them slow, but he did great!

Troy had so much fun that he was ready to get on some ski lifts and go on some of the bigger hills. I tried to explain to him that we needed at least a few more lessons. I am glad he was finding this new sport fun, so now I will have someone to go skiing with. If you check out the site, they also have a tubing section that is to the right of this picture, but you have to be at least 5 years old. Oh well, something to look forward to next year.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-10T22:59:00.002-06:00

Love, Emma & Troy

PIZZA TIME!

2010-02-01T21:22:00.001-06:00

Over the past month or so, the kids pick a day and their favorite ingredients and we make pizzas! Troy tends to love cheese. Emma always likes sausage. I tend to like more diverse pizzas. This week was black bean, sweet red peppers, mushroom and pineapple. YUMMY! I love that they enjoy baking and cooking in the kitchen with me.

THE JOYS OF SLEDDING

2009-12-21T14:39:00.001-06:00

Happy Holidays...

2009-12-21T14:25:00.004-06:00

....from our home to yours.

2009 - Year in Review

2009-12-17T22:06:00.003-06:00

We have had quite a year. We started in Sydney, Australia. My mother and brother were over and experienced a true Minnesota winter. My grandma Zee turned 90 this year! Troy has developed a growing passion for exercise, while Emma can not do enough coloring. The house has gone through quite a change. We no longer have our "Vanilla" house; it has some color! We also had the first floor decked out in hardwood. Emma had her first and second hair cut this year. She also celebrated her second birthday with Dora's backpack. Troy's interest in cooking has grown and he loves helping me in the kitchen. We spent some time with Great Grandma and Grandpa Vondra. Matt celebrated his birthday - Transformers style! Troy also celebrated his birthday with Bumblebee. We attended our last Twins Baseball game in the Metrodome with Bob, Val, Wyatt and the Vondra family of Paul, Shannon, Kaeli and Isaac. We seemed to spend every other weekend at the lake this past summer. We just love it there! Matt and I were able to get away and have some adult time in Florida for Chad and Krista's wedding. Lastly, Troy was a knight for Halloween and Emma was a ghouly witch. WHAT A YEAR!

A big thank you to everyone for making it a blessed year for us. We hope you have a great Christmas holiday, and we hope we can see you all in the new year.

Love,
The Merry Mehlbrechs

2009-12-17T22:03:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Our Visit With Santa

2009-11-30T19:26:00.001-06:00

We had a great time at Thanksgiving with Bob, Val and Wyatt. The kids had no idea Wyatt was coming, so we loved their reaction.

Matt and I tried a few new recipes, courtesy of the food network. We had our usual apple pie from the Apple Orchard. The kids even watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade while we cooked. They are finally at that age where they were excited with the singing and dancing, and the huge balloons!

Val and I braved Black Friday, yet again. For getting up so early and dealing with crazy people, we have so much fun. My altercation with a woman in Wal-mart lead to some great memories and many laughs.

Finally, I was excited that the three kids could get together to have their photo with Santa. Troy was not feeling well, but was a trooper. Wyatt was a big help as well. It was just nice that Matt and I did not have to get in the picture this year.

I took video of the kids talking with Santa that I know I will keep watching for years to come.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

2009-11-27T21:39:00.002-06:00

Yummy!

My Two Rascally Rabbits

2009-11-02T19:59:00.006-06:00

I just received some of Troy and Emma's school pictures. They did quite well, if I do say so myself. Only a couple of cheesy, goofy smiles from Troy. Let me know if you want one of their pictures.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2009-10-31T21:37:00.005-05:00

TRICK-OR-TREAT! This was the first year we finally understood that saying. Troy wanted to dress up like Captain Hook for a long time, until he spotted a rather large sword at Target. From then on he was fascinated with being a knight. We found a costume on ebay and the rest is history. Emma was a little harder to buy for. It is frigidly cold here, so as much as we would love to be every princess, the dresses do not keep much heat. So, this witch costume was available and we covered her in tights, leggings, two undershirts, a cardigan...and it was still not enough.

Tonight it was 39 degrees farenheit, so many layers were needed.

We headed out with the wagon and a thick blanket. Emma did not last long and before we knew it she was in the wagon and covered up to her neck with the blanket. Troy kept running house to house..."mummy, which house is next?"

Emma and I headed back to the house after covering most of our street. Troy, on the other hand, couldn't get enough. So, he and Matt continued on.

They came back with quite a load of candy...more than any parent really wants their child to have. They had a lot of fun though. Enjoy the pics!

We will be posting more from recent events shortly.

GAP Casting Call

2009-10-26T22:11:00.002-05:00

GAP Casting Call Click on this link to go to the homepage for the GAP casting call. You can just type in "Mehlbrech" and it will take you to vote! You can vote for each picture every day. Tell your friends to vote! Tell them to tell their friends to vote!

Get Better Grandma!

2009-10-17T21:33:00.005-05:00

I am trying to post some recent video. Stay tuned...

FOLLOW-UP To SnowFall

2009-10-14T21:21:00.001-05:00

I think we received four inches in total. Kids down the street took advantage of the snow and made the first snowmen of the neighborhood. They stuck around for a few days.

As you can see, our turkeys were back as well. It has been a cold week, but next week is supposed to warm up quite a bit. I do not want to see this snow back for a long time!!

WINTER WEATHER UPDATE: Per FoxNews

2009-10-12T07:41:00.003-05:00

A minor winter storm is moving our way and flurries will start to fill the air by early Monday morning. By daybreak Monday the snow will be accumulating in the Twin Cities. This could mean wet and slushy roads during the morning commute. Snow is expected to accumulate mostly during the morning and taper off in the afternoon ending by evening. In the Metro we expect 2 to 3 inches. Wind won’t be much of a factor with this system and after the snow moves out clearing is expected Monday evening and Monday night.
A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect from 1 am Monday through 4 pm Monday and it extends from the Twin Cities to southwestern Minnesota. An area of snow from 3 to 5 inches is expected south of a line from New River, Wisconsin to Stillwater and on to Redwood Falls then down to Worthington. Since this zone includes the southern metro we could see areas from Burnsville to Eagan and Lakeville get around 3 to 4 inches of snow.
I would say it has already started accumulating....GRRRRR!

"Baby, it's cold outside...."

2009-10-10T19:27:00.005-05:00

kare11.com Twin Cities, MN First snow falls but more is on the way

Shared via AddThis

I hope I did this right and you can check out this article. We woke up to snow on the ground today, the earliest since 1985. Yeah, not happy. We were supposed to have family pictures taken outside, so those were canceled.
The kids had gymnastics also, but at least we did not have to go far. I got outside with Troy and he said, "It's as cold as a refrigerator outside!! Brrrr...."
Monday is supposed to be a bit colder with possible accumulation. Now, why did we move to Minnesota again?

Vikings v. Packers - October 5, 2009

2009-10-06T19:04:00.002-05:00

What a game!! We had a great time and we could not have asked for more! Favre had three touchdown passes, there were 8 sacks on the Green Bay Quarterback, and a safety in our Endzone! It was great to see Favre in action and for the team to do so well to beat the Packers!

The Packer fans were quite nice also. They were high-fiving us towards the end for a job well done. Merry Christmas Matthew!

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL - WHAT A GAME!!

2009-10-06T18:39:00.003-05:00

Introducing the MINNESOTA VIKINGS!!!

BIG SURPRISE!!

2009-10-03T00:21:00.002-05:00

It is late on Friday, October 2nd here. Matt and the kids are upstairs sleeping. What Matt does not know is that I was able to obtain some tickets to Monday nights big football game, the Green Bay Packers v. the Minnesota Vikings!! Matt and I went last year for his Christmas present and we had such a good time!

This year, with Brett Favre joining the Vikings, tickets were a little pricier than usual to see the big rivalry game. He currently thinks I was not able to get tickets. But, as the saying goes, I know a guy...

So, these pictures will be what Matt wakes up to tomorrow morning. A little scary, I know. However, he will hopefully be a little excited as well. SKOL Vikings!!!

P.S. Yes, I am still a Cowboy fan.

Gymnastics

2009-09-26T14:22:00.004-05:00

The kids started taking gymnastics this fall. The school is just down the street and they are having a great time! We are also meeting some new families.

Emma is in the mini-mites group, for boys and girls who are 2-years-old. Matt or I attend the class with her. Her favorite apparatus at the moment is the trampoline.

Troy is in the muscle-mites, a class strictly for 4 year-old boys. He is really doing well and loves jumping into the sponge pit. The class is every Saturday morning and it seems to help us just start the weekend. I am sure these pictures bring back a lot of memories for my parents.

Florida Trip: Day Four

2009-09-20T23:06:00.000-05:00

We finished up our last day going to the beach, reading by the pool, going miniature golfing and finally to Miller's Ale House to watch every football game known to man on various televisions.
We met up with Chad and Krista and other friends and family to eat greasy food and enjoy our time before heading back to Orlando.

We made it back to Orlando for our last evening out. Texas de Brazil came highly recommended and who doesn't love having men walk around with meat on a stick?? They asked me what kind of lamb I wanted - chops, leg or rack, and I responded..."all of them!" I thought it was the obvious answer. We had a great dinner and a great trip. It all had to end though as we made our way back to Chicago on Monday. It was great while it lasted. A big thanks to Bob and Val for watching the kids!

Florida Trip: Day Three - Part III

2009-09-19T22:00:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to Chad and Krista! The main reason we went down to Florida was to attend their wedding. Chad and I have been friends since freshman year of college. We met in an odd way and have been friends ever since.
They had a beautiful wedding and Krista's dress was gorgeous! It was great to share their wedding day with them.
BTW, these pictures come courtesy from other people at the wedding. I, of course, forget my camera at the main event.

Florida Trip: Day Three - Part II

2009-09-19T20:00:00.000-05:00

For those of you who know me, you know I hate NASCAR, a.k.a - car racing. However, it seemed kind of odd not going and checking out the most infamous race when it was right in front of us. It's huge! We were able to walk in and go up into the grandstand to see the track. These pictures were mainly for Becky, Matt's sister. So, enjoy! Becky, I have more if you want them.

Florida Trip: Day Three - Part I

2009-09-19T15:58:00.003-05:00

Saturday morning we made our way to the golf course near Daytona Beach. We worked out that I had not been golfing for over a year and boy did I have some work to do. The weather was nice and hot while we golfed the front nine.

Florida Trip: Day Two

2009-09-18T20:00:00.008-05:00

Friday, we drove to Marineland, which is between St. Augustine and Daytona. Here we got our first glimpse of the Atlantic, and I was in heaven! We then had our turn to swim with the dolphins. A big thank you to the team at Marineland. They were great and let us experience so many things with the dolphins. Phoebe is the beautiful dolphin in the pictures. She is 7 years old and was a good sport.

Florida Trip: Day One

2009-09-17T15:32:00.000-05:00

We flew into Orlando on Thursday, September 17th. It was nice and hot, but it was strange being in Orlando and not having the kids.
We made our way to Downtown Disney for a great seafood dinner, a Cirque du Soleil show and drinks at Pleasure Island. We had not really been to this area before since it is not really for children. However, it was nice to be able to do something we had not been able to do before.

"At the Car Wash..."

2009-09-07T13:59:00.008-05:00

It is really hard to find good help these days, so it appears it all depends on your technique. As you can see in the pictures, we use the one handed technique as well as the finger painting technique. If these work for you, please call 555-WASH!!

The End of Summer

2009-09-05T18:40:00.008-05:00

This is the last weekend that the "Africa" display is on at the Minnesota Zoo. So, we headed out early this morning and had a few good hours in the sun with the animals. We were not disappointed, it was a great day and the kids had a blast.

ARE YOU STILL THERE?

2009-09-05T13:30:00.002-05:00

We will be posting more shortly...

Troy's 4th Birthday

2009-08-03T23:26:00.003-05:00

More to come...

Troy & Emma

2009-07-21T14:22:00.001-05:00

Troy - 4 years old
Emma - 2 years old

Happy 31st Birthday Matt!

2009-07-03T15:52:00.000-05:00