Birthday Prep..

So my daughter, my sweet, ornery, cute, little daughter turned two today. Hard to believe that two years have already passed but she's been a true blessing. She's an absolute joy and I couldn't have asked for a better child. She has her moments - like we all do - but overall she's the most joyful happy child I know. Can't you tell??

As she turns two today, I've been in birthday preparation mode. You have to know me - I tend to over extend myself in these types of situations. I have grandiose ideas that takes me days to plan, prep and execute. With birthdays, it's generally the cake I over extend. I posted back in April how I was making this cake for my daughter.

So far this cake has turned into a week long project and -- well -- I haven't even begun to make the cake. But here's where I'm at. First here is the hand.

After pondering several thoughts on how to make this - I decided my best bet would be to use straight white fondant. The fingers have been put together by using sucker sticks. Now the key will be to make sure I make the base strong and sturdy to hold the weight of this monsterous hand.

Next we have the clubhouse.

Keep in mind the final details are not all here but it gives you the effect of where I'm at with this. Unfortunately I'm a perfectionist and I think I could have done better but my daughter knows exactly what this is as she repeated continously last night --  "MICKEY MOUSE!!!!" So I guess that's all that counts. I did end up making the clubhouse out of rice krispie treats as I knew I could make that in advance and it would be sturdy. I shaped and molded the clubhouse into seperate pieces. I then covered it with fondant and attached the pieces together by hammering in a sucker stick. Worked out great. The slide has yet to be attached but that has been made strictly from fondant. I will begin to attach and add the remaining details come Saturday when I have to assemble. So hopefully this grandious idea I have will turn out just perfect -- well as perfect as I can get for tackling fondant for my very first time.

Meanwhile - as the preparations for this little girl's birthday celebration continues I will continue to enjoy every moment of this time because tomorrow she will be all grown up and no longer be my little two year old girl.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!!!!

Tribute

I find myself typing and deleting, typing and deleting. I haven't posted in quite some time for this same exact reason. We've had so much going on and so much I could post on that I don't even know where to begin. That was until this last weekend when we had a memorial service to attend for a former coach of V's. Jim Boughton, V's high school coach at Dubuque Senior, passed away 6 months to the day of being diagnosed with brain cancer. I had always heard stories about Boughton and what a great mentor, coach and friend he was but it wasn't until 3 weeks prior to his passing that I officially got to meet him. He had nothing but kind words to say about V and could say nothing other than he was proud of his accomplishments and his successes. He has followed V's career throughout the years and was overly proud of him. V stayed in touch through email and occasionally a phone call. Always seeking out advice and strategies for upcoming meets or areas he would be struggling with. It wasn't, however, until the memorial service that I realized something. See you have to know V and have to know how much he's into track and his girls and making sure he's got as much knowledge as possible to get through the season. He'll grab every newspaper out there to get information on his competition. He'll scan every website possible to get as much information on his competition as possible. He then will take that information and run the meet on paper about 10 different ways to see how they can come out on top. He's very meticulous when it comes to putting his meets together and putting his girls in certain events. But I always wondered where this came from. It's too the point that we joke about it because I just could never figure it out. He's not that way about anything else. Even when he coached basketball he wouldn't get that into it. Granted, track and basketball are two completely different sports but there was just something different about V come track season. I guess I just associated his strange behavior to the fact that track is V's life. It's his love and his passion - of course after the love and passion that he has for the two lovely ladies in his life -- ha! Anyway - it wasn't until this memorial service that I realized he picked this all up from coach Boughton. After hearing students, alumni and colleagues all speak about this man I know very little about, I then realized and felt as if I was at a memorial service for V. It was scarey as I sat there and listened and cried at these memories so many had of him. But then I realized - what a blessing. This man, this very caring knowledgable man has shared a wonderful gift with V. What a mentor to have! He was an outstanding coach with some great achievements to show for it and that man got to share his vast amount of knowledge with V. Boughton was not only able to coach him but was also a great mentor and friend. He gave V all the knowledge he had to be successful and it's paying off. As V goes through the next two weeks finishing up his season, Boughton will be on his mind I'm sure. It's sad to have lost such a great mentor, coach and friend -- but the knowledge and his memory will continue for many many years to come. RIP Jim Boughton -- we know you are there in spirit and in memories.