A Brush with Celebrity

Several months ago, a student in one of my cake classes mentioned that Duff from "Ace of Cakes" was coming to Omaha. The next day I searched the internet for the alleged event and found out that he was doing a charity dinner/ auction for the Omaha food bank, but tickets were hard to come by and started at $150 a plate. I was bummed.... until I noticed the event was sponsored by none other than ConAgra Foods--- woohoo- a connection! I emailed Kevin who sent out emails to all the right friends in all the right places and in a matter of hours, we had ourselves free tickets- and good tickets- we sat second from the front, smack dab in the center and only about 6 feet from Duff himself. How cool is that? Even I with my bad aim, could have tossed something and hit him in the back of the head- yes we were that close. Now I really am not into celebrities or celebrity worship- For the most part, I really don't care about that kind of thing, but I am a cakee these days... so for me this was fun to see.

This was our first spotting of his bald head:

And then he did signings of the book. When it was our turn, he borrowed some chapstick from a total stranger-- apparently not a germophobe.

And then he signed my book. They announced there was not time for pictures, just signings, so Kevin snuck this one in... but I was quite bummed that Kevin wasn't able to be in it. He was indeed there and he is an awesome guy who deserves all the credit for me being able to be there. My smile is kinda frightening in this picture- hopefully I didn't scare him :) The signature:
Then it was on to dinner. It was a big crowd- over 1000 people. And this is a picture of the back of Duff's bald head again but taken from us sitting in our seats- we were pretty close... It irked me a bit that the people at his table were just ConAgra foundation big wigs- the sweet lady next to him (very nice- got us tickets, can't complain) told us she didn't even watch the show. That just didn't seem right to me. The table he sat at should have had real die hard fans (IMHO).
After dinner, he spoke and did a Q & A. He was pretty funny and true to his television character. He's definitely a celebrity though and he knows it (if you know what I mean). Then he auctioned off cakes that had been made by local culinary students. This was a low point in the evening because they could barely get people to bid on them. It was like pulling teeth to get a bid. --akward---They always started around $1000, and all of them sold for about that $900-$1300. It was clear that they had expected the cakes to go for a lot more money- Duff even said that if you ordered one of those from his bakery it would be like $6000. Here's a few of those poor unfortunate cakes:Yikes! In the end, a lot of money was raised for the food bank when they auctioned off a trip to Baltimore including an exclusive tour of Charm City Cakes. That went for $40, 000!!!... and when it did they threw in another trip to the competing bidder for another $40,000. That second bidder was a Conagra exec that we spoke to after. He said he wasn't even planning on taking the trip- he was just doing it for the event- CRAZY! Some people just have too much money!

All in all it was a fantastic night to remember!

Sledding

Recently Kevins sister Jennifer and her husband Jay and daughter Aurora moved close by. It's a lot of fun to have them here. A couple of weeks back we went sledding, and here are some pictures (courtesy of Jen).

Brayden loved the belly ride.

Isn't this a cute picture.

The train.

We must have tired them out because they all decided to build snow pillows.

En Fuego!

A special Kevin post...

En Fuego means "on fire" in Spanish -- it's a basketball term used to describe a shooter when he hits a hot streak and just can't seem to miss a shot...Well, that's the term to describe Brayden yesterday at his basketball game - "en fuego"! Brayden caught an incredible hot streak and made six (yes 6!) baskets as his team ravaged the opponent 54-4 (they don't keep score in this league at their age level, but my friend with whom I co-coach the team, has his wife video tape the games and we like to add up the score afterward - yes, we are slightly obsessed with it). We have been working with Brayden on his form to help him better shoot the ball versus just throwing it at the basket -- we call it putting his "hand in the cookie jar" (envision reaching up and into a cookie jar on a high counter top) it sounds silly but Brayden totally gets it and it appears to be working (Melissa says it just makes her want to eat a cookie -- she's hopeless from a basketball standpoint :-)

So here they are, all of Brayden's 6 made buckets from yesterday - enjoy! (He and I have already watched them all at least 3 or 4 times each) -- watch for the clip where after his shot, Brayden runs back down the court, gets in his defensive position and then gives a sly peak and smile to his Mom who is watching from the sidelines -- what a Ham!

Funny Kid

When I got back from dropping the kids off at school, I found this note:In case you cant read it it says "Dear Mom, Can I have a phone please. When you don't pick us up in time at school I will call you. When I want to play with Bryan I will call him and I will call Carson. Please write back. Your son, Brayden."

-This is funny to me in so many ways. Mostly because he didnt just ask me- he must have thought he would have a better shot with a secretive written request.

And just for the record I am always there on time to pick him up... its just that theres a long line of cars to wait for, so to him it feels like I am not on time- but I am :)

Goofing around

This video is from about a week ago, but watching it now I am understanding why Kevin has been complaining about his back lately... that is about 130+ pounds of kid.

Chocolate Fountain Fun

So to celebrate Valentines this year, I ordered a chocolate fountain off the internet. The kids were SO excited when they came home from school and saw the box so I decided that we would test it out. With three kids it was more of a chocolate explosion than a fountain. We had chocolate drips everywhere... and the clean up was a bit much for Kevin but we had a blast "trying it out."
And if you are wondering why Brielle has a dress and crown ... it's because Brielle ALWAYS has a dress on and usually a crown, and church shoes. I get her dressed, she picks out some dress that I put on top and then she always asks "where my bown (crown), wheres my shoes." It's become so common that I don't even notice the dresses anymore- I'm only reminded by pictures like this or the when people at the grocery store comment on what a pretty princess she is.

Spring Fever

So judging from the snow accumulating on my driveway, Spring is a long way off BUT when I was walking the aisles of Target yesterday, I felt like it must be Spring outside- they trick me like that every year by bringing it out WAY too early. They have some darn cute stuff right now. I am not usually an impulse buyer but yesterday I could not resist these dresses.... which I justify with the fact that since Makenna is inching her way into a size 6, my days of easily matching these girls are numbered... sad sad sad. I have to take advantage while I still can.

The Oatmeal Mystery

Sometimes mysterious things appear in your oatmeal ... doodoodooodoo- (thats mystery music in case you couldnt tell)

Happy Birthday to Scott

Better late than never... Last Saturday we celebrated Uncle Scott's birthday with pizza, cake and root beer (yes that is ROOT beer.) Happy Birthday Scott. We love you!