New York, New York!!!!

The day had finally arrived.  My godson, Tanner, had finally graduated from high school.  I held him when he was just a few days old, and now he is moving on with the rest of his life.  His very exciting future.  Following his dreams.  Taking chances.  Meeting new people.  Seeing exciting new things.  Exploring new places.  He's got the world ahead of him.  

For Tanner, life could not be more exciting.  He's heading to NYC for school and will be studying photography.  I couldn't be more proud of him or happy for him.  He's got so many wonderful friends and a truly supportive family.  His charismatic personality will take him far.  Just you wait!!  

He asked me to do his graduation cake...like a year ago.  This cake had to be something.  He sent over some pictures for inspiration and I loved the ones that included a city skyline.  That had to be on his cake.  For sure.  But I was having trouble coming up with the cake topper.  I was talking it over with my husband who happened to be travelling at the time.  I was saying, "Gosh, I wish I had something for the top of Tanner's cake.  Something that's totally New York.  Wait a minute...where are you?"  [Hubby's been travelling a lot these last few weeks....]  Danny responds, "I'm IN New York city.  What are you looking for?"  And the rest is history.  Danny found some great little NYC souvenirs.  I LOVE the plate he picked out for the topper.  

Anyway, here's Tanner's cake.  The bottom tier was his graduation tier.  Class of 2013 and a bunch of graduate silhouettes.  The middle and top tiers were devoted to NYC.  Rightfully so.  

Here's the cake at the party.  

As for cake flavors, the top tier was Tanner's favorite.  Banana cake with banana cream filling. 

The middle tier was vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream.  

 The bottom tier was chocolate cake with buttercream, Oreos and chocolate fudge filling.  (MY favorite.)

Mmmmmm....cake!

Tanner was super excited about the new Canon camera he received.  I don't think that it left his side for the whole rest of the day.  I can't wait to see the pictures he takes with this treasure!  He's certainly hooked up well for school, that's for sure!

 My little Josie came with me to help Tanner celebrate.  I think she was dressed appropriately, don't you?

Congratulations, Tanner!  I wish you fun times, amazing adventures, and tons of inspiration!  I can't wait to see what happens next!

Love,

Ann ;)

XOXO

Oh, The Places They'll Go!

My oldest daughter, Josie, graduated from K4 this week.  It was a bittersweet ceremony.  On one hand, she's accomplished SO much this year, and on the other, I can't believe she's moving on to KINDERGARTEN next year!  Oy!  Where has the time gone?!

Her K4 experience has been an exceptional one.  Her teachers are outstanding and have really worked hard to offer neat, fun, unique experiences for all of the kids in the class.  This included "travel around the world".  Her teacher is from England and has a love of travel and throughout the year,  incorporated her journeys into their curriculum.  So, when I was asked to do a cake for their gradutation ceremony, I thought going along with that theme would be a nice tribute to their travels together.  

The little red dots on the world map show where they've gone this year: 

And during their travels, by the way, they all got on an [imaginary] airplane and were served their snack as they traveled.  They'd spend about a week in each location before their [imaginary] trip home.  When in Italy, they actually sampled pizza and gelato for snack time.  When in China, they got to try eating noodles with chopsticks.  What fun!

As for the cake, it's a two-layer sheet cake.  Half of the cake is chocolate, the other half is yellow.  Both sides are filled and frosted with vanilla buttercream.  The decoration is made up of a gum paste/fondant mix. 

I wish the graduates of the 2012 K4 class a heartfelt congratulations and wishes for a great summer.  We'll see you in the Fall!!