they crack me up!

heard this morning when it was time to fix the girl's hair...

corinn - "pony tail please, with a twisty thing"
gabrielle - "pony tail with a braid, NOT a twist, please"

i feel like i should start out with "hello, may i take your order please?" ~lol~




heard in the car on the way to daycare...

corinn (very excited) - "mama, i just saw a baby bird flying!"
gabrielle (very nonchalantly) - "if it was flying, then it wasn't a baby"

way to burst her bubble, my love ~lol~




heard in the car last week...

corinn - "mama? how does the baby calf hatch out of the mama cow if there's no doctor around?"
gabrielle - "cows don't hatch! they're not born from eggs!"
corinn - "i know, they're born from their mama's bellies & then they drink her milk"

the conversation went back & forth between them from there......whew! i dodged that bullet! ~lmao~

8 years old!

TODAY, HE'S 8!!!

Where has the time gone? 8 years ago (on a Sunday morning at 8:08am...8, 8, 8...) I was given the most wonderful gift.....God brought this handsome man into my life!


such a sweet, mellow baby.....amazingly easy!



a fun & energetic toddler - eager to try EVERYTHING



a sweet & loving big brother - always watching out for his little sisters



spider-man was his first obsession - he wore this halloween costume (complete with mask & gloves - not pictured) for about 2 years....we had to patch holes over & over until it just wouldn't stay together any more



his first day of kindergarten - so eager to go to school!



my affectionate son - he ALWAYS welcomes ma's cuddles ;0)

the best big brother ever!

and so much fun!

he has the wildest imagination on earth!

adventurous & independent

and oh, so cool!



after spider-man, came the DRAGONS!



an AMAZING artist - Jaden LOVES to draw.....he fills book, after book, with his creations - and ma keeps them all! :0)



he's also into aliens, sea monsters & dinosaurs.....and he swims like a fish - sometimes pretending to be one of those sea monsters

Jaden, I know you'll be something GREAT one day - we have so many dreams for you! I imagine you as an actor, or cartoonist....maybe a writer, or even a tattoo artist....who knows? maybe you'll surprise us all, and become a serious lawyer or doctor....whatever you do, we ARE & ALWAYS WILL BE soooooo proud of you!



oh, where did the time go? can he really be 8 already?!

(alien cupcakes - and 1 astronaut jaden - to take to summer school & daycare today....i had to make 6 dozen in all! we're counting down until jaden's pool party on sunday - i'm making him a spaceship cake that he's helping design - in strawberry, his fav - can't wait!)

Keyboard Skills, Texas Roadhouse & Lunch with My Man!

when we were at the beach, the kids watched a lot of NOGGIN at night, before bed....apparently, there was a little music thing in between shows that showed u how to play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the piano (Curtis was watching with the kids when this came on, but i missed it).....well, when we got home, Jaden got out his keyboard one day & said, "let me try it now" & sure enough - within minutes, he had figured out the correct keys & was playing it.....here's a short/grainy/quiet video of the tail end of the song (that i took with my cell) - sorry for the poor quality *edited to say - sorry, i can't get the vid to upload & work right - u might only see half of it & without any sound ~lol~ oh well, u get the idea....my son is amazing! ;0)



last night, we took the kids out to eat.....we FINALLY got our stimulus check yesterday & wanted to celebrate.....since the majority of the money will go to bills, we wanted to splurge just a little ;0) on the rare occasion that we do go out to eat with the kids, we usually hit the buffet somewhere.....so, my only request last night, was that it NOT be a buffet! ~lol~ i wanted to sit down & be served....not to have to trek kids back and forth, help hold plates, stand there while they decide what they want, etc.....curtis & i have been to Texas Roadhouse, but not with the kiddos, so we thought they'd enjoy checking it out - plus Curt & I love the food there!

the rugrats were sooooo well-behaved & really had a great time! they thought the spontaneous dancing of the waitresses was cool, and the absolute best part for them were the peanuts! yes, they thought they were getting away with murder by throwing the hulls on the floor! ~lmao~ gabby would grab a handful of curtis' pile of hulls & would give me this sneaky grin as she'd drop them to the floor under our table - yeah, they don't get out much! ;0)


and i just had a late lunch with my hubby - i love this man! :0)

Beer Cooler cake

i handed this cake off yesterday, but waited to post it until the bday girl had seen it.....she turns 30 tomorrow, but her co-workers threw her a party today......i've actually known the bday girl since we were small - our dads were truckers together & used to hang out and play horseshoes way back in the day......i've only reconnected with her in the last few years & she's one of the ladies that started the "JMU cake crew" (as i like to call them ~lol~)....those business office ladies at JMU sure know how to put down some cake! ~teehee~ and i think i've gotten my most creative/crazy/original cake requests from them too! ;0)

dee's favorite beer is Coors Light, so her friends had me make her a beer cooler full of them.....the blue "cooler" is all strawberry cake.....the "ice" is clear gelatin....i made the "cans" out of fondant & hand-painted them with gel colors & edible dusts....the white rim of the "cooler" is not edible - it's made out of cardboard, covered in fondant - i needed it to be sturdy, to hold all of the "ice" in ;0)

Wall-E or Johnny 5?

ok, so there's this new movie out called Wall-E.....i haven't seen it yet, but i know at least 2 of my readers have taken their kids to see it & i hear it's a cute movie.....

well, i have a question....

isn't this just a Short Circuit remake?!


isn't Wall-E actually Johnny 5 (only shorter)?!

am i the only one that remembers these old movies (there was a Short Circuit 2 too)?!

i LOVED these movies as a kid - the sequel more than the original.....and come on, don't u think the resemblance is a little more than coincidental? but i haven't seen/heard anything mentioning Short Circuit & it having anything to do with the creation of Wall-E???

weekend recap...

i hope everyone had a great looooong weekend! the kids and i spent most of the weekend together - curtis had to work every day (even the 4th).....but we had a great time together, and we made the most of the evenings when daddy was home

friday - my mom, my sister & i took the kids to the parade - which is always fun....u saw one of these pics in my happy 4th post.....here's 2 more

loud sirens

candy scramble

that evening, we were supposed to have friends over for a campfire, drinks & s'mores before heading to the fireworks.....but then it rained - i mean poured! so curtis & i relaxed on the front porch, while the kids rode scooters and ran in & out of the rain.....waiting for it to stop.....it finally did, just long enough to get a fire started, make some s'mores & set off a few of our own fireworks & sparklers before heading to the big show.....our friends ended up staying dry at home, but we didn't let the rain bother us.....the kids' neighbor friend came by to join us too

catching lightning bugs while daddy gets the fire going
patiently waiting
mmmmm, s'mores
sparklers! (gabby wasn't too eager to hold one this year)

then we met up with my brother, his wife & son to watch the New Market fireworks show from our traditional spot on the Shenvalee golf course (i'm telling ya, it's never packed there & u've got a great view of the fireworks).....thankfully, the rain was long over & they went off without a hitch


saturday, the kids and i took the day to just do NOTHING! i'm serious - they all climbed in my bed after daddy left for work & we watched Hannah Montanna and Power Rangers & ate cereal.....then we got dressed about 11am & headed to Nana & Grandpa's to play.....we spent the whole day just playing and hanging out


sunday was church without daddy.....the choir (which my mom is a member of) performed their July 4th cantata instead of us having a sermon (which meant no children's church for the last half of the service) & the kids sat wonderfully through the entire service.....i even had one of the elderly ladies tell me as we were leaving, how well-behaved they are! :0)

then, as soon as daddy got home from work, we headed to my aunt's in WVa for a cook-out.....again, it POURED down rain (luckily, after all the food was off the grill tho), so we were stuck inside.....but we had fun eating, talking & watching the boys play Madden.....here's the simple patriotic cake i made for dessert - strawberry....it was my first cake after coming back from vacay ;0)

the fog around the mountains as we were driving home - too cool

so, i'm back to work today (boooo!).....it's also jaden's first day of summer school.....he was excited about going - but was mostly worried that he'd miss swimming at daycare (they go to the public pool every Monday & Wednesday)......and you know? another routine change - it takes a few days for things to go smoothly after a change in his schedule like this.....after convincing him that he'd get off the bus from summer school at daycare, have lunch, THEN his class would head to the pool (summer school is only till noon & they don't go to the pool till 1pm), he was cool.....he's such a fish this summer! i think he'd live in the pool if we'd let him ;0) his 8th birthday is wednesday (gasp! already?!) & we're having his pool party on sunday.....he CANNOT wait!

my little rockers

so the last movie that came via netflix was something curtis requested, knowing the kids would enjoy it....i hesitated because of it's pg13 rating, but after previewing it, i decided that it would b okay for our kids to watch (the word ass comes up about 5 times & they say damn like once or twice - there's some parental disobedience in the plot, but other than that - it's fine, really)

well, let's just say that my hubby was right on! the kids are now obsessed with School of Rock! and i admit, i'm digging it too.....after seeing/hearing the kids watch the movie about 2 million times (seriously, it arrived in our mailbox 6/18 & we've had it ever since!) - as well as getting to witness scenes being acted out by the kids on a regular basis, i'm for sure ready to send it back! buuuuut, it really is a cute movie - and i totally dig all the classic rock in it! it's so neat to hear the kids walking around the house, with a toy guitar strapped to them, singing old school Zeppelin, Doors, Stevie Nicks, Deep Purple, etc.

the kids all want to start rock bands now! ;0)

Happy 4th of July!

i'll post a weekend recap on monday & i know we're a day late, but we wanted to say...
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!
to everyone!

Deandra & Bryan (my neice & nephew), Corinn, Gabrielle & Jaden

at the 4th of July parade yesterday

my girls

the night before we left for the beach, corinn decided that she needed a checklist like mama's.....isn't she the cutest?!

then later, she tried to pass it off as a letter to mama ~lol~ she said, that it said, "i love you mama, you are a great mama, i hope that we have a fun time at the beach!" be still my heart! :0)

and then this morning, gab handed me this....
it's a drawing of her next birthday cake of course! even tho she won't b 6 until november, i think all the talk about jaden's upcoming birthday (my oldest will be 8 next wednesday - can u believe it?!) has gotten her "in the mood".....she said that the girl on top of the cake is her, and that the cactus looking things on the bottom tier are exactly that - cactus! (or i guess it's cacti?)
so i ask, "are we going for a western/cowgirl theme?"
her eyes lit up! "yeah, let's do that!"
so, i guess for now - a cowgirl theme it is.....let's see how many times that changes before november! ;0)

Autism Acceptance

Thanks to Laa&Family for posting about this! I'm so happy to hear that FINALLY main stream media is talking about autism acceptance!

Good Morning America aired this story. I love Ari (a proud aspie) & all that he & this advocacy group are promoting.....see the tag on the side of my blog? CELEBRATE NEURODIVERSITY!!! (btw Dianne Sawyer, this isn't a new word ~lol~ but i'm glad that you and others are finally using it!)

As Ari says in this interview, "prejudice causes difficulties" & "anti-cure doesn't mean anti-progress". Let's stop wasting time/resources looking for a "cure" & let's start helping our children learn to be proud of who they are (and all that God has blessed them with)....teach them to face challenges throughout life, head on! just like parents of neurotypical children have to teach them.....life is challenging! for everyone! u rise to the challenge & be all that you can be.....ASD kids just might have to try a little harder or go at it a little differently

------

i also really liked this article on about.com by Lisa Jo Rudy & wanted to share it...

A diagnosis of autism is not the end of love and hope. But media stories thrive on the most overwhelming and horrifying circumstances. Here are just a few of the myths perpetuated by TV, magazines and movies -- myths that, at least in my opinion, deserve to be blown away!

1. Autistic People Are All Alike

Myth: If I’ve met an autistic person (or seen the movie Rain Man), I have a good idea of what all autistic people are like.

Fact: Autistic people are as different from one another as they could be. The only elements that ALL autistic people seem to have in common are unusual difficulty with social communication.

2. Autistic People Don't Have Feelings

Myth: Autistic people cannot feel or express love or empathy.

Fact: Many -- in fact, most -- autistic people are extremely capable of feeling and expressing love, though sometimes in idiosyncratic ways! What's more, many autistic people are far more empathetic than the average person, though they may express their empathy in unusual ways.

3. Autistic People Don't Build Relationships

Myth: Autistic people cannot build solid relationships with others.

Fact: While it’s unlikely that an autistic child will be a cheerleader, it is very likely that they will have solid relationships with, at the very least, their closest family members. And many autistic people do build strong friendships through shared passionate interests. There are also plenty of autistic people who marry and have satisfying romantic relationships.

4. Autistic People Are a Danger to Society

Myth: Autistic people are dangerous.

Fact: Recent news reports of an individual with Asperger Syndrome committing violent acts have led to fears about violence and autism. While there are many autistic individuals who exhibit violent behaviors, those behaviors are almost always caused by frustration, physical and/or sensory overload, and similar issues. It’s very rare for an autistic person to act violently out of malice.

5. All Autistic People Are Savants

Myth: Autistic people have amazing “savant” abilities, such as extraordinary math skills or musical skills.

Fact: It is true that a relatively few autistic people are “savants.” These individuals have what are called “splinter skills” which relate only to one or two areas of extraordinary ability. By far the majority of autistic people, though, have ordinary or even less-than-ordinary skill sets.

6. Autistic People Have No Language Skills

Myth: Most autistic people are non-verbal or close to non-verbal.

Fact: Individuals with a classic autism diagnosis are sometimes non-verbal or nearly non-verbal. But the autism spectrum also includes extremely verbal individuals with very high reading skills. Diagnoses at the higher end of the spectrum are increasing much faster than diagnoses at the lower end of the spectrum.

7. Autistic People Can't Do Much of Anything

Myth: I shouldn’t expect much of an autistic person.

Fact: This is one myth that, in my opinion, truly injures our children. Autistic individuals can achieve great things -- but only if they're supported by people who believe in their potential. Autistic people are often the creative innovators in our midst. They see the world through a different lens -- and when their perspective is respected, they can change the world.

beach slide show

as promised, here's the slide show of our trip....if you put ur cursor over the pics (as they slide by), u can read my captions