weekend recap...

yay for another low-key weekend! :0)

daddy was off work & the weather was gorgeous!

saturday, curtis let me sleep in...and when i woke up - i found these 2 still in pj's, but already hot & heavy in the dress up clothes & make-up.....they try to b so grown!

i mean come on, look at the crossed legs & the cell! ~lol~

after just hanging out all morning, fixing lunch & letting the girls nap, we took a looooong fishing trip to the foundry.....i was impressed with how long the kids were engrossed in their fishing this time - daddy's fav past-time sure is rubbing off ;0)

it's such a beautiful spot


and they're catching fish on their own!

besides daddy's catch - corinn's was the biggest!

and jaden is becoming a pro at casting!

but of course, never to out-do the real pro ;0)

beautiful visitor

it wouldn't be a complete trip, unless the girls got their booties wet ~lol~

they found these neat, tiny snails

and these weird, spiky caterpillars

jaden was really getting into the whole echo thing & kept banging rocks together - making up his own beats

my attempt at artistic photography ;0)

then sunday was spent going to church, followed by lunch & a nap (wow, naps 2 days in a row! ~teehee~).....then a trip to nana's house

nana entertained the kiddos outside...

...while daddy & i enjoyed some tv time inside - nana has been saving Ace of Cakes for me on her DVR & we needed to watch some of them ;0)


matthew must have thought nana needed to clean up a bit ;0) he's so cute!

of course, the kids couldn't leave without playing on uncle cj & aunt katie's swing set

the kiddos ended the night, hanging on the wall with their neighbor friend....just relaxing on a nice summer night, i guess ;0)

i'm soooo enjoying these lazy weekends!
i know we're really going to miss them as summer comes to an end & the kids are getting geared up for school.....only one more week until the madness begins! :0P

weekend cakes...

i posted a pic of Amelia's birthday cake last week, but i wanted to share this pic that her mom sent me....isn't she the cutest?!

last week, was my brother's wife's bday too.....here's the cake i made for her - spice cake with cream cheese icing (her fav)....accented with gum paste flowers (ok, i know i ruined it with that small, weirdly places name tag - hey, i make mistakes too! ~lol~)


next up, was a groom's cake for a Dale Earnhardt fan.....fudge chip cake, iced in butter cream - i covered the car in dark chocolate fondant (tastes like tootsie rolls) & hand painted on the design

next, came some dinosaurs - this cake was actually for a 14 year old girl! ~giggle~ she's into "cute dinos", so this is what she got :0) confetti cake, iced in butter cream....the dinos are made of rice krispies & their heads are styrofoam.....special thx to curtis for his help with making the fondant "rocks"! ;0)

missing video

as promised, here's the missing video....


jaden's favs were the bumper cars & this ride - the Flying Eagles
and yes, those are my kids screaming! ~teehee~

Kings Dominion trip

we're baaaaa-aaaaack!

and we had a stinkin' great time at Kings Dominion this year! perfect weather (warm enough for the water park, but not sweltering hot), perfect kids (soooo well-behaved! how'd i get so darn lucky?!), & an all around perfect day! :0)
the lines were short & we were ready for some fun!

we got a late start (in normal Skates family fashion ~giggle~)....the kids were soooo good for the 2 hour drive there - again, the Video Now players that i got on clearance at wally world for only $7/each were very nice to have along! ;0)

we were only about 15 minutes from the park, when i realized i'd left the tickets (that i printed out from my online order) at home.....luckily, my new handy-dandy phone allowed me to access the confirmation email that KD sent me & once i had the ticket order number, we were all set! ;0)

once inside, we took a pic in front of the "eiffel tower"

then we rode up the 275 foot tower to check out the rides from above,
to kind of map out our plan for the day

* fun fact * KD's eiffel tower is actually only 1/3 the height of the real one in Paris - wow!

we started in the kiddy area - knowing that corinn had never been on a roller coaster before (well, none any bigger than what's at the county fair).....gabby amazingly is just above 48" - meaning she is now classified as an adult (ticket wise) & can ride almost every ride in the park! (more on that in a sec)

ok, how stinkin' funny is this picture?! ~lmao~


he squeezed his booty in - and they all had a blast on the first ride of the day!

i love how this pic focused right in on the girls ;0)


each car has a camera mounted on it, so they were video taping ur face through the whole ride & u could view it as u got off the ride.....it was priceless!
well, not exactly priceless - the dvd's cost $15 a pop!
so needless to say, we passed on that purchase

we got a buggy like we always do - gosh, how i wish i could b pushed around like this all day!

except this time, jaden had to walk.....or dance...

there's music playing throughout the park & sometimes jaden would just catch the groove & couldn't help but boogie - LOVE IT! :0)

we hit the scooby doo coaster, but didn't stay in the kiddy area long....i was soooo impressed with how cool & collected corinn was on her first 2 coasters (the scooby doo one ain't no joke either - it's pretty impressive)

gabby was really getting into putting her hands up this year ;0)


next, we headed to the bigger area

here's the crew inside the spongebob squarepants 3D movie
(the seats move as u watch - i remember this playing a little days of thunder movie back in the day ~lol~)

we rode the log flume

unfortunately, corinn was too small for the white water canyon, so we didn't even mention it to the other 2 - i know they all would have loved that one (maybe next year)

us, just getting off the carousel - they all chose horses that they thought might actually jump off & ride away - like in marry poppins (too cute!)

we tried to find as many rides as we could that the whole family could ride....it was hard telling corinn she was too small (like, for the classic Rebel Yell - that gabby begged to ride 3 times!), but she took it pretty well! she'd just say, "that's ok" and would wait patiently with curtis or i, for the others to come off the ride

BUT, she was big enuff for the Avalanche, the Ricochet, the Triple Spin, and a lot of other rides that i think i would have been terrified to ride at only 4 years old!

here's us on the Triple Spin - it had us all a little dizzy afterwards (do u see Curtis, Gabby & Jaden?)


both my girls are turning out to be daredevils, just like their mama

this one especially!

this was her face after she and i got of the Drop Zone!
that's right - my 5 year old little girl rode a ride that even my 37 year old husband is too scared to ride!!!

click here to see what it's all about - but only if u dare! ;0)
(curtis had my camera, but gabby & i were seated on the wrong side & he couldn't see us)

the old guy sitting on the other side of Gabby said "well, you don't look scared at all"
she said, "cause i'm not!" and grinned!
that's my girl!!! ;0)

even tho jaden & i have been talking about riding the Volcano (my fav ride in the park) together for the last couple months, he chickened out once we were there....he didn't care one bit that his little sister was begging to ride it & couldn't (daddy wouldn't allow it - said he was afraid she might slip out, since she's so little - he said maybe next year)

jaden's favs were the bumper cars & this ride - the Flying Eagles
and yes, those are my kids screaming! ~teehee~

ok, i can't get the video to post today - and i'm tired of waiting on it.....i'll come back & post it soon

after riding a ton of rides, we headed out to the mini-van for a late picnic lunch....in packing, i found this carrot in the bag of mini carrots & packed it anyway, cause i knew the kids would get a kick out of it ;0) they did ~giggle~


after coming back into the park, we decided it was time to hit the water park....first up was a big water slide (also seen in this Drop Zone video - it's the twisty white slide that the boy is looking straight down at)

this was another ride that i was surprised corinn was allowed to go on....her butt was so tiny, she'd fall through the tube if she wasn't careful....she went ahead of me, & as i'm riding down & sliding back & forth on the half-pike-like slide, i'm thinking "oh my gosh, this is pretty intense - i know corinn is probably freaking out".....but wouldn't u know it? i get to the bottom & she's asking to ride it again! so we did! ~lol~

we also enjoyed the tidal wave pool & some other fun water slides & splash houses in the water park area

unfortunately, curtis forgot his trunks - but he's not a huge fan of the pool anyway, and that meant he was available to snap pics too ;0)

here we are floating down the lazy river - one of mama's favs since my feet were pretty tired by this point (daddy waited on a bridge for us to float under him)


we hung out in the water park until it closed at 8pm - then, we headed toward the kiddy area once more, to let corinn enjoy a few more rides


then we started back-tracking and re-riding our favorite ones from the day

the scooby-doo haunted mansion ended up being our last ride of the day.....a sweet, young couple took our only family pic from the entire day, as we waited in line

by this pic, u can DEFINITELY tell it was the end of the day! and that we played HARD!

:0)

a sweet cake, my sweet lil girl & a sweet trip

i wanted to go ahead and share this cake with you....i'll have 3 more to post on monday for my usual 'weekend cakes' post, but this one was delivered today & i couldn't wait for u to see it - it's too cute!

amelia is the daughter of a co-worker & friend....she also is a sweet friend to my girls & was in corinn's ballet class last year too.....and if u remember, she was mentioned in the Rocktown Weekly article done on me - she's that precious face on my website - the one that expresses what my cake decorating is all about - the reaction of the person who receives one of my cakes is priceless!

amelia wanted a Tinkerbell cake this year & her mom and i decided on this design.....the bottom tier is strawberry & the top 2 tiers are chocolate - all iced in my homemade butter cream & decorated in my homemade fondant.....i bought the plastic Tinkerbell figure & made the wires w/ jewels.....i hope amelia is as thrilled with this cake, as she was with her Mermaid cake last year!

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i also wanted to tell u about the reaction i got out of corinn last night, when i gave her the big news (she got into pre-k!) as soon as i told her when i was picking her up from daycare, she turned around to tell miss stephanie - she couldn't wait to share the news with everyone!

then later last night, she was helping me in the kitchen (as usual)....i grabbed her & squeezed her as hard as i could & started to pretend to cry - telling her that she couldn't go to school - that she was my little girl & had to stay that way forever.....that i never wanted her to grow up!

next thing i know, she's whispering to me through tears "quit mama, u're making me cry too!"

omg - i felt sooooo bad! here i am, scarring my child for life & she's going to do the opposite & be totally scared to go to school now!

so i immediately apologized to her & told her i was just pretending - that it didn't matter how old she got, or how many schools she went to - that she'd always be mama's little girl! and that i wanted her to go to school - that i'm proud of the big girl she's become, & how i'm soooo excited for her!

that seemed to do the trick & we hugged it out some more.....she dried her tears & continued helping me with dinner

then later, she told me that she had cried because she was happy - "they were happy tears, mama" ;0)

she drew this picture this morning.....it's a "dragon chef" - i'm sure the dragon was inspired by her big bro....and the chef, well - cause that's what she wants to be when she grows up! he has a long tail & has an apron on....that's dirt & grass at the bottom

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lastly, i wanted to let u know that i'll b MIA tomorrow....our family is headed to KINGS DOMINION for the day!!!

this amusement park has been a fav of mine since i was little & went regularly with my parents - my dad & i would be the only ones to ride the scary rides.....and now our family goes as a yearly tradition.....(well, we didn't all make it last year - jaden went along with my sister & her family - but funds were too tight last summer for our whole family to go).....this will actually be corinn's first time (unless you count the summer of 2003 when she was in my tummy!).....2005 was gabby's first trip, but corinn was still too tiny......but not this year - she's so excited! usually, either my sister & her family go along too, or my youngest brother tags along for the ride.....but this year, it's just me, curt & the kiddos - can't wait!

see u here on friday - and you know i'll have pics!!! ;0)

i'll leave u with this pic from 2005 - look how tiny jaden & gabby are (they were 5 & 3)!
the other sweetie is my niece, deandra

Under Pressure

"Mom Embracing Autism" made this post today.

and I agree with everything she said - so instead of trying to re-phrase what she's already said so very well, I've just included her comments here (in red, under this extremely thought-provoking video).


Autism: Behaviors like Rocking and Flapping from CS on Vimeo.

"Are you comfortable with your autistic child rocking, flapping, and displaying other "autistic" behaviors? I have always tried to let Samuel do these things (and I'm talking about rocking and flapping as well as scripting) as much as possible, but I will admit that as he gets older I am trying to develop the awareness in him that these behaviors are different and that it might be a good idea to do them in private if he can. I do this not because I want him to appear "normal" but because his stimming behaviors seem to get in the way of other things he needs to do. I'd gladly let Samuel rock his way through his school work, like Bill Gates was rocking in his meetings in this video. Right now, however, Samuel repeatedly tunes in and out of his work and his involvement with us as he scripts. I'm moving very slowly in talking to Samuel about this. As far as I'm concerned, I have his whole entire childhood (and maybe longer, if necessary) to educate him and help him learn to cope with life!

I appreciate the opinions that autistic people are making public about the importance of behaviors that convention has held as being "non-functional." That seems to not be the case. They ARE purposeful and functional and we parents should be careful when we try to limit them. We have so much to learn about autism. My gosh, we're still just coming out of the days when autistic people were thought merely to be mentally deficient. We're just beginning to understand that they have a different way of experiencing their surroundings and that they have a different way of learning. Let's be patient and try to understand them better before we go trying to change them in ways that are harmful!"

~Mom Embracing Autism - "living with (not fighting or defeating) autism"

now, for my comments...

Since Jaden is high on the spectrum, his stimming isn't as noticeable or severe as what most people see as "autistic behavior". He scripts a LOT, & like Samuel, it sometimes distracts him from what he should be doing or working on. He also rocks or fidgets with his hands if he's nervous, stressed out or upset about something. I don't discourage him from doing these things - I recognize that this is how he copes. But I do try to get him to understand that sometimes, it's not the right time to be quoting his fav movie of the moment - that we're supposed to be working on homework, or paying attention to the Sunday sermon, etc.

And you know what? Just like the video pointed out, I stim too! I rock/sway back & forth when I'm nervous. Or I cross my legs & twitch my foot when things are busy/stressful at work. Why is it normal for me to do these things, but not acceptable for Jaden?

I don't pretend to understand autism fully & I know that there are sooooo many more things we're going to learn about Jaden's Asperger's. But I do know my son - and I know that regardless of how quirky he might appear to others, or how bizarre his coping techniques might be......I love him with all my heart & accept him for EVERYTHING that he is - beautifully & wonderfully made - a gift, a blessing...given to us by God! :0)

and for your viewing pleasure....some comic strip like drawings that my extremely artistic son made for me last night....you ought to click on them, to enlarge them - so you can check out his wonderful details (like his & the monster's eyes & facial expressions)

Jaden punching out a monster - then the monster learned his lesson & behaved ~teehee~
uh, oh - here's comes another one.....give him a karate kick!all he had to do was roar at the 2-headed monster & they started biting their fingernails, they were so scared!
this monster is his friend....they were chatting, when they heard a loud noise & were startled.....so jaden whipped out his telescope to see what was going on ;0)

she's going to be sooooo excited!!!

guess who got into pre-k?! ;0)


the school just called me – the office ladies had heard that i was emailing gabby’s pre-k teacher from last year with questions.....so, they wanted to go ahead & let me know they’re sending out her acceptance letter today!!!

she didn’t get into either of the 2 acceptance rounds (hence, the reason that i was emailing gabby's teacher - since we didn't get a letter the week after i knew the 2nd round of letters were to go out) – but apparently, there were 3 slots left (from those who applied, but now aren’t coming - for whatever reason) & she got into one of those slots!!!! :0)

i was so nervous - the same thing happened with gabby last year.....both my girls r so darn smart! here, they let the kids in, based on need - the whole point of pre-k is to get them ready for kindergarten & i totally get that.....but corinn has had her heart set on going to school since the day she turned 4 (cause we always told her she could start school once she turned 4 & she took that literally!).....last week, we'd talked about the possibility of her not getting to go this year & how she'd just continue at miss stephanie's until kindergarten & that made her so sad - it broke my heart

but now, no worries - she gets to go! i can’t wait to pick her up in an hour & surprise her with the news!!!

going to call the pedi right now & get her physical scheduled! whoo hoo!

flowerbed update & seed question

just another update on our flowerbed....it's coming along great, now that we've been keeping the weed situation under control ;0)

we still get blooms here & there (unfortunately, not all at the same time!) - and the girls & i love finding new ones getting ready to pop open, then figuring out which flower they are & what seed they came from

here's what it's looking like today - some of the flowers that came from bulbs have gotten too heavy & fallen over - luckily, after we got to enjoy their blooms....
some of the wonderful blooms we've had over the summer....

and a new thing we've discovered - the production of seeds, after the blooms dies & falls off....it's been soooo fascinating for the girls! and it's nice that these flowers (the bright pink & orange ones above, right under the poppy) are the ones that are producing the seeds - they're also the plants that have bloomed the most.....of course, we plan on planting more next year in addition to what's already there - we're hoping to FILL IT UP eventually! ;0)

first it looks like this after the bloom dies....
then it dries up & looks like this - this is when you can pull off the long, black seeds....now my question for you - i know that the seeds would probably fall off on their own & reproduce.....but should i save these until next spring/early summer? or should i plant them now? (remember, i soooo don't have a green thumb!)