weekend recap...

well, this weekend - i got 3 hours sleep thursday night, 3 ½ hours friday night & 2 hours saturday night....then i CRASHED sunday night! ~lol~ i still managed to get in a fair amount of play time with the kids, attend my niece's birthday party, & i didn’t feel rushed to meet deadlines....and yet again, my hubby saved the day, er weekend, by taking care of meals, entertainment, baths, etc....BIG UP'S TO U AGAIN BABE! i ♥ you!!!

amazingly enough, it all worked out really well....mama was just tired! ;0)

saturday, we were stuck in the house for the first part of the day - our area felt the effects of Hanna (good bit of rain & lots of wind)

but later, we were able to hit the school playground - the sky looked as tho it might open up and pour on us at any given time - but thankfully, it held off

daddy was attempting to teach gabby how to dribble a basketball....he's so excited about the future super athletes we have in our house....all 3 beg him to "work-out" on his total gym with them - it's actually a good machine for them to use - u're just lifting ur own body weight, so they're not straining or anything....and gabby LOVES to run! she watched some track & field events during the olympics & was simply mesmerized ~teehee~

ok, time to rest

corinn's turn

curtis & i ended up playing a little one on one - i blamed my loss on my sleep deprivation ;0)
then it was time to head home

both men were hot & sweaty, so took their shirts off - or maybe they just wanted to show off ;0)
then, some sparring started.....jaden is constantly trying to ruffle curt's feathers & get a boxing match going - i love all that male bonding - and all the shirtless men! ;0)

and u see that raggedy mini-van in the background? the one that's missing 2 hubcaps - both on the same side?! guess what she did over the weekend?
yep - she rolled over 200,000 miles!
it's really time that we start looking into a new ride.....this van has done really well for us tho! it's a 2002, that we bought when i was pregnant with corinn & we knew we'd need more room....it only had 34,000 miles on it when we bought it!

all the miles added up during our commuting days - when we lived in maryland (outside DC) and sat in traffic for hours each day, going to work in northern VA....then when we moved to front royal & drove 2+ hours each way to go to work in northern VA still.....we've had to replace the power window motor and the transmission, and of course minor repairs & service throughout the years....but she's done me good!

after the playground trip, we headed to deandra's birthday party.....she'd been asking for a Nintendo DS for a while & her mom (my sis) had her convinced that she wasn't getting one

PSYCH! ;0)

sunday, i delivered my dino cake to garrett's party at the town park....curtis & the kids went along to play
gabby, the jump rope/monkey bar queen

garrett's mom sent him over with 3 favor boxes for the kids - soooo sweet! thx tammy!

of course, jaden was thrilled with the dinosaur theme box of goodies!

gabby trying out the glider that was in her favor box

after children's choir practice sunday eve, we headed over to Nana & Grandpa's to say
HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY!

and to ride grandpa's 4-wheeler ;0)

matthew & jaden will just rest here with the g-parents

i hope you had a great weekend too! :0)

weekend cakes...

my weekend of cakes started out with this cupcake cake for Garrett - i've been making Garrett's cakes for years now - his mom always gets him a cupcake cake to share with his class too.....his cupcake cake this year was of the Rainbow Dragon from YuGiOh (another cartoon/card game i'm not familiar with).....his mom gave me the trading card & i was to try & match it.....i have to admit, i'm not thrilled with how this one turned out - my attempt to make it look radiant/glimmering/sparkly like the card, made it look more washed out than anything....but mom was happy when she picked it up on friday - so i was happy too ;0)

(garrett's bday cake is the dino one below)
this is 24 yellow cupcakes, decorated in butter cream icing & edible glitter

first up on saturday, was this Minnie Mouse cake for Riley's 1st birthday.....Riley's mom, Katrina, has been veeeerrrry excited about Riley's birthday & wanted the perfect girly cake to celebrate with.....this is 3 tiers of white cake, iced in butter cream.....i hand made Minnie out of fondant & the swags, flowers, bows & name plaque are made of fondant & gum paste.....the only thing not edible are Minnie's ears ;0)

next up on saturday, was this simple one for my niece, Deandra - i'd been trying to get Deandra to decide on a design for months....i talked with her over the phone, i sat down with her at the computer to look at my website & other cakes online, i'd asked her mom (my sis) to help her figure it out....and this is what she settled on....out of all the designs she could have chosen, she wanted "a flat cake with a picture of a dog on it" ~lol~ seriously, i let my nieces & nephews design their cakes, just like my own kids - the sky is the limit....but i guess she's just a simple girl.....her only specific request (every year) is that it b ALL chocolate! even if there has to be regular icing on it (like the dog picture - cause it needed to be a lighter color), there has to be chocolate icing underneath that ;0) so this is fudge chip cake, with chocolate butter cream icing - and just a tad of regular butter cream for the dog ;0)

on sunday, i first delivered Garrett's 6th birthday cake....he was having dinosaur themed party at the park....his mom requested a prehistoric cake, with a volcano erupting & dinos around....here's what i came up with.....it's 3 tiers of yellow cake, iced in butter cream.....the volcano is rice krispies, covered in fondant & the lava is butter cream.....i made the dinos & rocks from fondant & the leaves & ferns from gum paste
(you know that Jaden LOVED this cake - the only thing was, he said that i didn't make the spinosaurus correctly ~lol~ he said mine looked more like a lizard ~i love that boy!~)

and lastly, was my new fav.....i get really nervous sculpting human faces out of anything bigger than a little fondant figure.....they always end up looking a little deformed ~lol~
but i was proud of how this one turned out! :0)
sheena requested this cake for her hubby's surprise birthday party....chris LOVES Bob Marley (who doesn't, right?!)....he also loves peanut butter & so i made my very first peanut butter cake (after trying out some recipes to find one i liked)....it's PB cake, iced in butter cream & sprayed with edible color....the face is rice krispies, covered in fondant....the dreads are my dark chocolate fondant (that tastes like tootsie rolls)

i also loved that sheena didn't want the writing on the cake to take away from the design (i TOTALLY agree - sometimes the cake alone is enough & it doesn't really need happy birthday... written across it) - she requested i put this somewhere on the cake or board, but not on the top

thx for looking - i hope u all had a fab weekend!
♥sharon

if i make it through september....

yep, i have that mearl haggard song "if we make it through december" stuck in my head!
~lol~

but i'm just trying to get through september!

i have a total of 5 cakes due today, through sunday

and a grand total of 20 for the month of september!
(not my biggest month ever, but still big - and of course, most of those are due on the weekends)

and on top of that, i have my full-time job, school is now in full swing for the kiddos, jaden is still going to jiu-jitsu training twice a week, the girls start dance next week (that's 2 trips to the studio a week), we're moving into our new house this month, curtis starts his new job on the 15th & i'm throwing a yard sale on the 27th to get rid of a bunch of crap during the move - just cause i didn't think i had enuff going on already! ~lol~

whew!

while staying up very late last night with cakes, i made a decision...
i decided that i am going to stick to my guns from here on out & not accept any new cake requests.....starting in october, my schedule clears up quite a bit - and i want to leave it that way.....i'm already turning people away every single day (which i HATE!), but i'm a push-over when it comes to friends & my "regulars" (those that have gotten cakes from me over & over again).....i usually end up finding a way to squeeze them in

but i can no longer pull 2 or more late nights/all-nighters in a week.....i can no longer sit in the house, finishing up a cake while curtis takes the kids to the playground.....i can no longer spend hour after hour online, researching cake ideas or learning about whatever character it is i'm creating a cake of this week.....i can no longer stress over grocery lists & trips to the craft store - wondering what it is that i'm forgetting & will end up remembering at 2am!
i want to have FREE time again!

i've never pretended to b superwoman - i've always admitted that i can't juggle it all....& without my ability to run on very little sleep, or without my amazing husband, i'd never get half of what i do get done, done

but my house needs to be packed & cleaned, my kids need more mama time & i need to breathe

i plan on leaving alone everything on my books already - so if u've already contacted me, don't worry - we're still good

and i'll still consider wedding cakes if any new requests for those come my way

don't get me wrong - i still LOVE to decorate....it's my art - a creative outlet for me....& i do consider it to be "me" time......but not when i'm trying to bust out multiple cakes within a very short time....then i begin to dread the nights when everyone else is soundly sleeping in their beds - and i know that i'm going to be staying up, drinking cup after cup of coffee, decorating, & listening to poker after dark on the tv (remember, we don't have cable & there isn't much else on the local channels in the middle of the night - and the radio stations play the same songs over & over again)

i praise God for blessing me with this talent! i thank Him for allowing me to use this ability to not only make others happy, but to feel a sense of fulfillment in my own life.....God is truly working in us these days & we're so thankful for everything He's blessed us with

but, i'll be perfectly happy just doing one cake a week (or even less) until i can take this gig full time....i am confident that my clientèle will come back to me & that biz will b booming again....i still don't know when that will be - it's such a HUGE risk for us to take right now.....but i pray that it will be sooner, rather than later

but please pray for me - as i make it through september!

*u won't hear much out of me until monday.....see u then with plenty of cakes to post! ;0) have a FABULOUS weekend!

random thursday...

i never tire of sharing my kiddos' art work with u....i hope u don't get tired of seeing it! ;0) here is some recent stuff jaden has done...

i wonder how this guys uses the restroom? ~lol~

and this guy has pictures all over his body (like tattoos, i guess) that light up & make him powerful! and check out the gleam from his super sharp claws!

and here's how i found jaden the other evening - he made all these drawings at his daycare that afternoon (they say he'll go through one sketch pad in about 1/2 hour!)....then when he got home, he lined them all up for us to check out - asperger's much? ~teehee~

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there's another little artist in the house, that's really coming out of her shell! i don't know if it's kindergarten or just the fact that she's getting older....but little miss gabrielle is becoming a lot more self-confident these days! i like that! ;0)

the artist at work...

her creation - too sweet!

and my new fav drawing - our family! :0) LOVE the lashes on us girls!

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actually, gabrielle is showing her independence more at school too! here's an email i got from her teacher last evening...

"I know that you like to give your children freedom and don't think you will have a problem with this. But she said today that she wanted to be called Gabrielle. I/we can call her whatever she wishes. I just thought it was cute that she said that she didn't want to be called Gabby anymore- they called her that in PreK. It was like she was too grown up for Gabby. We shall see if that changes throughout the year. :)"

when school started, gab's teacher asked me what i wanted her to learn to write....i explained that she knows how to write both gabrielle & gabby already - that she doesn't really care what others call her, but that she usually prefers to write gabby (i'm assuming cause it's shorter, duh)....i said that i'd like her to keep practicing gabrielle, but that i didn't care what she had everyone call her.....i guess she set the record straight for us! ;0)

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last night, i made larger versions of the cupcakes in a jar that i made for my 1st giveaway this week.....these are for my BFF & my brother.....Misty celebrated a birthday on Labor Day & CJ's birthday is today! these contain about 4 or 5 cupcakes each (the smaller versions contain 2)! i hope they enjoy them! :0)

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randomness, from the mouthes of babes....

(this pic was taken, by the request of jaden - he was sporting new kicks!)

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mama - "jaden, could you go put your shoes away in your room please?"
jaden, without hesitation & in his most charming voice - "how could i say no to a face like that?!"

~lmao~

---

corinn - "gabby, i'm telling Jesus that you _____! " (whatever it was she did - i can't remember)
mama - "corinn, you don't need to tattle to Jesus - he sees everything we do & say."
gabrielle - "yeah, like santa claus!"

---
(if you've seen one of jaden's fav movies, home alone, u'll get this one)

jaden & deandra are taking turns on grandpa's go-kart.....jaden is counting how many seconds it takes deandra to do a loop around the property - "24, 25, 26, 27..."
uncle cj, trying to mess jaden up - "7, 11, 34, 85..."
jaden, very nonchalantly - "cj, don't b a moron"
cj just cracked up laughing!

---
mama, going through jaden's school folder with him - "oh, i see u got to go to mrs. jessup's class for science today! was it fun?"
jaden - "yep, we talked about tomato seeds on page 7"
mama - "and did u meet with mr. johnson today?"
jaden - "yes"
mama - "how many times a day to u meet with him this year?"
jaden "four"
mama - "four times a day?!"
jaden - "no, i saw mr. johnson 4 times."
he's right! we had this convo tuesday eve - he had seen mr. johnson on wed, thur, fri the week before & that day (he didn't meet with him the 1st day of school & they were out for labor day)
and remember the page number of his science lesson?!
how does he catalog all this stuff?!
i can barely remember what day of the week it is!

(jaden, as a sea monster)

happy thursday! ;0)

weekend recap...

Saturday, i had a wedding cake to finish up, deliver & assemble - i don't know what i'd do without curtis sometimes....he's so good at keeping the kids busy when i'm forced to work on cakes when they're awake....and he's super good at taking them fishing, to the playground, etc. to get them out of the house! ;0) thx babe!!!

after i got home, we went for a family walk through the neighborhood & watched a movie together after dinner (Son of the Mask - The Mask is one of Jaden's very fav movies, so i couldn't wait for Son of the Mask to arrive via Netflix)....silly movie, but cute

i don't have any pics from Saturday....but on Sunday & Monday, i took LOTS! ;0)

Sunday was the day that the kids discovered the fun of K'nex....Jaden has some of the fun new sets where u can create animals & aliens - and he loves them.....but never any of the old school sets that have wheels & motors & stuff.....my mom just came across my brother's old set when they moved & gave them to Jaden.....the kiddos spent a long time Sunday morning, playing with them

even daddy joined in and made a cool race car


here's some of the kids' "inventions" (as they call them)....Gabrielle made the big thing & couldn't figure out why it wouldn't roll one way or the other....i explained to her that it's cause the wheels are going in different directions & showed her what it could do - spin in a circle! she was amazed! ~teehee~


she's so creative - she made the middle part into a little seat for her polly pockets - they even had shade cover


before we headed out on our traditional weekend "playground hopping" trip, we stopped by our future home....we wanted to explore the yard some more & start planning where we're going to put what....we think we've found the campfire spot & we've already talked about clearing out some of the flower beds & what we'll put in instead.....i'm LOVING the clothes line & the grape vine/trellis that are already there - both just need a little work to spruce them up....and there's 2 apple trees on the side (behind where Gabby is standing) - i guess if we have to give up our cherry trees, it'll b nice to have apples in their place ;0)

curtis even found a spot to hang his punching bag.....the landlord is going to fix up this out building more, before we move in.....and if the landlord doesn't, curtis is planning on clearing out the brush here to hang his bag from a sturdy tree hidden in there somewhere

we took the kids by a playground that Curtis & I had spotted at a local church.....it's probably been there for a while, but it's new to us.....it's small & doesn't have any shade, but it's very fun!

every time we take the kids by the school's playground, they have to roll down the hill first....needless to say, it's one great sledding spot in the winter! ;0)

on the way home from playground hopping, gabby taught Jaden to blow a bubble! it's so cool how the kids teach each other stuff! Jaden taught both girls how to whistle a while back (all 3 are amazingly good - he surprises the heck out of adults who hear him whistle).....Gabby learned to blow bubbles from our cousin Ricky (who's 9) a few months ago.....but in that one car ride, she taught Jaden....and i was shocked at how well she was able to describe what to do with the gum & your lips/tongue, in teaching him - she's good!

here's pics of the whole thing....the funniest part is Corinn in these pics!


he got it!

and then Corinn asked me to take her pic - what a ham! a very sweet & beautiful ham tho! ;0)


Monday (Labor Day), we woke up to gorgeous weather! we all sat outside for a while - Curtis chatting with our downstairs neighbor, me reading a magazine & drinking my coffee, & the kiddos just playing

we brought out buckets of water for them to play with their Polly Pockets, Barbies & dragon toys....they love doing this - whether is bath time for the dolls, or they're swimming & exploring the ocean - it's endless fun


Gabby is also big into her jump rope these days!


and both girls have been catching & observing every bug they find! we currently have 3 caterpillars inside, hoping they'll build cocoons & turn into butterflies!


then, daddy found this out front, on the side of the road....it was dead....it didn't appear to have been run over tho? and we didn't know what kind of snake it was....when i showed the pic to my brother & dad, they said that it looked like a corn snake.....looking online, it sounds like these make good pet snakes - non venomous, constrictors.....so i wonder if someone just tossed him.....he was small (& like i said, dead).....poor thing


we headed over to Nana & Grandpa's that evening for a BBQ.....and we had a great time!
my sis & i both commented on how it felt like we were camping, out there under all the trees

of course, Grandpa got out the 4-wheelers & go-kart

here's a fun video of a trip that my brother, CJ, took us on.....he hooked up a cart to his 4-wheeler & led us on a trail through the woods, below his chicken houses.....Katie (his wife), me, Gabby, Corinn & Bryan rode in the cart.....then Jaden followed in the go-kart....Travis & Kelly (my sis & her hubby) pulled up the end, on Grandpa's 4-wheeler.....the kiddos LOVED it and had us do it about 3 times! it was fun! :0)
(the video starts out kind of dark - cause at first, we're in the woods & it was late in the day)

i hope u all had a fabulous labor day weekend too!