last day of pool fun this summer...

this week's cakes...

u might remember Cindy? well, Miss Cindy put the petal to the metal after the wedding, & scored herself a bun in the oven right away! ;0) because i love this girl so much, i took it upon myself to throw her an office shower this past Tuesday...oh yeah, if i haven't mentioned it before - we are not only friends & cake cohorts, but we also work for the same software company

another thing we have in common? we both LOVE Cake Wrecks!!! so, i had to honor that by giving her what else, but...carrot jockeys! unfortunately, mine did not have mohawks :0( but they still were pretty cute ;0)

in case u've been hiding under a rock, & aren't in on the Cake Wrecks fun - here's some info on the three wrecks i included on Cindy's cake above

i think she had fun...& she left with a lot of loot! ;0) i can't wait for October to get here, so i can squeeze that little booger!

my weekend of cakes started early this time around...on Friday, i had to deliver two - one was this fun tiki for Becca's 14th, luau-themed, birthday...it was 2 tiers of fudge cake, iced in buttercream & decorated with fondant bamboo & palm trees, sugar flowers, & a tiki on top (sculpted styrofoam, covered in fondant & painted with food gels)

the 2nd was sort of a follow-up cake...Alyx celebrated her 9th birthday last month, by having a joint party with her big sis - remember the plaid cupcakes? this cake was to celebrate her actual birthday - today! she wanted to combine her 2 favorite teams - so i decorated the cake in VA Tech & Pittsburgh Steelers colored fondant...inside was confetti cake, iced in buttercream :0)

then today, i delivered 2 more cakes...1st was this sweet ladybug cake - for a little one, just as sweet...Miss Grace was super excited when i showed up to the party - her mom told me that all she's said she wanted for her birthday was cake! my kinda girl! ;0)

this cake was all yellow, filled with lemon buttercream & iced in light pink buttercream...i decorated the cake with pink & black fondant, & made the topper from styrofoam, decorated with fondant

& i've already gotten a note from Grace's mom...gotta love Facebook! ;0)
"Thank You so much for making Grace's birthday cake, not only was it adorable the cake itself was soooo good. :) You truly are really talented!"

& look - she matched her cake! :0)

and last, came yet another cake for Cindy! she didn't know about this one though...her mom secretly contacted me to also make Cindy a cake for her family shower ;0)

it was yellow cake, iced in buttercream...i made my famous fondant baby to top the cake, & little fondant baby laundry to decorate the sides

& now...i'm done for the weekend!
by 1pm on a Saturday?!

unheard of! ;0)

{this moment} so NOT twins!

(click to enlarge)

{this moment}

"Photos - no words - capturing a moment from the week.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment.
A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

inspired by SouleMama - a Friday ritual

Cub Scout camping...

Saturday, Curtis went to pick Corey up bright & early...he came to spend the day with us, & that he did - from 8am until about 10pm that night! i think he must miss his brother & get a little bored on the weekends now...fine by us - that just means we get to see him more! :0)

that afternoon, we headed to camp Brethren Woods to spend the day with the Scouts...first, there was swimming for a few hours...

the kiddos really loved having Corey along...he's so great with them too - loves playing with em & teaching em new things...he's also super helpful to Curtis & i! we had a great time checking out his awesome diving board skills!

he encouraged the girls (who are normally nervous about the diving board & take lots of coaxing to work up the nerve to jump off) to just go for it...& pretty soon, they were trying out some tricks too! ~lol~

but my favorite part was watching him throw the kiddos around in the water...i remember begging my dad to do this to me when i was little...i bet it's fun having a strong big bro ;0)

we also got to do some fishing at the "lake"

& there were a few canoes & a paddle boat to play in too!

the rain showed up right around dinner time...but luckily, it was mostly just sprinkles

& we didn't let it stop us from taking a family hike...actually, we learned the forest makes a pretty good umbrella! ;0)

because Curtis had to work that evening, & i had a cake order to fill (plus 2 girls to watch), Jaden didn't get to stay over at the camp with the rest of his den...he was fine with that tho - happy to go home & set up his tent for some backyard camping instead

the girls had fun playing in the tent while there was still daylight...& of course, making some wild mushroom "soup" to eat at their "camp site"...but they had absolutely no interest in sleeping in the tent after dark!

i wondered if Jaden would mind going at it alone...i blew up an air mattress & got him all cozy inside...then Curtis went out for a bit when he got home from work - but Jaden almost insisted Curt go inside after about a half hour or so! i think he was interested in seeing if he could do it alone too ;0)

he woke up around 7am on Sunday & came inside...he woke me, to let me know he was up, then proceeded to fix himself some cereal...i asked him how it went, & he replied "well." ~lol~ so when he asked to do it again on Sunday night, i was like why not?! i snapped the above pic of him reading in his tent around 9pm...i went back out at 9:30 to check on him again & he was fast asleep with his light turned out!!!

if u know Jaden, u know that he sleeps very little (classic autistic trait)...he takes forever to go to sleep, & is up before the sun most days! something about that tent must soothe him (or confuse his body about what time it really is)...i was tempted to let him continue to sleep out there if he was that comfortable, but for now, we're only allowing it on the weekends (no school nights)

since Curtis felt a little guilty about the whole Jaden not being able to camp out with the Scouts thing, he did some sucking up on Sunday & took us all to the pool (a place the kiddos NEVER get tired of!)...we picked the perfect time to go too - we got there just as they opened & we were the ONLY ones for the first hour or so!

it was fun, having the whole pool to ourselves...& it also gave the girls a chance to practice their tricks off the diving board some more...it's too bad the summer is coming to an end - just as they're getting really comfortable with swimming in the deep end...oh well, i guess we've got something to look forward to for next summer!

(almost) wordless Wednesday...we survived...

yesterday was the 1st day of school!

the kiddos were actually anxious to go back...& even tho it was rainy & gloomy, they had a fabulous 1st day! i'm so glad that they LOVE their teachers!

Corinn began 1st grade...

Gabby started 2nd...

& Jaden is now a 4th grader?! seriously?!?!


believe it or not...this was the 1st year that Mama didn't cry ;0)