The Weekend Wrap-Up

This was a great weekend. We had a lot of time do do just about nothing. It was nice to have a whole weekend available with no definite plans. It's been a little crazy for us on the weekend lately, so having the time to chill out was relaxing.

Friday night we decided to make Healthy Cupcake Muffins for dinner. I found a really great revision for the new Fiber One muffins on the Hungry Girl Website and Reagan and I made muffins. The box as is is a little high in cal and fat for one muffin, but by using the box mix and adding in 1 c of water, 1 c of pumpkin and 1/4 c of egg whites, it changed the nutritionals from 180 cal to 90 cal, fat from 9 g to 3 g and fiber was still a large 4 g each! We also decided to make a batch of mini muffins along with the regular size, so I'm sure they were better for you if you just had 1 or 2.

Well, we decide to eat them for dinner and to dress them up a bit. They turned out pretty cute and the kids had a blast decorating them with 'fat free cool whip' frosting and sprinkles. It's not one of the best dinners I have ever made, but it was Friday and I know I was still getting something decently healthy in their bodies.

After dinnerI stared to clean up after the birds and as I was re- filling the food bowl, they escaped! This is the first time they have been out since they have been with us and it was cute to see them fly around the house and interact with the kids. It was nice until Rudy started pooping on things. It stopped being cute real quick and they needed to go back to their cages. I asked nicely but was met with squawking and hissing, but of course when Jim asked, they fly to the cage and hung out on top for a bit before they went inside. OK Dr. Doolittle. Whatever!!

On Saturday, Robyn came over and we had dinner, baked chicken and pasta with homemade garlic bread and salad. Yummy. It was fun to give her her coaster birthday gift that I never took pictures of. I found the idea on a web site to use Mod Podge and adhere sayings and stickers to a small tile and felt the back to make a coaster. Since she just moved into a new house, I thought it would be a cute craft to make. It was nice b/c my shadow helped me paint them and really took ownership in the gift.

Sunday after church, we decided to go rock climbing. It was a great time. We had Zach with us and he did what Jimmy did the first time. He got about a 1/4 of the way up and got really scared and asked to be let down. Maybe next time...

Jimmy surpassed my expectations after talking a good game the last time we went. He acted so brave, but you could see the terror on his face when he got about 3 feet off the floor.

This time, he climbed right up to the top like a cat. I was so proud of him! He is really becoming a wonderful young man. It's good to see he can put aside his fear to accomplish something that is important to him.

Go Jimmy.

On the other hand, I wish I would have tried a bit harder. Getting to the top of the straight wall is not a big deal for me, but climbing upside down and getting over that hump is! I wasn't able to do it this time, but now that I have a new goal to press on towards, I think I'll make the rock climbing stop a little more frequent. I wasn't able to get my self over the hump and once I tried a few times and my legs and arms were shaking, I knew it wasn't going to happen. Time to get stronger!

Last night Jim won a $12,000 package into the WSOP in July. I am proud of him. This is what he wants to accomplish and making this next step is a big deal for him. Even if it's not what I would do or something that I completely agree with, I am supporting him to help him get to the next step of his dreams. Who knows, this might be the plan that God has for my life to use me to accomplish his plan. I will follow where he leads.

And finally, last night I sat down with my Chicago Athlete book and ripped out all of the pages of the races I am interested in running this year. I have to sit down tonight and talk about it with Jim and register for everything. There is no sense in continuing to talk about it. It's time to take some action.