Medal Monday a few days late; more like.....

...TWO MONTHS LATE

OK seriously, I started writing this post more than two months ago! WOW, just WOW! 

Every Monday morning I see all my running friends across the country posting these fabulous pictures about their weekend runs ahem....races and I rarely get the opportunity to post some medals I've earned over the weekend.

Last week, JUNE...we're talking JUNE folks, was just crazy and the weekend crazier! After several full days of travel, work, school, swim practice, and packing Chuck and I were stressed! All day on Saturday, June 9, 2018, I kept saying "When are we doing our Goonies Run?"

We had scheduled this run over a month prior on this day.

So at 8PM, dog tired, puppies barking...we headed to the Ventnor Boardwalk!

Chuck, Jesse, and myself set out around 8:30 PM to complete the Copper Bones Virtual 5K.

Here we are before our run!

What a surprise Jesse is running topless!

Chuck went for his power walk.....I can't typically keep up with him. Jesse and I did walk/run intervals and had a great Mother/Son conversation during the whole run!

When we were just past half way back Jesse looks at me and says "WOW, you are really sweating!" Thanks kid! "Of course I am, I'm old Jesse! This takes a lot of work." He replies "meh, I haven't broken a sweat yet!"

I proceeded to shove him to the other side of the boardwalk while he laughed his cute little butt off! He laughed for a good long time!

We passed Chuck a couple of times and each time Jesse says "Hi Daddy, Bye Daddy!" Jesse also, waved hello to everyone that we passed or who passed us.

When we were close to being done Jesse says "Let's sprint!" Ummmm, sorry dude but Mommy is not interested in sprinting...nor do I think I can do that. 

So Jesse sprinted the last quarter mile and yelled "WHOO HOO" when he finished.

So of course, he had to have a muscle shot at the end of the run!

Well Mommy has to have a muscle shot too! How could I not? 

Chuck finished not too far after Jesse and I. To be honest his 

power walk is like a jog for most people. He's got some powerful legs!!!!!!

My little dude with his Goonies medal and running bib! Now if I only have the time to put of his medal rack he got for Christmas! I KNOW PEOPLE, we are so behind on everything!

Chuck earned his medal too!

Can't forget the old lady; sweatin' up a storm! Man was it humid!

As always we had an excellent time and enjoyed each other's company. I know it's two months later, plus some, and Jesse has been itching to go on another boardwalk run with me. We've got to get to it! I have several Hogwart's medals to earn!!!!!!!

Memory Lane leads to ...

...pictures, video games, table top game consoles, and a Tesla Coil demonstration in the kitchen!

A couple weeks ago we started cleaning out Mary's house and Chuck has been going down memory lane. I have truly enjoyed hearing him "chuckle" from the other room. I've lost count of the number of times he's said "Oh wow! I remember that!", "This is still cool!"

"Hey Jesse, come check this out!" says Chuck from Mary's kitchen. Both kids go running and I make my way into the kitchen to find Chuck staring this very interesting thing on the kitchen counter. The kids were so intrigued!

Chuck loves sharing science with the kids and they eat it up. To be honest, I love it too! I have learned more about science from Chuck than I ever did in school. I know he doesn't have the patience to teach kids on a daily basis but he would have made a great science teacher!

OF COURSE, I was there with the camera to capture the moment.

Jesse was so engrossed in what he was doing. Zoey couldn't wait to get her turn!

What made this even better for me was the joy I witnessed of a father teaching his children something amazing. The kids were so excited and asked tons of questions. 

I also sent these pictures to Jesse and Zoey's teachers. Do you ever do that? Let me tell you, they love it! The kids and the teachers!

Jesse's teacher brought the pictures up during the next science class and it sparked a discussion amongst the children. Jesse told us that his teacher ended up extending their conversation the next day because the kids were so excited and interested on the topic. 

Jesse and Chuck are both looking forward to Jesse's Science Fair projects. I'm not sure who is going to have more fun!

Mother's Day Breakfast: A low carb labor of love!

A few days, maybe a week, before Mother's Day this year I came across a low carb recipe for Cinnamon Rolls that had strawberry filling and a cream cheese icing.

You had me at roll, but the strawberry filling and icing had me drooling!

Of course, I immediately shared this recipe to my facebook page and went about my day. I couldn't wait to make this but apparently didn't think it was wise to check to make sure I had all of the ingredients to make it. 

Shaking my head, thinking back, wondering why I decided not to check if I had everything and why I only made sure I had strawberries! HMMMMMM

But, none the less Mother's Day morning arrived and I was determined to make this scrumptious treat!

Ignore the "My Little Pony plate". LOL!

I think Chuck was curious about the process and if this little ditty of a dish would turn out because before I knew it, I had a kitchen helper. 

I'm so glad Chuck wanted to help because every time I try to make any type of fathead dough and roll it up I have nothing but trouble. He, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have any problems at all. And well, let's face it. Chuck is a far better baker than I am. I'm a good cook and a fair baker, but he's a much better baker. 

Jesse and Zoey were interested when they heard "Cinnamon Rolls" but when they saw the strawberries, they turned their noses up. Guess what? This is breakfast, so man up!

I ran out of Swerve when making the strawberry compote. UHHHHH, Oh well! I use Swerve, but always use less anyway. So I'm thinking this isn't a big deal. 

When lining up these strawberry cinnamon rolls into the pie dish, they just didn't look appetizing. I was like, well...so what if they aren't pretty, at least they'll taste good! I'm hoping they taste good!

Chuck's set up

My setup, I had to move these around because 

I knew they would spread out while they cooked. 

While the cinnamon rolls were cooking I realized that I didn't have heavy cream, mine was a month out of date, and I had already run out of swerve, so it looks like there won't be any icing! RUT RO RORGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not a huge icing fan so I figured "what the hell". I think others in the house were slightly disappointed that there was no icing. With that being said I think these bad boys turned about pretty dam good considering we didn't have all of the ingredients. As a matter of fact I would have preferred no swerve in the strawberries.

So the next time I make these, or something like them....and I'm sure there will be a next time. I will 1 - make sure I have all the ingredients and 2 - cut down on the swerve. If you are are like me Swerve makes you feel funny. It also affects my blood sugar levels. I know many others don't have any issues with it but for me....I'd rather have a less sweet treat and not have the funny feeling. 

Daddy's best attempt!!!!!! He done good!

I get a text from Chuck this morning saying "It's dress like a Disney Character Day. My best attempt at a bun."

Well Daddy, you did an AWESOME JOB!!!!!!!!!

The smile alone on Zoey's face should have told him how well he did. Chuck is really getting the hang of this hair thing!

Chuck the Lucky Care Bear

Who remembers the lovable Care Bears cartoon from the mid 80s? Well apparently my hubby really liked this show!

We were out shopping on Saturday night at Target when we saw quite a few St. Patrick's Day outfits. There was a really cute one that had Minnie Mouse on it and I wanted to get it but the shirt was not big enough to fit the girls. And as much as Chuck would have enjoyed that, I would not have been able to wear this around the house.

So as we are looking at T-shirts in the Men's Department Chuck spots a Lucky Care Bear Onesie! He wasn't going to try it on since the dinosaur one he found over the summer just wasn't big enough for him. But I convinced him to try it on. Now, I was really doing this for my own enjoyment and laughter. What the hell! Try it on!

When Chuck came out of the fitting room wearing this onesie, I truly don't know who laughed harder, me or the fitting room clerk! After helping another customer and composing herself, the clerk told me that's the best laugh she had all day! And I agree!

Pic taken at our house the next day!                                                                           

When Chuck showed this to the kids Jesse was in shock and Zoey laughed a full belly laugh!

Who says you can't still have fun with your childhood cartoon favorites when you're 46!

It even has a heart of the butt!

I sure hope its cold this coming Halloween because Chuck already has his costume! And Mary found a stuffed Lucky to go with it! LMAO!

Not feeling so well...........

I'm not sure if it's the time change, the amount of spicy food I had yesterday or what but I woke up feeling like shit! I have a major headache, I'm achy, and I am overly exhausted. All I want to do is curl up on the couch and fall fast asleep!

I got a late start to the day......not getting up until almost 9 AM (which is very late for me). My blood sugar was high for fasting this morning, especially considering my norm. It's shortly at 10 AM and I'm still working on my breakfast.....not good!

My menu for yesterday and today:

	9-Mar		10-Mar
Breakfast	1 cup Tea - Smooth Move	2	1 cup Tea - Smooth Move	2
	2 med strawberries	8	3 med Strawberries	12
	1/2 Grapefruit	33	1/2 Orange	43
	Subtotal	43	Subtotal	57
Lunch	Spicy Ginger Chicken	138	Chicken Soup	146
	1 cup Romaine	9	1 cup Spinach	7
	1 tbsp  Free Dressing	0	1 tbsp  Free Dressing	0
	Mini Cucumber (peeled)	9	Mini Cucumber (peeled)	10
	1/2 tsp cashews	6	1 Med Strawberries	4
	1 Grissini Thin	13
	Subtotal	175	Subtotal	167
Snack	1 Cup Apple Slices	57	1 Cup Apple Slices	57
	2 Cups Green Tea	0	2 Cups Green Tea	0
	Subtotal	57	Subtotal	57
Dinner	Marinated Chicken Stirfry	126	Spiced Chicken & Cucumber Mint Salsa	151
	1 Med Strawberries	4	1 cup Spinach	7
	2 cups Romaine	16	3/4 Grissini Thin	10
	1 tbsp Free Dressing	0	1/2 tsp cashews	6
	2 Melba Rounds	24	1 tbsp  Free Dressing	0
	Mini Cucumber (peeled)	10
	Subtotal	180	Subtotal	174
Snack	1/2 Lrg Orange	43	1/2 Lrg Orange	43
	1 cup Tea - Smooth Move	2	1 cup Tea - Smooth Move	2
	Subtotal	45	Subtotal	45
	Total	500		500

 
I couldn't be more proud of my little man! He had such a great week last week at school. No timeouts, no stop signs and he even got a special card sent home on Friday stating he could bring a stuffed animal to school for today. Of course he chose his snake that he got from Disney. Today we are taking him to see a counselor to work on behavior modification. Although it was only one week I think the changes we have made at home (before seeing a counselor) are working.

Last night I braided Zoey's hair in three separate braids.....this was for 2 reasons: (1) to keep her hair from knotting and (2) to see how it would look waving. After talking with Chuck this morning it turns out he left the braids in her hair instead of taking them out. HMM.....I can only imagine what she must look like this morning! LOL!