"What IS a weekend?"

Our weekend began with the kids going off to play golf with Big Daddy on Friday morning.  This gave me a few hours alone, and the kids had a lot of fun.  It turns out James is really good at golf, achieving several hole-in-ones.  I spent about 45 minutes throwing the wiffle ball to him last week, and he was really good at hitting it, too.  My little athlete.

Friday night I tried a new recipe in an attempt to use up a lot of leftover rice and two leftover chicken breasts.  I doubled this recipe for Chicken Fried Rice and also added a little extra olive oil, because I really think the extra oil is what makes it so good in the restaurant.  Of course I didn't add nearly enough, because my head can't stop thinking, "120 calories per tablespoon...", so though my texture was still not up to par, the flavor was good.  All the picky eaters and complainers in my house ate it, so win. I'm not just referring to Ella here, either.  KJ has never before eaten much of the fried rice I've ever made in the past, because he has high standards for the stuff.  James was suspicious of the peas hidden away in there, but after the first bite, said, "Mmm, Mama, this is good."  Those words are music to my ears.  And Ella has really been amazing lately about eating what is put before her with minimal complaints and face-making.  She does, however, have a lot of mysterious ailments at dinner:  Her stomach hurts, her throat hurts, she keeps needing to sneeze, etc.  I just say, "I'm sorry," or "That's interesting...now, keep eating."

Ella and I went to a book shower to celebrate the first birthday of a precious baby in our church.  T did such a good job of decorating and making everything special.  I wouldn't mind having a book party, myself...  Little Emma received some beautiful books.

Yesterday ended with a sweet gathering of the remnant of the Mission Community left for the summer where I forgot to take pictures, but James had the time of his life playing the Wii with Mr. Chuck, and Ella loved coloring with Katie.  It was a sweet time of fellowship that ended with me trying to find a good place to see the Super Moon.  I still struggle with finding a good place to catch a good horizon picture, but I was thankful to catch it still red.  

In between all of that activity, I've been working with a vengeance, cleaning out our closets in preparation for a yard sale this weekend.  Cleaning out your closets is such a good feeling.