Day 40!!! The End... served with ice cream cake!

This is it folks. Tomorrow is my birthday and Easter. So let me reflect on how I did on my goals.  I just re-read the first couple blog posts just to make sure I remember what I actually wanted to give up.  And of course I wanted to give up caffeine, gluten was sort of a bonus.  Go figure that the one thing that I try to give up ends up being something that I needed to add back into my diet (sausage finger syndrome).  And the secondary addition to my lent fast -gluten- ends up being the one that I stick to!  I didn't do to bad with the caffeine, because in my heart I know that I would mentally be able to live on decaf (as long as it's good stuff) but really what else can I do? At least through all this I have learned that I can't eat gluten without a negative reaction to it!  I don't know if I have celiac or even if I have a gluten intolerance, it could just be wheat intolerance.  But at this point who cares.  I feel great when I don''t eat gluten! I feel like crap when I do!  It seems like a simple choice to me.

 Now changing the topic... You might be aware that I have been fantasizing about ice cream cakes for the last ... ummm 2 months.  Well today my mom threw me a party and I got not one ice cream cake ...but two!!!  Well ok sure, so one was for my daughter.  Point is, I enjoyed those two cakes so much more because I haven't given in to my temptation to date.  Here are some of the picture from our family gathering. 

The kids are getting spoiled by their great-aunts and uncles! 

They all got matching leather jackets.  So cute!

Tons and tons of gifts. It was like Christmas again!

Happy Birthday to two gorgeous girls. Me 30, Annaliese 5 :D 

Mine was a Stone Cold Strawberry short cake and Annaliese's was my mom's famous Drumstick cake!

My family rocks!

Opening some of my gifts.