Happy Friday! Winter has certainly arrived in Massachusetts, and driving home from watching the Patriots game at my brother's house was frightful. I put the Rosary on and we prayed our way home.
But it was worth watching the Pats win and *most likely* go to the Superbowl. My niece's boyfriend is working in construction on a house across the street from Drake Maye's house, and his wife Ann, who is famous for being the cutest baker, brought over cookies one day to the crew. How sweet!
Phil made pigs-in-blankets and I made a Maple Dijon dipping sauce and those suckers got eaten up fast!
On Saturday, Brendan had his (last for this season) swim meet in Rhode Island. He swam in four events and Phil and I brought Xander to stay with him so that we could do our long run during the warmup time. We ran so slow that we ended up missing his first race too, whoops! We're old, okay?!
We showered and went out to lunch at an Italian restaurant that serves delicious deep dish pizza. I will run miles for this pizza, and I did!
On Sunday morning, Maggie and I went to a new gym to try their Bounce and Burn class. It was fun rebounding and trying something new with my favorite girl. At one point during the bouncy jumping jacks I thought I might have to run out to the bathroom but my bladder held strong, surprisingly!
Declan was thrilled with his first visits to the chiropractor this week. The doctor said that Declan has a very common condition where his upper spine is a little flat and that causes muscle tension. He also said that he wouldn't need to get an X-Ray on Declan since he was all skin and bones. "I know" said Declan, "my parents are trying to fatten me up!"
Sometimes I get sick of drinking tea at night but I still want something warm and cozy before bed. A coworker told me that the Nestle No Sugar Added Cocoa was her favorite, so we've been drinking that with Fairlife skim milk, whipped cream and cinnamon, yum! But I want to try this one next.
On MLK Day, we used our day off wisely by cleaning out what we call the "little toy room" and the living room. We moved furniture around and got rid of TONS of toys because my baby will be 10 this year and sadly, nobody is playing with blocks and gears and Lincoln Logs anymore. I have to declutter when the overwhelming feeling of we-have-too-much-junk hits me or else I can easily talk myself into saving things for future grandchildren whose mom's haven't even appeared in my sons' lives yet. I should have taken a before/after photos but just imagine lots of chaos, dust, crumbs and junk leaving the rooms that are now giving peaceful vibes.
After hearing Andrew and Maggie both rave about their Candle Warmers, I bought one for the mantle and it's awesome. It has a timer and different heat levels, looks pretty, and safely aromatizes the house.
That Electric Fireplace has been a nice addition this winter, adding to the cozy vibes and it throws a little heat as well.
The highschoolers have had midterms this week, which means Phil has lots of midterms to grade. Seeing scantrons still give my the heebie jeebies:
Midterms = half days, so Phil made this yummy Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup and easy homemade bread, a wise use of the extra time at home:
Do you guys have a good meatball recipe? We used to buy a "meatball mix" seasoning and follow the directions and it made the best meatballs but they don't seem to sell it anymore. Boohoo. Anyway, we had our pastor over after the Vigil mass and made pasta and meatballs, garlic bread (from the sub rolls we needed to use up) and salad:
Speaking of Italian dinners...Andrew's friend wanted his help making dinner, and we tried to talk him through how to make chicken parm. He sent us the proof of their accomplishment!
Speaking of friends, here's "Andy" with some of his friends after attending Latin Mass in Pittsburgh and then going to Dunkin. It still makes me chuckle that TLM is how he rolls now.
Maggie got invited to the Celtics game on Wednesday night, swore she was ready for her Thursday midterms, took a nap in order to stay up late and had a great time, especially because they won!
We are bracing for a freezing cold weekend and possibly lots of snow on Sunday! Gonna get our groceries today before it gets crazy in there.
Have a wonderful weekend everybody, stay safe and go Pats!!!
French toast for the win! We have the bitter cold and winds today- no school for kids. No snow this time; going south and east thank goodness. I hate driving in snow storms- smart move to pray your way home!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I have few containers in the basement of good toys for future use- magnatiles, Thomas trains, blocks, shopping cart, little table and chairs...Okay, maybe I have a lot! I have given away many toys over the years; it's harder for me to donate the favorite picture books though.
Be safe this weekend! It looks like you'll be living through the blizzard of '78- that was a fun for kids winter. ( not so much for the parents!) OH, you're not old enough to have been there- ask your parents!
Oh yes, we still have loads of books! I was born in 79 but I've heard blizzard of 78 stories my whole life, it was a crazy time!
DeleteI often use Smitten kitchen’s everyday meatballs recipe—it’s on her blog. The other day I tried a NYT Dan Pelosi recipe for chicken pesto meatballs though, and they were easy and delicious. My favorite ever are from Jessica Battilana’s Repertoire cookbook. It seems I have a lot of meatball opinions! Who knew?! I also wanted to say (in a non creepy way) that you look great! So fit!
ReplyDeleteChicken pesto sounds delicious! And I'll check out Smitten Kitchen's recipe too, thanks! And thanks for your non-creepy compliment :)
DeleteI’m envious of your decluttering. Love the mom daughter workout.
ReplyDeleteWith little kids at your home all the time, you can't declutter! I would keep that excuse going ;)
DeleteHow's your snowfall so far? We've gotten about 4 inches (at 8:30 AM) and supposed to continue all day. I decided today was a great day to start potty training Victoria ;)
ReplyDeleteThe pigs in a blanket with maple dijon sauce look amazing!! I have never made them myself but they are one of my fave appetizers. Unfortunately the Steelers are out of the Superbowl running. I don't follow football very closely but I still root for the black and gold!
I was just at a Duquesne basketball game yesterday with the girls and thought of you and JP every time I passed by the College of Medicine! And I stop by that Dunkin once a month or so because the girls attend catechism classes at the TLM parish (we are officially registered there, but almost exclusively attend mass at the Oratory where Nick plays and they are very gracious about our family's situation -- he plays at the TLM parish frequently for special masses/funerals too). I feel like it's just a matter of time before we run into a Martin kid in the wild!
I don't have a meatball recipe to share because I unabashedly use frozen meatballs. Aldi has a premade refrigerated version that are pretty good. Yours look amazing!
Stuck in the house = great time to potty train. You will certainly run into a Martin soon! Andrew just took a date (yay!) to an indoor minigolf place in Pittsburgh this weekend. They are always around! I've never bought refrigerated meatballs before (I also use frozen a lot), that's good to know!
DeleteI make Pinch of Yum baked chicken meatballs all the time!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to the Pats :)
Thanks for the recomendation!
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