Week in Review: Snow Globe, Prom Dress Stress, and a Fitness Faux Pas

 Happy last Friday in January!  Did y'all het hammered with snow and/or cold temps this past week?  We sure did!

JP's roommate digging out in Pittsburgh

Grandpa looking at the snow drift outside the window

Andrew's view of campus

Eamon + friends playing in the snow

It started snowing on Sunday, and the kids had Monday and Tuesday off from school, and since Phil and I both work for schools, we got off work as well!  Snow plowing, shoveling, sledding and SAL days (Stay At home Learning) were on the agenda:

We ended up with just over a foot of snow and it's not going anywhere in these below freezing temps, which makes outdoor activities difficult.  Of course we decided to train for a half-marathon in the year of snow.  We were able to get in our 10 mile run last Friday after work (we had half days):

Our long runs have been fueled by Nerds Gummy Clusters - yum!

On Saturday, Maggie and I met up with her friend and her mom to go prom dress shopping.  We went to a huge dress store just to "get an idea" of what she was looking for, knowing the prices would be crazy.  Maggie tried on about 10 dresses and didn't find anything perfect, but the closest contender was a $680 pink dress.  Some of the dresses were over $1000!  My wedding dress was $99 so my mind was exploding with the price tags.  We are going to try a much more inexpensive store about an hour away that was recommended to us by other reasonable people.

I laughed when I saw my stress levels after that shopping trip - Maggie and I are not cut out for activities like this!  She was completely overwhelmed with the experience, understandably.

Yeah - it's called Prom Dress shopping

We got our new couches delivered this weekend, finally!  We bought them back in November and the longer they took, the more worried I got that I had chosen the wrong color.  I tend to like more cream/neutral colored couches but alas, I have children and a dog, so I went with the color "Ocean" and it turned out beautiful:

I tried to get a closeup - it's a blend of blue, gray and green

The snow days were great for some extra chore time like cleaning cabinets - with a trip to the dollar store as a reward:

The college boys went with groups of friends to the March for Life in DC last Friday, and braved the cold to give voice to the voiceless.  Eamon and his friends stayed at Nana & Gramps house and Andrew and friends stayed at a different family's house who hosts students going to the march.  Franciscan had seven busses full of students who attended:

Bishop Strickland & the boys (read their hats!)

Franco, a Catholic influencer, with the guys

Warming up!

It's Catholic School's Week (well half a week due to the snow days) and the kids get a dress down day if they wore their school uniforms to Mass and took a photo with Father.  Our little guys forgot BUT they are altar servers so, much like a Scotsman wearing a kilt, nobody knows what's underneath the cassocks :)

I had a gym fail this week, when I went on my lunch break and realized I forgot my sneakers:

And then got dressed to work out anyway and realized my socks didn't match:

So I had to scratch the plan to use the treadmill and choose the elliptical instead.

Things I find around the house:

Brendan warmed my heart this week when we were leaving swim practice, and he had the choice to ride with either Maggie or me back home (we had met up to do a class at the gym while he was swimming). He said "I'm going to go with Mom.  She always wants to hear all about my day."

I do, it's true :)

I saw a video on how to make chicken parm using ground chicken instead of chicken breasts, and Phil made it and it was so delicious!  He said it was a lot of work though.

My mom made us a baked ziti and garlic bread as a thank you for digging them out and we devoured it - so good!

I've been obsessed with making "little pizzas" on English muffins like I used to when I was a kid.  These are not a lot of work:

Also, turkey pepperoni is way better than the OG

On the weekends, the kids are a little spoiled and expect a big breakfast since we can't do it on school days.  We made pancakes one morning, bacon egg and cheese bagels the next day, and crepes on another morning.   But after three days of big breakfasts, I suggested an oatmeal morning and we cut up strawberries and they stirred in some Nutella or peanut butter and milk and enjoyed it.  Adding that into our breakfast rotation.  It's funny how you sort of forget about foods. 

 

I ordered this salad jar that I love because you just make the salad in the jar, put dressing in the compartment under the lid, then when it's time, you just pour in the dressing, shake it up, and open it up like this to eat:

Now that's smart!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, what are we going to do without a football game to watch?  Probably shovel some more.  Stay safe!