Hello! Happy Monday! Writing this on Sunday night, we already have a 2 hour delay with re-evaluation this morning for the 5+ inches of snow we got on Sunday. I’ll be happy with a 2 hour delay or a snow day. I am linking up with Heather and the Hello Monday girls to share our weekend fun!

On Friday, I had the chance to go into Jack’s PE class. They were playing with an Omni-ball. There was a lot of teamwork, fun, competition, and muscles working during the game.

After the boys had swim team practice on Friday, we hurried home because my parents were coming over. My mom and I were meeting my friend Kourtni at our local bookstore, A Likely Story, to see Sarah Pekkanan and Greer Hendricks. They are on tour for their second book, An Anonymous Girl. It is a psychological thriller and it was good! If you haven’t read The Wife Between Us, their first book, go read it now. Get that book and read it! Then, pick up An Anonymous Girl and read that one too. I am a big weenie when it comes to scary books, and these aren’t scary. They are suspenseful and make you alternately gasp and hold your breath. They shared that The Wife Between Us is most likely being made into a movie and An Anonymous Girl is most likely being made into a tv mini-series! I can’t wait for both! At the end of the book talk, we went to have Sarah and Greer sign our books and they remembered me!! Greer also mentioned that I asked great questions! I was totally giddy!! I really love meeting authors and talking to them about their books, process, and what they are reading!!

We headed up the street to meet Erin and Sandra for a glass of wine and had the greatest time. Market Tavern is a great spot for a yummy snack (we had a charcuterie board) and a good glass of wine or beer. It’s locally owned and pretty small so it makes for a great grown ups night out! Bonus: it is a favorite of Sarah and Greer. We recommended them including Market Tavern in their next book!! Fingers crossed!

On Saturday morning, Luke had his First Reconciliation. He was pretty excited to receive his second sacrament. The concept can be a bit daunting, but he did a great job! He was so sweet talking to the priest. I wish it was acceptable to take pictures because his sweet face was an image I want to remember forever! We did snap some pictures afterwards and he had a very sweet glow to him.

Luke requested Noodles and Company for lunch and that is where we saw the most exciting news!! Grocery pick up is coming to our Walmart!! I may not have to give up that hour to shop each week for much longer!!! That orange writing in the parking lot made us so happy!!

We opened up a game that Santa gave our family for Christmas. It is Trekking the National Parks. Jack is super interested in the National Parks right now. As a fourth grader, he gets a free pass into all the National Parks for himself and his family. We have been planning our summer vacations and other little trips to take advantage of this and show our boys more of America’s beautiful land! Any 4th grader can get a pass at the Every Kid in A Park website. Parents can print them out and see everywhere the pass works (national parks, federal lands and waters, etc.)

Jack had a basketball game Saturday afternoon and Luke’s soccer team was parading on the field of the Baltimore Blast game. The Blast are a professional indoor soccer team. Luke watched his brother do this twice and was pretty excited to have his turn! It was an exciting game and we walked out to snow!

It snowed all night and the kids were pretty excited to go sledding on Sunday! We reached a major growing up milestone during this snow storm. Jack and Luke pretty much got dressed, went outside, came inside and put their snow clothes in the dryer all by themselves!! Confession: I stayed in my pajamas until 4:45 pm!! It was amazing! I cleaned out the pantry, wrote a blog post, meal planned, made a grocery list, and generally enjoyed a quiet day at home!!

The boys wore themselves out in the snow and were happy to build some legos and watch playoff football in between sledding sessions.

We had a delicious chili dinner. I usually make it with ground chicken and substituted ground beef and ground deer meet that I had in the freezer. I was a little nervous but the flavor was wonderful! After the pantry clean out and a freezer clean out, I am really working hard on shopping our freezer, fridge, and pantry to feed our family to cut down on waste. I am also applying the same concept to my closet. I am trying to shop my closet and make better use of the clothes and shoes I already have. It’s going pretty well. I’ll let you know more as the month and year goes on.

Please join me tomorrow. I am joining The Blended Blog to share my favorite small businesses and boss babes. I am sharing some great shops and great friends!

Have a great Monday full of sunshine and books!