What Time Is It?!

It's time for lunch!

What time is it?!

It's time for lunch!

Line up, everybody line up, line up

You would only understand this if you were a parent who has children that watch "Bubble Guppies"....or you're just a grown person that enjoys watching toddler programming on Nick Jr.

My son's favorite cartoon of all time is "Bubble Guppies".

In fact, the first time he spoke in clear words that he wanted us to turn on Bubble Guppies for him was when he pointed at the TV and screamed, "Bubble puppy!"

Bubble Puppy is a character on the show, and just happens to be the character that "really spoke" to our toddler. 

We threw this a Bubble Guppies themed birthday party this weekend at our house.

It was nothing big or special.

We just invited our neighbors and my parents. 

We BBQ'ed and just had fun.

I threw some pretty elaborate parties for Dannika as a baby/toddler, and poor Mattis has gotten the crap end of the stick when it comes to effort put in by me. 

I just have second child syndrome and have learned from previous experience that an elaborate and extravagant birthday party of a 2 year old will not be appreciated by them.

We did end up BBQ'ing (Nick smoked some delicious ribs), inviting the neighbors over, and just had a good time.

I did end up putting something fun together that Mattis can appreciate (via photographs) when he's older.

I ordered his invitations on Etsy from Pretty Paper Pixels.

I purchased the digital file, and I developed them on my own from Walgreens.

Yeah, yeah...I have tons of friends who are Photoshop savvy and would be appalled at the fact that I spent money on a digital file, but it was like ten bucks that I didn't mind spending.

 We ordered a small custom cake from The Cake Box (a local bakery).

Tamara did absolutely an amazing job creating the perfect birthday cake for Mattis with his favorite character on it!

 I have ALWAYS made personalized water bottle labels for ALL of my parties.

It's a cheap way to really personalize a party!

I design my own from the website Bottle Your Brand. 

They're super inexpensive, and really great quality!

 I made "ocean water" with crystal light lemonade and neon blue food coloring.

I put Swedish fish in there thinking they would float, but they all sunk to the bottom.

It was still a hit, and every ounce of it was gone!

 It's tough to find "2 year old appropriate" party games.

We opted for a piñata, and Mattis LOVED it.

I mean...

He gets to beat up on something with a large stick....

 His birthday was an absolute blast, and we are SO thankful for all the sweet neighbors who came to celebrate with us!

A Birthday Fit For "The General"

I'm so irritable today...

You ever have those days?

 

I went to the gym this morning, and this group of women in their 40's gathered around this ONE woman who was on the stairmaster and ran their suck for a good 20 minutes.

I tried to drown out their gossip and complaining about their teenaged daughters with my headphones, but they were just so loud and obnoxious. 

The part that made me go "what the..." inside my head was that these two women just stood by their friend to chat for 20 whole minutes while she worked out.

My philosophy at the gym has always been, "get in, work out, get out."

Oh, and if you can talk and have leisurely conversation while you're on a cardio machine...you're not working hard enough!

I never understood people who use "gym time" as socialization time. 

Twenty minutes in my usual 2 hour gym routine is a BIG chunk of my work out time!

So my day started off like that. 

We are getting a new part time nanny today.

Our nanny from last semester's school schedule for fall semester is not going to work out with Nick and my own school schedule, SO......we had to find a new one.

I'm excited to have some routine back in my life with D in school again, a nanny for the kids to take care of day to day things, and school for Nick and me.

By the way,

Thank you to everyone who wished Mattis a Happy Birthday yesterday!

He truly had the best day ever!

His day started with pancakes and a candle....

That expression on his face is probably because he's wondering why his pancakes look so deformed.

He got some "birthday love" at the gym...

Nick and I got him a train table for his birthday.

The boy loves his "choo choos"...

And yet, he preferred to play with the storage bins underneath....of course...

Nick an I stayed up way past our bedtime putting this sucker together.

He got to end his night with a fruity pebbles cupcake, and of course...more candles!

Courtesy of HEB...

I don't bake unless it's Christmas....

I think I relit the candle about 4 times for him so he could blow them out...

He had such a great day!!

We are having his "Bubble Guppies" party on Saturday with just a few close friends and my parents!

I Never Wanted A Son

It's true.

When I was pregnant with Mattis, I was slightly devastated when I found out that "she" was actually a "he". 

I realize there are many people (including some of you reading this) who are struggling with pregnancy, adoption, etc.

I know that these people would give just about anything for ANY child...boy or girl.

So for me to sit here and say that I wasn't happy about Mattis being a boy and not the little girl I wanted him to be may sound a bit selfish and ungrateful.

But this is why everything is God's plan and not my plan.

Lord knows if it were MY plan, we'd have two girls.

 

 As I got more pregnant, I grew to love the idea of having a little boy around the house.

God slowly showed me throughout my pregnancy just how much more love I had in my heart to give my future son.

And exactly 2 years ago today, at 4:37 in the afternoon, Mattis Mark Vincent Romer came into the world.

I want to punch my former self in the face for ever uttering the words, "I never want a son."

My world full of princesses, Barbies, glitter and everything pink needed a big old wrench thrown in it, and Mattis was just the answer to that.

This crazy little boy who eats his cheerios dipped in toilet water....

Who has eaten goldfish crackers covered in his own poop...

Who still doesn't sleep through the night (4 out of 7 days of the week...AT LEAST)...

Who screams like a banshee...

Who beats up on his much older, and bigger sister...

Who's always dirty...

Who pees in bathtub while his sister is in it...

Bubble Guppies lovin'...

Mama snugglin'...

Taylor Swift fanatic... 

Tonka truck lovin'

"Mummies" addict (Annie's fruit snacks)... 

Huggable...

Kissable...

Absolutely adorable...

Blonde haired Asian...

This mama heart couldn't imagine a life without a son...especially one that is JUST LIKE YOU!

Keep dancin' away to Taylor Swift, sweet child...

We love you so much!

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY TO THE MOST AWESOME KID AROUND!

Boots and 1st Grade

My newsfeed is filled with "first day of school" photos of all my wonderful friend's children!

I love it!

I love to see what outfits everyone chose...

I love to see their smiling faces...

I dropped this beauty off at 1st grade today!

She chose her outfit from head to toe....cowboy boots and all.

She truly is a southern girl at heart.

I'm also relieved that her future aspirations has changed from what she wanted to be on the last day of Kindergarten...

I mean...I'd support her in ANYTHING she wants to do (as long as it doesn't involve criminal activity or prostitution....you know you're laughing)....

But, her aspirations of wanting to become a teacher (thanks to her awesome Kindergarten teacher and our awesome neighbor who is also a teacher) is a lot more comforting to me than cheerleader.

Believe it or not, dropping her off at 1st grade was easy breezy.

She was so excited which made it that much easier.

Lord knows before Kindergarten, I was a blubbery mess the night before and the morning of.

Poor Nick was stuck consoling me while my very excited Dannika kept telling me that it was "gonna be ok and that [she] HAD to grow up."

Anyway...

Happy 1st day of school to all my friends who are finally getting rid of dropping their precious babies off at school today!

And of course a shout out to our amazing educators out there who spend their days teaching, nurturing, babysitting, and loving our kiddos for us!

Nick's 32nd Birthday Bash!

I've been away from the blog for a while!

I had very good reason though, of course!

Nick and I just got back from a few days in Cancun to celebrate his 32nd birthday!

For my 30th birthday, Nick took the kids and me out to California for a vacation, and it was one of the best birthdays ever!

I wanted to do something special for his 30th, but I was super prego with Mattis so there was no "whoopin' it up" for his dirty thirty.

Of course, last year, he had just completed OCS for his 31st, so we didn't get to do anything too crazy.

I decided that this was the year to do something nice for him.

He is literally the hardest working man I know (just a hair behind my daddy, of course).

He never asks for anything for his birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries, etc....which is why he is the hardest person in the world to get a gift for.

I knew that one thing that he would love would be a vacation without the kids.

We love love love our two kids, but by the end of the summer, we were both pretty worn out between school, early morning wake ups with Mattis, and life in general.

Nick never vacationed out of the country growing up, and I wanted him to be able to experience all the stories I have of my childhood with him.

Cancun is one place that stands out in my mind of one of the most beautiful places I've visited as a child.

I've been to the beaches of Hawaii, Okinawa, Jamaica, Cozumel, Cheju-do Island in S. Korea, the Dominican Republic, Southern California, Miami, the Gulf Coast of Texas, and Cancun.

Out of ALL of these beautiful beaches, Cancun had some of the prettiest water I have ever seen in my life.

The water is so turquoise and clear and blue and crystalline (I don't even know if that's an adjective, but I don't care) and turquoise and clear......and blue....

The water is absolutely breathtaking, and you can not find sand any whiter than the beaches of Cancun.

People told me not to go to Cancun, because it's "touristy" and more for young "spring breakers", but I knew that I HAD to take Nick to this gem of a place that is highly underrated (because of touristy-ness and spring breakers).

We started with a 7 hour layover in Mexico City...yep....7 hours...

We made the best of it though with cervezas!

We finally arrived in Cancun and upgraded our room with the spending money my parents gave us.

Our room, and a view of the sunset I took on our first morning there!

Do you see the cross in the sunset?

Just proof that God shows himself in the most beautiful ways.

Our first day there, we rented a little speedboat with a tour guide.

He took us through the mangrove trees and across the crystal blue waters to one of the biggest coral reefs in Mexico to do some snorkeling!

Too bad Nick forgot to bring his gopro, so we didn't get any cool photos of the awesome fish we saw :( 

boo.

We stayed at the Grand Park Royal.

It's an all inclusive resort.

We definitely prefer the Riu Palace resorts over Grand Park, but it was still really nice, and we really enjoyed our room, the view, and our stay there.

And because no vacation photos are complete without a photo of you sipping fancy martinis, a photo of a fancy tiramisu, a towel animal in your room left by the maid service, and of course a photo by the beach reading trashy tabloid magazines!

Nick's Birthday Dinner at El Mirador (an Italian restaurant).

We had some amazing food, and staff all came out to sing Happy Birthday to him (unbeknownst to him or me).

We ended his birthday night with a show at the hotel, that Nick was voluntold to be up on stage for (since it was his birthday).

They embarrassed him, poked some fun at him, and he even won a game they all had to play!

After the show, we decided to head to downtown Cancun to do some dancing at Fat Tuesday's.

First of all, it was expensive.

Second of all, these shot girls kept coming up to us and trying to sell us shots.

And third of all, we got there at 11, and left at midnight....and every one knows the party doesn't start until midnight.

But we're old, and we wanted to go to sleep in our nice comfy hotel room.

We still had a blast though, and got to dance!
Call us lame...

Selfies by the infinity pool that looked out to the ocean!

Enjoying the view from our room before heading out to Nick's birthday dinner!

Seriously...I've never seen water like this in my life!

And a photo of my dragon fruit.

It was so delicious, and now I'm sad I won't get to have it every morning.

Flying back into Houston...

We had such an amazing time.

We were only there for 3 days total (2 full days), and people told us it was too short of a vacation.

But for us, it was perfect.

Any longer would have been too long, and we were missing our babies so much!

We are so thankful for my amazing parents for watching our kids so that we could have a much needed mini vacation.

Beat the Heat

So it's been ridiculously hot in Texas.

I am not even exaggerating when I say that at one point, after my car had sat in the sun for an hour, my dash thermometer read that it was 122 degrees outside.

proof...

Notice this was at 525 in the afternoon....

The actual high temp for yesterday around these parts was like 105ish.

Strangely, I don't mind it at all.

I did tell myself that I was never allowed to complain about the heat ever again after all the complaining I did about the cold, snow, and horrible winters I experienced in Massachusetts. 

It is a little crazy (even for a native Texan like me) to think that I grew up thinking these types of Summer temps were normal. 

Friends of mine that live in (or are from) other parts of the world/US are in absolute shock at how hot it gets down in these parts. 

Nothing this Texas girl can't handle!

I just hope it cools down a little before D starts school since we normally walk her to and from school every day. 

Speaking of school...

I have been on top of it this year, and did all of D's school supply shopping in the middle of July!

New backpack, lunch box, school supplies, water bottle, etc.

I'm pretty proud of my usually procrastinating self for getting it out of the way so quickly!

Yesterday, we went to our neighbor's graphics business in Bryan, All Out Graphics (shameless plug) to get labels made for her coloring box, notebooks, folders, etc.

Shout out to our awesome neighbor Greg for taking time out of his extremely busy schedule to make a couple labels for our baby girl!

With the heat being the way it was yesterday afternoon, and the neighborhood pool being closed, we decided to plan a fun family afternoon outing at the bowling alley!

Great way to kill a few hours in the afternoon and get out of the heat!

And some random photos that are just too awesome not to post in this blog post...

Nick found this old photo of him on his computer.

For those who don't know, Nick was a drill instructor at MCRD San Diego.

I love these action shots of him yelling at recruits.

They really do just make my day.

Nick loves being part of my ridiculous selfies....

And lastly...

Today is August 11th!

Better known to artillerymen in the Marine Corps as 0811 day!

Happy 0811 Day to my crazy artilleryman!

What are y'all doing to beat the heat?

Is it even hot where you live?