Long Overdue

For an update!!!!

I haven't gotten on the ole blog as much as usual because of life. If you follow me on Instagram, I think that I do a pretty good job of keeping y'all up to date on Romer shenanigans. But for those of you who don't follow me...here is an update...via photos...

We have annual family tradition of dyeing Easter eggs...

Nick thinks it's ridiculous...but he admittedly ends up having fun!

I have been an Aggie my entire life. I went through a period of rebellion where I was "over it", but it wasn't until I left College Station to join the Marines when I really missed Texas A&M (for those who don't know...I grew up here). At 33 years old, I finally get to fulfill my dream of becoming an "official" Aggie! I ordered my Aggie ring this weekend! I couldn't have gotten to this point in my life without my family, and most importantly God. I hit a lot of rock bottoms to get to where I am today, and I am grateful for grace. This ring means more to me than I can even express!

Me and the love of my life!

Our sweet firstborn...

As "non traditional" students, Nick and I have really made an effort to open our home up to our fellow Aggies.

Many of them are far away from home, and eating out all the time.

I love cooking for them, and having them over to our home!

One of the midshipmen in the Corps of Cadets at A&M is from New York, and we've sorta adopted her!

We finally got to meet her parents this weekend who flew down to little old College Station from New York!

They were so sweet and so generous, and we were glad to have finally met them!

Our church holds an annual Easter Egg hunt for our community every year called "Egg the city".

 They had over 120,000 Easter eggs and over 10,000 people showed up!

One of the beautiful moms from Aggieland Pregnancy Outreach's teen mom outreach!

She's absolutely amazing, and starting college in the Fall!

A random pic of a sweet potato from our very own garden!

My parents came up from Houston this weekend with a cooler full of delicious Korean BBQ!

My kiddos LOVE when Papa and Gigi come to visit...especially cause they always bring gifts and money...lol.

Can y'all believe my beautiful mama is 57?! 

Me either!!!

As mentioned in yesterday's blog, our family participates in many secular Easter traditions....one of which is the Easter bunny!

My kids love leaving a trail of baby carrots outside leading to our front door so that the Easter Bunny comes to our house!

Dannika wanted to make sure exactly where the bunny needs to go!

We don't do candy for our kids, because they get enough of it at school and from friends for Easter.

I usually buy them a gift, and stuff their basket with healthy snacks and treats.

Mattis is starting preschool in the Fall, so I got him a back pack and lunch box from Pottery Barn just like his big sis. He was over the moon!

Dannika has been bugging me for a pair of Hunter rainboots for as long as I can remember. 

I have pair that I wear ALL the time, and Mattis just recently got a pair (we use them as play boots for him).

Dannika's size boots are pricey, and I told her I wasn't going to spend that much on boots for her.

She asked the Easter bunny for a pair, and the "Easter bunny" got them for her a size bigger than what she wears so she can wear them for a year.

She wore them all morning....win!

Our nannies get Easter baskets too!

Sparkling wine, chocolate, and a scented candle....what every college girl needs!

We can never get a good family photo...

Thanks to Mattis....

Future J. Crew model

 For my birthday, my neighbor Kayla took me out to this new little wine and coffee bar by our house called the Tipsy Bean!

Our sweet nanny, Rachel got her AGGIE RING last week too!!

Of course we had to be there!!

Our neighbor commissioned into the Navy as a chaplain and asked Nick to be his first salute!

It was such an honor!

We went to an Aggie baseball game...

 Nick hosted a 5K with A&M Semper Fi Society, and Clayton Gardner came to perform!

Dannika ran her first 5k, and came in at around 42 minutes!!!

So there's my life in a nutshell these days!

I hope to get to blog a little more, but who knows!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Resurrection Sunday

For our family (along with many other Christians around the world), Easter is a time to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's an amazing story of grace, love, and forgiveness. No other religion in the world has a Savior that died on a cross so that we may all be forgiven for our sins (with NO strings attached!). Believers of Jesus are the only people in the world who do not have to do "good works" to go to heaven. I think that is powerful. The fact that we are saved by pure grace. Honestly, if I had to do "good things" to balance out my life for all the "bad things" I have done, I'd never get into heaven. Praise Jesus that I don't have to! My track record is about a hundred miles long....
Our family also celebrates Easter with fun secular traditions as well. The Easter bunny is alive and well in our home, and will remain that way until my kids no longer believe in the Easter bunny (and even then, I may continue with the Easter bunny traditions). I get my kids Easter baskets and fill them with healthy goodies, and I excitedly wait until the next morning to hear their squeals of joy. We do Easter egg hunts, dye Easter eggs, and do all things Easter in our home. It makes my heart happy. We always make sure to incorporate the real meaning of Easter with our children though, and throughout the week explain the story to our kids. It's hard to explain to a seven year old and a three year old the magnitude of what Jesus did for us. I can only hope and pray that I have done the story justice to my kids.
Anyway, I hope y'all are having a great Easter Sunday, and enjoying it with your loved ones. I leave you with a powerful message that we heard at church today...

"Man to God spells DO. God to man spells DONE."

I'll let you dwell on that one for a while.

Because I'm a Texan, That's Why

Did you know the official state flower of Texas is the bluebonnet?! Well, now you know!

The bluebonnet is a seasonal wildflower that blooms in Texas for just a few weeks each Spring. Every Spring, you'll see people pulled over on the side of the highway (very dangerous) taking photos of their kids nestled in the beautiful bluebonnet patches that grow wild everywhere! I also should mention, people have literally been killed on the side of highways taking bluebonnet photos....seriously y'all...don't take bluebonnet photos next to 70MPG traffic....it's not a good idea! ANYWAY...bluebonnet photos are basically a Texas tradition. If you're a native Texan, and do not have photos of you as a child in a bluebonnet field, then you're Texan card is revoked!

In our little family, I am the ONLY true born and bred Texan. Nick is a southern boy from Alabama, but he is a Texan convert (thanks to yours truly). Dannika is my SoCal princess (born in Orange County, CA) and Mattis is my New England "masshole" (born in Newton, MA). But as a Texan, I demanded my kids take bluebonnet photos, and I am not ashamed to admit that I used Starbursts as bribery to get them to participate in this age old Texas tradition. I dusted off my ol' DSLR, and headed out to the George Bush Library to get some bluebonnet photos last week! Here is what I came up with...

Because no photo sesh is complete without an "Gig 'em" photo...

For an amateur photographer (me), I'd say they turned out ok!