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!

That Time I Finally Had Time

And God said, "Let there be LIGHT!" 

Genesis 1:3

And the Lord provideth light to my life this Wednesday when I took my very last final of fall semester....

This was me Tuesday....
Studying my little heart out at my favorite spot, Tea 2 Go.

 And here's my beautiful mug at 7AM Wednesday heading to my last final!
I was so excited to get it done and over with!

I passed all my classes (3 A's and a B...thanks Dr. Burk for that B).

I was actually extremely happy about my B.

I took a military war & society class this semester, and it was tough!

It was a straight hour and half of pure lecture, no powerpoint, 5 textbooks (TONS OF READING), and absolutely no sort of review or bullets for the exams.

I went into this class so clueless and with the mindset that I was doomed for failure.

I just wanted to get out of the class alive and with a passing grade, so finding out I made a B was celebratory!

 chilled pinot to celebrate the end of a semester!

 

Now I have so much time on my hands that I don't know what to do with myself.

In fact, the last two days, I have shopped my little heart out.

I did tell Nick not to get me anything for Christmas...

I backed into his truck a few weeks ago, and I said that the repair to the damage done to my car was what I wanted for Christmas.

So I am justifying my shopping by buying all kinds of useless crap for everyone.

I'm like Oprah...

"AND YOU GET A GIFT, AND YOU GET A GIFT, EVERYONE GETS A GIFT!"

via GIPHY

 I hope this amazing degree from Texas A&M lands me an 8 figure job.....

Leadership major....wishful thinking?

6 figure job?

FINE...I'll settle for whoever will let me come make their coffee, as long as they're nice to me.

So what have I been up to since my last final on Wednesday?

Here...I'll show you.

(they're also on my Instagram @domesticatedcombatboots)

I redid my centerpiece for our dining table....

I cooked a ridiculously easy meal for dinner, but decided to make it look fancy with "Sriracha art".

I'm practically a Michelin Star rated Chef at this point. 

I baked gingerbread men Sugar cookies with these two cuties...

We had a small gathering at our house on Sunday for some of our college kids and our nanny Rachel.

Our other nanny, Nicolette couldn't come, so her and her boyfriend came on Monday for dinner and gifts.

Her boyfriend likes whiskey, so we hooked him with a bottle (that I made festive by tying a candy cane on it with some burlap string), and we got her a giftcard and an ornament with her sorority letters painted on it.

The kids love them

I have taken D to school, and not felt rushed....

Car rider line pic.

Grumpy Mattis 😠

Nicolette got Mattis a gumball machine for Christmas.

He's been asking for one ALL semester.

Here he is sitting with his gumball machine and watching TV.....

Who's child is this?!

We have an annual family Christmas tradition where we get in our jammies, get Starbucks, and drive around town looking at Christmas lights.

I promised the kids after finals, we'd do all sorts of fun Christmas things.

So Wednesday night, we did lights!

A house in our neighborhood sets their lights to music, and it is our favorite lights spectacular!

This year, they did a special tribute to fallen service members.

I thought it was pretty special.

 The kids after our Christmas light sightseeing trip around town!

Mattis can be such a diva sometimes.... 😂

Apparently, the lights and his Starbucks "Al Pacino" (what he calls a frappucino) wore him out.

D went to a Christmas party at her friend's house this week and SANTA came!

Funny story...

Dannika asked Santa for an Elf on the Shelf (which I REFUSE to do), a Hatchimal (only possible if I sell my soul, win the lottery, or sell Mattis), and a dog (hell to the no the no, no, no).

Santa is going to have to disappoint little Dannika this year.

Because "Santa" is not getting her any of those three things.

Anyway,

I hope y'all are having an amazing holiday season!

If you're stressing out about family (like me), plans, and/or gifts...take a deep breath!

Make Christmas about the people you love.

It's only once a year, and after the gifts have been opened and family is gone, you're still the awesome person you were before the holidays.

We are children of the Risen King who was born on Christmas Day!

There is no better gift than Him!

Mall Santas

Who doesn't love a good old fashioned, cheesy "mall Santa" photo?

I love them.

I am a sucker for the bad quality and overpriced photos with the local mall Santa.

It's become a tradition in our family to take the kids down to the local mall to get a photo with Santa. 

Here is the photo from 2 years ago...

 And the 2015 Romer kids Santa pic...

drumroll...

So much change in just two short years!

We were hoping for a good "crying kid" photo of Mattis with Santa this year.

He ALMOST cried, but didn't.

I think because he had his brave sister to protect him from this strange man in a red suit and beard.

He asked Santa for a "moto-cycle" and skipped happily on his way.

Merry Christmas from the Romer kids!

Another Random Blog

I know I've been posting a ton of random posts with no real topic lately.

I also know I've been majorly slacking on updating my blog.

The only excuse I can come up with is that I've been too busy being happy being back in Texas.

When I was in New England, I blogged A LOT to fill a void.

I blogged a A LOT before I moved to New England because I was apart from Nick, and I was filling a void.

I haven't been this truly happy in so long, and it's been tough for me to find time out of being happy to blog.

But I love blogging, and I told Nick tonight at dinner that I was gonna blog!

So let's start tonight's blog with some randomness and photos....

I promise to have a an actual blog with a topic of some sorts next!!!

We miss our friends in Massachusetts more than anything!

We made great friends there, and they are truly irreplaceable.

One of our friends just happened to be our neighbors, Dan, Linda, and their son David. 

They're the type of neighbors/friends that we could show up at their house uninvited, and be welcomed in with open arms, a glass of wine, and a beer.

They were seriously the best!!

A "tradition" we all started together was a "Friday night pizza night".

Dan (an AMAZING home cook), made homemade grilled pizza every Friday, and we would go over to drink wine/beer, eat pizza, and just hang out.

Our entire family used to look forward to Friday nights EVERY week!

Before we moved, Dan got Nick his very own "pizza peel" so that we could continue the "Friday night" pizza night tradition here in Texas.

So last Friday was our first official "homemade pizza night" in Texas.

Nick was SO excited to be in the kitchen for once, since I do most of the cooking....and I was happy to be able to sit back, enjoy a glass of wine, and let him do all the cooking.

Dannika used to LOVE helping Dan make the pepperoni pizza (he always did one pepperoni pizza for Dannika).

It was a nice treat for her to get to help Nick make pepperoni pizza at our house too!

Linda always had "Flip Flop" pinot grigio for me on "pizza nights", and when I found it here in Texas, I was elated!

It's a screw top wine that tastes absolutely DIVINE!

It's one of my favorite pinot grigios!!!! (Imagine that...me loving a screw top wine!)

Like a lot of children during this time of year, Dannika had her "disguise Tom the Turkey" project.

It was a family project, and Dannika's first official school project.

She wanted her turkey to be a "girl Marine with a bun in her hair and everything 'just like mommy'".

Notice the awesome cammie paint, eyelashes, long dangly earring, and the bronze star/silver star?

 Nick received his official "Welcome Aboard" packet from Texas A&M!!

He's going to be a Fightin' Texas Aggie, Y'all!!! WHOOOOOOP!

Nick and I have been KILLING it at the gym!!!!!

WE ARE MAKIN' SERIOUS GAINZ.....

We go every morning after we drop Dannika off at school.

I am SO thankful for this time that we get to spend together.

I know all the women are jealous that a husband and wife get to come work out together at 8AM every morning!

So my life consists of work out clothes, hats, tennis shoes, tshirts.......

I'm the in "fit mom" category in all those "mom stereotype" articles, meaning I'm always the mom showing up in work out clothes...Lululemons....etc...

I decided recently that I'd make more of an effort to "get ready" during the day.

"Get ready" meaning, I wear actual clothes, and do my hair and make up.

I've been good so far, and I think Nick is enjoying seeing me look put together (although, I'm sure he doesn't mind seeing me in my work out gear).

This Gucci bag I have in this photo was a gift my daddy bought me like 10 years ago!!!!

You pay for quality!

Yesterday, I decided it was a "red lipstick" kinda day...

Dannika abandoned Mattis in the laundry in his Tonka truck.

It was a good 5 minutes before we realized that he was stuck because he started whimpering....poor little guy.

And because we are AWESOME parents, we took pictures before we saved him.

 

If you've ever lived in the south, EVERYTHING is bigger...

EVERYTHING...the include hair bows.

I used to put these giant bows in Dannika's hair in Massachusetts, and people used to give her the strangest looks, and make comments about her "hair accessory".

I love that we are back in Texas where it is just the norm.

I LOVE having a large soaking tub in the master bedroom!

Our kids think it's awesome cause it's so big. 

Dannika thinks it's a pool!

And I'm ending the blog with Mattis' bath time pics.

Disney on Ice: Passport to Adventure

Last year for Valentine's Day, Nick got Dannika tickets to Disney on Ice at TD Garden in Boston.

It was a big hit for the whole family, so this year, she got Disney on Ice tickets again as a stocking stuffer.

This year it was at Agannis Arena on campus at Boston University.

If you've never been to a Disney on Ice production, they have several different themes.

Last year, we went the the "Rockin' Ever After" show, and the entire show was based on a select few Disney movies tied together to old school rock and roll type music.

This year, we went the "Passport to Adventure" show, and the show was based on taking a trip around the world based on different Disney movies.

I highly recommend this show if you have children over the age of 4.

Last year, Dannika was only 3, and while she had a great time, the show is fairly long, and by intermission, she was really fidgety and had lost a little bit of interest.

This year, she was completely engaged through the entire show.

Of course she insisted on wearing her princess dress to the show.

Since it was frigid outside, I convinced her to wear a long sleeved and tights underneath her dress.

Thank God that we purchased the overpriced 26 dollar light up wand LAST year, so we just took it with us this year.

Even though she had one, she even asked us to buy her another one.

Uh, no.

If you have young kids and you are going to this show, I HIGHLY recommend spending the extra bucks to get VIP seating.

I think the experience is way better for them to be up close and personal to the ice.

They can clearly see all the characters and what is going on.

Also, you don't have to worry about not being able to see over the person sitting in front of you.

Overpriced, tastless sno cones in a cheap plastic "stein"....check.

We also bought overpriced 12 dollar popcorn and 12 dollar cotton candy.

Hanging out before the show.

We got there super early, so we had some time to grab all our snacks and treats.

 I feel like now that we have gone two years in a row, it's officially a tradition.

It was a ton of fun, and if they come to your area, it's a must see!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Just some baby giggles to start off your Christmas Eve...

I've watched this video about a million times, and each time, my heart just melts a little bit more.

Nick is seriously the only person that can make him laugh so hard!

We started our Christmas Eve morning with peanut butter and chocolate chip pancakes (made by my awesome hubby!).

We have a tradition of doing our stocking stuffers on Christmas Eve.

I know Dannika was DYING to find out what had been inside of her stocking for a few weeks now.

We usually do a $25 dollar limit per stocking for stocking stuffers, but over the years, it's become more about Dannika than anything else.

I basically grab anything and everything pink and/or Hello Kitty from the Target dollar section, and it's always a big hit with her.

And thanks to "second baby syndrome", Mattis got like 3 things in his stocking.

Seriously though, he's 4 months old!

He doesn't know!

Target dollar store goodies

Do you watch the show Scandal?

If you do, you'll know what I'm talking about when I say I've been obsessing over the "Olivia Pope wine glass".

You know that gigantic wine glass that she drinks red wine out of?

I'm not much of a red wine fan, I prefer whites (chardonnay and pinot grigio...in case you want to buy some for me).

Nick got me a set of the giant white wine glasses from Crate & Barrel for my stocking.

Obviously, only one glass fit in my stocking (for looks). 

I can't wait to drink wine out of it!!!

I got nick a tshirt, some Under Armour running socks, a mini bottle of Gentleman Jack, a mini bottle of Godiva white chocolate liqueur, some post work out supplements, and of course chocolate caramels.

I spent the rest of the morning pre cooking dishes for Christmas dinner tomorrow.

We are having our Indian friends over for a traditional American Christmas dinner!

They've invited us to their house several times for delicious Indian food, and have always been so hospitable to us.

We figured it was our turn, and show them how we celebrate Christmas!

I hope everyone has a beautiful Christmas Eve filled with joy, happiness, blessings, and family. 

I know that for some people, Christmas time isn't the most joyous time of year.

Many people have lost loved ones, lost a job, are experiencing the inability to provide things that you want to for your family, or any other hardships.

I pray that the spirit of God can lift you up during this time, and that he can bring some sort of joy to you.

And while physical gifts are nice to have under the tree, none of those earthly possessions will come with us or matter when we go to heaven to be in the Kingdom of God!

The greatest gift of all was His son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, and Christ is too big to put under any Christmas tree!