Memorial Day and Vince

I really thought long and hard about what I wanted to post in regards to Memorial Day.

I sat in the preschool drop off of my daughter's school today thinking about the significance of Memorial Day.

I started thinking about a text I got last night from my "soul sister", London.

 She was driving to Arlington National cemetery (from Michigan), and she told me that she'd send me some photos...

That's when the tears started coming...

You see, for people like my friend London, Memorial Day isn't a day off for BBQ'ing and celebrating.

Every Memorial Day, London and her mom take the long journey to Arlington National Cemetery to visit SSgt Vincent Bell....her brother...her mother's son...

Nick finally had the courage to visit his friend this year.

There's no words for me to describe the emotion in this photo.

A brother visiting a brother at his final resting place...

 I texted London back this morning when I woke up...

"We will be spending time with friends this weekend, and you better bet there will be some good stories and memories about Vincent that we will share."

I've been seeing ALL kinds of these posts on my newsfeed trying to make all of us feel guilty for wanting to BBQ and enjoy our day off on Memorial Day.

You know what I mean...

In all honesty, if you've ever heard stories about or knew men like Vincent, or my friend Cpl Andrew Brownfield, they were happy people who enjoyed life.

 They liked having a good time, and laughing...and being happy.

I can tell you from the stories I've heard about Vince from Nick that Vince liked a good party, a good BBQ, a good beer, and his motorcycle.

He liked going to the mall in Temecula to check out girls...

He was an amazing artilleryman, and Nick had the privelege of serving together with him from boot camp, in the artillery community, and artillery training school.

He was always smiling.

He was tall, dark, and handsome.

London and Vince.

By fate, through this tragedy, God placed London in my life.

When we decided to name our son after Vince, I wanted to contact his family to let them know that we wanted to keep his memory and his name alive through our son.

Nick was not in a place yet to talk about Vince's death, and was not ready to face his family at that time.

So I took it upon myself to let them know.

 Naming our son Mattis Mark Vincent Romer has been the greatest blessing ever.

You have no idea how mad I get when people get lazy and try and leave out the "Vincent" part of his name.

I get a little pissy, and I make sure to correct them, and tell them that my son's full name is NOT Mattis Mark Romer...it is Mattis Mark VINCENT Romer.

In a way, it's a blessing when they want to leave that part of his name out, because it gives me an opportunity to tell them why the second middle name is so important to us.

It gives me a chance to talk about Vince, and keep his memory alive through our son.

So this weekend...

Our family will be doing exactly what Vince would be doing.

BBQ'ing...

Enjoying our friends...

Drinking beer...

Laughing...

And I encourage everyone else to do the same.

Live your life, and have fun.

There are too many men and women who will never get a chance to do that anymore.

Do it for them.

Just take a moment to remember them...

Keep their memories alive somehow.

And you bet your ass that we'll be sharing stories about this wonderful man that gave his life for us with our neighbors.

And lastly, I want to congratulate this amazing woman on completing her law degree!

She had to weather some crazy storms in the last few years, but she never gave up.

I'm so freaking proud of her, and I know Vince is too!

The Joys of Parenthood

It never fails.

At least once a day, Dannika informs me that "Mattis is annoying."

The sad part is, most of the time when she mentions it to me, I'm sorta thinking the same thing.

I love the little guy with all my big mama bear heart, but let's face it...

Motherhood isn't all unicorns and rainbows..

ESPECIALLY with my son.

I know when you see photos like this...

You're "oohing" and "ahhing" about how adorable him and his endless rolls of skin are.

But I assure you that he's mostly like this...

And this isn't even that bad.

I usually am more preoccupied with trying to tune out calm him down when he's having his crying/screaming/whining fits.

The last thing on my mind is to whip out my iPhone to snap a pic for Instagram, so sadly, I don't have any real good "ugly cry face" photos of my son.

And y'all know how I am with social media.

If I can document it, it's gonna be up there on my Facebook or Instagram!

He's seriously my high maintenance kid and drama queen.

I think because Dannika was such a "perfect" baby, Mattis has been a bit of a parenting shock to us.

I tell him already, "your sister was never like this, Mattis!"

The comparisons have begun.

I'm sure the teenage years that are fast approaching for Dannika will be a whole different ball game for us, but for now, I'm going to bask in the glory that she was such a good baby.

Last night at dinner, Mattis sat in his Bumbo chair for a good 15 minutes screaming like someone was murdering him while I scarfed my food down and downed a LARGE glass of wine before tending to his needs.

My husband and I have learned to tune him out, and try and enjoy our dinners together at night.

We attempt to have adult conversation amidst the screaming banshee in the background...

Let me not forget the million times that we have to interrupt each other in the middle of conversation to remind our daughter to "quit picking at [her] food and eat ALL OF IT!"

The joys of parenthood, right?

We went to Target yesterday, and looked down at the cart to find this...

 In a period of .0000000001 seconds, he had wriggled out of the seat, one leg still stuck inside the "leg hole", rested his big old head on the side of the cart, and was looking at a pamphlet.

The strangest part is that we have NO idea where he got the pamphlet from...

Seriously, we can't take this kid anywhere.

CopyCatting Random Tuesday

I've seen a lot of people post today on random stuff, so I decided to do just that. 

Thanks Marcella (from Life After "Trust Me") for the idea.

A pastor at  church once told me that you should go to marriage counseling when things are good in your marriage. He said that if you go when things are bad, you're already behind the power curve. 

Nick and I have been in marriage counseling for several months now. 

We weathered a storm that hit our marriage a few months ago (due to military life), and we decided even though we were in a great place, we'd continue to go to counseling.

 It's amazing to watch our marriage grow healthier and stronger than it already is.

It's been an absolute blessing, and I can't say enough good things about our experience!

My son is ridiculously high maintenance and a cry baby.

Nick and I were EXTREMELY spoiled with Dannika.

She was an angel baby.

She hardly cried or fussed. She was always delightful.  

Mattis is a terror.

But man, he is cute.

Massachusetts has a state law that says you can't sell alcohol on Memorial Day.

 That is UnAmerican. Nuff said.

Dannika is the greatest big sister ever.

It's amazing how much help a 4 year old is when it comes to taking care of a baby.

"Dannika, run upstairs and grab Mattis a onesie!"

"Dannika, watch Mattis while mommy showers."

Seriously, when I only had Dannika with no help, when did I shower?!?!  

 Yup...she put him to sleep.

 I love a good cheesy pick up line. 

I actually find them endearing.

  

I love family "car selfies".

 Happy Tuesday, y'all.

xoxo 

Boston University Commissioning

Tonight was Boston University's commissioning ceremony for the Navy and Marine Corps midshipmen.

These students (midshipmen) have been a part of the NROTC program at Boston University, and have finally obtained their bachelor's degrees to obtain a commission as an Officer in the Navy or Marine Corps.

It's an amazing milestone for these young men and women as they embark on their journeys in the Armed Forces.

I couldn't help but get teary eyed as I watched their moms, dads, siblings, and family members walk up to pin on their rank insignia.

You could tell just how proud they were of their sons or daughters.

It made me think about my parents, and how proud they looked when they watched me march across the parade deck at Parris Island back in October of 2002 at my Marine Corps recruit training graduation.

I tried to picture Dannika or Mattis in a moment where they achieve something great, and as a mom, I can just picture myself a blubbery mess.

In that moment, I realized just how fast time flies, and how fast my kids will be adults.

I can only hope to raise decent human beings that God will be proud of.

Before you can commission, you have to graduate college....

Yesterday, we attended Boston University's commencement ceremony at Nickerson field.

As we were walking back from the commencement ceremony to our car, Nick got bombarded by Asian parents wanting a photo with him...lol.

I have no shame in admitting that us Asians appreciate a good photo op.

They treated Nick like a celebrity...lol.

 

And a post commencement "selfie"

And for the commissioning ceremony...

This is SSgt Evans and Nick. 

SSgt Evans just completed his degree at Harvard, and will be commissioning at the end of the month!

This is a cool photo, because it's the last time in his Marine Corps career that he'll be sporting the most sexiest uniform ever....the ENLISTED Marine dress blues.

The Officer dress blues are nice...but everyone agrees that the Marine Corps enlisted dress blues with the red piping and gold rank insignia is by far.....the sexiest uniform....ever.

Nick's pretty upset about his marksman pistol badge.....

Next time baby...next time....

The midshipmen taking their oath of office.

This photo makes me laugh.

Every newly commissioned Officer gets to choose who their "first salute" is.

Your first salute as an Officer is SUPPOSED to be an enlisted service member (NOT A MIDSHIPMAN....)...

Ensign Grigoriadis (yeah...try and pronounce that) chose Nick to be his first salute.

 After the salute, they're supposed to pose for a photo....

He was so excited that he forgot the photo op and turned to salute the CO and guest of honor. 

It was pretty amusing, because he left Nick there hanging...lol.

He turned back around for a photo :)

First salute for 2ndLt Simpson.

 2ndLt Patel

Ensign Ross

 The guest speaker was Rear Admiral Christian Becker (the equivalent of a 1 star General)

He's a Boston University alumni with a pretty impressive resume (google him).

Two of some of the most amazing women I know.

Emiliee is in the middle. 

She is a student at MIT pursuing a career as a Marine Officer after graduation.

She's pretty amazing, ridiculously smart, extremely resourceful, and great with kids :)

On the far right is Stephanie.

She's a mom of 2 adorable kids...the wife of a Marine (a SSgt who is Harvard grad who will commission as a 2ndLt)...ANNNNDD....SHE'S A FREAKING LAW SCHOOL GRAD as of this year!!!

 Steph, her husband Taylor, Nick (and his duck face), and yours truly!

A better photo without the "duck face" from Nick...lol

Congrats to all the newly commissioned ensigns and 2ndLts!

Make your mamas proud!

Dannika's Scoop Shop

I'm finally (sort of) recovered from a weekend full of screaming 4 year olds at my house!

What was supposed to be a "small" birthday party for Dannika, ended up becoming a big party!

Most of Dannika's friends from preschool and dance class all came over, and after all the exhaustion from planning the party, it was so worth it to see her smiling face.

She had SO MUCH FUN!

When I started planning the details, my ideas just kept getting bigger and bigger, and the next thing you know, I was in full "pinterest mom" mode.

I've always wanted to do an ice cream party theme birthday for Dannika, and so we did just that!

Since Nick misses out on so many birthdays and celebrations, when we do throw a party when he's around, I go BIG.

First, the decor...

A bulk of the decor, I ordered from Unlimited Party Themes off Etsy.

Coloring pages of ice cream cones with crayons and stickers.

Custom water bottle labels (from Unlimited party themes).

These adorable straws were purchased at my favorite store, Target, and a couple of them came from my Unlimited party themes package.

 The party spread (mainly for the parents). I made little tea sandwiches, BBQ weenies, fruit cups (fruit inside ice cream cones), crackers and cheese, and a veggie platter.

I suck, and I can't remember where I bought these adorable spoons.

These cute little scoops for the toppings came with the spoons.

As a parting gift, I ordered these custom sugar cookies from Whimsical Originals off Etsy.

My awesome husband built Dannika her very own ice cream stand.

Nick asked some of his students (midshipmen/future Marine Officers) to come help out at the party.

I wouldn't have survived without their help!

2ndLt Walker was volunteered to do face painting for the kiddos.

He was a big hit.

And of course Miss Emilee from MIT volunteered to get the ultimate "paint job".

Merica.

They were also a HUGE help with Mattis, cause there is no way I would have been able to control 15 crazy 4 year olds AND a baby.

The absolute coolest part of the party was Emilee's liquid nitrogen ice cream demonstration.

I asked her if she knew any cool party trick or experiments, and she did not disappoint!

That education at M.I.T. is paying off! lol.

We let all the kids add and stir the ingredients in.

 

Then Lt Walker added the liquid nitrogen to the ice cream mixture while Emilee stirred and checked the progress.

We made cookies and cream with oreos.

It was SO GOOD!

 

Afterwards, we all headed back inside to eat our homemade liquid nitrogen ice cream, and catered Ben and Jerry's!

Ice cream cake from Ben and Jerry's as well.

And we finished off the party with a piñata!

This is probably one of Dannika's closest friends from preschool.

She's going to be so sad next year because they're going to different Kindergartens!

Dannika preferred the "ax chop" method.

And the most adorable "Sophia the First" ever...

These kids are the sweetest kids ever.

One of the kids did not get much candy from the piñata, so without hesitation, they ALL took candy out of their bags to share with him.

I seriously think adults can learn something from 4 year olds these days.

Catherine taking the final swing...

The "dream team"!

Thank y'all SO MUCH for taking time out of YOUR weekend to make Dannika's party so special!

Y'all are going to do some amazing things in the Marine Corps....leading Marines and killing terrorists :)

Dannika had so much fun, but THIS mama is SO glad it's done and over with!

I'm so glad that we got to throw a party for Dannika with Nick home to take part in it.

I know when she gets older, she probably won't remember the custom water bottle labels, or the decorations that I spent so much time on...

But...

I do want her to remember that even though Daddy's job takes him away a lot, he's always found time for her special days....even if we have to do it 2 months in advance.