A long hiatus

So it's been awhile since I've blogged!  It was an unintentional hiatus, but with spring slowly creeping back into our lives, I thought it was time to revive the blog!

So far 2014 has been an exciting year for the Roms!  We took a trip to Florida to meet baby nephew Lennox, celebrated Gary's 30th birthday, Gary started a new job with Eli Lilly earlier this month, and we are eagerly awaiting a big trip to Disney World in May!  Not to mention our week-in week-out lives with dance, gymnastics, and sewing (for me) mixed in! 

In this post, since a blog post can't exist without pictures, I'll share some of our snowy photos from this crazy winter we've had!

Testing out the snow

Helping Mommy build a snowman

Finished product!

 For these next few pictures, watch the snowman carefully!

Eliza is checking him out

Hm, he's tilting a little...

Down he goes!

Our neighbor let Gary borrow the snow blower!  Phew!

Playing with her Duplo Legos

Loving on her Cinderella

2013: Year in Review!

Wow, over already?  2013 was a great year for the Roms.  Although we had no major life changes or big surprises, we spent much time together, with our families, and have changed for the better.  Here is our year in review.

In January, Eliza tried her first popsicle...weird, right?  But true!

and showed off pigtails for the first time at dance class.

In February, we took a big cruise and celebrated Gary's birthday on board.

 and really loved the beach!

In March, we dressed up a little Irish "dribbler"

 and celebrated Easter.

In April, we celebrated our friends' Reid & Courtney's wedding while spending our first joint night away from Eliza.

Eliza also had her first dance photos taken.

 In May, we celebrated Mother's Day

and started gymnastics class.

In June, this little girl turned 2!

 She had her first dance recital and a Minnie Mouse birthday party the next day!

 In July, we bought our first new car!

And Gary and I celebrated 7 years of marriage!

In August, we took our summer trip to Chicago and had a great weekend.

 I also picked up my new sewing hobby.

In September, Eliza began her first big-girl dance classes.

Then, I turned 30.

 In October, she got a big girl leotard and potty-trained!  

She was also two different princesses for Halloween.

In November, we headed to the Monon Bell game at DePauw.

We also celebrated Thanksgiving and I made a bunch of coordinating shirts for the cousins.

 And in December, we celebrated Christmas morning as a family of 3,

and said goodbye to 2013 at our first Butler basketball game.

Happy New Year!  Who knows what 2014 has in store!

Merry Christmas!

Phew, Christmas can be such a whirlwind!  Even though we stayed home all day, just the 3 of us, it still feels like we had a very full day!  Eliza woke up around 9:45am (bless that child) after a late bedtime, and finally made our way downstairs around 10am.  We were so excited for her to see the fun Santa and his elves had on our stairway!

She was very impressed and said, "Look at that!  My toys!"  She picked out some to bring downstairs with us and we had to keep coaxing her to come off the stairs and into the living room.  We wanted her to see what Santa had brought!

In my head we had so many gifts for her and I thought it'd take forever to wrap everything.  In the end, it took under an hour to wrap gifts from us (and some from aunts/uncles).  I also ran out of wrapping paper!  It lasted two years, so that's good.  :) Gary and I grew up with gifts from Santa unwrapped and presented in front of the tree, and if Gary or his little brother received legos, they were usually put together.  So Gary built a little Duplo lego house for Eliza!

Everything from Santa was a big hit!

She insisted on being covered up immediately with her new blanket.  So sweet.

She hit the jackpot of princess books!  Thanks Aunt Kolleen, Uncle Bill, Conor, Mackenzie, and Cooper!

Annual family PJ picture

We had great luck with the self-timer on our camera this year!  Eliza though it was so funny to hit the button and hurry to get set.  :)  And she actually smiled!  For comparison purposes, here are our first two Christmases with our sweet girl.

First Christmas, 2011--6 months (and really sick!)

2011--Wearing her vintage nightgown

2012--best picture we could get last year!

We hope you all had a blessed Christmas!