Texas Fall, Y'all

I think our weekend filled with tailgates, football games, and church took a toll on my oldest.

This is day 2 of D being home sick from school.

Just a fever.

No other symptoms.

Probably "viral".

And like every doctor in America will tell me, "You just have to let it run its' course."

When the Tylenol/Motrin regimen kicks in, she's back to her normal self.

It's when that fever creeps back up that she's just miserable.

Praying she is feeling better by tomorrow!

She is really missing school!

The weather finally feels like a "Texas Fall".

A "Texas Fall" is:

 //When the leaves are turning brown (cause leaves in TX don't turn those pretty reds, oranges, and yellows you see up north).//

//The temperatures are in the 80's instead of the 90s and 100s.//

//You can catch people wearing jeans...but with sandals and tank tops.//

I'm not one of those women you see on Facebook talking about my obsession with Fall.

I actually dislike Fall and Winter.

Everything is dying...

The daylight doesn't last long...

The only "fally" thing I like is pumpkin spice lattes.

I also like sitting on our back porch deck, but of course, once daylight savings time hits, my late afternoons lounging on the deck are gone...

Boo to Fall!

After church on Sunday, D went to a friend's house to play, and Nick took Mattis on the back porch to play while he studied.

I got some "me" time, and managed to sneak outside to capture a few pics of them.

Playing with daddy's hunting arrows.

I can never get this kid to smile for the camera. He likes to give me faces like this.

I finally offered him a snack, and this is the face I got. Silly boy.

 I love his dirt covered face in these photos.

It truly captures my Mattis in his every day element.

And my handsome guy studying away.

 Hope everyone is enjoying their week so far!

Aggie Bound

HOWDY!

If you don't follow me on social media, the cat's been out of the bag for about a week now...

I'm transferring to Texas A&M starting in the Spring!

I mean, I've always been an Aggie, but I get to make it official and have an Aggie diploma on the wall along with that sweet shiny bling on my right ring finger!

Nick and I are starting a legacy.

Nick is the first in his family to attend college!

I'm literally like the last college eligible "Kim family member" (in this generation) to go to college...ironically, I'm also the oldest.

Anyway, I'm over the moon excited.

If you get the fortunate experience of growing up in Aggieland, you either grow up drinking the "maroon kool-aid", or you end up pouring it down the drain.

By the time I was a senior in high school, I was one of those who poured that kool-aid down the drain.

I said "screw this", and I became a United States Marine.

My younger sister also had enough of this "Aggie cult", and she ended up going to University of Texas to be a Longhorn (go ahead and hiss).

It wasn't until I joined the Corps, moved out to California to start my adventure that I became fiercely homesick.

The one thing that gave me comfort was watching the Aggies play football on TV in the Fall.

It made me miss home, and it made me miss being around "Aggie culture".

I was fortunate enough to have some amazing leaders as a young Marine who pushed me to do off duty education when I wasn't deployed.

As a young LCpl, I would work from 6am until 6pm, eat chow, get out of uniform, and go to a local community college to take classes.

But of course with deployments and training, I stopped taking classes.

At the end of my tour on recruiting duty, I had a conversation with my Capt about my hopes for finishing college.

I told him my dream was to finish my degree at Texas A&M, and that I was willing to wait until Nick retired to do so.

That's how bad I wanted an Aggie ring.

Funny how God works sometimes, because instead of waiting until I was 40 to come back to CS to go to my dream school, HE gave us such a unique and once in a lifetime opportunity to come back to my hometown so that my husband could come to school here!

I knew this was also MY chance to pursue my dream.

So here I am today...

I'm a 4.0 student on the Dean's list at Central Texas College, and I get to go to that big maroon campus outside my front door in the spring!

We attended the Aggie vs. Mississippi St game last night where the Aggies BTHO Mississippi St, 30-17!!!

That makes us 5-0 this season!!!!

It makes it really exciting that they are doing so well since this is the grand opening season of the brand new Kyle Field!

I was getting a little tired of wearing maroon every weekend, so I switched it up yesterday, and went with white and maroon accents.

Tailgate fashion sure has evolved over the years.

Gone are the days of just throwing on a cotton "Maroon Out" tshirt, and heading to the game.

For the fashion enthusiasts, gameday/tailgate fashion has become a fun way to dress in your school colors while looking chic.

The cutest little tailgater in Aggieland!

This kid would scream, "I see Aggies!!! Aggies!!!" whenever he saw a sea of Aggies wearing maroon. 

He also refuses to go to bed in anything but a maroon shirt....

I think we've already brainwashed this future Aggie...

Obligatory family photo in front of Kyle Field.

They say "the bigger the bow, the bigger the fan"....right?!

I'm a southern mama who loves little southern girls in big bows....what can I say?

Can't quite make the "Gig 'em" thumb...but we'll take "#1" for now!

The little girls.

One of my favorite traditions is watching the Corps of Cadets march into Kyle Field on game day.

They have to coolest cadence (and this is coming from a Marine, y'all!).

Nick has officially drank the "maroon kool-aid"...

Look at the grin on his face.

The largest stadium in the SEC, baby!!

We found a couple midshipmen, and some other ROTC Corps of Cadets guys for a quick photo op with D!

Aggie nachos...

They were as delicious as it looks...

Oh, and I DID go to the gym in the morning just so I could indulge in these cheesy goodness....

We had such a blast at the game!!!

This next weekend is a bye week for the Aggies, so we get a break before the next big game against the Tide (Alabama).

We are planning a huge tailgate for that game, and we're all really excited!

Thanks for all the well wishes and congrats!

Thanks, and Gig 'Em!

Mom Network

One thing that I love about my life here in good ole' CSTX is the network of moms I have become friends with.

I've met most of the moms through Dannika's school during pick up and drop off, and classroom parties.

It just so happens that our neighborhood is walking distance to the school, so all the moms that I have become friends with all live within a mile radius of my house.

It's also pretty convenient that all of our kids just happen to be around the same age.

It's awesome for play dates, or days when I accidentally forget to pick up D because it was an early release day (oops!).

But there's always another mom that I trust with my kids who will happily text me and offer to bring them to my house, or take to their house for an impromptu play date until I can get my sh&! together. 

 These group of moms are awesome.

Most of them are busy raising 2, 3, 4 kids...taking them to dance, soccer, gymnastics, football, etc. all while running a home.

This group of moms are engineers, business owners, military wives, college students, stay at home moms, doctors, dentists, etc. etc. etc.

They take care of their families, AND they take care of each other.

I've never felt bad asking any of them to watch my kids so I could run an errand or just have some peace, and the favor is always returned.

I can tell when one of them is having a rough day, and without asking, I just offer my home to their children for an impromptu play date.

It almost feels like being back at Camp Pendleton where I had a network of awesome military wives that took care of one another when our husbands were deployed.  

Although not ALL of these moms are College Station natives like I am, they have all lived here long enough to understand the community here. 

I am so grateful for these women and their friendship...
 I am so grateful to be amongst such awesomeness! 

I hosted a playdate at our house this week with our neighbors and a friend of Dannika who lives a few streets down from us.

Since the first pumpkins were out at the grocery store, I picked a few up for the girls to decorate...
Oh, and I decorated one too...

Mattis joined in on the fun.

Sweet little K and her pumpkin!
She lives a few streets down, and her and Dannika are in the same grade!
Surprisingly, they've never been in the same class together, but have become friends through me being friends with her mom (from pick up and drop off at school).

Our street's "mama bear", AB.

She is like a mini mama to my kids.

She lives across the street from us, and comes over to our house to basically babysit Mattis.

The wild and free EG!
She is AB's little sister, and just started Kindergarten, and has the same teacher Dannika had last year!
She's full of energy, and loves to play pretend with Dannika!

I love our little life here in College Station.
We have the greatest friends and neighbors ever!

Wedding Showers, An Aggie Win, & Grandparents

It's Monday again!

We are back at it...school (for 3 out of 4 of us), nap schedules, gymnastics...

This was the first weekend since Aggie football season started that we didn't have a tailgate or a game to attend.

Our beloved Ags played in Dallas, and won a heart stopping game in overtime against the razorbacks!

That makes us 4-zer0 this season so far!

As much as I love tailgating, it was really nice to finally get a break this weekend from all the chaos!

Nick and I attended a wedding shower on Saturday before the game started for our beloved realtor and mortgage loan officer.

They had a really cool wedding shower where instead of typical wedding gifts, they requested all the guests to bring a bottle of alcohol to "stock the bar" for their wedding!

I thought it was such a cool way to cut down the costs of having an open bar/partially open bar seeing as how that is one of the costliest parts of a wedding.

Us and the soon to be married couple!

Don't ask me why Nick is looking off into nowhere instead of the camera...

Or why he's doing the "Kim Kardashian" chicken wing pose....

Afterwards, we headed home to BBQ, and watch the game with our neighbors.

Saturday was my dad's official 60th birthday!

We took a quick trip to Houston to my parents' church on Sunday and surprised them during their worship service!

I've said it a MILLION GAZILLION times, but I really am SO thankful that we get to be stationed here so close to my parents.

So many military families don't get the opportunity to be stationed near family.

I am so grateful that my babies get to see their Papa and Gigi more than once or twice a year, and in person instead of Skype.

We are soaking up every minute that we are living here, and taking full advantage of my family!

Hope everyone's weekend was amazing, and y'all are tackling this new week!

Lately...College....

I hardly have time to blog anymore.

School, kids, Dannika's gymnastics, school, life, house, marriage, school...

Did I mention school?!

I am waiting on a letter from A&M saying that I will be a FULL TIME student there in the Spring.

The anticipation is killing me.

In the mean time....

I am taking a math class (along with a few others)....college algebra to be exact...

It sucks....

Why? 

Because, contrary to popular belief and stereotypes, I'm the only Asian on the face of this earth that hates math and was never really great at it.

Nick thinks I was awesome at it, because I did WAY better than him in math.

But really, I just took harder math classes than him in high school (13 years ago), and I had Asian parents who MADE me do "ok-ish" in math (ever heard of Kumon? yeah...I did it).

Nick took what was required to graduate, barely passed, AND his mom was not Asian (obviously). 

And for all y'all "non engineers", scientists, and mathematicians, college algebra is pretty difficult for the average "jane" or "joe".

I'm surprisingly doing OK-ish in it thanks to YouTube tutorials and my trusty iPhone.

As a 31 year old working on her undergrad, I am SO thankful for my experience as a wife, mother, and Marine.

My time management skills rock (no all nighters here), my priorities are straight, and I roll my eyes constantly at young 20-21 year olds that I think would have benefited from a good 4 year stint in the good ole U.S.M.C before embarking on college (which is like 80% of them).

However, as a 31 year old, one of the "suckiest" parts of being in college is taking classes like "college algebra" that would have been WAY easier when I was 18 and fresh out of my high school calculus class. 

Anyway, 

Life's been busy.

Between my classes, Nick's classes, ROTC commitments for Nick, kids, marriage, life, mortgages, bills, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.......blogging is on the backburner. 

If you don't follow me on Instagram, here are some pics!!

 

If y'all have followed me long enough, y'all know how much I hated New England winters.

I prayed and begged for heat, and when God put us back in HIS COUNTRY (Texas, for all y'all non Texans), I was over the moon.

It's September, and it's still warm enough (hot actually) for my kids to be naked outside in the sprinklers!

I love "punny sayings".

I found this shirt at Target, and HAD to get it for Mattis, because it's such a LIE.

LIE. LIE. LIE!

lol.

Mattis has been a little under the weather, so we took him into the doc to get looked at.

"It's viral"....

Something I hate to heart from the doctor, because there is NOTHING we can do....no antibiotics or magic pill.

We just gotta let it run its' course.

Dannika loves American Girl dolls.

She had one that Nick got her as a gift after he graduated OCS for being such a great helper to me while he was gone.

They're like 100 bucks, and I swore it's the only one she'll ever own.

But a good friend of ours has a teenaged daughter who was selling some of her old ones to buy a new Macbook.

I jumped on the opportunity, and Dannika got her second AG doll for a fraction of the price. 

Meet Bella, Dannika, and Annaliese (goes by Anna).

Anna is her new one.

 Mattis loves his "ya ya" (aka his paci).

People tell me all the time that it's time to wean him off of it.

As much as I would love to, a part of me loves that he still loves it.

It's the last little part of "baby" that he has...

And lastly...

Remember when I told y'all about the Vancouver vacation/cruise that I got for my mom and dad for my dad's 60th birthday?

Last Thursday through Sunday sightseeing in Vancouver and are on their cruise now headed to Long Beach, CA.

From the looks of my mom's Instagram photos, they've been having a great time!

I miss y'all, and I've been doing my best to catch up with y'alls blogs, Facebook, and Instagram!