Just Another Christmas Blog

Is it just me, or does it seem weird that Christmas is already over?! I spent so much time preparing and shopping, and it is over in a day. Part of me is relieved it is over, and the other part of me is a little sad. Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love all the fun traditions and the magic that it brings to our family. I am a lover of gift giving (more so than receiving), and I love giving gifts to people I love. On the other hand, Christmas drains my bank account like no other, the decorations have to eventually come down, and my kids have no concept of time or a schedule. All good things have their downfalls, and all good things must come to an end!
Our family had an amazing Christmas with my family in Houston. It was filled with lots of laughs, fun times, and family.

Here is our recap!

In keeping with our family tradition, Santa always gets almond milk in a 1st Marine division glass with some homemade cookies!

Headed to Gigi and Papa's house!

We made it! 

I love Mattis' pose in this photo!

Houston has such amazing restaurants, it's hard to choose which one to go to when we are in town.

I asked my mom to take us to the dumpling house.

It never disappoints!

Selfie with my sweet niece Lulu.

Nick, my brother in law, my little sister, and me took all the kids to the trampoline park in Christmas eve to jump

It was SO fun!

So much fun that we ended up going on Christmas day too!

One of my favorite things about going to mom's house is her Korean cooking!

Samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly), daejibulgogi (spicy pork bulgogi), kimchi, and all the sides!

YUM!

After dinner, Nick's friend Tom came to visit to hang out, drink beer, and chit chat.

Nick and Tom served in the Marine Corps together many moons ago in Iraq.

All my parents lovely grandkids in one shot.

This is the best we could get...lol

My whole fam!

He's the only grandson, so he gets special treatment...lol

When your super Asian family still does not get the difference between all the different branches of service, and they buy your son an Army toy #armystrong?

The beautiful women of my family

The entire clan

Funny story...

After Christmas dinner, some of my uncles, aunts, and cousins wanted to go to a Korean karaoke bar.

Does it get any more Asian than that? 

If you've never been to a Korean karaoke bar, it is truly an experience.

My Uncle got us a private room for our family.

I think Nick was shocked by it all at first, but he started to warm up and have fun.

He sang some Metallica, MC Hammer, Journey...you know...all the Karaoke classics.

The cousins!

And one last selfie of my niece and me!

Christmas was so fun!

Getting to spend time with my nieces, eat good food, laugh with family, and just hang out with people we only get to see once or twice a year was amazing.

I couldn't have asked for a better way to end to year.

On to New Years!

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!

Finals (sad face)

Sorry for my absentee status on this blog.

It's the most wonderful horrible time...of the year... 🎤🎤

Finals.

I've been studying so much my brain literally hurts.

No, not like a headache hurt...my actual brain matter hurts.

via GIPHY

This is pretty much me during this time of year.

She's even Asian like me 😂

I see all you people doing fun "Christmasey" crafts with your kids.

I see all your "tis the season to be jolly" photos of your visit to Santa's Wonderland all over your timeline.

Then here's my family.

via GIPHY

 My kids have watched more TV in the last 2 weeks than they have all year.

Mama (and dad) need to study, so the kids get a free for all in our house...seriously.  

But it's fine. They're fine. They're alive, aren't they?

 My last final is next Wednesday, and my kids are patiently waiting for Wednesday, because I think I have promised them everything short of a Hatchimal for some peace and quiet during my study sessions.

Since blogging hasn't been a priority, here's an assortment of random photos of my life happenings since Thanksgiving.

I always get my kids matching Christmas PJ's.

Our tradition (once I'm done with finals) is to get in our Christmas PJ's, get hot chocolate from the Starbucks drive thru, and drive around town looking at Christmas lights.

Rachel (our nanny) and I took Dannika to see the Nutcracker for the first time!

We even caught the Sugar Plum fairy in the lobby and got a photo with her! 

The sugar plum fairy is a soloist from the New York City ballet (Ashley Laracey).

LOVE this photo of Rachel and Dannika!

Studying for finals while cooking dinner...

hence the dirty dishes

This past Thursday was my last Mama Club as an intern!
Words can't describe how much this semester has changed my life.
 I got to share my testimony with a few teenage girls and hopefully showed them that God can make anything possible.
If God can take my broken, hurt, and dark past to turn it into what I am today, he can do the same for them.
I am so excited to be a mentor mom next semester and Nick is going to be a real men leader for the teen dads!

 And just cause everyone loves photos of adorable kids...especially one wearing a bowtie 😉

Until Wednesday, I'll be a little absent on here, but y'all can follow me on Instagram for all my shenanigans (@domesticatedcombatboots)!

A Romer Thanksgiving

I heard on the radio today that there are only 34 days until the New Year.

How the heck did this year fly by so fast? 

I feel like I was still celebrating New Years Eve with our neighbors just a few months ago.

I mean, heck, we started off the year with a 1st grader, and now we have a 2nd grader.

We started with a 2 year old who is now a 3 year old.

We had a guy with no Aggie ring, and now he has one.

They say time flies when you're having fun, and that is the only reason I can think of for the time passing by so fast this year. 

I can honestly say this year has been fun!

This Thanksgiving, our family chose to stay at home and have our own Thanksgiving.

We had a friend who just got stationed in Texas, and wasn't going home for Christmas, so I wanted to have her at our house. 

I also wasn't in the mood to be a part of any weird family tension.

Ever since my grandma passed away, holidays haven't been quite the same for us. 

It was really nice to have Thanksgiving in our own cozy little home with just our family. 

The long weekend went by too quickly, but I am looking forward to getting finals over with!

Some photos recapping our Thanksgiving weekend!

My gal and me got our nails done!

Then took her and her pal to a birthday party at an ice skating rink!

My bookworm finished reading Rosa Parks 📖📖📖

Took the girls to see Moana

(GREAT movie by the way!)

Some park time

And wine time... 🍷🍷🍷

Relaxin'

Put up our Christmas trees...

I have one tree that everyone calls "mom's tree".

It's a tree that i decorate the way I want it.

I'm really digging the "rustic theme" right now...

And then, we have our family tree...

This tree consists of ornaments picked out by each of us, family photos ornaments, and Marine Corps ornaments.

If you look at this tree, it really captures who are family is!

We did some cookie baking and decorating...

Watched some TV with Miss Emilee

My parents even made it up for Dannika's Grandparent's Day at her school!

We had a great long weekend (much needed).

We are also very grateful for each and every one of our wonderful friends!

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!