Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you all have had a wonderful day.  We had a great Christmas here.  

We got started pretty early this morning.  Both of the boys were up by 7am and they started opening gifts right away.  By the time we were finished, it looked like a bomb had gone off in our living room.  They played for a couple hours and then my parents came over to give their gifts.  Within minutes, our living room had exploded again.  ;)  Chris and Logan got some more great toys.  My parents got Eric an Axe gift set and a cool thermal shirt.  My mom got me a tablet (WOOHOO!!!!  I finally have one!) and my dad got me some books I had been wanting for a while (The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks and Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich). While my parents were over, my mom made us some egg biscuits for breakfast.  Yummy!    

We spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon just spending time together around the house.  We watched a couple movies, then put on the Disney Christmas Parade.  I wish it would have been more parade and less advertising for their parks and cruises.  That kind of ruined the fun of it for us.   

That afternoon we went over to Eric's parents house to have Christmas with his part of the family.  We had dinner together and then everyone opened presents.  

It was a great day and everyone had a lot of fun spending time together.  

Happy Birthday, Jesus cake

all of the cousins together.  6 kids and only
1 is looking.  :)

Logan's 6th Birthday

Today my youngest child turned 6 years old.  That just seems crazy to me.  He's no longer my "little" boy, although I don't think he's been "little boy" for quite a while now.  He has been adamant that he is a big boy since he was about 3 years old.  ;)  

For lunch today, I went to the school to have lunch with him and to bring cupcakes for the class.   The kids are always excited about that.  I got a dozen chocolate and a dozen vanilla.  The chocolate seemed to go pretty quickly.   This one little guy in Logan's class was nearly in tears because he thought I'd be out of chocolate by the time I got to him.  He ended up getting one though.  ;)  

This evening we had a small family party for Logan at Chuck E Cheese.  He wanted a lego themed party.  For a snack for the kids, I made "legos" out of rice krispie treats.  The kids devoured those right up.  My sister in law Christi made a pretty awesome lego cake for him.  

After the party, we took Logan to Toys R Us to get his birthday crown and balloon.  The employee up front announced over the intercom that it was Logan's birthday, so if anyone saw him walking around the store, to wish him a happy birthday.   The kids always get a kick out of that.  It makes them feel special.  

Logan got to do quite a bit of shopping.   He had his own money that he'd earned, the Toys R Us giftcard that they send you in the mail, plus 2 giftcards to Wal-Mart that he had won a couple months ago at Eric's company picnic.  He may be all boy in everything else, but that kid looooves to shop.  He had a blast looking around picking out things to buy with his birthday money.  

I sat down with Logan and asked him his yearly birthday survey questions.   Here are his answers:  


Favorite color:   Red
Favorite restaurant:   Wendy's
Favorite book:   Diego (easy readers) 
Favorite movie:   Despicable Me 2
Favorite holiday:   Christmas
Favorite TV show:   America's Funniest Videos
Favorite DS game:  Toy Story 3
Favorite toy:   Black Widow figurine
Favorite animal:   Giraffe
Favorite food:   Fruit Loops cereal
Favorite drink:   Fruit Punch
Favorite thing to do:   Play with toys
Favorite thing to do at school:   Play with friends

Best Friend(s):  Darrow and Cooper
What do you want to be when you grow up?  a Daddy and police officer 
What scares you?   Nothing
What makes you happy?  Momma (awwww)


Here are some pictures of Logan through the years

The day he was born

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

6 years old

Happy Birthday, Logan!  We love you.

Chris' 8th Birthday

I know I haven't been a good blogger lately.  I let some things get to me and got discouraged and stopped writing.  I'm back now though.   And what better reason to write a new blog than your child's birthday, right?!  :)

Today my son Chris turned 8 years old.   That just seems crazy to me.   Time is going by way too fast.  In just 2 years, he will be out of the single digit ages.  In 5 years, I'll have a teenager!

I've started doing a birthday interview for the boys each year so I can see how their answers change (or stay the same) as they get older.

This is Chris' interview for this year:


Favorite color:    Blue
Favorite restaurant:   Checkers
Favorite book:    Magic Tree House series
Favorite movie:   Batman
Favorite holiday:   Christmas
Favorite TV show:   America's Funniest Videos  (I remember watching this as a kid and still love it!)
Favorite Wii game:   Lego Batman
Favorite DS game:  Cars Mater National
Favorite toy:   Iron Man figure
Favorite animal:   bear
Favorite food:   burger and fries
Favorite drink:   Milk or pepsi
Favorite thing to do:   Homework.  (Yes, this was seriously his answer.   He's such a nerd LOL!  His school doesn't assign homework on Friday so the kids will be free for the weekend and he actually gets upset about it because he *wants* homework to do.)
Favorite thing to do at school:   do math and have recess

Best Friend(s):  Owen, Sammi, Christasia, Arianna
What do you want to be when you grow up?  singer
What scares you?   Monsters
What makes you happy?  cake, friends, and family



We had Chris' birthday party this past Saturday, so he got most of his gifts then.  This morning I let him open something that I'd been holding onto for him so he could still have something to open on his actual birthday.  He got the Mario Kart and Incredible Hulk Wii games.  :)

Eric and I went up to the school at lunch time so we could have lunch with Chris, and of course we brought cupcakes for the class!   The kids are always excited about that part.  We got 12 chocolate and 12 vanilla/yellow.  The chocolate ones went pretty fast.  ;)

When Chris got home from school, I took him to Toys R Us to get his birthday crown and balloon and to use the $3 gift card that comes in the mail from them.   The store was out of helium so he didn't get a balloon but he was still able to get a crown and use his gift card.  The girl at the front desk announced over the intercom that it was Chris' birthday so as he was walking around the store to find something he wanted to get, people kept coming up to him and wishing him a happy birthday.   That was pretty sweet.  




Here are some pics of how Chris has grown over the years.  

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Here are a few pictures from today

having lunch at school with him

Chris with his chocolate cupcake.  Yum

My not-so-little-anymore birthday boy

this is what he got with his gift card

Update On Us

First off I wanted to apologize for not being around much lately.  I've been in a bit of a blogging rut.  Blogging started to feel more like a chore than anything else so I wanted to back off for a while.


So, here are some random updates about what has been up with us lately.


*  I know I'm way behind, but I finally joined Instagram and Bloglovin.  You can also find me on Pinterest and Facebook.  Feel free to follow me and I'll follow back!
instagram
bloglovin
facebook
pinterest

*  Eric and I have hit a pretty severe rough patch in our marriage.  Right now we are just taking things one day at a time and are trying our best to get through this.  If you wouldn't mind, send up a prayer that everything turns out alright for us.  :)

*  Next week I will be taking Logan to a different neurologist to discuss my concerns about autism and ADHD.  For those of you who were with me last year, you'll remember our visit with "Dr. House".  Hopefully this doctor will be able to give us some answers.

*  We are finally back to being a 2 vehicle household!  That definitely takes a lot of stress off of me.  Having only one vehicle to take 4 people where they need to go (and even no vehicle at all for a couple months) was so stressful.

*  I've signed Chris and Logan up to play baseball.  They are pretty excited about it.  Chris is on the team where they do coach pitch and Logan will be on a t-ball team.

*  Logan and I having been going to our local library a lot lately.  He loves to play learning games on the computer, play on the lego table, do puzzles, and then check out some books and movies to bring home.

*  We have made a few trips to one of our local parks to feed the ducks.  The boys absolutely love doing that.  The first time we went, a few of the ducks came right up to us and took the bread out of our hands.  That was pretty neat.

*  Chris got all S's on his report card a couple weeks ago.  He's doing wonderful with his reading.  He's almost on a third grade level now.

*  I'm going to start exercising and eating better so I can get back on track with my weight loss.  I'm really wanting to stick with it this time.

Here are some pics from the past few weeks.  

playtime at the library.  He was a little upset that there
wasn't a third cow for him to put in the line-up

acting silly

feeding the ducks

at the bookfair at his school

Logan being silly

we finally got a *little* bit of snow, though it didn't last long
at all :(  

"spring fling" at our local baseball team's stadium

at the playground this past weekend

playing on the lego table at the library

Also, don't forget to stop by this post and tell me a little about yourself.  I'd love to get to know my readers! :)

Have a great week.

How well does he know me?

My husband Eric is constantly saying that I am so predictable and that he knows everything there is to know about me.  I thought the V-Day link up over at The Life of a Not So Ordinary Wife would be a fun way to test that theory.  ;)

We had to fill out some questions about ourselves and then give our husband the same questions to answer about us to see how they did.

Here are Eric and I's results :)


1.  How long have you been married?
Me:  7 1/2 years
Him:  8 years (I think he gets partial credit for this one.  It won't be 8 years until June, haha) 

2.  Where was your first date?
Me:  It was a blind date -- Eric and myself with his sister and her boyfriend.  We met at the mall first and then we went to a movie.
Him:  Mall, then the Carolina Theater.

3.  Where was your first kiss?
Me:  outside the theater after our first date
Him:  outside the Carolina theater.  

4.  Who first said, "I love you"?
Me:  He did.
Him:  I said it first.

5.  What were your wedding colors?
Me:  light blue and white
Him:  blue and white

6.  What is her most commonly used phrase?
Me:  I have several actually.  Seriously?  Really?  What the fudge ever.  Oh my gosh.
Him:  What the fudge ever.  Oh my gosh.  

7.  Who is her celebrity crush?
Me:  Patrick Dempsey
Him:  McDreamy (played by Patrick Dempsey lol)

8.  If she was ordering drinks for both of you, what would you each get?
Me:  sweet tea
Him:  sweet tea

9.  What is the best meal she has ever cooked you?
Me:  I cooked a really nice chicken marinara last year that he devoured.
Him:  She don't cook.  (Hey!  I do sometimes!  lol) 

10.  What is the worst meal she has ever cooked you?
Me:  I don't know.
Him:  Same as above.  (Ugh.  Meanie.)

11.  What is her most played song?
Me:  Country Girl, She's Country, and Some Kind of Wonderful
Him:  Country Girl

12.  What would she say is your most annoying habit?
Me:  SNORING!
Him:  Sighing (or what I call huffing.  He does it *constantly*)  

13.  What is the last thing she does before she goes to bed?
Me:  go to the bathroom
Him:  go to the bathroom

14.  If she could throw out one item of her clothing, what would it be?
Me:  holey pants
Him:  nothing

15.  What would you say is your favorite thing about her?
Me:  probably my butt, boobs, and my eyes, LOL.  
Him:  boobs or butt (figures lol)

16.  What is her go-to drink at Starbucks?
Me:  Yuck.  I don't like coffee, so I don't go to Starbucks. 
Him:  Nothing, she don't go to Starbucks.

17.  What is her blog's name?
Me:  Chronicles of Momnia
Him:  I don't know.  


Overall I'd say he did pretty well.  :)

Would your husband or boyfriend be able to answer questions correctly about you?

Four Things You Don't Know About Me

I hope everyone's week is off to a great start!


For this week's Tuesday Topics, I'll be telling you all 4 things you don't know about me.



1.  I am an only child, but I would have had two brothers and two sisters.  My mother miscarried two babies before she had me and two babies after she had me.  I would have been the middle child instead of an only child.  I often wonder how different my life might have been had they survived.  I never got to meet them, but I miss them.


2.  My mind has a wonderful way of taking a fear that I have and turning it into something awful.  If I'm driving behind a truck that has something in the bed of it, like cars, logs, or things like that, I'm suddenly envisioning these 'Final Destination' scenarios where whatever it is dislodges and comes crashing into the front of my vehicle, killing me instantly.  I'm terrified of driving on bridges, especially over water.  When I have to drive over one, I start to picture crashing, or the bridge collapsing, and then I end up drowning because I can't swim.


3.  I had glasses in the sixth grade but I hated them so I eventually stopped wearing them.  I thought everything was fine and maybe I didn't need them after all ;).  haha.  Two years ago though when I was renewing my drivers license, I almost failed the vision part because I couldn't read the chart.  Oops.  I got glasses (again) shortly after that and wear them all the time now.  ;)


4.  I have met two of my favorite authors.  I met Tim Myers a few years ago at our local Barnes & Noble.  He was doing a question and answer session with fans and then did a book signing.  Tim is a local author.  So local he lives in the same city as me.  Cool, huh?  I also went with my friend Abby a few months ago and met Nicholas Sparks.  I took a copy of one of my favorite books for him to sign.  I'd love to see them both again sometime!


So, that's it for my 4 facts.

What are some things people don't know about you?


(PS.  If you haven't already, please stop by this post and introduce yourself.  I would LOVE to learn more about my readers!)

Five Activities

Sorry this is a day late.  My youngest son is really sick so that has taken most of my attention.

This week's Tuesday Topic is Five Activities in Your Hometown.


Unfortunately there isn't very much to do in my small hometown of Hickory, North Carolina.


1.  One of the most popular things to do in Hickory, especially if you have children, is to go to the Science Center.  There are a lot of cool exhibits and there is also a section just for art.  You can also visit the aquarium and watch shows at the planetarium.

2.  Downtown -  the downtown area of Hickory offers a ton of unique stores for shopping and restaurants.  This is also where our annual Oktoberfest is held.

3.  Entertainment -  If you're looking for something to do, you can go bowling, go to the library, watch a movie, go to the mall, or go shopping.


That pretty much covers it.  :-/
I wasn't kidding when I said there isn't much to do here.   ;)


Hopefully I didn't bore you to tears, hehe.

Six Memories

This week's Tuesday Topics is about six memories.

1.  My Wedding Day -  June 18, 2005
Eric and I had a very small wedding.  Not by choice.  That's just how things ended up.  Things didn't go as planned (do they ever at a wedding, though? lol), people were stressed (especially me), and Eric and I have been through more in our 7 years of marriage than 10 couples go through in a lifetime, but we're still here.  We're in this together, for better or worse.


2.  Chris' Birth - Oct 16, 2005
(I don't have any newborn pics of him on the computer.  I didn't have a digital camera back then and don't have a scanner.)
Chris has been stubborn since before he was born.  I was two weeks past my due date and still hadn't went into labor on my own so I ended up at the hospital to be induced.  After 17 1/2 hours of labor, I had only gotten to 4 centimeters.  I was in distress, Chris was in distress, so the doctor decided to do an emergency c-section.  A couple hours later my first baby boy was born.  :)  ♥

3.  Logan's Birth - Dec 13, 2007
I had a scheduled c-section with Logan.  I was scared out of my mind even though I'd had it done before.  The surgery went great and I had an easier recovery.  Logan ended up in the NICU.  When he was born, his sugar was really low and he had some fluid in his lungs.  Everything ended up okay though and I took my second baby boy home 3 days later.  :)  ♥

4.  Trip to DC -  March 2011
Eric and I took a weekend trip up to D.C.  We had planned on taking the subway/shuttle from place to place, but the first time we tried, we ended up getting lost and getting on the wrong one.  Nobody would help us, I was in an unfamiliar place a long way from home, so I ended up having a complete breakdown.  Once we got back to where we started, I absolutely refused to get back on another one so we spent the rest of the trip taking a taxi wherever we wanted to go.  It was my first time taking a taxi and thought that was pretty cool, haha.  It was nice to get away for a couple days.

5.  The Best Friends EVER
This is like a ton of memories in one picture.  This is the Fab 4.  Me and my 3 best friends.  Normally you are lucky to find ONE best friend, but I was blessed with *3* of them.  Someone who is there for you *no matter what* and loves you for you.  I could go on and on, but I won't.  To put it simply, these are the best friends I could have ever asked for.  They are like sisters to me.  We have a lot of memories together and we will make a ton more throughout the coming years.  ♥

6.  Two Places At Once? 
This is a pic of the boys and I at Carowinds, an amusement park a couple hours from where we live.  It's right on the North and South Carolina line.  Cool, huh?  This was Chris' "big" present for his 6th birthday.  We had a blast!  I can't wait to take them back again.







So, those are 6 of my favorite memories.  Grab a button and link up!

What are some of your favorite memories?