He's cool...

So yesterday Ryan decided that the blue shorts and purple shirt wouldn't be complete without a backward Mickey Mouse hat and a pair of water shoes. I asked him, "Are you being cool?" He responded, "Yeah, I cool, and the girls gonna love me." So it begins I guess.

Cool photo montage

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Today's random topic: Describe a typical day in your teen years

A typical day in high school would have began around 5:15am. I hated that alarm clock. My brother, Justin, and I had 30 minutes to get ready and out the door. Now, back in my teenage years, my hair took at least 30 minutes to do, and so I would make sure it was the way I wanted it and then grab my make-up bag and bring it with me. At around 5:45, we left the house and my father drove us 30 minutes north to Greenville where we would attend early morning seminary. Now remember the make-up? I would put it on in the car on the way to the church using the headlights of oncoming cars to see what I was doing. It's a wonder I didn't go to school looking like a clown, but it actually turned out quite well. Of course, at the time I didn't think so, but I digress. Once we arrived at seminary Dad dropped Justin and me off and drove on to West Milton to go to work. We began seminary with a hymn and a prayer, followed by about an hour lesson, then a closing prayer. From there, our teacher -Jim Bailey- drove the Greenville kids about a half-mile to their school and then drove Justin and me back down to Arcanum on his way back home to Phillipsburg. Yes, lots of driving. But there was a special perk to coming from farther away. Brother Bailey took Justin and me out to breakfast every morning before school. The rest of the class got to go every Friday, but just Justin and me went throughout the week. I tried to leave money in his car once since he insisted on paying for us, but he found it and gave it back to me. We got to know him and his views on lots of different things and we always knew that we could come to him with any gospel question or really anything and he would always know exactly what to say.

Once we arrived at school, we went our separate ways. We had seven class periods and of course, lunch. My favorite subjects were English and Spanish. I loathed algebra. After school, I would ride the bus home. Kindergarten through 12th grade all rode the same bus, so it was kind of a long ride with lots of backroad stops, but truthfully, I didn't really mind it. I liked to relax and look out the window as well as visit with my friend, Sherry.

When we got home, Mom was typically there to ask about our days and usually had some cookies or brownies made for us to eat. Our dog, Patches, would greet us and insist we pet her profusely. We'd sit down and eat whatever goodies Mom had made with big glasses of cold milk and sometimes watch a little television, all while Patches begged. One ear up and one ear down, her standard begging pose. Then it was on to homework if we had any. Around 6pm was dinner which was almost always meat and potatoes with some kind of vegetable side dish and milk. Lots of milk. We also always had bread, butter and jelly on the table. After dinner was chore time. We rotated the chores. There were 3 of us that were old enough for chores so we rotated between doing the dishes, taking out the trash, and feeding the dog. No one liked the dishes job, especially if there was a cast-iron skillet or the broiler pan to be washed, but we all had to do it. After the chores were done, we had time for television, reading or in my case, hiding away in my room with the radio turned up, dancing around in my own world. Then it was time for family scripture reading and family prayer and we went off for showers/baths and off to bed. We were all supposed to be in bed around 9:30pm but that didn't always happen. And then it would start all over again at 5:15am the next day...did I mention I hated that alarm?

This schedule may seem extreme to some, and my homelife may seem old-fashioned. I didn't always enjoy the early mornings or the "boring" family stuff but in hindsight I see where it has benefited me in my adult life and made me who I am today. So there it is. A day in the life of teenage Michelle. Feel free to comment and share how things were for you as a teen.

Until next time...

The Family..

Since many of you haven't seen my children in years, I thought I'd share a bit about them.

Aidan has really flourished this year. He is doing well in school after a very rough start. He is now a leader in his morning class and assists the other children. His teachers are very impressed with his kindness and patience as he explains things to the other kids and helps them figure things out in the same way that the teachers taught him. Actually, his teacher said it was a little scary to hear him telling a child, "mm..mm..my. what letter does that start with?" and "You know this, I know you do." He is very interested in science, so his teacher actually changed the curriculum to add more science. He is also very proud to be a big brother. At his last parent teacher conference I was able to see his journal and every entry was about him, Ryan and Mara. The themes were things like "what are you thankful for?" He wrote he was thankful for Mom. Then, "what makes you happy?" He wrote "I am happy for Mara." He then drew a picture of Mara with a princess crown on her head because she is our princess. I can't believe how fast he's growing up, but I am proud of the person he is becoming.

Ryan has finally potty trained...for the most part. He still has issues with actually stopping what he's doing and getting there in time, but that will come in time I'm sure. Ryan's favorite passtime these days seems to be climbing. I watched him climb up the side of the swingset, drop down and catch the bar on the way down. He spent the entire day out doing that stuff today. He said, "I have to practice." I asked what he was practicing for and from what I can put together, he plans to be in a circus of some sort. We did just see Cirque du Soleil at Disneyworld so perhaps that was his inspiration.

Mara simply charms everyone she meets. She is 4 months old now and doing all the adorable baby things such as laughing, cooing and playing. She has finally succeeded in wrapping Daddy around her little finger, though Mommy reigns supreme...for now anyway. Both boys love her intensely and are very protective of her. I have turned around to find her gone on more than one occaision as Aidan has absconded with her. The two of them seem to have a very special bond.

Ammon just started a new route in the Oxford area. We are very excited as this gets him out of Dayton's west side and into a safe area. He is happy because with the new route came a new truck with air conditioning, automatic windows and even a cd player.

And of course there's me. Still rolling along here. Most of my life revolves around the above mentioned, but I wouldn't trade this for the world.

Pictures

Mealtime as a child...

When growing up did your family eat in the kitchen or the dining room? Did everyone have a special place to sit?

When we lived in the little house in Union, my family ate in the kitchen. There was no dining room. We only had three children in the family at that time. My two brothers sat at each end of the table, my parents sat side by side at one of the long sides and I sat across from them. This was primarily done so that we kids couldn't pester each other very easily. You see, my dad made the kitchen table out of an old church pew. There were only two legs, one on each end, that were "v-shaped" for lack of a better description. This created a perfect barrier against kicking feet....hence the reason each boy sat on an end. They were pretty creative with annoying each other under the table, but the innovative design of the legs on that table brought much of that to a screaching hault.

When I was in high school, we moved to the house where my parents currently live. This house does indeed have a dining room and my sister, Caitlin, joined the bunch. The church pew table resides in the kitchen and is still used for breakfast and lunch, but the dinner required a larger table. Never fear, my dad had a solution. If you lift up the nice table linens on my parents' dining table, you will find that the table is in fact an unfinished door panel that is laid down with a rectangular finished piece of wood at each end for legs. Our seating arrangement was a bit different at this table. My dad sat at the head, to his right was my sister Caitlin, followed by my mother. At the end was my youngest brother, Josh. Justin sat to the right of Josh and I sat on his right. It's kind of funny now when we all go back for family dinners with spouses and children. We always make our way to our old spots. This was particularly fun to watch when I was very pregnant and trying to sqeeze between my dad and the hutch to get to "my spot."

Our family dinners probably looked charming to anyone who may have peeked through the window. All the children and parents seated together, a blessing said over the meal, and plenty of meat, potatoes, bread and milk for everyone. But any of you who have actually eaten a meal at the Yantis home know that the conversation is what shows our true colors. Quotes from the "Bob and Tom morning show" are always a great way to start dinner. Then of course you get the outrageous stories of stupidity seen by my father and brother at work. And finally, the jokes and commentary made up by my dad and brother about the stupid things they see at work really get the laughs going. Before long, the entire family has either joined in on the jokes or are laughing too hard to speak. Dinner just didn't feel complete until someone spewed milk out their nose. That someone was me on more than one occaision. I remember all too well the sudden uncontrollable laugh while taking a drink of milk and trying to contain it...all the while my two brothers would chant, "spew, spew, spew." If the spew did happen, everyone got a laugh, if it didn't, it was seen as a lucky break and a silent plot to get someone else would quickly ensue. Ah yes, the nostalgic memories of dinner with my family.

What is your favorite season?

I have a healthy appreciation for all four seasons, however, summer would have to be just a bit above the rest. There's something about sunshine that lifts my spirits. I love to let the kids play in the backyard. Of course, once the sprinkler comes on, I run for dear life as they are quite ruthless with the thing. I also enjoy going on walks outside and seeing the beautiful landscaping that some of our neighbors have. The boys ride on their Power Wheels while Ammon and I walk -or run as the case may be - behind them.

The main attraction at our house during the summer is the garden. Ammon and I have so much fun planning the layout for the garden and deciding what to plant. We typically start the seeds inside and then move them outside when they get big enough. We start checking them the day after planting just to see if we have any sprouts. It's nearly as exciting as waiting for Christmas as a kid. By the time summer is in full swing, we are starting to see veggies appear and getting close to harvest. Harvesting is a family affair. Aidan picks things like tomatoes, peppers and corn while Ammon and I work together to dig up potatoes and sweet potatoes. The cucumbers and tomatoes are generally so prolific that it takes two people to get through the plants and pick everything. There's truly something for everyone during gardening season. Ryan will be old enough this year to help and Mara can spend some time outside on a blanket. It's a wonderful way to have family time without the television.

And what could be better at the end of a summer day of work, play, gardening, etc.? Hamburgers on the grill. Ahh, the smell of charcoal and cooking beef patties. Add a side of pasta salad or some corn and salad from the garden and you've got yourself a perfect summer meal with very little clean-up for Mom. Yippeee!

So now that I've shared about my favorite season, feel free to comment on yours.

Resurrecting the blog...

I've decided to attempt blogging again. Hopefully this time will be more regular. I went to a Relief Society meeting yesterday where we were all given "journal jars." These are jars filled with slips of paper that have topics on them. This is to make it easier to write something in a journal as most of us feel we have nothing profound to write on a daily basis. Some of the topics are a little too emotional to share with people in the present, so I will save those for my posterity in a handwritten journal, but as for the rest, I thought I'd write them here so I can share them with family and friends.

Feel free to share your own feelings on the topic in the comment section if you would like. I would love to hear others' experiences. Looking forward to a great blogging experience.

Aidan's dreams

So the other day I was in the bathroom when Aidan walked in and asks, "So Mom, did you have any dreams?"
I told him that I thought I did but that I didn't remember them.
He said,"Well, I had 5 dreams." He then tells me about all 5 dreams. There was a girl in the first one that needed rescued. At the end of that dream he said that she went into his next dream and proceeded to tell me in detail about it. I honestly can't remember all the detail of these dreams but they were all connected by the one girl and there were 5 of them.Then he reaches his last dream where the robots they were fighting and trying to escape from finally caught him. They wanted to change him into a robot but they didn't have a transformer so he escaped and he was really scared and then he tried to change dreams but he couldn't, so he woke up.
I don't know what amazes me more, the complexity of the dreams and his ability to so clearly depict them the next day, or the fact that he seems to be able to recognize that he's dreaming and change his dreams when he feels like it. He rarely opens up and speaks more than a sentence or two at a time. He has to feel totally safe and secure. I guess sitting on the toilet I am completely non-threatening. Go figure. I asked him to tell my mom about his dreams and he got very angry and said, "NO, I already told you!" So once he's done, he's done. He is truly sensitive and incredibly intelligent but if he feels at all threatened he goes into fantasy sound effects and becomes a clown. I wish everyone could see this other side of my Aidan, but then again, that would make times like these less powerful and I'd never trade that moment for all the good parent compliments in the world.

Goldfish

So Aidan won a goldfish at the fair last weekend. Now of course we had to go get a little desktop aquarium and another fish for my youngest. We got a fantail goldfish(Fishy) to go with the generic common goldfish.(MooJoo) Yes, that is what Aidan named his fish. This morning Fishy was dead. So Ammon flushed it and I had planned on going out to replace it before the kids noticed. Well, Aidan came running in saying, "Ryan's fish is gone!" I had to explain that it had died but we'd get a new one. So then he wants to see it....and I had to tell him that we flushed it. Then he started crying. I felt bad. So much for the classic TV sitcom plot of finding one just like it so they never know. So I replaced Fishy with a new pretty fantail. Ryan was thrilled. (no mourning there) He just started talking understandably, but there was no mistaking him...."It's NEMO!" So now we have Nemo and Moojoo. My kids are nuts.

Oh Canada

Hello again,
The boys and I just took a week long trip to Echo Bay Ontario, Canada with Wendy Mills and her kids. Wow. That was an experience. Ammon had to work so it was just the moms and kids. It took us 12 hours to get there plus a few stops. The landscape is gorgeous, the lake was a lot of fun. Ryan doesn't like swimming in the lake since he can't see the bottom. Aidan was constantly in the water. They caught frogs every day. Wendy's daughter, Samantha, stepped on a nail and Aidan gave her a frog to make her feel better. Aside from the constant "mommy" from Ryan, we had a really nice time. We are all bug bitten, but that is the price you pay for enjoying nature. Ammon cleaned the whole house and made it very nice for our return. I'm very glad to be home now. Hopefully some pictures will be up soon.

Aidan's soccer pictures

Just thought I'd post some soccer pictures of Aidan. He really enjoyed it. As you can see, in the top picture, he seems to be trying some peace negotiations. In the center you can see that he gave up on that route;)

Potty training??

Well, today Ryan decided to use the potty. He didn't actually do anything but went through all the motions perfectly. Of course later he decided to throw about half a roll of t.p. into the toilet and then fish it back out. Needless to say, our bathroom was a mess and I was not happy. But this evening Ryan pooped his pants, went and got a baby wipe, and gave it to Ammon. Then he said,"Daddy, eeewwww!" So Ammon asked if he needed to go potty and he said yes. Though he'd already gone in his diaper he did sit on the toilet and act very proud of himself. So when he finished he hopped off, flushed, put his hands up in the air and said, "I did it!" He is so funny. Now if we can just get the timing down, he'll be doing alright.

UPDATE: This morning (6/29/06) while I was in the downstairs bathroom, Ryan went upstairs and pooped in the toilet by himself! Of course he got it all over the seat too, but he tried to fix it by cleaning it with the toilet bowl brush. He'll keep me on my toes, that's for sure.

Ryan's Glamour Shots..

Yes, our little flirt got glamour shots yesterday. Now mind you, I was lurking in the doorway of the studio at the mall eyeing the available options for my own set of pictures that might actually turn out well. I was hoping for a few sexy pictures for Ammon.....

No.

There was a photo contest going on for children. The kids package included 1 - 8x10, 2-5x7's, and 8 wallets for $20. Not too bad, but I still wouldn't have gone for it. But my dear hubby just had to enter Ryan. Aidan wanted nothing to do with it so it was just Ryan. They got some adorable pictures of him, no two ways about it but they look just like any other studio. Now to glamour touch them, where they do colorizations and such was going to run us $93 for that $20 package. All they did was change it to a sepia and color his eyes and shirt. Needless to say, we elected to just get the $20 value package. So this afternoon they called us and said the district manager had seen Ryan's pictures and wanted to blow one up to a 16x20, glamour touch it, etc. and matte and frame it for display in their store. After 30 days on their wall the picture would be ours to take home and we'd only have to pay 40% of the cost. The cost of $650! Our cost would only be $299 - for ONE PICTURE of ONE KID! As cute as it would be, it's simply ridiculous to pay out that kind of money for a picture. I'll bet they get lots of parents that way though. They leave with the value package and get called back and told their kid is so cute that they want to use them in their advertising. What parent wouldn't burst with pride? As flattering as it seems, it is probably something they do a lot. Besides, we don't need a large portrait in a studio to know our son is adorable. He melts our hearts each and every day.

Church with the boys..

Wow, today was a day like we haven't seen in quite some time. We've had great success with a star chart for Aidan. He gets a start for every 10 minutes he stays in his chair through sacrament meeting. Each star is worth 5 minutes of video game time. Last week was wonderful. Grandma and Grandpa Buhler were there and Aidan did quite well coloring and playing etch-a-sketch. This week was the polar opposite. He earned no stars as there was not a 10 minute section where he stayed even relatively still. Primary must've been worse because they came and got Ammon out of Sunday School. When I got out there Aidan was barefoot, jumping around like a wild animal of some sort, and using what must have been some primitive communication form that did not in any way resemble words. Appearantly during primary he was making sound effects that included quite a bit of spit sprays. Others were not amused. Suffice it to say that by the end of church not only had Aidan not earned stars, he'd lost some. I have noticed that his worst primary days are when his teacher is not there. The lady who substitutes is not exactly little boy friendly - mom to 3 adult girls - so that could have something to do with it. The rest is a complete mystery. We've had him evaluated by a team at the school. This included a speech therapist, a teacher, and a pshychologist. They all came out with the general concensus that Aidan is perfectly normal for a boy of his age. His attention span is a bit low, but not enough to even recommend treatment. So we continue on in spite of the looks and comments from some and with great support and kindness from others. To anyone who reads this who has ever spoken words of reassurance or offered experiences as guidance without judgement, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Sometimes all a mother of a challenging child needs is someone who understands.

My universe

Hello all. In my universe life may seem mundane, but in truth it's full of chaos. That is not to complain, I wouldn't trade it for the world. For those of you who haven't noticed the Fertility Friend link in my sidebar, feel free to check it out. It's full of great info. And I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but Ammon and I are trying for another addition to our family. We do not expect immediate success as my hormones are a bit messed up right now, but hopefully in due time we will have another angel to love.