I LOVE the Internet!!!

There are many reasons that I love the internet. Here are my two latest favorites:

www.pandora.com Check this out for FREE internet radio. You can choose from a list of genre categories, or type in an artist to listen to music by them and other artists with similar style. I've been absolutely loving this! Yesterday, I got a little bluegrass, a little motown, a little Jack Johnson and others with some great mellow acoustic guitar sounds, and some LDS music, like Hilary Weeks and others.

www.mapmyrun.com Runners, you're gonna love this. After my run today, I got on this site and using the satellite map, mapped out where I ran. It told me the exact distance I had run. Then I used the workout calculator, entered my stats (age, height, weight, and my time for the run), and it calculated my pace and calories burned. Then I calculated another loop route I'd like to run soon, and found out that it's 6.63 miles. Nice to know.

If you have any other great reasons to love the internet, let me know!

Spring Break '09

Our spring break started the Thursday before Easter. Tony got out of school at noon, and we loaded up and headed to Cheyenne to visit his brother, Matt, and his family. We stayed until Sunday afternoon, and I could bore you to death with a play-by-play of the weekend's activities, but how about a few highlights instead?

*A trip to the state capitol building--Tony spent a lot of time here as a kid with his dad in the state legislature. Also, it was fun to show the kids where Grandpa Ron will work if he's elected Governer--He's running in 2010!

*Visit to the Wyoming Museum of History--lots of interesting artifacts and fun stuff for the kids!

*Going running WITH Tony--we NEVER get to do this! I ran him into the ground, of course (JK--he's an animal!)

*Two hours of shopping ALL BY MYSELF

*Great food--this is what you always get when you visit Matt and Ashby

*Lots of fun time for the kids playing with their cousins

*A trip with all the kids to Sam's Club (always fun!)

*Dinner at Old Chicago--yum, yum!

*Sleepless nights, since Mariah only likes her crib apparently (I guess this is more of a lowlight)

*Easter egg dyeing


*Easter egg hunt, complete with some gifts from the Easter Bunny

Mariah, enjoying her new bumbo chair. The Easter Bunny got a GREAT deal on this at Once Upon a Child!

Mylie, loving her chocolate bunny and new cheerleader outfit.

The three kiddos in their Easter church clothes. We were in a huge hurry for 9am church, so this is the best picture we got.

We got home late Sunday night, and Monday morning, I packed up the three kids and went to Layton, where we played at a fun center with two of Tony's sisters and their kids! It was such a blast, with a huge Pirate-themed jungle gym, several large blow-up toys for bouncing and sliding, an arcade, and a roller rink. We stayed for five hours, and the kids didn't want to leave. I think we'll be going there again!




Tony also enjoyed some ranch work on Monday and Tuesday of his spring break. It is branding time, and Tony was lucky enough to be home for one day of it! Connor and Mariah seemed to like the branding, but Mylie was a little scared--actually terrified until I held her and promised not to set her down anywhere near any of the calves.



The highlight of it all, however, was just spending time together as a family and creating memories which will last a lifetime. (Sounds like a cheesy ad for hamburger helper or something, I know. But it's TRUE!)

Micheli Mix

Some random ramblings of recent Micheli activities:

First of all, I'm closing the poll, because honestly, nobody really cares who Mariah looks more like. But, the results pretty much went along with what I thought. She's a mix, but about 2 parts Connor to every one part Mylie. Here's a picture of her with the sibling she more closely resembles.

Secondly, a little over a week ago, we went bowling. It was tons of fun! Connor and Mylie did great, although I thought Connor was going to put a hole in the floor with the way he threw his ball. I did okay (thanks to the bumpers we put up--they're just for the kids, right?) :) Tony won, of course.

Last of all, I have finally joined the club. The Mormon Moms for Vinyl Letters Club! It's been a long process, but I am officially in. It all started about a year and a half ago when Tony's sister got a new house and used some really cute vinyl lettering to decorate various parts of it. The seed was planted. I just knew I had to have some of that in my house. I stumbled upon an old friend soon after and found out that she sold the stuff. So I got her catalog and number. It sat on my counter for over a year while I decided whether I really wanted to spend the money on it, and if I did, what color, what font, what words, where would I put it up? The questions were just too much, so I didn't do anything. Then we got our family pictures taken. I took about 2 months to get them printed and on the wall. And then I knew where my vinyl letters should be. I headed to a craft fair and ordered EXACTLY what I wanted. A couple weeks later, I had them. I was so excited that I set them on the counter and left them there. About a month later, I was feeding Mariah when Mylie called out, "Mom, I'm helping you! I put your stickers on the wall!" What was she talking about? "What stickers?" "The word ones!" Oh my gosh! I rushed out to see what she had done, but it was too late. Half of the lettering was ruined. So then two or three more weeks went by with me deciding whether to just eat the $50 I'd spent, or spend about $25 more to replace what was lost. I went with the latter. I finally ordered them, picked them up, and then (being much smarter this time) let them sit on top of my DRESSER, which is MUCH higher up--for about 3 weeks. Then last Wednesday night, after the kids were in bed, I said, "Hey Tony, I know you're really wanting to help me put those vinyl letters on the wall." He could hardly wait. Well, something like that. I thought it might be one of those things where once you get started, it's actually kind of fun. No such luck. It was terribly tedious, boring, and gave me a sore neck. But here's the finished product. I suppose it was worth it. And even if not, at least I'm in the club now.

I am NOT the Biggest Loser!

Tuesday was the final day of the biggest loser contest I've been doing for the last 3 months or so. Can you believe I didn't win it with results like this?!?!!

BEFORE

AFTER

Haha. Seriously, though, even though I didn't win, I did make my New Year's Resolution of dropping 10 lb. So I suppose it was worth the $25 entry fee.

Sweet Success

I don't know about you other mothers out there, but it seems like I am constantly assessing situations in our home, and trying new methods to try to get my kids to understand something better, or behave in ways a little closer to my expectations for them. Often, these attempts blow up in my face. For example, when Connor was almost 3 years old, and we had not had any potty success yet, I decided to get straight to the point with him. One day, I asked, "Connor, do you LIKE to have poop in your pants?" He looked at me, sincere as can be, and simply said, "YES." Okay, so that didn't work. The ongoing struggle I have is finding a form of discipline that works when household rules are violated. First, time-out. At first, they would just come right out. If they don't stay in there, it's not really a punishment, right? Next, loss of priviledge or taking away a favorite toy. Three days later, when I see where I hid the toy or remember the priviledge they USED to have, and then realize that they haven't even seemed to notice that anything was missing from their lives, I know that that route didn't work either. As a last resort, I've tried spanking. Then one day, out of the blue, my five-year-old said to me, "Mom, I really don't care too much if you spank me." I knew that I had failed, once again. So spanking--at least for him--is out. So far this post isn't matching the title much, is it? I'll get to the point. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, something I try actually works the way I hope it will.

About a month and a half ago, Tony got home from basketball practice to a cranky, worn-out mom who exclaimed, "I've had it with the TV, the computer, and the video games! They are ruining my kids lives! They don't even KNOW HOW to play with toys or use their imaginations! I've had it with media invading my home!" Typing this out, I realize how ridiculous this sounds, as if the TV, video games, and computer have a mind of their own and are conspiring against me as a mother. I then asked Tony, "What should I do about this?" Then it hit me. Perhaps there was a way to be PROACTIVE about this situation rather than playing the victim. In less than 10 minutes I had a plan. Of course, I doubted it would work, given my previous attempts at making positive changes in my home. But I decided to go forward with it anyway. The next morning, I explained the drill: "You get 90 minutes of screen time a day. Period. You can choose whether you want it in the form of TV, video games, or computer, but the total time you spend staring at a screen cannot be more than 90 minutes in a day." I did make one exception: The Living Scriptures videos were always fair game, and did not count against their screen time allotment.

The first day, both kids were out of screen time by about 9am. Oh boy, this was going to be a long day. I thought Connor would be okay, but Mylie had become quite a "TV junkie," as we now refer to it in our home. I knew there were going to be withdrawl symptoms. And there were. I tried to get her to play something, suggesting several things that sounded fun to me. She would cry and say, "I don't want to play!" Now what kid says that?!? But then things started getting better . . .

On day three, I went into the living room to find Connor and Mylie hauling our fan upstairs. We use it on hot days in the summer, but had been storing it in the basement. I wondered what they were doing, but decided to just watch and see. Next thing I know, I hear Connor tell Mylie, "Let's do an experiment!" They got a balloon that was blown up and tried to position the fan to keep the balloon up in the air. Of course, they failed, but kept trying. Next thing I know, it's "Mom! You have GOT to come see this!" They had emptied the entire bag of balloons (not blown up) INTO the fan and were watching them race around and around inside it.

From that day on, "screen time" really hasn't been much of an issue. Connor keeps track of his own using a kitchen timer so he can stop and start, rationing it out and using it in all three forms during the day. I keep track of Mylie, who mainly uses it all in TV watching. Lately, there have been many days that they go to bed at night, exhausted, with screen time that hasn't even been used. And there are NOT roll-over minutes in screen time.

And then, the "Hey-maybe-I-knew-what-I-was-doing-for-once!" feeling came. This morning, just after I got out of the shower, Mylie came into my bathroom dragging her blanket. I was prepared for her morning routine of, "Mom, can you get me a show? And some strawberry milk chocolate milk mixed?" (About the milk, don't ask.) But it didn't come. Instead, she noticed a couple toy animals on the floor. She picked them up and entertained herself for half an hour with just a toy tiger, an elephant, and a basket of dirty laundry. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. My purpose had been met. My children DO know how to PLAY, how to use their imaginations to entertain themselves. They just needed a little practice. SWEET SUCCESS! Ahhh.

Okay, okay . . .

Okay, okay, so Violet informed me that I COULD find another picture to post that includes all 5 of us girls. So, this is from Violet's wedding. She's happy that I'm posting this one, but me--not so much. See my belly in this shot?!? No, I'm not pregnant in this picture. Mariah was one month old, so I suppose I have an excuse, but still . . .

Happy 20th, Sister of mine!

I am lucky enough to have a whole lot of sisters, and I love each of them SO much! And although I'm the oldest, and 14 years older than Tessa, I feel like I have a great relationship with each one of them. Here is my favorite (and maybe only?) "sisters" photo that I have. (I know this is NOT Vi's favorite--sorry!) Anyway, there is one sister missing from this photo, and although I did not have the chance to get to know her in this life, she has still blessed my life and the life of each member of my family in so many ways.

Tillie Anne Teichert was born 20 years ago today. She was my parents 5th child, and was a beautiful baby with big chubby cheeks and lots of dark hair. (I wish I had a picture to share, but I've searched my house and have come up empty.) She was only able to stay with us for 12 weeks before her Heavenly Father took her home. Although this was a terrible tragedy at the time, my family has learned a lot about faith in our Heavenly Father's plan of happiness for His children. We know that she is with Him, and that knowledge, combined with our love for her, motivates each of us to do better each day so that we can have a relationship with her someday. Now that I'm a mother, I am amazed at my own mother's faith and courage to go forward and continue being such an amazing mother when she was hurting so much. I'm also grateful that she had the courage--despite her fear--to have three more children. What would our family be with the "three little kids"? So, happy birthday, dear sister! We love you and hope to be with you again someday!