First Day of Preschool

So this year I decided to do a co-op preschool with a couple other moms in the ward. Since Zoey has an extra year before she goes to kindergarten, I thought she might enjoy a casual school type atmosphere. For those that are unfamiliar with how a co-op works, the participating moms get together and choose a curriculum and then rotate who teaches each week. When we first got together, it felt like the only choices were Mother Goose Time and Joy School. I didn't have any experience with either, but two of the moms in our group had used both of them and there were things they liked and things they didn't like. Well, because I'm extreme like I am, I went out into the world wide web and found some more options and ordered a month's worth of materials from each of them to compare. I ordered from Star Brite, Funshine Express, The Learning Box, and Funsteps. Over the summer I tested them each out with Zoey..to an extent. As a group, we decided on using Funshine Express as our curriculum for our co-op. It's a good quality program, that does take some preparation.

What I found though just using the other kits with Zoey, I actually preferred Star Brite simply because each lesson was an individual packet with 4 or 5 activities to do, and that's what Zoey likes to do, get down to the crafting. The material quality was medium-low, but it is just right for her to sit down and I explain what to do with each activity and then let her at it. It was the least structured in terms of running the day and dividing out the skills used, etc. It was mostly simple crafts (cutting and pasting) but it was also easy to explain what the craft meant and to teach off of without really even reading the lesson plan.

Every time I've tried to do something from the Learning Box I find it is disorganized and difficult to follow and the crafts are heavily integrated, they don't stand alone at all. I have to sit down and read through the booklet for 5 minutes before I can even start to explain to Zoey what we're doing. I just didn't feel like it was easy to pick up and use. Material quality is medium-high.

Funsteps crafts were easy to pick up and do, but they almost never felt like they went along with the lesson material, or they were a stretch. They're extremely simple and not very open ended. But because of the ease of throwing one at Zoey and explaining what to do and let her to it, I reached for this kit second often, but she blazed through the activities really fast. Material quality is low.

Funshine Express crafts stand alone or support the lesson really well. They are fairly easy to pick out and just do, but they usually require paint or other messy stuff, so I didn't reach for this kit as often as Star Brite, but I think it was the best choice for the co-op. The materials are high quality and the included activity materials are substantial. It's well organized, and lends well to something you intend to sit down and prepare and teach from.

Anyway, Zoey was pretty excited to learn she was going to school and the first day she kept asking if it was time to go. It's too bad she wound up feeling under the weather the first week and was full on sick the first part of the second week, but Today was her first day of feeling herself again and she just really loves going. She's super excited that next week school will be held here.

She dressed herself. I'm ok with that.

Just had to share this picture of her fake nails. Brandon took her to CVS to get milk and they came back with these claws. She babied them as long as she could until they just got all kinds of random junk stuck in the adhesive and she woke up with them in her hair. They didn't stick really great, but they were fun for her while they lasted. She's such a girly girl. I have no idea where she gets it from.

Final Answer

Since the moment I found out I was pregnant with my daughter Zoey, I dreaded potty training. I'd just heard so many stories and it all really comes down to the will of the child, which is something I can't control, which freaks me out. I like to be in control, can you tell?

Although Zoey hasn't worn diapers for 6 months, even at night, I've refused to consider her potty trained because every day was still a fight. The bribing and the forcing to go potty, constant guessing when she really needed to go because she wouldn't tell me if she did. We started working on potty training with her at I guess about 21 months. It wasn't long before I figured out with her this was going to be a really....really...really long process. But today I come before you and give you my final answer, she's potty trained! She will tell me every time she needs to go potty then run there by herself, pee, wipe, and wash her hands all by herself. No night time accidents. Okay, on occasion she still does pee a tiny bit in her panties before she makes it to the potty, but she'll go upstairs and get clean undies and put them on all by herself.

 I'm so glad it's finally over, just in time to start all over again for Ian. Is there no rest for the weary? I think he'll pick it up faster once we're serious about it. One can hope at least.

Another discovery I made during this process was the choosing of the potty training seat was so frustrating and bothersome. If you're potty training or about to start, let me save you the trouble. I recommend 100 times over any other product, this one:

Mayfair NextStep built in potty seat

Skip the separate small potty, skip the universal separate potty seats. This one is all you'll ever need while you have tiny bums in the house, and my kids are tiny so I expect it will get much use for the next few years. I tried 3 different seats before this one and they were all bulky, slippery, heavy, stinky, or otherwise annoying to use. I basically stopped using any bathroom the kids would because I couldn't stand going in there and removing the seat or moving the kiddy potty, which always resulted in getting pee on me somehow. I thought boys were supposed to be the messy pee-ers but Zoey somehow manages to get it all over. I don't know how. After I bought and installed this all in one, the bathroom doesn't stink anymore, I don't get pee on me, Zoey doesn't get red marks from sitting on it too long, she can put it up and down all by herself, and all her pee always ends up in the potty and not on the potty seat. The lid on the toilet closes all the way. and the whole contraption, both seats snap on and off for easy cleaning. It's just fabulous. Ian likes it too and he hasn't had any problems using it to go potty either. Win Win Win. I'm buying another one for the kids' bathroom upstairs.

Sew Guilty

Brandon comes home one day and says he's bought a Christmas present for me already. He said it was too good of a deal to pass up. I'm thinking Christmas is still 3.5 months away, but whatever, I guess it can just hang around until then. About a week later a large box arrives at the door, Brandon swears he has no idea what's in it, even though it is sent to him. Brandon ALWAYS know whats in any box he's ordered. I am skeptical, but he is insistent I should open it. Inside:

Singer Perfect Finish Sewing Machine and Serger Set

I have always been very leery of electronic sewing machines, even though I'm an IT major. I've just always felt like if you're going for durability and quality, a sewing machine should be all mechanical. My 60's Necchi has been a great companion for all the years its has been mine. I still love that thing and man is it heavy. I'm sure you could chuck it down a flight of stairs and it would just sew on like a champ. However I have always been a little curious of the new machines and features they offer. While I get the general sense this is a mid-line machine, if nothing else, the serger was worth the price.

I finally got the chance to sit down with it and explore its features the other day and overall I like its capabilities. I think the real test will come on a sewing project verses some scrap fabric. I have to say as I moved my trusty Necchi to the side of my sewing table all I could feel was horrible guilt as it sat there looking at me longingly as I giggled over the cool decorative patterns the singer produced and the ease at making perfectly sized button holes. I only felt a little redeemed as I told my Necchi she could never be completely replaced because she would let me control reverse speed and the needle threader on the singer was just a ridiculous attachment and when the electronics surely busted a capacitor, she'd still be there to see me through the thick and thin fabrics.

I do have to say I was quite impressed with the manuals for the sewing machine and the serger, they had a lot of useful information and examples on using many of the techniques and presser foots, excellent reference charts, and are overall well written. A horrible design flaw of the sewing machine is the bobbin area. A flimsy little plastic door covers the bobbin and mechanism and the latch to open it is sitting right where you feed fabric through to the needle. No doubt that little door is going to pop open all the time. The bobbin also sits very loosely in that space and tends to bounce around and clickety clack as you sew. Otherwise the machine would be whisper quiet.

While my Necchi will always be my first love, I think I can find some room in my heart for this bobbin-clackity new Singer. The serger and I will no doubt be attached to my hip and I can return my mom's serger back to her. It performed exactly as expected in all tests I did compared to the old Simplicity serger I had been using. The only slightly annoying thing about the Singer serger is to use the free arm is a bit clumsy and difficult to remove the side casing and it completely comes off. The Simplicity machine allowed you to pull lightly on the side casing and it swings out of the way of the free arm remaining attached to the machine. Related to that effort, rethreading the Singer is a little more annoying than threading the Simplcity, but it's a serger, and rarely is threading one not a time consuming feat. Next sewing project will be performed solely on this new duo to see what a perfect finish it really is.

Masten Park

Zoey has been begging to go to the park pretty much every day but with it being so hot it was really hard to justify going over there just to spend only 5 or 10 minutes and then march home with sweaty and bored again kids. Knowing I had a paycheck coming in the mail soon and really our backyard is quite large and empty I figured it was time to get a playset. Everyone I talked to that has one says it's totally worth it and the kids love it. I set out to find the one that was the best value for my budget. I zeroed in on the Patriot II by Adventure Playsets.

And so the "adventure" began...

as four very large and heavy boxes.

Then I had to separate and inventory all the wood pieces. They sent two G10s and one G9 when I was supposed to get two G9s and one G10, but the only difference in them is an extra pilot hole. So far so good, I can live with that mistake without calling the company.

In order to validate the warranty, all the wood had to be sealed to protect against rain and the sun. Brandon sealed about 1/4 of the wood and I did the rest. We used a little over a gallon of sealer that claims to be effective for at least 2 years. At $35 a gallon and a huge stain on the garage floor, it better! For the record I sealed all my wood over the grass, like any neat person would....

Then all the sealed wood had to dry for at least 24 hours, and even then it was still a little gookey. That's a technical term

Then I had to inventory all the hardware and this is where things got complicated. First off, there was no instruction manual included in any of the shipped boxes, I had to download it online. After much frustration of part numbers and counts not lining up on the paper I realize the person I bought the set from sent me a Patriot kit with a straight slide, while the differences in the models is quite minimal, it took me a while to sort through all the versions of manuals online to finally figure out that Patriot 2009 revision was closest to the hardware sent. Even then, some of the part numbers were wildly off, mostly for wood screws. I decided we'd work with what we had until we absolutely needed to call the company for replacement parts or go to Lowes.

And so the building began...and this is all that got done on Saturday.

Zoey is thrilled at getting a park and wanted to help.

Monday the fun continues...lucky us the turtle sandbox fit right into the built in sandbox so we can have protection from cats and other gross things that like to get into sand.

The playhouse begins to take shape, I begin to hear a lot of "oh I'll just Dremel that smooth and it won't be a problem."

The kids are ready to play, so we need to take a time out to swing around a little.

So the ladder isn't actually supposed to be installed until 10 steps after the current one, but Brandon was tired of jumping up and down from the platform. Once installed the kids immediately start climbing up it. I guess that's why it wasn't supposed to be installed yet.

Strong enough to hold three grown men installing a roof.

 Who needs a ladder anyway? A little creativity and a few cricks in the hand is all you need.

Installing the picnic table.

On Tuesday evening the slide appears. The moment it is put on the kids are going full blast 'til bedtime.

This thing is FAST, nothing like the slides at the park. Ian just flies off the end of it. He has since discovered he can control his speed if he goes down feet first on his belly and uses his hands to create slowing friction.

Wednesday night after the kids are in bed, Brandon and I finish the swing arm. I'm sure it would have been much easier to assemble in daylight rather than with flashlights.

And a back view. Pretty cute!

Overall I love it and the kids do too, they play on it on and off all day. I would have preferred the rock wall and slide in opposite positions so that the south facing slide wouldn't be so hot most of the day and I could have a better view from the kitchen of what the kids are doing in the picnic area. The quality of the wood is average, plenty of knots and we ended up with our fair share of splits and cracks but nothing structural. The anchors were a pure nightmare to put in because of the drought, it was like trying to drill into cement. I had to soak the ground where the anchors were supposed to go during the process of screwing them in. The most frustrating part was the hardware included just didn't match up well, many things were dead on in count, others were severely underincluded such as 1 1/8" wood screws and fender washers. We were short on some bolts for the swing arm. We ended up just using slightly longer or shorter screws and I got hex head bolts from lowes to use in place of the washer head-locking proprietary bolts included with the set. Also many of the sizes of screws and washers are non standard and are not readily available at your local hardware store. That was SO annoying. I did have to call the company and get a replacement screen for the back window and a bushing for the glider that were not included (the website is screwed up and I couldn't order replacements that way, I had to call the company, it was quick and painless that way. I am still waiting for the replacement part arrivals, it's been 4 days since I ordered), everything else we just worked with what extra hardware (and there were lots of leftovers of some things) there was and what we could get at Lowes.

The final count:

Wood parts inventory: 2 hours
Hardware inventory: 4 hours
Wood Sealing: 8 hours/ over 3 days
Building: 18 hours/2 people/4 days
Total: 32 hours
8 days from delivery to completion, no work was done on Sunday

I hope the kids use this thing for at least the next 7-8 years!!! A special thanks to all our friends who helped! Come play at Masten Park!!

On Beauty and the Beast

Zoey was on a kick a while back watching this movie every day. The only reason she strayed from Cars and Toy story was because in desperation I told her this was her friend's FAVORITE movie so she agreed to watch it. I'm not sure if I'm happy to have had a change of pace in movies or annoyed that everytime we watch this movie something else bothers me about it.

I admit when I watched the movie for the first time in theaters back when I was like 6 or something, I cried when I thought Beast died. I still sometimes hold back a sniffle. So it IS a good movie.

1. Belle can't be satisfied. At least twice in the movie she bursts out in song about how she wants "so much more than this provincial life." It's good to aim high, but I can't help but feel like she's being demeaning to all the other people in that cute little town that love and appreciate the lives they have. Not to mention her single father inventing more liabilities than useful inventions just to give her that little life. So ungrateful!
2. Mrs Potts has a 4 year old son. At the end of the movie once everyone is human again. We see that Mrs. Potts looks to be in her late 50s, early 60s and Chip, her son, is about 4 or 5 years old. It also seems pretty clear that Belle's dad is also interested in Mrs. Potts confirming the idea that Mrs Potts is in her later years. So I'm wondering who in the heck gets a mid 50 year old women pregnant and then leaves her. I mean, where's Chip's dad? How does she even get pregnant in the first place? Most women that age are going through menopause or already done. So maybe Chip is adopted, but what kind of broken family did he come from in that case? But then there's the part where Mrs. Potts as the teapot tells hip to get in the cupboard with his brothers and sisters and there are a ton of them! How many kids does this old lady have?! It's just weird and doesn't make sense ok. All they had to do was make chip Mrs. Potts grandson and there's nothing else out of place.

Ok but there are parts of the movie that I love, like:

Beast: I'll show you to your room.

Belle: But I thought....

Beast: Do you want to stay in the tower?

Belle: No.

It's the inflection in Belle's response that cracks me up, it's totally me and Zoey.

Me: Lets go to the store

Zoey: I wanna watch Max and Ruby

Me: Do you want to stay home by yourself?

Zoey: No (with the same inflection).

And then there's the scene when Beast tries to get Belle to come out of her room and go to dinner. That's me and Zoey every day.

I guess I didn't realize it until now, I am a Beast! To be fair Zoey is a stubborn Belle too! Sometimes I love the movie, but sometimes I can't stand to watch it again. Forever is the cycle with kids and their movie obsessions.

The Help

When I saw the previews for the movie coming out, I was really interested in seeing it. When I realized that it was based on a book I decided that this will be for sure the one movie I see where I've read the book first. So I got the book and read it over 3 days (yes, I'm slow, but I have two kids that won't let me read while they're awake!). There may be some mild spoilers here so if you intend to read the book, you should skip this post.

Initial thoughts:

• Man it feels good to READ a real BOOK! (Well actually it was an ebook, but that's beside the point)
• Good set up, I liked the characters.
• The switch up between characters' point of views and different accents was confusing at first
• 60's is not my favorite time period to read in, but I continued hoping it would be funny and amusing book.

After halfway through, my thoughts were:

• Life in the early 60s just sucked!
• This book isn't as funny as the movie made it seem (except for one part about 6 paragraphs long I was laughing so hard I was crying. It was funny because it's true.)
• Seriously, the women's healthcare was so bad that they didn't know what an incompetent cervix is and what a simple fix it is? It's shameful. Bless modern medicine!!

At the end my thoughts were:

• eh, it was an interesting read, but it's not something I'll ever read again.
• I'm not really looking forward to the movie so much anymore unless they focus on the last 1/4 of book.
• The ending just left me feeling kinda bitter.
• I enjoyed the author's notes and can see all her inspiration in the characters. I wish I had read that portion first.

My reccomendation: I'd tell someone to pass on it unless they are really interested in issues of the 60s and segregation. Overall I didn't feel like it had a broad spectrum appeal. I know many people that have said they loved it, but I guess it just isn't really the genre or style of writing I enjoy.