Jonah's Last Day of School

Today was Jonah's last day of preschool for the year. He has absolutely loved Miss April's class. She has been a great teacher for him and he has met all of his goals for the year. I don't know if Jonah quite understands that school is over for a while. He has a lot of friends in his class but some are moving on the kindergarten next year. I caught him mid-sentence in this picture:
Here are his two best buddies in class, Mica and Luke. Luke is actually in our ward, so Jonah will still get to see him at church. But Mica is going to kindergarten next year. Miss April says these three are inseparable, especially Luke and Jonah. It's so cute to see your kids making their own friends!
So Jonah will go back at the end of July, along with Eden. I'm really glad they have such a short summer; it's too hot to do much other than swim anyway. I'm sure they will be excited when it's time to start. I just won't be able to mention it to them until a few days before, or they will ask me about it every day!

Favorite Disney Villains- UPDATED!

There have been tons of Top Ten Lists going on, so I'm going to post my favorite Disney villains. But instead of just writing who they are, I'm going to make it into a game! Yeah! So I'm going to post a quote from each villain and you can comment to guess who they are!

So here they are in order:

#10. "I ain't gonna hurt ya."
"But I though we was gonna pop 'em off!"

#9. "Yes, well, forgive me for not leaping for joy. Bad back, you know."

#8. "Box his ears, dad."

#7. "You don't have a way with children. You must gain their confidence... make them like you."
"Yeah? How do you do that?"
"You force them to like you, idiot!"

#6. "The years roll by, but a hundred years to a steadfast heart, are but a day."

#5. "We mustn't lurk in doorways. It's rude. One might question your upbringing."

#4. "I've got 24 hours to get rid of this bozo, or the entire scheme I've been setting up for 18 years goes up in smoke, and you are wearing his merchandise?!"

#3 "Uh, did you just say 'excellent' because I said 'excellent?'"

#2. "Ah, how shall I do it? Oh, I know. I'll turn him into a flea, a harmless, little flea, and then I'll put that flea in a box, and then I'll put that box inside of another box, and then I'll mail that box to myself, and when it arrives... Ha Ha Ha...I'll smash it with a hammer! It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Genius, I say! Or, to save on postage, I'll just poison him with this!"

#1. "I sentence you to sudden, instant, and even immediate death!"

And here are the answers!

#10. Jasper and Horace from 101 Dalmations
#9. Scar from The Lion King
#8. Sir Kay Ector from The Sword in the Stone (sorry, it's the best picture I could find)
#7. Medusa from Rescuers
#6. Malificent from Sleeping Beauty
5. Ursula from The Little Mermaid
#4. Hades from Hercules
#3. The Bowler Hat Guy from Meet the Robinsons
#2. Ysma from The Emperor's New Groove
#1. Prince John from Robin Hood- I just love Peter Ustinov!
As you can tell, I usually prefer funny villains, even though a few truly evil ones slipped their way in. I also considered:

Mr. Smee from Peter Pan

Edgar from Aristocats

and Kronk, although he isn't really a villain because he really is nice and dumb. Villains are mean and usually smart. Okay, sometimes. (After I looked back through my list, I realize that they are not usually smart.)

Yeah! This was fun!

Jonah's First Whack at Baseball

The kids have been enjoying having a backyard. I can't figure out why they think laying on this flagstone is comfy though. I guess it's a step up from the rocks, but you'd think they'd try the grass.
We got Jonah this baseball set at Target in the dollar section and he loves it. We were surprised at how good he was when we tried it out for the first time! Here are some videos.

I guess it's true that the younger generations are better at the technical stuff. Levi thinks he already knows how to work an iPod.
And in other news, my chicken pincushion has had surgery, performed by Dr. Jonah. I have been sewing lately and carelessly left my things out the other night. When I came back, I found that my chicken had had his feet amputated. He may be handicapped now, but he still can serve his purpose well.

Speaking of High School Musical 3...

This post is dedicated to WHY I LOVE THIS MOVIE (like you care) . I think that a great musical is the prefect blend of cheesiness and good music and dancing. It's even better when it makes me want to sing along and get up and dance along with the choreography. This movie is a great musical.

I never saw it in the theaters, and I had to wait until it came out on DVD. So I know that this is way old news, but I just love this movie and I still watch it often and listen to the soundtrack about every day with the kids.

Here are the cheesiest moments of the movie (not in any order):

1. Okay, in the very first song, when Gabriella stands up in the middle of the basketball game singing to Troy to cheer him on...WOW. I laughed so hard the first time I saw it, and still do.
2. In the second song, when Troy and Gabriella are singing to each other in the tree house and the roof opens up to reveal a sky full of stars...pure cheese. Love it.
3. Pretty much the entire "The Boys Are Back" sequence.
4. The pictures disappearing off of the wall in "Walk Away."
5. The basketballs falling from the sky in "Scream." Hard to see in the picture. This might be the cheesiest moment in the movie.
6. I love how this high school is decorated. For a public school, they sure are rich. I wonder how they paid for these humongous posters of their basketball players.
7. And we all know that Chad is obsessed with basketball, but he takes it a little too far at the prom, where he shows off his style in this hideous tux. Ha ha, SO FUNNY!
And now for my favorite parts of the movie!

1. I absolutely adore the song and choreography of "Can I Have This Dance?," which takes place on the rooftop of the school. It is so amazingly done and Troy and Gabriella look flawless.
2. I was so happy when I noticed that they made Martha a cheerleader. She totally rocks the part too!
3. I also love the entire sequence of "Night to Remember" and skip back and watch it twice sometimes. Awesome choreography and just all around fun song.
4. When the grads in their caps and gowns crowd around to form their wildcat mascot at the end- WOW! That was so awesome!
5. I love the last song, called "High School Musical." It's so much fun and reminds me of the song at the end of Grease, "We Go Together." Just dancing around with friends and acting carefree.
6. I love how they gave Chad and Taylor a section of the song. These two are rarely shown together, especially in a singing part. They make a great couple and Taylor has a great voice!
7. The ending is great. When they drop that curtain is usually when I start tearing up. I know I am a geek, but I blame it on my Willard genes. I have cried at dumber things. And of course, the classic jump at the end!

Giving Up, But We Made Some Progress

Well, Eden was doing pretty well at the potty thing, but each day from day one was getting just a little bit worse. Yesterday when Marcelus came over, she pretty much forgot all about the potty training. This morning I knew it was over when she peed on my bathroom floor and then asked if she was going to get a toy. Um, NO!

So I'm giving up for now and just going to cut my losses. I'm not too bummed about it though, because she actually showed amazing improvement from the last time we tried. Last time she peed in two or three pairs of undies and still wasn't getting it. So at least she is comfortable with sitting down and going; she just needs to learn to listen to her body better. It''s all good, because she's not even three yet, and she doesn't have to be potty trained to go to preschool. It was my idea to start it up again just to see if she'd do it, so no biggie. It'll happen. And frankly, I'm glad she's back in diapers. It's just easier right now.

Here We Go Again...

Eden in now in the throws of POTTY TRAINING! Yep, that's right, our almost 3-year old started yesterday and is doing pretty well so far. Thanks to my friend, Anna, who recommended this article! I was doing things very differently and nothing was working. I think this lady, the "Potty Whisperer" might be on to something!

I tried giving Eden salty snacks and sugary drinks today to give her the chance to go a lot, but she wasn't really hungry and she doesn't like Kool-Aid. She went twice in the potty this morning, then had a little accident on the floor, which she cleaned up. Then she started getting difficult. In hindsight, I realize that I was probably reminding her to go too often. She had another little accident and cleaned that up too, but was crying and upset. I always have to remind myself that she is not like Jonah! I'll probably struggle with that her whole upbringing; I have to be two different parents. Anyway...

Later in the afternoon I knew she needed to go poop. She kept telling me that she needed to, but she would not sit on the potty for more than one second before throwing herself off and whining. She was totally holding it in for some reason. Well during this time I got online and read this post from my 2nd cousin, Sharee, which gave me an idea. So I got out the Princess Jasmine Barbie that I bought her for her birthday and let her look at it. Then I put it on the shelf where she could still see it and told her she could have it if she went to the bathroom on the potty. She whined for about two minutes, then went and sat down and peed. Yeah! So I gave her the Jasmine doll. The problem was that she still had to poop. She still would not go and I didn't want to give her the other present I was saving, so things got nasty. She was just whining and crying, and finally, I got sick of it and just started ignoring her. I let the boys go play at back without her and she threw a fit. Then when Peter got home, we all went outside, but Eden had to stay inside, mostly because I needed a break from her! I told Peter that she might be pooping on the floor, and he went to check on her.

Well, lo and behold, she had pooped in the potty while the rest of us were outside! We were ecstatic, and of course, I felt really bad after that for getting mad at her and punishing her by not letting her play.

We went out and got her a few little trinkets as incentives. Side-note: Girl toys are expensive! The stuff we bought Jonah was great- books from the dollar section, cars, cheap puzzles... Well Eden is not into the same stuff, and we couldn't really find anything! We might have to try Toys R Us...

So when we got back from the store, we got the kids ready for bed and told them both to go to the bathroom, and Eden performed like a pro! She sat down and went pee without much prompting. She wanted to wear her Jasmine undies instead of a Pull-Up, so I let her wear them on top of her Pull-Up. It was really cute. I think she has an obsession with Jasmine.

So I don't want to speak too soon, but I think that we might make it through this after all! I guess we'll have to see how today goes!

Top 10 Musicals

My cousin, Karena, did a top ten musicals post, and just like last time, I had to copy her and post my own picks! My sister informs me that it is too hard to pick just ten musicals and then rank them, dubbing one musical an all-time favorite, but after a lot of thought, I did it. Well, sort of. Of course this is how I feel now, so it might be subject to change :)

#10. Bye Bye Birdie- You've gotta be sincere! This movie is pretty funny, cheesy, and lame, which are sometimes main criteria for a musical. This almost didn't make my list, but the more I though of the opening song, Going Steady, I just realized how much I love this show! Ann Margaret is gorgeous in this and Bobby Rydell has such a great voice!

#9. Calamity Jane- I absolutely love Howard Keel and he certainly doesn't disappoint here. The chemistry between him and Doris Day is great.

#8. Annie- I went through a major Annie phase as a kid, watching this movie everyday. I even had a few Annie dolls. I remember my mom would fast forward the opening credits for me; it was the good old days of Beta and VHS tapes. I think we must have had an edited version my mom taped off of TV because I watched this later and there were several parts I didn't remember- including "Easy Street," one of my favorite songs now!

#7. High School Musical 3- Lexie is going to kill me for this, but yes, HSM 3 made my top ten list. I LOVE this movie. I seriously listen to the soundtrack everyday. I love all of the songs, and the choreography is freaking amazing. It makes me wish I was a dancer, and to me, that makes this a great musical.

# 6. Meet Me in St. Louis- This is such a funny movie, with tons of great one-liners. I just love John Truitt and the way his and Esther's love story comes to be. So simple and innocent. And of course, great singing by Judy Garland.

#5. Mary Poppins- You can never go wrong with Julie Andrews. She is a truly amazing artist. Throw Dick Van Dyke, Glynis Johns and David Tomlinson into the mix, and it's that much better. A great message and fun for everyone.

#4. White Christmas- My sisters and I would watch this all the time, not only at Christmas. We scrutinized the dance scenes and laughed when we found little bits that look funny when you watch only one person. This is a classic!

#3. Hello Dolly- I was so tickled when I saw Wall-E dancing around to Hello Dolly. This is another movie that makes me wish I were a dancer, so I feel you, Wall-E. The choreography in this movie is just amazing and Barbara Streisand's voice is second to none!

#2. Summer Stock- I love unlikely love stories, and this is not only that, but you get two of the greatest actors/singers/dancers from the musical era, Judy Garland and Gene Kelly. I did not discover this movie until college, but I feel as if I've grown up watching it.

#1. I know it's a total cop-out, but I honestly couldn't decide, so it's a tie between Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and The Sound of Music!

Seven Brides is so much fun and there is so much talent to watch! The dance scenes are great and I find myself going back so I can watch them again. My sisters and I always had to discuss which brother was the cutest (hands down, it's Benjamin for me- second from the right), and which girl was the most annoying (we pretty much agreed it was Martha, first on the right). If you have never seen this movie, Netflix it today!
The Sound of Music has to be the greatest-known musical of all time. I think probably everyone has seen it or part of it at some point. I love this movie for its songs, for Julie Andrews, for its historical value, and for its relevance. It's also based on a true story, which is fascinating to think about. Peter said he had seen parts as a kid, but when I made him watch it with me later, he said, "I didn't know this was a movie about Nazis!" Ha ha.
Other favorites that didn't make the cut:
Anchors Aweigh, On the Town, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and The Great Muppet Caper- it IS a musical!

Too Cool For School

Okay so I know I have a whole year until Jonah goes to Kindergarten (thank goodness), but I am the type that over-thinks and stresses and weighs pros and cons and stresses some more before I make any life-impacting decisions. Especially when it has to do with my kids. And their education.

So here is my gripe: What is the deal with the hundreds of choices I have when it comes to my kids' school? I know it is great to have the options; trust me, I am grateful that I have a little control over where and what my kids study. But the pressure to pick the right school and education for my kids is killing me! And I still have a year to decide!

When I was a kid, there were only three options that I knew of. Pretty much everyone went to public school, if you were rich you might go to private school, and if you or your parents were weird, you were home-schooled. That is not the case anymore! A lot of kids are home-schooled now, and I don't know about where you all live, but in Arizona there are also tons of charter schools. And not all charter schools are alike. Not to mention that it's not too much trouble to move your kids to a different public school if you want. So basically, the possibilities are endless.

We live about a block away from a Gilbert school, even though we are in a different school district. So I could get a boundary exception and Jonah could go up the street, but there's no guarantee that he could go there every year, because you have to apply for the boundary exception every year. Or he could go to the public school that he is zoned for, which is a great school also, as far as I've heard. Or, there are also a few free charter schools in the area. They don't bus, but they have a traditional curriculum. As opposed to what? This is so confusing.

I have talked to a few parents whose kids go to either public or charter schools. The problem is that neither have anything bad to report. They all love their kids' respective schools. That leaves me nowhere. I need some bad reviews! That's what usually helps me decide which books to buy on Amazon, at least.

I am very invested in my kids' education. I am also invested in their whole experience at school. I am a very sentimental person and I loved school growing up. I know I had my bad days like every other kid, but really when it comes down to it, I LOVED school. And I know I can't force that feeling onto my kids, but I really want them to have a love for school too. I want it to be fun for them. My high school experience was a lot like High School Musical. Our school had tons of spirit. Everyone came to all of the games, concerts and dances. It was easy to make friends. It seemed like you could do about anything you wanted to if you tried hard. I want that kind of experience for my kids.

"Why can't the rest of my life feel like a High School Musical?"

I know that a lot of the reasons why I loved high school are social, but that is important. Of course, I want the education to be quality. But I'm also realistic- I doubt that the majority of kids at that age are concerned with the quality of their education. Most of them just want to get out of there.

I want my kids to like school. I think that a lot of factors play into that. They have to have good teachers and friends. Learning has to be fun. I want them to learn music, art, physical education and sports, and maybe even Spanish. I want their lessons to be as hands-on as possible. I want them to build social skills on their own, without me being there to help. I want them to get involved in extra-curricular activities- I think that is the key to making school fun for kids and not a drudgery.

Anyway, I am rambling. I am just super-stressed and feeling a lot of pressure to decide. With Kindergarten registration, I actually don't have a whole year. So time's ticking. I wish someone could decide for me.

Update Time

This afternoon I had the last appointment with the preschool people to find out the results of their testing and see if she made it into the program. (I'll talk about that later.)

So I got the kids in the car so I could take the boys to a neighbor's house, when I saw a dead baby bird on my driveway. It was tiny with no feathers; it must have fallen out of a nest somewhere. It was so sad and a little gross, but I scooped it up with a paper cup and threw it in the trash in the backyard. Then when I went to get in the car, the kids had locked me out. My purse and keys were in the car, so there was nothing to do but bang on the window and embarrass myself in front of the whole neighborhood. I think Jonah thought that it was funny because he did not promptly unlock the door. Well when he did, he got the lecture of a lifetime. I admit I went a little overboard, but I was worried and it was 100 degrees outside, probably hotter inside the car. Well, he started crying and I realized that I was too hard on him and said I was sorry and hugged him. In some ways I am becoming like my dad. I remember him blowing up and then apologizing later.

Anyway, we went to the appointment and I found out that Eden made it into the program! Woo hoo! I am really excited because they can probably get the same schedule and ride the bus together. Eden is eligible immediately but because school is out in like a week, she'll start in July when the school year commences.

It will be so weird to have two kids gone. I remember when I had all three in diapers! This must be what it feels like to be normal and space your kids out.

Anyway, she is so excited. Yesterday Jonah was late to school so I had to take him through the front office. Eden was with me and I let her hang out a few minutes before we left. When it was time to go, she was so mad that she couldn't stay, she screamed bloody murder all the way down the long hallway and was still screaming when we got home. She has been talking about going to school nonstop so I'm really glad I won't have to deal with her reaction to not going!

We Have a Backyard!

After over two years of living in this house, we finally have a backyard. We went back and forth forever about whether or not we should do it ourselves, but in the end we didn't have to do the work. It came down to the fact that Peter had no time and when we got a really good cheap quote, we went ahead and did it!

So we can't really walk on the sod for a while, but we have still spent time out there while the kids walk on the rocks around the grass. They don't seem to mind that they have to stay off the grass. We are all just glad that we can go out back now without needing a shower afterward!