Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2014 May

I was singing in the car when Dalton interrupted. (He thinks interrupting is SO rude, unless it's him interrupting someone singing.)

Shhhh! Quiet! You made me want to take off my shoes.

Dalton and I did a Lego Friends Mad Gab together. Obviously he had Daddy on his mind.

Hey! Let's sleep to the Daddy after this! I want to get dressed a new green water park.

We've been swimming for 4 days! I'm so happy with my dad that I could paint a slide.

Did you see my dive off of the swimming pool? I practiced it about 4 times, until I could snuggle Daddy through the air like a crocodile and a shark.

Yeah! That was green! Teach us how to play games on the computer it but let's give my dad hugs and kisses some chocolate toast first!

We should try to type an underwater snackbar someday so that we never have to run or practice cartwheels out of the pool!

For my Throwback Thursday post on Instagram this week, I wrote about my dad.

April and May mark the bookends of my parents' lives. My dad was a track star, a cheerleader and played the clarinet in the UCLA marching band. He was a computer programmer when computers were huge. He was a science teacher and a cross-country coach, a family historian, a bishop and a choir director. He grew a fabulous garden, took us on outings, and painted stripes on my nails. He died of AIDS at 43. #tbt

Kind of more things he did in the outside world. While writing the post, I thought of a lot of other things he did that meant more to me personally. He read us bedtime stories. I remember sitting on my parents bed, digging in the drawers of their headboard while he read. He took the long way home. He stopped at Podunk, Everywhere to see all the sights along the way. He took us to the zoo, to Disneyland, to museums, to see the stars. He played Uno with us during Spending Time on Sundays (which I now see is the equivalent of my kids' Daddy Home Day). He did jigsaw puzzles and cooked. He camped and hiked and carried kids on his shoulders. I think we would have made a fabulous grandpa and I wish my kids had him around.

Sienna went to nursery for the first time. John and I ended up having to both go to sharing time with our class and to help with the music. She was really grumpy during class so we ended up putting her in nursery so to not disrupt sharing time. She cried the whole time.

I feel bad that she didn't have a good first experience in nursery, especially since I think she will normally really like it. I guess it was just a grumpy day.

And luckily I had brought her doll to church because when we picked her up she had attached to one of the nursery dolls and I had to do a bait and switch.

Next Sunday is Mother's Day and I hope the church part at least goes better then last year.

I took the little ones to lunch with some out-of-town friends at Downtown Disney yesterday. Sienna threw her first couple French fries on the ground because they were too hot, so after her meal when she was wandering around, she went back to them. We had just finished a conversation about nursing the third child in public.

Friend: She's eating French fries off the floor.

Me: Oh, that's ok.

Friend: Ok, just thought you might want to know.

Me: Third child, you know. As long as she's not eating the stepped on ones. I have to draw the line somewhere.

Friend's husband: You and your moral high ground. No eating stepped-on French fries!

Someone complimented my swimming suit at the Legoland water park today. It made me feel great! But it also made me feel bad because I had thought two nice things about other women at the park earlier and didn't get a chance to say them. Never suppress a generous impulse!

Tonight John and I got to go on a last minute date. We watched a friends' kid overnight last night, so she offered to babysit for us tonight. We didn't have anything planned, but why not? We went shopping at Target and Old Navy and had dinner (?) at Wetzel's Pretzels. We went all out and got dip for our pretzels and a frozen lemonade.

We bought two pairs of shorts for John; capris, a t-shirt and some beach shorts for me; a dress with bloomers and a shirt and capris for Sienna. It was so nice to shop kid free! And try stuff on! And not hear whining! John didn't even whine a tiny bit.

For Mother's Day John scheduled for a someone to clean our house for three hours. He figured that would last about the same amount of time as flowers. He was right.

Best gift ever, though! Thanks, hon!

I am doing an 8-week healthy living challenge with a bunch of my friends. The main components are exercising, drinking lots of water, eating fruits and veggies and no sugar/treats. I like it because it's not faddish, it's not extreme, it's entirely doable, and it's motivating with all your friends doing it. You can only earn points for exercising up to 5 days/week, and you get a free day on the sugar, too.

We started right after Easter and I really needed it after binging on Easter candy and who knows what else. I've found that I do a lot better with zero treats (a small piece of dark chocolate is allowed). Today is my first sugar day in 12 days because I used mine up on the first day last week. Let me tell you, absence does not make the heart grow fonder. Hopefully I can avoid crazy sugar habit after this.

We are back from a relaxing long weekend in Big Bear. This vacation was planned before John's last minute business trip to Buenos Aires, and if we hadn't already paid for our rental condo, we would have cancelled. But we didn't and we had fun!

We went on the alpine slide. only two people could ride in the lift at a time, so Maggie got to go by herself. She also went on the slide by herself, and loved it. All the kids loved the slide. It was not nearly as long ast the one in Park City and pretty dinged up and bumpy, but we had a great time.

We also took the lift at Snow Summit up to do some hiking. We did the 1 mile mountain top loop, which is plenty of hiking with the kids. There was some rock scrambling and some animal spotting action as well.

Then we went on a cruise around the lake on the Miss Liberty. Sienna did not fully appreciate it. As in, she ran around the whole time, barefoot because we were afraid she was going to throw her shoes overboard. But it was a nice tour.

We made another stop at the alpine slide on our way out of town. A great view from the top and a little energy out before the vomit-inducing car ride home.

Maggie: I want Lego Chima Lion Temple and Mario Kart for Christmas.
Me: Those are two expensive things.
Maggie: But if we get them for Christmas it's FREE! That's why you ask for it for Christmas, so you don't have to pay for it.
Me: Oh. ...

Also: Can we look on the computer for a toy broomstick that maybe goes one inch above the ground?

You sit down at the table. Your hands slip the fabric under the needle. The machine roars affirmatively, bringing life to helpless fabric, rising memories, maybe even shaking the table a little bit.

This is your mother's sewing machine. This is how she sewed. This is how sewing is meant to be.

Except. $200 later, the machine works again and now instead of roaring, it purrs. A very quiet, happy purr. The table doesn't shake. I am actually SHOCKED that the machine isn't supposed to sound like that. I feel like I was lied to my entire childhood.

And it sews beautifully.

It's amazing. I had to stop after one rolled hem to blog about it. I might even cry.

The repair man told me on the phone that the bracket holding the motor in place was loose. Looking back (at the last 20 years of my life), it does seem rather obvious.