Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2017

She has discovered mom will peel apples for her (to avoid peels all over the house). She only likes "up" apples, which I think means not the core.

We recently set up the little IKEA play tent in her room. After two nights of having the camping tent in our living room. Sienna slept in the tent for over a week, I think, until I put it away. It was fun to read a bedtime story in there with her, and Arthur liked it as well.

John has been getting home after 8 every night, even though he is very ill. So I lucked out that he was home tonight. Now (9 pm) he is working, on the phone, and hacking up a lung. Worst time of year to be sick.

Secondly, it's really nice to wake up to! Sometimes I even get the dishes unloaded at night, but otherwise I just do it while we're doing breakfast and lunches in the morning.

Maggie headed out the door to bike to school. I dropp d Sienna and Arthur off at the neighbor's. Dalton drove with me to school, where I'm waiting for reading groups to start. I love a good productive morning.

The challenge for January was a spending freeze. John and I decided on eating out once or twice, $200 on groceries, and $100 on John's groceries. And not buying anything else. I think we spent about $1200 on groceries in December, so this alone is a huge savings.

The final totals:
$199 on groceries
No eating out, except free meals at chick fil a from receipt day
No spending during 9 Disneyland visits
No amazon orders

The kids' post-freeze requests: Dalton wanted chips, and orangsicle yogurt. Maggie wanted lunchables. John wanted orange juice. I wanted ice cream.

Meal planning is key to a challenge like this. I have plenty of food on hand, even at the end of the month, there was still lots of food. I mostly spent the budget on dairy, produce, and baby food. Unfortunately, I didn't shop much less. I had about 20 purchases made, including neighbors picking up stuff for me. So that was kind of annoying. I'd like to shop less frequently.

This month's decluttering area was the kitchen. I am doing double speed, since we are hoping to move this summer, so I did the dining room as well. This included cleaning out the fridge and pantry (worked well with the spending freeze), scrubbing the floor, going through the piano books, rearranging the cupboards, throwing out a lot of food, and getting rid of some items so I can now enjoy white space in my drawers and cupboards.

Next up: decluttering office and crafts, and EXERCISING.

I got a lot of twenty minute naps last night. About twenty minutes after I went to bed, I heard Sienna messing around in the bathroom. She gets up and goes potty, but seemed to be taking longer than usual so I checked on her and tucked her into bed. It smelled like throw up. She admitted to it, but wouldn't tell me where because she had "cleaned it up." Luckily/or not, I immediately discovered I was standing in it. She had dabbed with a handful of baby washcloths and put them in the sink. I cleaned everything up and went to bed. Twenty minutes later she was throwing up again. And twenty minutes after that. I slept about 1 1/2 hours, then woke up to check on her. All was good so I went back to bed. At 4:30, we got up to change a battery in the smoke detector. An hour later, Sienna was up throwing up. Half an hour after that, Arthur was up. I changed him and gave him a squeeze, and put him back in bed like I sometime do, but twenty minutes later he was up for good.

Surprisingly, the rest of the day went well. We ran a quick errand, I played lots of games with Sienna. Arthur didn't take an afternoon nap, but was fine. I made an easy dinner and a Texas sheet cake. Sienna and Arthur went to bed early.

She told me she said "Hello, Brothers and Sisters. My name is Maggie and I want to bear my testimony. I know the church is true, and we should pass off Articles of Faith, not to get candy, but to learn the gospel." And then she helped Sienna say the First Article of Faith.

I told Maggie to take Sienna to Primary and help her pass off her First Article of Faith, but she says she didn't misunderstand, she just felt like doing it.

The decluttering rooms for this month are craft/office. For me, I am doing the Master Bedroom (not the closet, so basically the desk), and under the stairs. I've piddled through some stuff, but now I've gotten a few things done ruthlessly. First I did the shelf under the stairs where we keep church shoes and rain boots, ice chests and a couple other random things. Then I decided to hang my stroller hooks on the bar at the back of the closet so all the bags (extra backpacks, swim bags) aren't on the floor. I haven't finished with the bags but I love having them off the floor. Today I did all the writing utensils in the house. Tons. Of. Pencils. And Markers. And Colored Pencils. Tons. I got rid of a bunch, and the organized the two 3-drawer craft carts. With all the stuff I threw out, I was able to sort the drawers spaciously into writing/drawing stuff, scratch paper (there's a ton right now because, decluttering), and activities (construction paper, glitter glue, water colors, etc). The other cart's drawers are craft supplies (pipe cleaners, glue, scissors), sensory (playdough and tools, shaving cream), and paint and paint brushes. While I had the carts out, I vacuumed and clean the walls, and then I had to do the shoe basket so the floor wouldn't be covered in sand again. We each have a pair of sneakers and a pair of flip flops in the basket, but I'm open to other organization ideas.

In the office, the only thing I've done 100% is the Box of Important Files. I went through it, then I realized I did a poor job and went through it again, each paper. I've gone through data CDs, craft stuff, the other file boxes etc. but nothing else 100% yet.

She found a fold over elastic headband and has been wearing it around her waist as a "tool belt" day and night for over a month now. It's adorable, and hilarious. It was originally to hold her Handy Manny tools, but she also wears it to reference Chico Bon Bon: Monkey With a Toolbelt. My favorite is today she wore it over her leotard and tights to gymnastics and looked very much like a tiny Jane Fonda.

Can't stop laughing.

We had a bit of a lazy Saturday. Sometimes it's nice not to go to Disneyland. The kids did chores. John worked. Everyone played outside for hours. The kids and the neighbors put on a fancy Valentines show for us. Then, John and I went on a date!

About once a pass year, we go on a Disney date and this Saturday was the night. First, we used a parent swap for Indiana jones I got when my cousin David and his family were visiting this week. We had reservations at Cafe Orleans so John could get a Monte Christo. We walked around, it was pretty crowded and the parade was about to start. We checked out the stores, walked to the front on the backstage. Then we used fast passes to Big Thunder. We got to see some of the parade on our way out.

Here are some laundry statistics:

Number of loads washed today: 6 (including one load of towels)
Percent of Dalton's laundry inside out: 80
Number of single socks, despite washing every single piece of laundry in the house: 6 (they were all found by the time it was put away.
Percent of kids' laundry that gets folded: ZERO
Number of pairs of underwear Sienna went through this week: 13

Influence and example - you make a difference
Talents and abilities
you're somebody's best friend, favorite person.
Don't compare when you're unalike - different skills and talents
Think of what you are, not what you're not.
appreciate your worth
Think only good thoughts - think of successes
Always be at your best
Pat yourself on the back

Don't get caught up in what's wrong in your life - look for the good.
Concentrate on what you do have
No one is perfect
You can have fun when it rains

3 things you're proud of (accomplishments)
3 things right about you
turn faults into assets
List things you worry about yourself - try to do something positive with them

Finding talents:
consider what you like
analyse it
try it
use it, polish it, use it to bless lives
pray for guidance

Try everything
try an interest or talent of a friends
Make a long list of things you've never done
Try three this week.
Don't let fear stop you.

Don't miss out because you're afraid
ask - you never know
do it NOW!

Plan tomorrow, next week, next month, next year
think of areas you want to improve
What do you want to achieve
What can you do right now.
review often

If you can't find happiness or success now, you won't be able to later
Don't wait for a better opportunity
Picture the type of person you'd like to be - then Start Now

Confidence -believe in yourself

Don't give up when everything seems against you.
Fight back. Make the came-from-behind win.
Don't give up!
Fight Back!

Find people who look on the bright side, love life, love people
Join large groups of people

Find activities that make it hard not to be happy.
Don't mope in front of the TV, get your heart pounding
Or maybe a certain place

Make someone's day brighter.

1. She is a great big sister. Arthur adores her. I frequently find her playing nicely with Sienna, especially if it's just the two of them outside. And she and Dalton have created entire fantasy worlds together.

2. She chooses the right. She always gets the "integrity" award at school for doing the right thing, even when no one is looking.

3. Her music skills are rapidly improving. I love listening to her play the piano and practice the viola.

4. She's smart. I never have to help her with homework or review. She's a little too smart for her own good, and goes through tests too fast sometimes, though.

5. She's creative. She is always drawing comics, and creating games.

6. She's snugly. I think it's mostly to put off bedtime. But I'll take it!

7. She's responsible. I love watching her be a good big sister, do her chores without being told to,

8. She's adventurous. She loves the fiercest roller coasters and expanding her independence a little at a time.

9. She likes tacos. Nuff said.

10. She has confidence. If I could guarantee maggie keeps any of her traits throughout her life, this is one I would choose. (After kindness, most important thing ever.) I love that she KNOWS she is smart, and fun, and beautiful.

One thing I don't like about Sienna is how she follows Arthur around bothering him all day. John commented that in all the pictures he takes of the kids, she is touching him. He is taking her to Utah this week, and I think it will be a nice break for Arthur. But she does make me laugh.

This week I decluttered sewing supplies and the bathrooms and the hall closet. I also had the kids help me do games after school.

We have one of Maggie's friends sleeping over. Her mom is at the hospital with her aunt. Made me extra grateful for neighbor's who help out.

Running the dishwasher every night. I enjoy cooking more when I don't try to limit my dishes.

Shopping once a week. Or less often at least. I've been shopping while Maggie is at gymnastics on Monday nights. And thirdly, there's a dollar store nearby, which is saving me a lot. Today I bought five boxes of Reese's puffs, baby squeezes (2/$.99) and organic strawberries. Among other things.

Of course Sienna threw two exhaustive tantrums today. But never mind that.

Sienna is all signed up for TK. We are being sent to a school even farther than Dalton went, but she has friends who'll be going there, too. Hopefully we can work something out!

I went on the fourth grade field trip, which was basically a five mile walk. We walked over to the nature preserve, around the loop, and back to the school. They had set up a police escort, which was kind of fun, and also helpful. It's hard to get 140 people across the street at a time.

Then I picked up my little kids and Arthur hadn't napped yet. And he took a long one so even after I prepped some dinner stuff and made lunch for Sienna and me, I still got a little nap. Then I made dinner. If I'd know what was in store for this day, I wouldn't have planned something so fancy. Arthur actually took another nap, which was helpeful. Between his cold and teething, he's whiny. Maggie helped with Arthur, and Dalton did a "surprise" which consisted of picking up the ENTIRE house, and making everyone's beds. So sweet!

We had all four missionaries serving in our ward over for dinner. John actually made it home from the airport just as we were eating. I made potato soup, rolls, salad, and chocolate-strawberry trifle. It was delicious.

My closet has a lot of Easter and Spring Fling stuff in it still, and I only got one of the bathrooms deep cleaned, but I am happy with the progress in March.

The other challenge was a gratitude journal. I tried to do daily blog posts on things I was grateful for, without explicitly saying as much. We were going for an easier challenge in March, and maybe it was a bit too easy because we weren't as successful. But it was a worthy exercise.

He is very into trucks. Trucks in books, trucks on his clothes, toy trucks in his hands, and trucks outside. We've been closely watching the garbage man (and garbage truck videos on YouTube) for a few weeks and last night we met him. Arthur was pretty impressed. He's learned the sign, and it's just about the cutest thing ever.

Moo
Uh-oh
Glub, while pointing to Dory or fish, not sure where he learned that.
Pooh

He signs "sleep, more, truck, all done" and he can also say dada and mama and sss for cheese and ssss da for "what's that" or "who's that?" Which I apparently say to him all the time. He says something for blankie or night night or Mickey but I haven't figured it out yet.

This month's challenge is to try 30 new recipes, so when I got home I made bread, caramels, and a new salad for dinner. Cooking instead of cleaning like last week!

Me with Arthur's toes: Is this my breakfast? It's so tasty!
Sienna: No! It has eyeballs!

So apparently I can't nibble on Arthur, because he has eyeballs. Haha.

Me: Dalt, everything I do, all day long, every day is for you.

Dalt: loooong pause. ... It's hard to think of something [that's not for him].

Tuesday we went to a nearby beach. We rented a double kayak and paddled around the bay. Arthur slept nearly two hours in the sand. The kayak was so fun, we all got to try it, and it was only $50 for 2 hours. Money well spent.

Wednesday was a long day. We drove around the south side of the island (the long way). We stopped at a black sand beach, which was so cool to see, but we didn't see any sea turtles. I did find a couple pieces of sea glass though. Next, we went to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Maggie has a free national parks pass for fourth graders, so we got in free! We looked at the craters with the binoculars, wandered around the steam vents, and hiked in the dark through a lava tube. Pretty cool!

We went up to Hilo for John and the older kids to do a helicopter ride. They got to see lava in the crater, and also hitting the ocean.

The littles and I had just under two hours to kill in Hilo during the helicopter tour. We went to the Panaewa Rainforest Zoo. Free, and awesome. I wish we'd had more time to spend. Sienna loved all the benches decorated as animals and flowers. There was also an awesome playground. Unfortunately, it was too hot to enjoy either, but it's usually rainy (Rainforest Zoo... get it?). We saw tigers, lemurs, all sorts of tropical birds, anteaters.

Then we went to the Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory. As we drove through the macadamia nut orchards, I told Sienna the story of auntie Rachel getting a macadamia nut stuck in her nose. She came back with "we could get things out of our nose. We can get boogers out of our nose."

Thursday was another rest day. We went to a new beach. It had trees shading the shore, and a rope swing. We were able to see some fish swimming around while we floated on boogie boards in the warm, clear water, and some crabs in the rocks along the edge of the cove. We went to the pool just outside our condo in the evening. So convenient that we left the older kids at home playing Roblox.

Friday we drove around the north side of the island. We had malasadas, went to a few points of interest then stopped at a famous sea glass beach for me. Unfortunately the tide wasn't great, and the beach was difficult to access. But Dalt and I scrambled down and found a few pieces while the others waited in the car. Then we went to Rainbow Falls, definitely the highlight. Everyone had a blast climbing the banyan trees and playing in the shade. We also climbed over the rocks and dipped our toes into the pools at the top of the falls. Our final stop was the Mauna Kea visitor center, where we were hopping to use the solar telescope. But the whole mountain was shrouded in mist. Disappointing, but the Rainbow Falls made up for it.

Saturday we took turns doing a submarine cruise. We wanted to do zip lining but even Maggie didn't weigh enough. We picked the submarine because Sienna was big enough, and she didn't get to do the helicopter. On the girls' trip, we saw three little dolphins, a barracuda, and a lot of different fish. It was pretty cool just to be on the submarine.

In the evening we went for one last swim at the Hilton pool. Water slides, hot tub, towels we didn't have to carry to the car. We also saw a sea turtle in their lagoon.

Then we took the red eye home. Yikes. Arthur slept on the airplane floor for three hours. Everyone but Sienna crashed when we got home. It's bedtime and we're all exhausted! Hopefully we can reset after tonight. What a fun trip. John always plans the most fun things. The kids had trouble picking a favorite thing. I liked the Rainbow Falls and kayaking the best probably. But everything we did was great! Actually, maybe my favorite was John not working. Hurray for actual vacation!

I arrive at the pool. I let in one kid who's been dropped off, and a parent dropping off two more. (Stupid pool keys were added this year). One kid is already waiting inside without parent. I sunscreen my kids and an extra. Maggie gets dropped off by the piano teacher (also in the ward), and brings in a swimsuit for a kid who's not here yet. Other kid gets dropped off. Another parent arrives with two more kids. Mom who dropped off two comes back with baby, and an extra swim diaper for me. Snacks are shared. Toys are shared. Everyone has fun.

We went to dinner at Tender Greens and the kids ran around on the fake grass after. Sienna went to go see her "friend ocean", the fountain. Dalton and I were taking selfies and silly videos when Maggie calls me over because Arthur has fallen into the fountain. It sort of seems like that was inevitable. He was drenched - I wrung water out of his sneakers! And a spectator kindly gave us a dry diaper to put on him.

Meanwhile, Dalton has continued to take videos on my phone, so we managed to capture the moment.

I had a dream that Skyler and I were playing outside and we saw one of those bunnies that bites and pees poisonous wolfblood.

What?!

He didn't say "wolfblood", it was some made up word. But we couldn't remember exactly in the daylight.

I told him that rabbits don't bite and took him back to bed. "But what about other animals that pee poisonous wolfblood?"

There's no such thing! Animals pee pee. There's no poisonous animals around here anyway. Etc.

By this point, he's woken up Arthur who was then awake for an hour and a half.

I texted John when Dalton won his 25 Fly heat at his swim meet later that morning. He responded: Way to go! Must be the poison wolf pee.

Update: Some time later, Dalton told me it was like "the place we were going to stay with the water slides." Great Wolf Lodge. He was saying "wolfslodge".

So we went to Wheeler Farm in the morning. We met some of my cousins (and doggies) there and had fun on the playground and checking out the animals.

In the afternoon we went to the Murray Rec Center pool to enjoy the water slide. Arthur was obsessed. "More slide!" He wore me and John out.

People who go on girls weekends (like all the time).
Free Disney stuff.
People who seem to have unlimited amounts of money to spend of stuff I wouldn't spend money on even if I had money to spend on it.
People who travel incessantly.
People who do cool stuff. But in excess. Because doing cool stuff is fun. I just wish I could do it all the time.

Just give me all the money for Disney and travel and we'll be good.

Sigh. Funny, though. The things that get under our skin.

When I approached the return counter, several young men employees were joking about a TV show. This turned into a conversation about Kids These Days and screens and the cashier made a comment about something he had learned in his child development class. It struck me that I wouldn't have expected him to be taking child development; I wouldn't have thought of him being in school at all. I would have only thought of him as a Target employee, but he is a person as well.

Sienna: That would be an honor!

I am fascinated by the invisible mental burden of moms (as homemakers). I've spent hours over the past few weeks coordinating, organizing, cooking, planning, shopping, and preparing to leave my kids. John is more than capable, and they'll be watched by my neighbor, with whom they're probably overly familiar. But I still had to pass on the details of our life, and John still has his day job.

I made a list for my neighbor of when she'll have the kids and a few little things she'll be helping with. Then I made John a detailed schedule of the week, and an even more detailed schedule of things that needed to happen every day.

John: "Drive to gym?" Am I just supposed to know what time?
Me: That's Tressa's. If it was on your list, I would have put the exact time you need to leave and what car seats to take and address and phone number and coaches names...
John: And emergency contacts!

Tressa and I have a bit of a shared mental burden... which makes it easier on both of us!

After school she was throwing around words like "pollination" and "harvest" and telling me how the white part of the apple she was eating is called the flesh.

I am loving her TK class and the emphases on playing and learning through play and real life, rather than worksheets.

We've been playing lots of games together. My Little Pony memory and Sophia the First Spot It, etc. I get to witness her learning through play first hand, and it's marvelous.

We did some organizing and decluttering. I hemmed some curtains. We returned baby gifts and walked back from the mall via the Olympic Park. We wandered in the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park near the flat. We went for a touristy walk up the Victoria Embankment, across Westminster Bridge, back down the south bank, stopping for Greek street food and the view from Tate Modern, and walking back across to St. Paul's. And we walked down the canal to the river and back in the rain. Theo slept a lot while we walked, so we walked a lot.

Rachel and Brett are good parents, and Theo is a good baby. It was a pleasure to hang out on their home, cooking, playing games, and lots of laughing.

I was pretty glad to get back to my own babies, even though they're much more difficult. I'm sure John was glad to have me back, too. It was an exhausting week for him.

Sienna’s school had a fundraiser at McDonald’s so we went to pick up food. They wrote down her name and class, so opedully she’ll get some credit for going. The principal and teachers were there bringing out trays of food. It was pretty fun.

In between all that, I made a Rapunzel dress for Sienna’s second Halloween costume.

A year and several dozen flash pictures later, I took Arthur back to the eye doctor. He has intermittent exotropia, a kind of strabismus. She noticed it right away, flipped through two of the pictures, and began talking options. She ended up prescribing glasses for his minor near sightedness, and we are hoping that makes it easier for him to control his eye, and we can avoid surgery.

So now Arthur wears glasses like mom and dad. He adjusted to them surprisingly well. I say, as he takes them off and throws them at me.

I have a little sister Sienna, baby Arthur is super cute, mom and dad are super nice, big Sister Maggie plays with me a lot.

Favorite scripture story: The one when they lower the man through the roof because it was so crowded. Because it’s funny they went through the roof.

Favorite song: Gethsemane

His unique talent is swimming.

Special qualities that prepared him for baptism are that he’s kind and forgives right away.

He also got himself his own bowl of ice cream for dessert. Arthur got out a spoon, climbed up on the chair behind him and started poking his spoon in. His giant plastic serving spoon. Also, Arthur didn’t actually want any ice cream because he doesn’t eat food.

However, I only let him have one squeezey this afternoon and he eventually ate a yogurt tube, and then had four chicken nuggets and tasted a tater tot at dinner time. Unbelievable.

Also, unbelievably hot. We get random hot days in October from the Santa Ana winds every year, but this year was ridiculous. Car said 109° today. Melting.

“Who’s outside at this time of day? They’re either at work or at some fancy restaurant.“

I taught a Sunday school lesson on family history today. I read the New Era story my mom wrote about her dad’s contact lenses. And I took the actual contact lenses to show everyone. We talked about different ways we can do family history and temple work just a bit in our lives to get the Spirit of Elijah.

After church John made pulled pork sandwiches and roasted veggies. We went for a walk. Made Arthur stay up until nearly 7. He was losing it, but I think he was really hungry because he didn’t eat dinner. I’ve been giving him fewer squeezes and offering him more real food, but I think he’s just eating less. Maybe drinking more milk. I guess I’m saving money. :/

A: Buckling a toddler who thinks he is being tickled.

Envelope for a card I tried to mail. I had to get a new one.
Garbage pick up bill for our house in Utah.
Halloween card from grandma and grandpa.
Thank you card from a birthday party she went to. This is her “computer” (laptop).
Cardboard boxes. She begs to keep every one that enters our house.

Lady: I’m on a whirlwind ski tour.
John: Skiing in Hong Kong?
Lady: Oh it’s an expression. I’m spending my kids’ inheritance.
John: Oh so am I!

Dalton also had an impressive list, which Santa mostly ignored and bought him CPK gift cards, which he loved.

Sienna asked for a Hatchimal and a (real, pet) horse. Santa came through with the hatchimal - a big one that talks and walks, which is what she really wanted.

Arthur only had a vague idea of what was going on, but was very pleased with a Green Toys dump truck, and has been giving the new Beanie Boos rides around in it.

Most of the gifts from mom and dad were things like clothes and sticker books. The kids also bought each other thoughtful gifts. They picked out Beanie Boos for each other, Sienna wanted to get Maggie and Dalton LEGO Ninjago mystery mini figures, etc.

I am ridiculously pleased at the lack of “stuff” we ended up with.

We also had really minimal stockings this year - mostly candy. I think we didn’t put a lot of effort into it because Leonard wasn’t with us. But no one complained about candy!