We spent the next 7 days at my parents' house in Mesa. Many nights, I dealt with the stress of being a "single mom" by watching shows on my dad's iPad once Kylee fell asleep at night...
Kylee & Nixen loved sitting in front of the fire at night...
(I love their big diaper bums! :) )
Kylee loved these little carolers on my parents' porch. She sang songs with them & would yell "Bye girls!" when we left the house...
On Sunday, we went to church with my family & Kylee wore her new Christmas dress that Grandma Hiatt gave her. She looked adorable! Kylee learned that having a lobby to sit in when she is naughty in sacrament meeting is kind of fun. (We don't have a lobby or mothers' lounge in our church building in Mexico.) This led to Kylee screaming just to go out as soon as she saw her cousin Nixen get taken out. Hmm, I always complain to myself about not having a lobby in Mexico, but I learned that it's probably a good thing!
Kylee attended nursery in my parents' ward, where she hit the nursery leader repeatedly in the face as I was leaving. Such a proud mommy moment! I attended Young Women's for the first time since I was a Young Woman. It definitely took me back in time, seeing my mom as the Young Women's President, like she was when I was in YW, and having my sister Melissa in there with me, this time as an advisor instead of a youth. How has it been 10 years since then?! Melissa gave a great lesson to the Mia Maids on budgeting. Leave it to my sister to give a totally spiritual lesson on the subject. I cried, of course.
Kylee & I also headed to Barnes & Noble three times while we were in Mesa. It was raining the last time we went, so Kylee brought an umbrella along...
Kylee LOVES to read & will beg me to read to her pretty much the whole time that we are at Barnes & Noble. There's a book that we found there called "No, No, Yes, Yes" in which Kylee learned some manners. When she is doing something that is a "no no" in the book, I remind her of what we read, & the "yes yes" that she should do in place of it. It totally works. That's the good thing about having a bookworm. If she won't listen to me, she will listen if I show it to her in a book. I'm kind of the same way.
The only thing that takes Kylee's attention away from the books at Barnes & Noble is their Lego center...
On Tuesday, Kylee went to preschool at my Aunt Tricia's house! Kylee had never been to school before, but is always pretending to go to school just like Daddy. Going to a "real school" was her dream come true! I even found a Dora backpack at Dillard's for her for $3. (Another thing I miss about the United States...being able to find great deals!) I love how proud-of-herself Kylee looks in this picture...
Kylee really enjoyed preschool, but only as long as I stayed in the same room as her. :) I think her favorite parts of preschool were talking about the weather & dressing the classroom frog in his raincoat, gluing cotton balls on a Santa mask & coloring a worksheet that taught her about shapes. Thanks for letting Kylee come to class, Tricia & Lindsey!!!
I knew Linc was coming to AZ on Tuesday, & he is always asking me to dye my hair darker, so on Monday night, I let Megan dye my hair dark. I haven't dyed my hair in 8 years, and never out of a box. I actually really like how it turned out, although most people haven't been able to even tell that I dyed it. Meg dyed hers the same color, so now we are twins...
Before Lincoln arrived on Tuesday, I took Kylee to Paradise Bakery for a little mommy-daughter lunch date. It was fun! We talked & laughed & enjoyed our yummy food. Kylee especially liked her fire roasted tomato soup & chocolate chip cookie...
Lincoln ended up getting stuck at the border for a few hours while I was running around to different MVD's trying to get a suspension lifted from our vehicle. Apparently we hadn't filled out a document that we should have filled out when we left the U.S. in January, and it wasn't a problem this past summer because our tags hadn't expired yet...but it quickly became a problem this time. Blah, blah, blah. After talking to a lady at the MVD for 10 minutes and not getting anywhere with her, I mentioned "You know that I'm saying that we've lived in MEXICO for the past year, not NEW MEXICO...right?" Apparently I should have clarified earlier, because 2 minutes later I was out of there with everything that I needed. Seriously?!
Needless to say, Kylee & I were SO excited to see Lincoln that night, after 3 1/2 weeks of being apart!
My favorite part was when I pulled into my parents' driveway in my Mom's car, just as Linc was pulling up in the truck for the first time. It was raining outside & I imagined both of us jumping out of our cars, running into each other arms & giving each other a big kiss. Instead, I ran up to the truck, Linc rolled down his window and handed the dogs to me. Oh well. :)
Back together again!
On Wednesday night, we met Kylee's birth father's family at Olive Garden. We enjoyed a good meal & had fun catching up with everyone. Visits with Kylee's birth family are always a little bit hard, but at this point we feel like it is a positive thing overall for everyone involved. Kylee enjoyed all of the attention & got so spoiled with some really fun Christmas gifts from them. After dinner, we went to Fiesta Mall, where Kylee had fun riding the little quarter rides there...
(That is Kylee's birth father's dad in the background, along with one of her birth cousins.)
It's been quite awhile since Kylee has seen these kids (more birth cousins) & she had a lot of fun with them...
Not pictured:
Girls Night Out with Jana Miller at Cheesecake Factory (peppermint cheesecake & adult conversation!)
Visit with Kylee's birth mother & birth grandmother at Sugar Bowl & Scottsdale Mall
Lunch with Lindy at Crackers (a tradition!)
Kylee's ENT appointment (she is getting tubes on December 29th. If I end up needing a tonsillectomy, I'll get it done in Mexico during Spring Break)
Late-night appetizers at Applebee's & a Walmart run with Steve & Erica
(Linc hadn't seen them in almost 2 years! Of course, it felt like we'd seen them a week ago. Friends like that are the BEST!)
The next day, Lincoln & I packed up our stuff & headed to Snowflake.
