Kylee's Bday/Gotcha Day Party

Well, I think I went overboard celebrating Kylee's birthday this year. We were planning on having a party for her a few different times, but going back & forth to the U.S. made that a little bit difficult. Even though Kylee's birthday was 5 weeks ago, I figured that her "Gotcha Day" was the perfect excuse for us to throw her a late birthday party! When Kylee turned 1, we just had a little family party, so this was her first big birthday party. It was a blast! Some of our guests stayed for over 4 hours, which I think means that everyone had fun. :)

We had a brunch with Costco muffins, yogurt & granola, bananas, watermelon and juice. We set up to have most of the party inside, but everyone ended up staying on the front porch the entire time, which worked out great. There was less clean-up for me, and the weather was PERFECT, plus the kids enjoyed playing in the back of the truck. (That's usually where the kids congregate when we get together with friends anyway.)

We bought this adorable Minnie Mouse pinata for the party...
(I love that the pinata is bigger than Kylee! They sure do know how to make them here in Mexico!)

Giving Minnie a kiss...

Kylee, Riley, Eva & Dylan with Minnie...

Kylee was pretty timid when it came time for her to hit the pinata...

The last kid to hit the pinata, broke it, which turned out perfectly! I bagged the candy beforehand so each child had their own bag of candy & everyone got the same amount. (I got that idea from our Hiatt Christmas Party & I think it is genius.) We splurged & had some American candy in the pinata: Ring Pops, Lifesavers & Jolly Ranchers. We threw some Pelatons (chocolate marshmallow suckers) & Nucita (neopolitan frosting) in there so that Mexico was represented too! 

The kids loved the candy... :)

We sang "Happy Birthday" to Kylee & ate chocolate cake...

Kylee loved having all of her friends in one place, celebrating her! I wish I would have gotten more pictures of our guests, but here is Kylee with one of the twins who lives a few houses down from us. (I get the two mixed up, so I don't know which one this is!) Anyway, she & her two sisters teach me Spanish & are SO good with Kylee...

Montse made this apron & chef's hat for Kylee's birthday. Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen?! Kylee LOVES it!!!

I think this shows how much Kylee enjoyed her party...what a mess!

I meant to learn the "Pinata Song" & teach it to Kylee before her party, but I forgot. Next year, we will know it for sure! I asked the Mexicans at the party to sing it & they did a great job. Seriously, I love the fun Mexican traditions here!

In case you are curious to know what the "Pinata Song" is, I won't leave you hanging. Everyone sings these words to each child while they take their turn hitting the pinata:

"Dale, dale, dale. 

No pierdas el tino.

Porque si lo pierdes.

Pierdes el camino.

Ya le diste una.

Ya le diste dos.

Ya le diste tres.

Y tu tiempo se acabo."

And the English translation:

"Hit it, hit it, hit it.

Don't lose your aim.

Because if you lose it.

You lose the way.

You hit it once.

You hit it twice.

You hit it three times.

And your time is up."

Our neighbors also sang a really cool "Happy Birthday" song to Kylee in Spanish when we brought out her cake. I'll have to ask them for the words to it!

We had such a great time celebrating Kylee with our friends here! I've decided not to feel uncomfortable or embarrassed anymore trying to speak Spanish here, and it is paying off. I am making new friends & learning new words on a regular basis. Kylee is too! In fact, tonight she wanted another blanket & said, "Una mas!" It was hilarious. I am so thankful that we have this opportunity to learn another language & to become close to people who have totally different backgrounds than we do. We are so lucky to live here!!!

Trompo Magico

On Wednesday for our Wives Club activity, we met at a children's museum called Trompo Magico. (It means "Magic Top".) I had heard amazing things about this place, and it still totally exceeded my expectations. All of the kids were in heaven there! They could make as big of a mess as they wanted to, while we moms got to visit. It was nice for Kylee to have so many hands-on things to do & it made me realize how much better I need to be at providing things for her on a day-to-day basis that stimulate & teach her. 

They had so many cute little stations, including a restaurant, grocery store, play area, bubbles, fishing w/ magnets, computers, tools, doctor's office, reading, music, radio, television, dance...not to mention a whole science area that we didn't even visit. One of the best parts is that Kylee got in for free & I only had to pay 20 pesos (less than $2). We stayed there for 3 hours & could have stayed for at least 2 more. You can't beat that!

During our visit, Kylee took my order & cooked a meal for me in the kitchen...

Then she took a look at the menu...

And ordered some food...

Enjoying her hot dog...

She loved being inside this huge bubble with me!

And trying to blow her own bubbles....

She took care of a baby in the doctor's office with Riley & Kirtlyn...

Then sat down to read books with Mom...

And ended the trip on the playground outside while we ate lunch...

We are planning on going here again in a week. I'm sure you will see many more posts from Trompo Magico during our time here in Mexico!!!

Another Random Post

I seem to have a lot of posts titled "random" lately. That kind of describes life though...full of random day-to-day things.

The Powell family watched Daisy for us while Lincoln was in AZ for the funeral...

Daisy & Hallux are becoming better friends. The fact that Daisy lets Hallux lay on the same blanket as her now is a huge step forward. They play together at the park, and are getting to be protective of each other. It's nice because Hallux wants to do everything that Daisy does, and she is a really well-behaved dog...so I think training him won't be quite as much work as it was with Daisy & Duke as puppies.

We had a girls night at Applebee's last weekend. It helps so much to have close friends here!

(Me, Verenice, Montse, Vanessa, Yari, Michelle, Amy)

We've been working on repainting an entertainment center that we bought from our neighbors. I forgot how long it takes to get a project done when you have kids! Kylee loves to be right in the middle of it all...

My friend Dani is taking a photography class & took this picture of Kylee...

Life here is busy with studying, friends, developing talents, & striving to become closer as a family every day. We sure are blessed to live the life we do!

Nothing Like It

There's nothing like old friends! Heather & I have known each other since we were 13, & for some reason when we get together we seem to revert back to that age. :) Heather moved to Utah while Kylee & I were in AZ last month, so we had to make sure that we saw each other one last time before she moved! I'm guessing this move won't affect our relationship a ton, since I live in Mexico anyway, but I'm still going to miss her. :)

Kylee liked the swings at Heather's parents' house...

Here I am acting like I'm 13 again...

And a few normal pictures...

I love you Heather!

Kylee's "Gotcha Day"

While reading an adoption book, I came across the idea to celebrate the day when you "got" your adopted child & call it their "Gotcha Day". So September 1st is Kylee's "Gotcha Day". Two years ago today we brought Kylee to our home. The original plan was to babysit her for a few hours that day, so that we could spend some time with her before she was in our home full-time...but we ended up having her with us from then on! The way she came to be a part of our family is truly miraculous. This was such a special time in our lives. I am thankful that Heavenly Father has a much better plan for my life than anything that I could ever think of!

Taking a little look back at September/October 2009:

Kylee already had her Daddy wrapped around her finger...

We were trying to adjust to our new sleep schedule, or lack thereof...

We were showered with SO many amazing gifts & money to help with Kylee's adoption...

(Just another testament that we have the strongest support system ever!)

We started a mountain of paperwork & got temporary custody of Kylee...

Our family grew...

I felt like a mom again...

We couldn't stop staring at this adorable girl & wondering how we ever deserved her...

She was definitely WORTH THE WAIT!!!

We started a tradition last year to go out to dinner on Kylee's "Gotcha Day" every year. Tonight we went to a pizza place called Broken Cheese. We'd never tried it, but this place is owned by the sons of our friend who owns our favorite restaurant here (Chez Nene), so we thought we'd try it out. It was good and cheap, which was a plus! After dinner, we realized that we were close to our favorite crepe stand, so we went there for dessert. 

Family picture...

(The crepe guy remembered what I usually order. I'm not sure that is a good sign. :) )

 Kylee loved the ice cream, but loved spending time with her dad even more...

 The Powell's joined us, which made our celebration even more fun. Kylee loved having Elijah there...

 And Eva too...

Thank you for being a part of our family Kylee! WE LOVE YOU!!!

More Randoms

Here are a few random pictures that I've taken since being back in Mexico:
Kylee likes to do her own hair...

And pick out her own outfits...
(When we are going out in public, I usually only let her pick out part of her outfit.)

And apparently she likes trying my clothes on too.

Just a warning: You may think that I'm a really bad mom after reading this! This is what happens to Kylee when Mommy takes cold medicine...

I have no idea what the deal is with me taking medicine & having crazy side effects. I took some OTC cold medicine (although we are in Mexico, so maybe this shouldn't have been over-the-counter!) and was SO loopy. I realized that Kylee had made a huge mess, which included coloring on herself with markers & painting her own nails! The sad part is that when I saw it, I just sat Kylee on my lap & watched tv with her until Linc came home and cleaned everything up. I also vaguely remember sitting against the wall in my pj's staring at Lincoln & his friend while they were studying. So weird & embarrassing. I definitely won't be taking it ever again! :)

And here's a cute picture of Kirtlyn, Thomas & Hyrum with Hallux...

A few other random things:

Kylee is now putting herself in time-out. She makes sure to tell me why she is punishing herself. This may sound like a dream come true for a mom, but I'm convinced that Kylee just wants time-out to be her idea instead of mine. I was totally like that as a kid, so I guess it's payback time for me!

I am taking piano lessons from my friend Kim. I've had 3 lessons now. I'm surprised how much I don't know about music, even though I was in choir all through junior high & high school. I spend a lot of time practicing, but the results will hopefully be well worth it!

Lincoln's mom bought me a sewing machine for my birthday! She also gave me lots of sewing supplies. I've yet to use it, but I'm gathering a project portfolio, so hopefully I'll have some projects to show off soon!

That's it for now!