Isn't she the most beautiful Grandma in the world??

My new toy and the AWEsome results of our test run last night.

An entire bag of Maseca (tortilla mix) on my (incredibly hard to clean because of its very deep shag) rug.

Oops, forgot to rotate that last one before I uploaded. Grandma brought them Silly-string (what a NICE, and so-totally-NOT-concerned-about-the-mess Grandma :))


He HAMS it up for the camera. He struck this post when I aimed the lens at him. LOL!

You can see his super-glued eye wound from the softball field a few weeks back.

<3

Mom's visit

I dropped Kyle off at the airport and waited around for another hour and a half for my mom to arrive. (Well, technically she arrived on the same plane Kyle was leaving on, but I still had to wait around that long.) She looked beautiful, of course and I was so thrilled and relieved that she made the trip uneventfully.

I was late to pick up the kids, so Shelley had them with her at Soccer Practice. They were both SO excited to see Grandma. The first thing out of Addie's mouth was, "Mommy, her hair changed!" The last time we saw my mom, she had light brown hair. This time it was as dark as mine and cut shorter. (Very cute!) I told my mom that we definitely look related now. The funny part is that neither of us has our natural color hair.

We went home from there and changed the kids clothes and unpacked my mom. Then we went to dinner at Taco Peton. The timing was perfect. We enjoyed our food in the empty restaurant, and then headed home to put them to bed. She and I stayed up until after 1:00 a.m. :o I don't know how it got so late. We were pretty tired the next day.

We woke before the sun on Friday so we could get the kids ready for school. We dropped them off at 8:30, and tried to kill a little time before Tianguis opened. It was the first time I've ever had a willing partner to explore the whole thing. We spent a few hours walking up and down every aisle. I bought a few different necklaces and earrings and even a shirt for myself. We stopped in the fruit and vegetable section after and picked up a ton of fresh produce for our recipe we planned on making.

Friday after school we took the kids to the museum, but didn't last very long because of Sullivan being so tired. We put him to bed when we got home and then treated ourselves to a VIP movie.

Saturday we slept in a little and then got to work on our Salsa Verde and Stacked Enchiladas. We cooked on and off all morning so we could be ready to feed the missionaries at 2:00. We were just finishing it all up when I got a phone call saying they couldn't make it. (One of them had food poisoning from the day before.) I packed a single serving and took it to the non-puking missionary.

After we ate our DELICIOUS lunch we took a NICE nap. Of course, the kids didn't eat anything we made. Apparently salsa verde isn't appetizing to vegephobics. To make it up to them we took them to McD's around 6:30 and let them play until bedtime. Mom and I watched TV and did all my laundry and then hit the hay.

Sunday we lounged for a while in the morning, then got everything packed and ready to take mom to the airport.

We checked her in and ate some lunch. Soon enough, we said goodbye to her and then proceeded to walk up and down the airport for the next 2 hours waiting for Kyle to come out of the international wing. I won't lie - it pretty much sucked.

Kyle brought me a jogging stroller. Guthrie saw it and asked him if daddies were always supposed to bring mommies presents when they go away and come back.. That made me chuckle (and the answer is, of course, YES!)

Exhale

Its done. He took Step 1 of the USMLE board exam yesterday. I couldn't tell from his reaction after the test how he thinks he did. He said, on the one hand, there were plenty of questions that were nearly identical to his practice questions from the banks, but on the other hand, there were several regarding topics that he'd never even heard of. He said he could fail or do well and wouldn't be surprised either way.

All I know is that for the next 3 weeks, I have my husband back.

MWAHAHAHHA (evil laugh.) I have a list for him.

Kidversation of the week!

The background:

I arrived at the school at 2 p.m. Adeline, Sullivan, and I walked to get a juice box while Guthrie started soccer practice. The younger kids and I drank our juice peacefully while we watched my boy thwart each and every attempt at a goal. He's a hero - but he's not making any friends with his skills. (I know, I need pictures. Definitely next Monday!)

We left practice and headed for Costco; and so commenced the fighting.

I wish I could tell you what it was all about, but really I tuned most of it out. I heard a lot of high-pitched squeals, some nah-nah nah-nah nah's, and maybe a well-executed raspberry being blown- actual words?? I'm sure I heard none.

When I came out of my fog I realized that Guthrie had found a rock under his seat and the fight was centered around whether or not Adeline would be allowed to touch said rock. When the yelling turned into hitting I did the only logical thing; I removed the rock from the unqualified operators and let them know that they could have it back when I heard inside-voiced words talking it out. It quickly became apparent that my methods were flawed. I finally resorted to threats.

Me: "That's ENOUGH! As a matter of fact, at the next red light I will be throwing this rock out the window."

G: "FINE!"

A: "NOOOOOOOO!" (You have to hear this as the desperate and pain-filled wail of sorrow that it truly was."

Me: "Oh yes, I WILL be throwing it out. You two are acting rediculous!"

A: "Mom, PLEASE don't throw it out. His name is Rocky and . . . and . . . I LOVE HIM!"

The rest of her "please"s' and "NO!"s' were drowned out by my laughing. You see, just this morning I watched the movie "Selena" and the picture of Jennifer Lopez pleading with her movie-dad to let her and her love be together was just too near the surface.

Adeline, you officially have my nomination for the Oscar.

In the end I used my biblical expertise to award Adeline custody of the rock. You see, Guthrie was perfectly happy to let the rock live a lonely existence in the gutters of Guadalajara - as long as his sister didn't get it. Am I the only one seeing the King Solomon resemblance in this story?

On another note - I have 14 hours until I host our lunch group with 15 Adults and 19 Children. I'm thinking I better quit blogging and start cleaning and cooking.

Uniforms, Shmooniforms.

I was *very* excited to do away with the ol' school clothes and adopt the uniform way of life this year. Most of my kids new clothes quickly become "play clothes" afterall, and by the middle of the year I'm scrambling to put together outfits without holes in the knees or fingerpaint stains on the front.

I've tried to adopt a precise routine for dealing with the uniforms. They have exactly enough shirts to get through a week. This includes 3 polo shirts, and 2 P.E. shirts each. They each own 1 dressy-day bottom (skirt for Addie, pants for Guthrie) and 2 P.E. day bottoms (shorts for warm days, track pants for cool days), in addition to their windbreaker jackets for cool P.E. days and their sweaters for cool dressy-days.

Simple enough, right? What I can't figure out is why the sock-monster has suddenly decided to devour these essential pieces of clothing???

Seriously, there's nowhere left to hide, yet I STILL can't find some shirts.

ARRGH!

Other than annoyingly absent scraps of embroidered cloth, things have been going well. Kyle's still buried in the books. I just know we're going to be blessed for this sacrifice, so I'm grinning and bearing it - but since its my blog I can admit that I'm going nuts, right?

Its only for another week. Kyle took the week off of school so he could spend the last few days making the most of his time. He flies out on Thursday afternoon and when he gets home on Sunday I should have him back for a while. We won't know his score on the exam for about 3 weeks - so that's 3 weeks, at least, that he won't be studying. WOOHOO! (well, at least not studying non-stop. He'll still have his rotation material to keep up with.)

Once this is over with, it seems like the holidays will come quickly. We'll only have a couple of weeks until Kyle's sister and her family come to visit for a week; then Halloween; then Thanksgiving; and a week later Kyle will be done w/ the semester. We can't wait to spend his break watching movies, traveling, sleeping, and drinking hot chocolate. The kids will still be in school for the first week of his vacation, so that should give us some quality time to Christmas shop and get the house all festive.

While Kyle's sister is here, we'll be going to Puerto Vallarta for 4 days. Its partly for them, and partly for us. A little celebration to congratulate ourselves on not cracking during all of this stress. HALLELUJAH!

Watch your rear.

Are traffic laws a blessing or a curse???

How do *you* react when you see a cop in your rearview mirror? I know (in the U.S.) my heart would start to pound, and I would wonder, "Did I really come to a complete stop at the deserted intersection back there?" I'm a blinker-user, a speed-limit heeder, and a valiant seatbelt-wearer; yet, I still feel nauseated at the site of the black and white car.

The first time my mom came to visit me in Mexico, she wondered aloud if we're really as "free" as we think we are in America. We're such rule-followers - sometimes to a fault.

Its such a stark contrast to the Mexican way of the road. I have a pretty long drive to take the kids to school every morning and I get to pass through all sorts of interesting intersections. Each and every one of them has some quirk to familiarize oneself with. I'll admit that the oversized glorietas (big, one-way circles at the intersection of 2 or more major streets.) were pretty intimidating the first few times I drove them - but now each and every time I enter one, I can't help but picture a dance. Its amazing the way these cars move in and out of the painted lines, as though they're reading the minds of the drivers to the sides of them. Enter this lane to continue through the glorieta, this other lane to make your immediate right, the lane to the left to make the following right - and make sure you move smoothly from one lane to the next as you pass the intersections you don't need and approach the turn you're aiming for. Seriously, its pretty cool; but VERY disorganized.

I can see why we don't have many glorietas in the U.S. (at least not in the west.) - it would be almost impossible to write clear, enforceable laws for their use. And we can't have a lawless intersection, can we??? Even if no one ever crashes (which they seriously don't - its amazing!) But I guess that's the point, isn't it?

I'll admit I see a lot more fender-bender crashes here in Mexico than I ever did in the U.S. But, in the entire 2+ years we've lived here, I've NEVER seen a serious car accident. I've never seen a body laying on the pavement draped in a sheet. I've NEVER seen a car so damaged that you KNOW the person sitting in that seat didn't make it out alive. I saw these things on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis in Arizona.

Admittedly though, the U.S. roadways are generally well-planned, finely-constructed systems. The type of driving that we're getting used to here would never be necessary there. Likewise, it takes us Americans a LONG time to adjust our driving habits to the roadways here. We start out trying to follow the rules that are so engrained in us - and after a few weeks of having to make giant circles around the city, we realize that the only way to get into that left lane to make the turn we really want is to cut someone off. And instead of a honk, the birdy finger, and those flashing red and blue lights - we get cut off too, and chuckle about it as we make that oh-so-important left hand turn.

So, somewhere in all of this there is a lesson. I have no clue what that is - but it probably has something to do with more than one way to skin a cat. And cat does *not* taste good on tacos.

Viva la Mexico!

This picture is a little like our glorietas; only always full of cars w/ traffic lights at each point where the roads intersect and traffic lights at 4-6 different points in the actual circle.

I'm safe, but he's been hit!

We were patting ourselves on the back this morning for our 8th week of timely church attendance in a row. We reminisced about sleepy mornings gone by and wondered at our newfound ability to be, not only AT church, but at church on time. Needless to say our grownup abilities did not go un-noticed. We had no sooner walked into the building, when the stake president popped over to invite us to speak with him after the meeting. We were sweating up a storm during the introduction of sacrament meeting. (Our ward has been looking for a new bishop for a couple of months.) It was only AFTER they called Hermano Melendez to be the Obispo that we could breathe freely. The rest of the meeting was spent wondering what they could possibly be fingering Kyle (us?) for.

Halfway through the meeting I took Sullivan out and walked him around in the Mei Tai to put him to sleep. I was able to keep him sleeping all through the rest of sacrament meeting, while I walked the kids to class, while we were meeting with the stake president, and right on through until the beginning of Relief Society. Kyle received a calling (how do I keep squeaking by??? :) ) He's the new High Priest group leader, which totally cracks me up. He's got to be the youngest one in there, but no one seems to care. He's already got Jimmy (our single, LDS, fellow medical student, neighbor) pinned for a counselor.

Kyle isn't too worried about the calling. I'm just hoping its less time-consuming than being on the high counsel was, although after this board exam he should have more time anyway - so maybe I'll stop being so selfish about it.

Speaking of board exams - Kyle flies out next Thursday (the 20th) and my mom will fly in at the exact same time, so I can pick her up while I'm dropping him off. I'm actually SOOOO glad she's coming. I was determined that I would be fine for 3 days alone, but knowing she'll be here does help me breathe easier. I know I would be fine during the days while I was busy, but I'll go CRAZY at night - especially with all the nerves I'll be warding off over the exam for Kyle. She'll stay until Sunday, and I'll drop her off at the same time I'm picking Kyle up. (Thank you US Airways for arranging that beautifully for me.) So, now to come up with my list of fun for her to bring with her. I'm sure she dreads visiting me because I always have a grocery-list of items I'm craving or needing or wanting or missing.

I'm pretty comfortable in Mexico, but there will forever be a few things that I just can't do without. (Those giant bags of chocolate chips you get at Costco, Mr. Clean magic erasers, anything that I buy online and want shipped.)

Speaking of things I want shipped (do you have your ticket for this train of thought?): I've been jogging our circle (about 2.5 miles) 3 times a week, and the hole in my life that is currently a LACK of jogging stroller is driving me crazy. So then, of course, I start to look online with the intention of finding a cheap one, which leads to me reading reviews, which leads to me wanting BETTER than a cheap one, which leads me to wanting the BEST one. . .which is where I'm currently stuck. Wanting the best one, and having it sitting in my shopping cart online, but finding myself unable to $$$click$$$PURCHASE$$$.

And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of my life. MWAHAHAHA. Ask my sister and mom. When I go shopping (Target, the mall, the grocery store, etc.) I initally fill my arms with everything I want, giving no regard to price or reason - and then as I peruse the store I gradually discard each and every item in my arms until I'm at the checkout with nothing more than tic tacs and baby wipes. *sigh* I bet strollers really slow a runner down :p

Somewhere over the raibow. . .

Every now and then I'll have a day that is so perfect, so comfortable, so full of the perfect mix of relaxation and fun that I'll completely forget I'm in Mexico.

Yesterday was one of those fabulous days. I dropped the kids off at school, and then picked up a few friends and their kids (thank you 8-passenger Expedition) for a trip to the tianguis market. Normally we just grab produce and run, but today we shopped around. I tried on a pair of knock-off 7-for-all-mankind jeans (super cute, but too short :p ), browed the jewelery stands, ate the yummiest food, and bought Sullivan an AWESOME little army-fatigue outfit. It was like being in a really dirty, stinky, American mall. LOVE THAT!

I dropped our friends all at their respective houses before picking the kids up from school. We changed into playclothes and went to our modern, exciting, clean, interactive kids' museum with another group of friends. After an hour or two we headed back home where the cleaning girl was finishing up the house. (Did I mention it was a WONDERFUL day?) She brought her younger brother, who turned out to be the perfect friend. He played great with Guthrie AND Adeline for hours on end. Guthrie kept looking at him with this huge smile and saying, "Vamos a ser amigos!" (We're going to be friends!)

I took a long, slow, hot shower and then took my time blow-drying my hair and applying makeup. I got to wear one of the few outfits in my closet that would be inappropriately dressy for crayons and diaper changes.

When I was ready for the evening, I rocked Sullivan and put him to sleep - then kissed the kids goodbye and headed out for our date. We picked up Jimmy, Cuper, Michael, Stacey, and Cindy and headed out to La Vaca Argentina. Our evening was filled with humerous conversation, the best steak I've ever tasted (seriously - EVER!), and a round of "Happy Birthday" for Jimmy. We stayed at our table for over 3 hours just enjoying the company.

We walked out of this fabulous restaurant onto the quaint, quiet street to breathe the beautiful night air - and I couldn't help but forget that I was in a "foreign" place. It felt so right, and so "home!"

The valet pulled our car around, and we all climbed in with our full stomachs and happy hearts. As Kyle pulled into the street to drive home, I glanced in the rearview mirror to check for traffic and received my harsh tug back into reality. The rearview mirrors that USED to guide us safely on our way - were now nothing more than a shell that used to house them and the wires that used to position them.

WELCOME (back) to Mexico, Hanna! We hope you enjoyed your vacation.

LOL!

Yes, they'll be fixed by the valet. Yes, I used some swear words. Yes, this happens all the time. No, I don't know how we got through 2 years without it happening before now. Yes, it could have been worse.

So, now that I'm safely grounded again, I'll get back to my normal life.

Another sad note: We went to Kyle's softball game today and halfway through Sullivan fell off the bottom step of the bleachers (the only step I was letting him stand on, much to his dismay) and hit his browbone in just such a way as to split it wide open. :( The poor baby cried so hard and was bleeding profusely. I took one look and knew he needed stitches.

We got so lucky because a woman ran to help us and said that her friend had some Dermabond glue and lived really close. Kyle left the game, and we all piled into her van for the ride. Everyone was so great and within 20 minutes of the accident we had it cleaned, disinfected, and glued back together. When it was all done the friend gave Sullivan a sucker and the little guy completely forgot about being hurt. I feel so grateful that sweet angel came to our aid. I can hardly stand the thought of taking Sullivan to the hospital for stitches. We're going to pick up some Dermabond to keep in Kyle's bag of tricks, so if this ever happens again - we'll be prepared.