Ivan’s mom (my suegra, or mother-in-law) is leaving to go back to Mexico on Sunday, after spending over 2 months here in the U.S.! We picked her up from my sister-in-law’s last night and took her out for pizza at a really nice local restaurant.
I sent this picture to Ivan at work and said, “Heyyyy, look!! No leggings or tennis shoes!! 😂”
(I can’t help it that the most practical work-from-home uniform generally involves leggings and some sort of sneaker or flip flops (lately that it’s warmer). It’s so nice to just step out for a quick walk around the block, etc…).
This is my current life version of “dressing up”. Hahaha. I also did my nails (press on nails! Love them) and painted my toenails (toes didn’t turn out so hot. I think this polish is ready for the trash.) I extremely rarely do my nails, so with that plus a dressier tank top, I basically felt Red Carpet ready last night. 😁
Ivan is sad about his mom leaving. He has mentioned it a bunch of times now. Even though she has been here a long time, and it’s time, he still feels a bit emotional about saying goodbye.
Since she has been staying at Ivan’s sister’s house, we haven’t really had to deal with the “day to day” stuff of someone staying with us for 2 months. But his sister lives less than 5 minutes away from us, so Ivan stops over there ALL THE TIME. On his way home from work, or, most nights he actually goes over after the kids go to bed and hangs out for a while. (Like around ~9 pm). They will just sit around the table, have some coffee and talk. This before bed “family gathering” is a common Mexican tradition anyway (I wrote about it once: see here).
He is taking her to the airport on Sunday. I always feel bad, because I have my parents so close and we spend tons of time with them throughout the year. Obviously Ivan made the choice to move to the U.S., but he is very close with his family, so it’s still hard sometimes. He talks with them on the phone VERY frequently, several times per week on his way to/from work. But that’s just not that same! 🙂 He tries to go to Mexico at least once a year by himself, and then between our family trips or visits here, we see them fairly often, at least.
Anyway, I’m off to drive around the state on a crazy goose chase day with Ethan…somehow, his soccer team ended up with two different games, in two different cities, on the same day….~1.5-2 hours away each. So, I’m looking at a total of 5 hours of drive time today. Oh yay.
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for the ceiling fan in my bedroom. Woke up at 3 am and was HOT for some reason. Ceiling fan saved the night. 🙂
GRATEFUL KAE 
you look great on your dress up attire. but I totally get it to prefer tights when working from home. I actually use PJs when I’m at home, whether working or not. hehehe…. sometimes I’ll wear something at the top when having zoom call.
I wish my mom lives close by, haven’t seen her for almost two years, crazy. the part of the the pandemic that I hate the most. Although I don’t want to live with my mother-in-law, just because you know… so I think you were lucky to have your sister in law so close by.
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Ha, I had a similar ‘getting ready’ experience last weekend when I went to my friend’s mother blessing. I wore jeans and a striped top so not fancy by any means but Paul looked at me when I came downstairs and said, “what are you wearing mommy??!?!” Clearly he is used to seeing me in workout clothes 24/7. I put on a nicer shirt when I have zoom calls for work but always have capris or leggings on.
Goodbyes are so hard! I know my sister really struggles with being away from my parents. She’s in Tucson AZ so only sees them 1-2 times/year, sometimes less, and has a hard time with goodbyes. I am glad he got so much time with her but it’s still tough to live far from family! I really missed my parents during the pandemic. We barely saw them as I was paranoid Paul would be a covid carrier and get them sick. My dad is high risk as he has kidney disease so we played it extra safe but it was tough to see so little of them.
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Wow … I can’t believe she’d been here that long. I remember you mentioning that she was in the US and I often wanted to ask if she was still in the area, but I didn’t know if you wanted to share about her status! I think most commenting know about the pain and struggle with having so much distance between family. I know it all too well. My parents both moved to the USA about 34 years ago, shortly after getting married. They left both of their families behind to make a better future for us. But because of that distance I never met my grandfather on my dads side and I only met my grandmother a handful of time before she passed away when I was 8. My granddad on my mother’s side is now not very well but because of my health issues and covid I cannot go to see him and my mom just lost a sister a month ago and that rocked her to the core. She did get to go back to england for a few weeks but I couldn’t imagine her being there for two months. How did she arrange that? Did she have to get a special visa? I know when I was a kid I would spend two months in England over the summers but I am a British Citizen so I never had to get a visa. So I am curious! lol! 🙂 Hope you guys get to go to mexico again soon to see the family! ❤
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Nope, no special visa! She just comes on a tourist visa, which allows her to stay in the u.a. for up to 6 months at a time. She has never stayed quite that long, but once she stayed I think for 3 months, the year we moved to a new house and the boys were little (she helped watch the boys while we took care of the move and settling in!). It would be too long for me to want to go visit family, but overall she doesn’t seem to mind! My husband has a brother and sister that live in the area too, so she has several different families to see while here, too! She tends to do a LOT of cooking (which she really enjoys, and she is a great cook!)… my husband always has a huge list of meals he wants her to make!! Haha! All his “favorites”. 🙂 My father in law still works in Mexico and everything and couldn’t come for that long, so she comes alone since she doesn’t work and doesn’t really have any reason she can’t stay for a month or two. Obviously she does miss him though! But she only usually comes once every year or two like that. Ivan goes there once a year alone to visit and we usually go every other year with the boys, as a whole family, for a week or two.
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