Picture Day at School

I love that they do picture day at Shyla's school.

The most recent one was when Shyla was about 11 months.

And, apparently, really scared.

Three Birthday Cakes and One Birthday Wish!

Well, I survived the 2010 CIMI trip! My teacher-partner, Paula, and I took 33 sixth graders to the Catalina Island Marine Institute for 3 days/4 nights. It was a success! No one got sick, everyone had fun, and back in Tucson Shyla and Stevie had a great couple days.

We got back to Tucson at midnight Wednesday night which meant I was here for Shyla's birthday Thursday. It was a normal day in which she went to daycare (with mini-muffins to share with her friends) and I went to work. After dinner, though, we gave Shyla a freshly baked cupcake to enjoy. She did, in fact, enjoy her cupcake which made me overly optimistic that she would enjoy the cake at her birthday party. More on that later.

One exciting thing about turning ONE is that she can now sit in a big-girl carseat and face forward. She looks so cute in her pink carseat, and so little.

We had a birthday bash for her at my parents house this weekend. Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with us!

Okay, the three cakes:

Cake #1: Castle Cake

When Chelsea was a little girl my mom made her a castle cake. For years and years I would ask to have a castle cake for my birthday, without success. I think at one time Mom even convinced me that I couldn't have it because we didn't have any soup cans to make the towers. And I believed her. So, as Shyla's birthday was approaching I informed my mom that we would be making her a castle cake. And castle cake we did! It was definitely a labor of love, but well worth it. I'm going to make it a tradition that I make her birthday cake every year.

Cake #2: Giant Cupcake

Everyone knows that 1 year olds get their own "smash cake" so I made Shyla's smash cake as a giant cupcake. (Big thanks to one of my students for letting me borrow the mold for it.) I thought she would love it. She did not. She cried at the sight of it. She refused to grab it. She didn't want it anywhere near her and, thus, did not smash it at all.

Cake #3: DQ Ice Cream Cake

Did I mention that Shyla's birthday (5-20) is really close to Dan's birthday (5-23)? Well it is and therefore they will probably always have a combined cake of some sort. Thank you to Erin for bringing this yummy ice cream cake to the party. The girl at DQ did a great job!

One of the most fun parts of the afternoon was splashing in the pool. Above you see Shyla and Kim cooling off in the pool. Good thing we pulled Shyla's pants up so they wouldn't get wet...

The Forgacs Three

We are so lucky to have Dan and Erin as friends and as Shyla's god-parents! We are also so lucky that they come all the way to Tucson from San Diego for events such as this. We were so glad that they hung out after everyone else left so we could have some catch-up time. Erin and I gave Shyla her bath and then Erin got to give her the night-time bottle.

My sweet little girl has the face of an angel. An angel with a scrape on her nose. This picture, though, shows that she is now wearing her diamond earrings that Grandpa Palmer gave her the day after she was born. Yep, that's right, my 1 year old has diamond earrings before I do!

Shyla and Daddy enjoying a moment in the sun!

Oh, and the birthday wish. I've decided that I will make a birthday wish. I wish that the next year is just as joyful as this one was; filled with just as many belly-laughs, new discoveries, and growth.

Oh and, if we are lucky, fewer ear infections.

A Belated Mother's Day Post

We had a great Mother's Day! It was my first official Mother's Day as last year Shyla was still growing in my belly.

We had a lovely family brunch at Chelsea and Jeremy's house.

I had to start with this picture because it makes me laugh that my fatty husband broke this chair by sitting in it. That is a lawsuit waiting to happen. He followed that move by chucking it across the backyard; then proceeded to go get it and set it up again to be fixed.

Me and Shyla on Mother's Day...not a good picture, but the only one.

Oh, silly me. Here it is again. How did that ever happen?

And here we have 8 lovely ladies and 1 lucky little man.

My little angel.

Just some pictures...

Shyla and Grandma just enjoying each other!

Shyla beginning to feed herself with a spoon! It's messy but she has established her independence and refuses to be spoon-fed by someone else.

My silly girl reading her Thank You card from Dash!

Enjoying a cracker at Risky Business!

And just being silly with the dice Daddy brought her from his last Vegas trip!

Race for the Cure and Dash turns 1!

This morning we went to Race for the Cure!

Chelsea, Stevie and I ran in the 5K race while Grandma Palmer and Grandma Forgacs took care of Shyla, Zac, and Lilly!

The race was a success! We are still waiting for official times to be posted but we think Stevie did about 26 min, Chelsea did about 35 min, and I did about 31 minutes.

One of the great things about Race for the Cure is the huge expo following the race. There is lots of free stuff, lots of stuff to keep kids of all ages entertained, and lots of support for those with breast cancer.

Lilly got to pose with this duck!

Stevie and Shyla got to pose with Wilbur the Wildcat!

Later, we went to Gabi's house for Dash's 1st Birthday Party! It seems like just yesterday that Gabi and I were discussing our pregnancies. Then visiting each other in the hospital to meet to little ones. The walking Udall or Sabino Canyon trying to reverse some of the damage (Gabi has, BTW, reversed ALL the damage!)

Here is the birthday boy with his cake!

And Shyla with Dash in the pool! (notice her uber cute 2 piece? ...it was an ity-bity-teenie-weenie...)

Shyla and Dash played for a while here. I think she learned this move from Zac...

Fun in the sun!

And probably the creepiest picture ever! Shyla, drinking her bottle and gazing lovingly at Brian, while Andy creepily tries to get in the picture. Have I mentioned that Andy is not Shyla's favorite these days?

Up next for the Forgacs 3: continued "training" for San Diego Half-Marathon...another 1st birthday party next weekend...and as much time as possible watching Shyla learn and grow!

Easter 2010!

Easter usually begins with sunrise mass at St. Pius. This year, however, as I have mentioned, Shyla is teething. We had an especially rough night; up and comforting a baby in pain: definitely the toughest part of motherhood so far.

I felt/feel really bad about not making it to mass, but I couldn't pull myself out of bed at 5 and I wasn't about to get Shyla up when she was finally resting peacefully. Next year, we will be there for sure! We will be living about 30 minutes closer to St. Pius and Shyla will, fingers crossed, be sleeping through the night.

However, even after a hard night, when Stevie and I are walking around like zombies, Shyla wakes up cheerful and happy and ready for a fun-filled day.

She was ready to celebrate her first Easter!

We started with an egg hunt in our backyard. The Easter bunny (or in our case, probably Easter mouse) hid three large eggs in plain sight!

She found each one and tasted each in turn! They were each filled with a different Sesame Street character and she figured out pretty quickly that if she threw the egg, it would break, and the toy would pop out. She is awfully smart, although I'm not certain that learning the benefits of egg-throwing at such a young age is a good thing.

Later, she opened her present from Grandma and Grandpa Forgacs, who are visiting Aunt Kirsten and Uncle Jim this weekend. She will look so cute in the pink romper and bib but she especially loved the duck shaped bubbles tied to the outside of the package.

Then she had some play-time with the basket that the East Bunny left for her. It was filled with eggs, books, an outfit, 2 new rattles, and bunny ears.

Later Shyla got dressed in her Easter outfit and very first bow! This bow was made by our good friend Jessikah a long time ago, but Shyla just recently got enough hair to justify using it!

We had lots of play-time and lots of smiles!

Over at Grandma and Grandpa Palmer's house Shyla opened her Easter basket from the Easter Bunny who visits their house. It was filled with books, teething biscuits, eggs, and a lamb.

Then it was time for the East Egg Hunt with cousins Zac and Lilly. Of course, Lilly found the most eggs and Zac broke the most, but Shyla did find one and later decided that it was easiest to just take them out of someone else's unattended to basket. See, I told you she was smart!

The picture above shows our efforts at getting a picture of the 3 cousins together. And when I say "our efforts" I truly mean it was a team effort: me, mom, Chelsea, Aaron, Jeanette, and Stevie were all working together to get this shot. This was the best we could do.

It sure is fun to play in grass! Even artificial grass!

And the Forgacs Three!

It was a wild and hectic Easter filled with everything Easter should be filled with: laughter, family, and hugs.

A few things that I wish I had captured pictures of but didn't:

• Stevie drinking straight from the wine bottle
• Lilly shoveling rocks onto one of the lounge chairs
• Chelsea hiding inside while Aaron chased both kids around
• The whole family:)

Good Friday and Simply Saturday

Yesterday was Good Friday. I was off work so Shyla, Chelsea, Mom, and I walked the Stations of the Cross.

All 15 stations, uphill, with Shyla in the ERGO baby-carrier. She did great. I don't think she really disturbed anyone's prayerfulness.

Then we went to breakfast at The Good Egg which is one of our favorites!

And later we tried to feed her again! I love the faces she makes, but she looks so grown up in the picture. I have a feeling I will be getting lots of looks like that as she grows up!

We rounded out the day with some playtime at Grandma's house, a trip to Costco, and then more playtime at Grandma's.

Thanks, Mom, for a GREAT Friday!

And then Simply Saturday!

We had running club this morning. Stevie and the rest of the club ran a hard 7 miles. A special, and very envious, shout-out to Candace who ran with her 2 week old beautiful baby-girl Taylor! We ran about 3 miles, with Shyla and I bringing up the caboose again. Shyla got a few minutes of playtime with Ayden, which always makes a girl happy!

Then we had a very special lunch-time visit from the god-parents Dan and Erin! We had a great time just catching up and letting Shyla entertain us!

Amongst other things, Shyla decided that Pancake's water bowl is a pretty fun toy. Poor Pancake, I guess nothing is sacred anymore.

We bought Shyla some teething biscuits and tried one out today. She liked it for a few minutes, then threw it away in anger. Like everything else, we will try again tomorrow. Isn't Erin pretty? And a natural with Shyla for sure!

After the water bowl playing we decided to go sans clothes. Here she is with the god-parents!

And here just a close-up of her being silly, and teething.

And is there anything cuter than this?

Nope. I didn't think so.