The Coziness of a Quilt!

I love quilts!

I think they are beautiful. And comfortable. And cozy. And can be sentimental.

I wish I knew how to quilt. I wish I had someone who could teach me how to quilt. But then I would need someone who could add more hours to the day so I would have time to quilt. But, alas, I wish I could quilt.

I am fortunate enough to have a good friend, Maren, whose aunt Karen quilts. And quilts beautifully! And quilts willingly. And quilts with love.

About 10 years ago (yep, a decade ago) Karen quilted me this blanket with 24 t-shirts that I had collected throughout the years. 24 of them are sports, and the 25th is from a family reunion. There are softball shirts, volleyball shirts, and swimming shirts.

It is THE most comfortable blanket I own and I cherish it. For the past 10 years I have used it and used it and used it. I have also washed it a lot. It is made of t-shirts (and memories) so it washes beautifully. It is one of the most cherished possessions I own.

Ta-Dah....
Aunt Karen graciously agreed to quilt Shyla a blanket of her own! I picked out 60 of my favorite onesies from her first year of life and handed them over to Karen. The picture above is the masterpiece! It is better than I ever could have expected! It is fun for me to remember who gave Shyla these different outfits and to which occasions she wore them.

I will treasure this blanket as I know Shyla will as well someday.

So, thank you Karen for your beautiful work (again) and for giving me a way to hold onto Shyla's first year!

Popsicles are FUN!

That's all I have to say!

Sleepless in San Diego

Stevie's family spend almost every 4th of July in La Jolla, CA and we have joined them almost every year.

We left Friday morning at 3:15 AM. Our plan was that we would pour Shyla into her car-seat and she would sleep until Yuma. It was a beautiful plan and it pretty much worked! As we were putting Shyla into her car-seat, though, she sneezed. A simple sneeze is not usually a big deal, unless your name is Shyla "ear-infection" Forgacs. More on that later...

We stopped at Carl's Jr in Yuma so Shyla could play for about an hour. She was a very happy girl!
She drank all her milk before playing!

But as we got back on the road she must have been hungry because she decided to eat her toes.
When we arrived in La Jolla we spent some time playing in the beautiful condo that Steve and Pat rented.

Friday night we tried to put Shyla to bed at her normal bed-time but she was resisting. Big time. And she was coughing. And her nose was running. And she was couldn't get comfortable.

We ended up in Urgent Care at 2:30 AM (side note: the La Jolla Urgent Care is the nicest one around) and, sure enough, she had ear infection #7. We got her antibiotic and pedialite and headed home. It was a sleepless night; the only rest she got was laying on my chest.

As she started feeling a little better she still refused to sleep in her crib so every night was spent tossing and turning and rolling and snoring in between me and Stevie. Thus, sleepless in San Diego.
But, we did have some fun. Here she is with Grandma Forgacs at the park.

And with Aunt Kirsten and Grandma/Grandpa.

And with me and Aunt Kirsten.

And just hanging out sitting in lawn chairs with Daddy.

We also played on a playground.

And took a family picture.

When we returned we took her to see Dr. Vondrak and her ear was still infected 4 days later! He switched her antibiotic and has referred us to a different ENT than we saw before. I will keep you updated on how that goes. For now, we are pushing the liquids and rest and trying to get our little sweet pea back to her normal happy self.

THAT friend...

Do you have THAT friend...you know, the one you lost touch with years ago but you still think about? THAT friend who you miss sharing things with? THAT friend who you would love to call but you feel that it's been too long and you might not know what to say? THAT friend who you can't even remember why you stopped being friends?

For me, THAT friend is Vanessa.

A little bit of history:

Vanessa and I met in Kindergarten in Daisy Group (the prequel to Brownies which is the prequel to Girl Scouts) and became instant friends. It helped that we went to the same school (Collier Elementary - go Cougars!). We were BFFs long before it was cool to talk in acronyms.

Through 6th grade and into 7th we were BFFs. We did everything that BFFs do and then some, including:

• sleepovers/all-nighters
• running our own "radio station" (the early version of The Good, The Bad, and The Gossip)
• attending the Alan Jackson concert together
• nights at Lakeside Sports Complex while her parents bowled
• hanging out at the park
• talking/dreaming about the future in which she was going to be a nurse and I was going to be a teacher and we were going to get married to handsome brothers and have babies

We kept up with the latest hair and make-up styles (circa 1992).

We celebrated the important days with laughter and smiles (circa 1993).

And we prepared to part ways as middle school approached. I was supposed to attend St. Cyril and she was attending Magee with the rest of our friends.

As it turned out, I didn't go to St. Cyril (that's another story for another day) and I went to Magee also! Vanessa and I were thrilled that we would be at the same school (circa 1994).

But, as frequently happens in middle school, we drifted apart. We were growing and maturing in different ways and we both found new friends. Sometimes I think of how different my middle school years would have been if Vanessa and I had stayed BFFs, but I digress.

In high school we did part ways as I went to Salpointe and she went to Sabino. Distance and busy lives made us drift further and further apart. We wrote a few letters and heard how each was doing through the grape-vine but, alas, these were the days before facebook.

So after meeting and becoming friends about 22 years ago, Vanessa became THAT friend. The one that I missed and wanted to reconnect with (actually the one I wished I had never lost touch with, but since there is no such thing as a Hot Tub Time-Machine, that is not possible) and thanks to facebook, we were able to do just that!

Which brings me to today!

This afternoon Shyla and I met Vanessa and her adorable 20 month son, Mikey, at the water park for some fun-in-the-sun!

My beautiful friend, Vanessa, and her son (circa 2010).

Shyla (a rare shot of her wearing her hat) and Mikey "playing together."

Shyla doing her thing in the splash pad; notice she would rather hold her hat than wear it!

And Vanessa with the babies!

As I am sure you have guessed, Vanessa and I didn't marry handsome brothers. But, we both have handsome husbands who are both goof-balls and, thus, we can't wait to get them together. Vanessa is, in fact, a nurse and I am, in fact, a teacher and we both, quite obviously, have babies.

It's too bad that we have missed the last decade (or more, yikes!) of each other's lives but I am thrilled that we are friends again. I look forward to many more playdates, get-togethers, and fun with THAT friend!

Moral of the Story:

Keep your friends at any cost. But if you do lose touch, the good friends will come back easily.

Father's Day 2010!

This past weekend was Father's Day!

We started our morning by letting Stevie sleep in, then giving him his presents which included:

• The above arts and crafts picture created by Shyla
• A magnet picture of Stevie and Shyla for him to take to work
• The 2010 Eegees coupon book
• The Little Critter Book, Me and My Dad
• and a new sunshade for his car since Pancake destroyed his

Next we went to the zoo for a quick visit with Chelsea and the Yager kids. Shyla and Stevie (and Carlos) got to spend quality time together.

Chelsea and Lilly got to spend quality time together.

Shyla and Zac got to sit together and drink from their cups.

After the zoo we went to Steve and Pat's house for lunch and for a nice visit. Shyla played with the big stuffed duck, while showing off her denim diaper!

Unfortunately, Pat wasn't feeling well but we got to spend a lot of time with Steve before heading across town to my parents.

For various reasons, lots of people had to cancel. Stevie was the only dad in attendance for the first couple hours so we asked him to hold the cake in a fatherly fashion and this is what he came up with.

And, as it was the 20th (and Zackary's half-birthday in fact) we tried to get a picture of the 3 grandkids together. Tried.

Father's Day certainly has new meaning now that I am married and have a baby, but it makes me appreciate my daddy even more. He is the best dad I ever could have asked for:)

The Rule of Three

One of my friends tagged me in her blog to do this, so here it is: way more information about me than you ever cared to know!

Three names I go by:
KP

Mrs. Forgacs

Mommy (soon, at least)

Three jobs I have had:
Teacher
Relocation Coordinator

Receptionist

Three places I have lived:
Tucson

Vail

(that's all:)

Three favorite drinks:
Diet Coke
Carmel Machiatto

Diet Cherry Limeade

Three TV shows I watch:
Big Brother

Biggest Loser

How I Met Your Mother

Three places I have been:
Bahamas

St. Thomas

Rocky Point

Three places I would like to visit:
Alaska

Washington DC

Hawaii

Three favorite dishes:
Eggplant Parmesean

Pizza with Mushrooms & Anchovies

Chef Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing

Three things I'm looking forward to:
the arrival of Baby Ratcliff

family vacation to Disneyland

more lazy summer days

I don't know how to tag other bloggers but I'd love to learn these funny facts about my friends so...do it!

San Diego 2010

One thing I forgot to mention in my Scottsdale post is that, while there, Shyla came down with her 6th ear infection. We spent the majority of Memorial Day Monday in Urgent Care waiting for the doctor to tell us what we already knew. Once she did, we were on our way with a prescription for the antibiotic. The diagnosis, as always, explained the fussiness and sleepless nights.

Our plan was to leave Scottsdale on Friday and drive to San Diego to continue our vacation. With Shyla being sick we spent a lot of time debating that portion of the trip.

However, she started to get better so off to San Diego we went. We were especially concerned about driving through the mountains because of the pressure on her ears (Stevie and I once drove to San Diego when I unknowingly had ear infections and it was awful and teary and painful).

We tried to go around the mountains by going through Indio. We do not recommend this route. There were still mountains. There were only 2 lanes. There were speed limits of less than 40 MPH. There were still mountains.

Anyway, we made it!

While in Indio we stopped at McDonalds and let Shyla play for about an hour. She LOVED it and we loved that she was out of her car-seat running around and burning energy.

She and her barbeque sauced face slid down the slide, climbed up said slide, pushed bigger kids out of the way, and yelled for the heck of it!

Once in San Diego we stayed with Dan and Erin (another huge THANK YOU to you two!) and on Saturday we went to the beach with the members of French Toast Mafia who were there for the race!
Shyla loved the beach! Erin had given her a bucket and shovel for the sand. She liked to put things in the bucket and she liked to use the shovel to get as much sand as possible into her mouth. We also discovered that she likes pickle spears, even after they get dropped in the sand!
Dan, Stevie and Shyla had a lot of fun in the water!

...And, yes, this is a picture of my butt. But Shyla looks so cute peaking through my legs that I had to include it!

Sunday was race day! We were there for the San Diego Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon. Another big thank you to Dan for driving us to the shuttle at 4:30 am and to Erin for taking care of Shyla while we ran!

At the starting line. Yes, AT THE STARTING LINE, my IPOD decided to quit working. That meant I had to be alone with my thoughts for hours. Terrible.

Anyway, all of the FTM racers successfully completed the race! Stevie did awesome in his first long-race coming in under 2 hours! I did my personal worst coming in at 2 hours 43 minutes but, to me, every time I cross the finish line is a successful race! Tessa and Jeremy did amazing (of course) and a HUGE congrats to Andy, Scott, and Kristen (on her birthday) who completed the FULL MARATHON (26.2 miles...yikes!).

In my life I have done 4 half-marathons:

2006 Tucson (with my "running partner" Karen)

2009 Tucson

2009 Las Vegas

2010 San Diego

I am already signed up for 2 more:

2010 Mt. Lemmon

2010 Las Vegas

It is fun to have goals to work toward but I cannot explain how nice it is to be doing something and NOT have to be the best at it! I love it!