One.

I'm not sure how it happened, but we blinked and POOF!, Candace turned one.  This little girl is such a light in our family.  She has been such a happy and easygoing baby.  She smiles and loves to laugh (especially at her sisters).  She sleeps great (usually 7 pm to about 7 am with a short nap in the morning and a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon).  She still loves her binkie at bedtime and naptime.  She eats great (she loves fruit, yogurt, and a cup of warm milk in the mornings) which is good since she STILL spits up like crazy!  We're starting prevacid for her this week, so hopefully that will help.  She figured out straws around 9 months and it's been awesome!  She'll slurp down applesauce and anything else we can stick a straw in.  She has gone straight to a straw sippy cup--no bottle for this big girl.  Like her sisters, she was ready to be weaned at 11 months and has done great switching to milk.  She's got the most hair of any of our kids at this age and it seems to be curly!  We'll see if that lasts.  After her first shaky steps last month, she is a pro at walking now and is starting to prefer that to crawling.  We love our Candy-girl!
One Year Stats (from July 19, 2012):  19 lbs, 2 oz (17th %); 28.25 in (21st %)

Good morning 1 year old!

Banana for breakfast--a favorite.

Showing off her cute outfit...

I can't even handle that grumpy face.  I love this girl!

Mommy with her one-year-old...

Daddy with his one-year old...

It still is mind-boggling to see how much of a difference a year can make!  Our sweet Candace one year ago!

Hard to put into words

On Monday, one of my friends in the ward/neighborhood died suddenly and unexpectedly.  Her name was Andrea.  She was only 32. She has 3 girls--just like me.  Her second daughter, Karalee and Megan are the same age and her youngest, Katelyn and Brooke are close in age too.  Megan idolizes her oldest daughter Brooklyn.  We love her family and have had them over a few times.  She and her husband Kyle were so kind to me last summer after losing my Mom.  They watched our kids so we could have a real date night that we desperately needed.  Andrea was one of the few people that often asked about how my Dad and brother were doing after losing Mom.

In my post-college life, I've realized that it takes me a long time to get to a "really close friend" level with people.  I have lots of friends, many good friends, but only a handful of really close friends.  Andrea and I were not on the "really close" level, but we were on the good friend level and steadily getting closer.  I always imagined her being one of my really close friends one day.  As I've reflected on my friendship with her, I've been amazed at the many lessons I learned from her and the many memories I have of her in our short time together.

When I checked my email and facebook on Tuesday morning and realized what had happened, I was dumbfounded.  It hit me so hard.  I just couldn't believe it.  I helped her out in primary just a week before this.  We both grew up lifeguarding and coaching swimming and we both brought our girls to the pool as often as we could.  I loved chatting with her as the kids splashed and played.  It simply didn't seem real.  But it is.  And it hurts.  Sure, I hurt for me and the loss of this friend and the anticipated years of friendship ahead.

But mostly I hurt for her family.  I hurt for her husband who she loved so intensely.  I hurt for her beautiful daughters that she was raising to be just as amazing as she was.  I hurt for her parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins--so many people facing this void where a vibrant light once was.  And having gone through a close loss so recently myself, I have an inkling of what they are all going through.

In the past few days (as in the days after Mom's death), I find myself holding Dan a little longer, kissing my kids more, looking into their eyes and trying to always remember how good life is and how fast time flies by.  I've also realized that maybe the most important thing I've learned is that I want to be more like Andrea by letting the people around me into my heart more quickly.  She was so good at making friends--close friends.

I'm thankful for the perspective of the gospel.  Knowing that this life is not the end and that family relationships that are sealed in the temple go one forever helps.  But I'll miss her.  And I am once again reminded that life is short and I don't want to waste a minute on things that don't matter.  Thank you Andrea for being such a great example of living life to the fullest--I'm so grateful to have known you.  

Andrea and her family at the ward Christmas party last December.  Pray for them--Kyle, Brooklyn, Karalee, and Katelyn need it.  And if you feel so compelled, there is a donation page set up to help their family, follow the link here: http://pledgie.com/campaigns/17792

Aunt Carrie's Move and Family Party

Shad and Amy moved to their new home in Katy when school got out in June. We were all happy to see them settle into their new neighborhood that is so close to Shad’s office, but it was a big change. One thing that helped with that transition was knowing that Carrie would be moving into the house they had been renting! Her big moving day was on Saturday July 7. 

My "help" mostly consisted of bringing Dan.  I kept my girls at Dad's house to swim and play and make a target run.  While I was at Target, I decided we needed to celebrate Brooke and Candy's birthdays while we were with everyone.  So I picked up some cake mix and went to town. 

Megan helping with the cake...

We did a crown craft...

Candace just wanted the cake!

It was a white heart shaped cake with pink frosting and decorated with nerds.  My kind of cake :)

Candace was a fan...

Brooke was SO excited to open presents.  She got some princess dolls to play with in the pool that sink down, a dress from Grandpa (in fact, all 3 girls got one), some markers, and a ball. 

What a cute almost-3-year-old.

Megan was pretty happy that she got something too.

Our crazy family of 5.  We haven't gotten too many pictures of all of us since Candace was born--it's hard to get these kids to sit long enough!  Here's the best one from the day.

I love these girls and am glad Carrie is getting settled in!

Pigtails and 4th of July!

 Candy has enough hair for two little teeny pigtails on top of her head.  WAY earlier on pigtails than her sisters.  Adorable!  These pics are from July 1 before church.

This girl is so happy ALL THE TIME.  She keeps us all smiling.  

 We have some friends in the ward who do these big dessert potlucks a few times a year and they are so fun that we decided to have a big breakfast potluck to celebrate July 4th.  It was craziness, but we loved it.  We had over 60 people come by in those 2 hours.  We provided paper goods, pancakes, and OJ and everyone brought a breakfast item to share.  It was so fun!

Candy was ready to welcome our friends...

We moved things around to be ready for all the people coming...

Have I mentioned that I love our table?  I do.  

After everyone left, we cleaned up and then went to my Dad's for swimming and lunch at 1.  Fun and yummy.

Carrie provided the oreos for the minute to win it game where you have to put the oreo on your forehead and get it to your mouth using your face--hilarious.

We also watched Mirror, Mirror after the cookie eating.

Dad's crowning achievement of the day--making a multi-layered flag cake.  It turned out pretty good and he and Tyler were SO proud.  I love my Dad.  He makes holidays so fun.

June 2012

June, glorious June.  I love it when our neighborhood pool is open during the day.  Our usual schedule in June was grocery shopping on Monday (swapping with the T family if we can--they were gone til June 11 though), and then swim Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and some Fridays from 10ish to naptime.  Brooke is just starting to figure out breaths and swim on her own
and Megan is doing great, so I just follow Candace around.

We also went to some birthday parties, dinners at Dad's, enjoyed a quick visit from my cousin Pat, and kept up our babysit swap group. Dan is making his way through his classes--no break for the summer, so he is as busy as ever.

With all that swimming, we don't have as many pics from our day to day happenings.  But here are my favorites.

Brookie on June 6 after spending all morning at playgroup at the pool--look at those rosie cheeks!

Brownie mouth Megan and Brooke, June 6

 We got to visit my childhood friend Kat at her new home in The Woodlands on June 8.
Brooke, Kaden, and Megan...

Kat and Candy...

This girl.  She is taking steps this month!  She is our earliest walker.  Megan and Brooke both began walking right around their first birthday.

June 9

Dan has been letting his hair grow out this year--keeping it trimmed above his ears, but it was getting long on the top.  He finally buzzed it off for the summer on June 9.  I'm glad :)

I love this outfit with that kerchief.  All of my girls have worn it.  June 10

Snuggled up and watching shows on June 19--Brooke (almost 3), Megan (4)

Some of her first steps!  June 20.  She just doesn't look big enough to be walking!

Painting birdhouses--these girls love their crafts...June 20

Cooking up some yummy stuff on June 23...

Happy almost 1 year old chasing her walking toy around, June 25

You can walk now? Great, sweep the floor!  Ha.  June 26

One year since my Mom passed away.  I can't believe it.  I miss her everyday. June 29, 2012