To Dad and Papa Tractor, we love you so very, very much. You will be dearly missed!

A few details of Olivia at 1 year:
-22 lbs 28 inches
-she signs what she wants or says da for everything; she also communicates through laughing when she sees something she wants.
-Olivia is and has been the easiest baby you could ever ask for. We have been so fortunate and I hope she doesn’t get us back when she is a teenager
-walks and crawls but prefers to try to walk half way first then crawls the rest of the way;
-has lots of teeth and molars are coming in
-loves to sing and dance!!! She’s very much like her sister in this way.
-favorite thing to do is to play with Avery; she adores Avery (let’s hope that lasts). Avery is like a little mama to Olivia.

For Olivia’s birthday, we celebrated at the Children’s Museum of Austin with family and friends. I chose the “You are my Sunshine” theme since she’s such a light in our lives and it’s also a song I sing to the girls every night. The decor didn’t quite turn out how I had hoped because they only gave me 30 minutes to set up and the room wasn’t what I had envisioned but I made the best of what I had to work with. Thank goodness our family was so sweet to help us! Olivia was just as happy with or without any decor. She LOVED the cake and the fun centers they had at the museum.

After seeing this picture, I booked a hair appointment so I’m happy to say, it no longer looks that bad! Maybe I should paint some highlights in with Photoshop. After children, I rarely find time for things like my hair. Ha!


Avery is helping Livy eat the cake:



My heart melted when she kept hugging the doll I made for her:

She’s clapping because she’s so proud of herself:

Lyla is too:



At home, we snapped a few shots. Notice how the girls are staring at their cousins. That sums it all up. They love their Colten and Connor:

Once upon a time, there was a girl who was very, very lost! The year was 2002 and it was my senior year of college. My very last semester I had only three hours left to graduate, was already accepted in to grad school at UT and on my path to being a Speech-Language Pathologist. In my heart, I just wasn’t passionate about it and I felt so stuck and quite frankly very scared. I talked with advisers to see what it would take to get my architectural degree because I love home design but in my mind, it was too late and I knew that if I didn’t finish what I had started, I would be disappointing a LOT of people including my parents and the many people who gave me scholarships. I battled with this through my entire first year of grad school. I was really confused because my grades were always really great and I was really good at speech pathology but I don’t know why my heart just wasn’t in it. I spent my entire first year of grad school researching alternatives of what I could do. By the second year of grad school, I decided to fast track my way to graduation because quitting wasn’t an option and I decided to start a small business importing high-end pearl jewelry. With a little luck, a lot of sleepless nights and dedication, I was able to get myself through graduation, work several part-time jobs, complete all my clinical hours, and launch my new business in the spring of 2004. Looking back, there is no way I could do that again! My internet-based pearl company took off and after less than a year, I no longer could juggle both my speech pathology career and my pearl company so I let my speech pathology career go. That was the point I was able to really build my business into something great (with my proudest moment being featured in TIME magazine) and I was really passionate about this path I had taken! After several years, I started another business in the online financial sector that I became really passionate about and my pearl business was acquired. Now that it is 2012, 8 years after I first started my original business, I find myself in an interesting place. What’s next for me? Of course I will continue my financial businesses because I’ve worked so hard to build them, but I really have been sucked into the idea of new possibilities. I truly believe that if you find something you really want to do, do it! You might be surprised where you end up. Doors open in places you may never have imagined. I just have to figure out a way to balance it all. I think the best way to start is to make it a hobby business and see where it takes you! I read the book “Dream Big, Little Pig” to Avery and I think sometimes, we as adults forget to dream big because we get bombarded with real life. Don’t give up on your dreams…

I hope soon I will be unveiling my new hobby project. My hope that this new journey will be fun, inspirational, and a place where I can be more creative and share with others! Between two kids, a traveling husband, my existing businesses and building a home, I hope to be able to follow through. It’s going to take committing myself to it. I think I perform better under pressure. That’s why I’m posting this here. Commitment. That’s the first step, right?

Our weekend consisted of some really fun activities including a culinary course (so yummy), the spa for relaxation, and a heart-pounding course taking us high in the sky while we were tethered to a wire (literally) and climbed a very tall rope net, walked across wire and logs and zipped down on a zip line. I started out brave and ended up shaking like a leaf by the end. It was fun but I was glad to be back on the ground Travaasa is an “experiential resort” who prides themselves on eco-friendly everything and fresh farm-to-table food that was outstanding! We met some great people, too. Short and sweet!

Saturday evening we went to our hotel to unwind and get ready for dinner. We stayed at the Westin on the Riverwalk and we walked in right after the Phoenix Suns basketball team walked in. I am clueless when it comes to NFL, NBA, NHL, MBA, and who’s who. I only knew that they were extraordinarily tall. My mom on the other hand was like a school girl! Apparently, everyone else knew who they were as well. We rode on the elevator with them and Steve Nash stayed in the adjoining room to ours. My mom proceeded to make us laugh a lot because she was acting quite funny.

It’s so great to spend a quiet weekend away with my mom and sisters. I wish we could do it more often!

The girls had a great time with Lovey and I’m glad she came because we don’t get to see her very often.    She got to see Livy hone her walking skills and make all her funny little words.   Lovey brought a little ballerina figurine for Avery and she broke it within two minutes, much like the Cinderella ornament my mom bought Avery and broke shortly after.   I’m like Miss Fix It with all my handy glues (Liquid Nail, Gorilla glue, and Hot glue).    Unfortunately, most of these things I fix often get broken over and over again.

While Lovey was here, we did a little shopping at Hancock Fabric’s and another fabric store in town that had higher-end fabrics.   She likes to sew!   I used to love to embroider pillows and sew doll clothes when I was a little girl.  I can remember my grandmother teaching me different techniques and my Aunt Delores taught me how to sew on a machine.   I actually find I really miss it.   I miss being creative.  When I force myself (and I say force because it’s easy after a days work to just sit on the couch and watch the Housewives after the girls have gone to bed) to be creative, I feel so much more balanced, fulfilled, and proud of myself!   I decided that for Olivia’s first birthday, I’m going to do something extra special for her and make her a handmade birthday gift.   With an older sister, Livy gets  a lot of hand-me-down clothes and toys and lucky for her, she doesn’t know any differently.    I started researching through Pinterest and online and found a great idea….something hopefully that she will possibly be able to give to her children one day that will be extra special because Mommy made it!

A few things I really want to remember through 2012 and beyond:

• Slow down. Rushing is rarely worth it. Life is better enjoyed at a leisurely pace.
• Goals aren’t as important as we think. Try working without them for a week. Turns out, you can do amazing things without goals. And you don’t have to manage them, cutting out on some of the bureaucracy of your life. You’re less stressed without goals, and you’re freer to choose paths you couldn’t have foreseen without them.
• The moment is all there is. All our worries and plans about the future, all our replaying of things that happened in the past — it’s all in our heads, and it just distracts us from fully living right now. Let go of all that, and just focus on what you’re doing, right at this moment. In this way, any activity can be meditation.
•  When your child asks for your attention, always grant it. Give your child your full attention, and instead of being annoyed at the interruption, be grateful for the reminder to spend time with someone you love.
• You can’t motivate people. The best you can hope for is to inspire them with your actions. People who think they can use behavioral “science” or management techniques have not spent enough time on the receiving end of either.
•  If you find yourself swimming with all the other fish, go the other way. They don’t know where they’re going either.
• You will miss a ton, but that’s OK. We’re so caught up in trying to do everything, experience all the essential things, not miss out on anything important … that we forget the simple fact that we cannot experience everything. That physical reality dictates we’ll miss most things. We can’t read all the good books, watch all the good films, go to all the best cities in the world, try all the best restaurants, meet all the great people. But the secret is: life is better when we don’t try to do everything. Learn to enjoy the slice of life you experience, and life turns out to be wonderful.
• Rest is more important than you think. People work too hard, forget to rest, and then begin to hate their jobs. In fitness, you see it constantly: people training for a marathon getting burned out because they don’t know how to let their straining muscles and joints recover. People who try to do too much because they don’t know that rest is where their body gets stronger, after the stress.
• There are few joys that equal a good book, a good walk, a good hug, or a good friend. All are free.  ****Love this and YES, YES, YES, to this.
•  The destination is just a tiny slice of the journey. We’re so worried about goals, about our future, that we miss all the great things along the way. If you’re fixated on the goal, on the end, you won’t enjoy it when you get there. You’ll be worried about the next goal, the next destination.
• A good walk cures most problems. Want to lose weight and get fit? Walk. Want to enjoy life but spend less? Walk. Want to cure stress and clear your head? Walk. Want to meditate and live in the moment? Walk. Having trouble with a life or work problem? Walk, and your head gets clear.
•  Let go of expectations. When you have expectations of something — a person, an experience, a vacation, a job, a book — you put it in a predetermined box that has little to do with reality. You set up an idealized version of the thing (or person) and then try to fit the reality into this ideal, and are often disappointed. Instead, try to experience reality as it is, appreciate it for what it is, and be happy that it is.
• Gratitude is one of the best ways to find contentment. We are often discontent in our lives, desire more, because we don’t realize how much we have. Instead of focusing on what you don’t have, be grateful for the amazing gifts you’ve been given: of loved ones and simple pleasures, of health and sight and the gift of music and books, of nature and beauty and the ability to create, and everything in between. Be grateful every day.
• Create. The world is full of distractions, but very few are as important as creating.
•  Get some perspective. Usually when we’re worried or upset, it’s because we’ve lost perspective.
• Don’t sit too much. It kills you. Move, dance, run, play.
•  Life is exceedingly brief. You might feel like there’s a huge mass of time ahead of you, but it passes much faster than you think. Your kids grow up so fast you get whiplash. You get gray hairs before you’re done getting your bearings on life. Appreciate every damn moment.
• Fear will try to stop you. Doubts will try to stop you. You’ll shy away from doing great things, from going on new adventures, from creating something new and putting it out in the world, because of self-doubt and fear. It will happen in the recesses of your mind, where you don’t even know it’s happening. Become aware of these doubts and fears. Shine some light on them. Beat them with a thousand tiny cuts. Do it anyway, because they are wrong.
• I look forward to life!  Learning, living, and loving!

These words above are from the works of Leo Babauta (only edited here and there to suit my own life and are public domain).

I must admit I go overboard on picture taking at Christmas. I do this every year! When it comes time to select which ones I like best, I really like them all even the bad ones. I have about 500 pictures from this Christmas. I love how they tell our story which is great because I forget the details the very next day replaced by new details….seriously I do. Looking back at them is like reliving those precious moments. However, picking out a few is beyond overwhelming for me. Below is more than a few:

Feeding the Reindeer so when Santa comes they have something to eat:







These little elves were more interested in the baker’s twine than the presents:



Looking at her princess puzzle:

And then it happened! Santa came and he left some very fun toys for the girls.

Avery wakes up very early so we heard her tinkering around and this is what we found when we snuck out. She was already playing with her kitchen:

While we waited for Livy to wake up, Avery played with her kitchen while I drank Peppermint Hot Cocoa and Daddy manned the video camera:

I snapped a few shots before we headed to the “K” Christmas at Aunt Marilyn’s house:



Livy was very fond of Uncle Scott and snuggled up (which is very rare because she is always wanting to wiggle out of your arms):

Nana and Papa made sure there were lots of presents for the little ones at both Christmas parties.The girls are sharing here:

December also happens to be my baby sister’s birthday and this year was her 25th! Jeff and Hillary came to Austin for this special occasion so we went out:

I tried to think of fun things to make with Avery throughout the month (using Pinterest because I’m addicted) and came across this cute Rudolf idea for one of our projects. However, my dough puffed up rather than staying the shape I originally made it so I had to pinch it back into shape Avery didn’t mind. She just wanted to eat the cookie dough. I also could not find red hots at the grocer so we improvised. This reindeer makes me laugh. Avery made the antlers and I put his face on:

Next on the agenda was visiting Santa to make sure he knew what to bring. I posted a few pictures earlier but while we waited, Avery rode the Polar Express.


This was her very first up-close glimpse of Santa and then she started screaming: