Trip to Houston

This past weekend we drove out to visit some of the family in Houston. It was so great to see everyone. Here's a really cute picture of Avery Larie. Little Avery was born just 12 days after our girls. She is super cute. This picture doesn't do her justice. I'm so excited that Rowan and Evey have cousins their age. I can just imagine all the girls and Xander too playing together. How fun!

It was so great to see everyone. Aunt Lorelei was on the news recently. Click on the link and see her on "Great Day Houston." She is wonderful. Click here: Aunt Lorelei

Dr. Benjamin Mays has said, "The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goals. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It is not a disgrace to reach for the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is a sin. Low aim is a sin."

Froggy Goodness

Mr. Mono found this little frog...oh sorry, it's a toooaaad (that's how it is to live with a herpetologist)...anyhow, he found him in the backyard this evening. Cute little guy.

Sidenote from Mr.Mono:

"bufo americanus is the scientific name for this guy, they are a lot of fun this time of year. If you pick up a male toad, and squeeze him gently right behind the front legs, they start croaking like crazy. It is as if they are saying in toad-speak, "Hey! Let me go, I am just trying to create some mood music and attract the ladies!!"

Here's a picture of Evey with her tiger. She loves her little tiger. She can grab and hold onto objects now and has excellent fine motor skills.

The Futures So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades

Rowan this morning with the sun glasses her Aunt Ivette gave her.

New Practice

Like so many others, Atticus Finch was the reason I went to law school. To stand up and defend the poor and downtrodden. And I'm proud to say that for the majority of my career I have been able to do that--either through advocacy or through working on legislation and policy. Yet, these past few years I have missed working with actual clients. Being in the trenches, as they say, can be very rewarding.

So, for those of you who haven't heard the news yet, I have decided to leave my job and go into private practice. Yes, I know I've been talking about it for years, but I put in my notice at work, leased an office, I even bought office furniture--so it looks like this is it. I'm finally taking the monumental (and incredibly frightening) step known colloquially as "following my dreams."

Opening a law practice is not quite the same as starting a new business. For one, I can place my name on appointment lists and be appointed clients who can't afford attorneys. The county pays for these clients and the pay varies depending on the county. I'm now on the appointment list for three counties and I plan on adding one more. These are all juvenile law cases.

In addition to juvenile law, I'll also be practicing family law. I'm super excited about collaborative divorce--but that's a long topic to get into. This part of my practice is going to take some time to build up. And of course I can and will do other things too. In fact, I just had my first client. A lady who wants me to draw up a will for her.

So, as cheesy as it sounds, I think that's what life is all about. Creating the kind of life we want and following our dreams.

“Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” Atticus Finch

Dodgeball

My friend said to me the other day, "you're always into something different,' and well, she's right. I'm no longer taking cello lessons--I turned in my bow when my belly got too big. So, now my new thing is dodgeball. Yes, that's right, dodgeball. Its really loads of fun. My friends Rachel and Cris (front center) are on the team and I've made lots of new friends too.

So Monday was our first game. We had two actually. Oh, and our team name is "Balltulism" (a pun on botchulism). We played the Dream Team and The Team Formerly Known As and won both games. It was so much fun. I was only knocked out once. I'm pretty good at dodging, not so good at throwing.

Getting to Know You

The girls are becoming more and more aware of each other. Which means that there are times when one starts crying and the other does too. At other times if one is crying her sister will instead look at us with this "DO SOMETHING!" sort of anxious look. They happily sleep together and seem to be more content when they are near one another.

Sydney turns 8

Yesterday was Sydney's 8th birthday. The girls, Abuelita and I all went to the Children's Museum for her party and then traveled on to my sister's house to continue the festivities.




Rowan and Evelyn dressed up for the party in their ultra cute party dresses. Here's a picture of Ro-ro.

Andre saves another person

Last week when Isabella and Austin came up, Abuelita and I took the kids to see Andre at the fire station. We had a great visit and eventually had to leave because they got a call.

It was, of course, very exciting for the kids to see Andre and the rest of the crew rush out on a call. We could tell from dispatch that the call was for a cardiac arrest. As a fire fighter, Andre is the first on the scene for any medical call as well as fires. All of the firefighters are EMTs and will begin helping people until EMS arrives.

Well, last night Andre was on the news for saving the man who went into cardiac arrest that afternoon. The man went back to the fire station to give thanks to the crew that saved him. Andre will probably receive another phoenix award. The award is given for saving lives with the defibrillator. He has received two awards on previous occasions.

Click on the link below to see the news video.
Andre saves heart attack victim