12 years!

Rod and I celebrated our 12th anniversary yesterday. It is very hard to believe so much time has passed. We dropped the kids off with Nana and Pops and booked it to Mandola's, which is one of our favorite Italian restaurants:

http://www.mandolasmarket.com/

This place has homemade everything--from the pasta to the gelato. On the plus side, it is casual dress. If you live in the Austin area, you have to drop in.

I was feeling motivated (or perhaps a combination of nostalgia and insomnia) and took a picture of a couple of our wedding photos. At the time of the wedding, I recall thinking to myself that my hair would look quite outdated in a few years because of the enormous bangs. Periodically I'd check out our album and think 'not yet--it's not bad yet.' I think it's officially reached the 'Looks-Like-The-Mid-90's' style now. The dance/pose song "Macarena" was at the height of its popularity and, of course, the DJ felt the need to play it. We all felt obligated to participate, so I can't blame the DJ entirely.

I can only imagine what the next 12 years will bring.

Mom's Jeans

Another picture of the kids from when we went to Fredricksburg....It made me laugh when I looked at it again because Kenneth is starting to get to the age of being embarrassed when I ask him to pose for a photo (especially if it involves flowers). :)

The kids are in a camp this week called Camp Invention, hosted through the school district. They love it so far and had a stream of stories to tell me about their first day. Nana is helping out for drop off and pick up this Monday and Tuesday. When I got home today, they were teaching Nana how to play the Wii!

Apparently there was a discussion between Mom and the kids about passing on genes from parents. Evelyn summed up the conversation and said "Don't worry, Nana. I'm sure Mom will pass on her jeans to me."

Lake Conroe

We took a trip down to Conroe this weekend to hang out at the weekend lake house of one of Rod's colleagues. It was a pretty large get-together--lots of kids for Kenneth and Evelyn to play with. They got to go out on a boat and ride jet skis (with Rod driving the jet ski, of course).

Back to work next week after a nice, long vacation...

Happy Birthday Kenneth

Kenneth had his 10th birthday a few days ago. We took the kids and a couple of Kenneth's friends to see Wall-E and to Chick Fila afterwards. It was a very cute movie, even for adults. I can't believe my sweetie is in the double-digits now!

Last weekend we drove down to Kerrville to see Merle and Linda. They have finally moved in to the house they've been working on, with only a few things left to do to be a fully functional house. It is so serene out there. We will be sure to visit often. On our way back, we stopped in Fredricksburg for a few hours to walk around. Rod and I would love to go back on our own sometime because the kids tend to get tired more quickly than we do.

Rod decided to join a local Rotary Club and had his induction ceremony at a lunch on Thursday. We all went with him--he's definitely on the younger side compared to the rest of the club. I think they need new folks to make sure the club continues. Apparently this particular Rotary has been around for 50 some years. After the lunch, the kids and I stopped at a park that has roaming peacocks. Kenneth took several pictures while they 'barked' at him.