7 quick takes (5th edition)

* 1 *

After a few days of his nap boycott, Nate has finally succumbed.  yea!!  Momma needs a break!

* 2 *

Made my first batch of bread last week - honey white.  Yummy!  And with my handy-dandy kitchen aid mixer it really wasn't that hard!

* 3 *

The backyard is almost done!  We have stained the patio and will hopefully seal tomorrow.  Then to transplant my herbs and we will be done!  

* 4 *

Went on a date with Ry last night.  I feel soo hip that I've already seen Iron Man 2!  We went to the drafthouse and had pizza and enjoyed the evening with Justin and Danielle!

* 5 *

Still working on the cooking blog.  I've been buying all our produce, eggs, and chicken from farmers' markets.  It's been a good change for our family and we are enjoying all that Central Texas has to offer.

* 6 *

I can't believe Tessa has lived with us almost a year.  She moved in Memorial Day weekend last year.  It has really flown by.  Only a couple more months until she moves out!

* 7 * 

Nate has been doing great at repeating!  You now really have to watch what you say...

For more quick takes, go to Conversion Diary.

22 months...

and on our way to 2!  This past month was a bit unusual for us - Nate had pink-eye, then a double ear infection.  Right after getting well we headed up to PA for great-grandpa D's funeral.  We did have a few road trips too -  strawberry picking in Marble Falls, lunch with tia Lorena in Brenham, Monica neni getting her ring in Aggieland and visiting friends and a wedding in Dallas.

Speaking wise, his biggest change is putting 2 words together - daddy shoes, nana car, etc.  He's also doing great at seeing Nana and Papa's cars on the road (although most SUV's look like a Tahoe to him).  But he has figured out the difference between neni's silver civic and other silver cars!  He's also totally in love with seeing trucks, motorcycles and buses.  Each time he sees one it is like he's never seen one before!

Chores:  helping unload dishwasher, set table, bring in groceries, unload and load washer and dryers, and feeding Charlie.

Not as many new words this month - door, gumpa (grandpa), truck, ba-berry (strawberry), up, yeah.  He did though start to speak pig Klingon, as Ry calls it - ending each word with "K" - mommy-k, nana-k, daddy-k.  I think it was because he favorite word is truck!

And a few photos...

  

Wink, wink...

Last night I think I had the best meal in my entire life.  Really.  This year, our anniversary just snuck up on Ry and me.  So, we decided just to do it big for our dinner.  And we did!  We went to Wink and had their 5 course tasting menu.  This is such a cool restaurant - they buy all their food locally, and you can find which ones on their menu.

I can't decide which of the 5 courses I liked the best.  We were a little nervous about the steak tartare, but I think that ended up to be Ry's favorite.  Each course was beautiful to look at and scrumptious to eat.  I made Ry promise that he would take me back for our 9th anniversary!

Sorry, no pictures.  We just sat, ate, and enjoyed.  I think the meal easily took us over 2 hours to eat.  And we loved each and every minute of it!  They even gave us a signed menu to take home (by all the chefs) and typed in the menu was "Happy Anniversary Alexis and Ryan".  What a great touch!!

I did find a coupon on restaurant.com.  If you use the code "meal" you can get a $25 gift certificate for $2.  It did buy us a couple glasses of wine...

8 years ago...

(Kauai on our honeymoon...what young kids we were)

I married my best friend.  The best friend I have ever had.  I thought it took forever for him to ask me (3 1/2 years), but now we have been married twice over!

Our wedding day was special, surrounded by friends and family.  I don't think, though, I would say it was the best day of my life.  My best day is tomorrow, knowing that I have a wonderful man to share it with.

Thank you Ryan for asking me to marry you.  I am proud to be your wife, best friend, and mother to your children!

To infinity and beyond!!!