Family Hour(s)!

This weekend was family weekend. Spend quality time with everyone. The weekend started with a 2nd birthday party for niece, Lucy! Her blowing out her candles really cracked me up:

"ffff.... fffff.... fffff..." this is the audio of lucy blowing out her candles. she finally got them though.

Then she scores in the present department.

i seriously wish i had a photo of the elation on her face when she saw her brand-spankin' new princess shoe collection. she was like, "OPEN IT. NOW."

Proof positive that the Venable clan never judges:

max tries out his heels. he was very particular about the purple pair.

my brother's (clay's) wife's (kim's) brother's (chris's) and his wife's (heather's) son, tristan. four children were at the party, and fortunately there were four pairs of heels involved. crisis. averted.

We Venables don't judge when it comes to attire, thank heaven. Tommy and I went home after the birthday party and fell asleep for TWO HOURS. We rallied in time to jump in the car and head to my folks' house for Tony and Suzy's birthday celebration. Not having time to do a whole *warmer* wardrobe change, I grabbed stockings and a sweater. When I got to mom and dad's they lent me another coat so I could go outside, and lent Tommy a toboggan. We are a regular fashion plate, aren't we?

cousin andy looks on in horror at our bag-person attire

Here is Papa Tony reacting to Suzy blowing out the candles on their cake (he claims she was slobbering on their cake, tee hee).

hahahahahaha

Next, say goodbye to the last of the Mardi Gras beads:

for now that is... if one more person asks me how i got all those beads, they're gonna get a shot in the mouth!! ange and spence show off their bling.

My folks are very generous with firewood. On occasion, they give us opportunity to return the favor and help haul some logs. On Sunday, Kristina, Tommy and I all went out to the field and helped haul a tree Dipsey had busted up to the house for splitting. It was such a beautiful day - gorgeous weather and of course, fabulous fellowship!

mama and ki enjoy the ride through the pasture

Here is our opponent:

dipsey, ki and tommy flex their muscles prior to the tackling of the tree

No worries, I can tame the beast:

MY TREE. seriously, i have obsessive addiction to walking up fallen tree trunks. daddy kept warning me that i'd get thrown into the middle of next week if i didn't get off before i got this photo taken.

Thursday I'm off to my former hometown of Sarasota, Fla. to run a half marathon with the ever-exotic Pretty Princess Rachel Ann Landry! Tell you all about it next week!!