Happy 8th Birthday Huntie!!

This is Huntie BEFORE earrings, AFTER earrings and one day later WITH all her Voisin GIRLS (Sandy, Jenn, Huntie, Grammy, Sally and mom). We had such a blast hanging out with Huntie at the mall!

Her mom and dad took her to the mall on her birthday to get her ears pierced and out to eat. The very next day, the Voisin girls took her to the mall for a girl's night out! We all had so much fun!

Happy Valentine's Day 2008

Voisin Family Valentine's 2008

Michael 4, Huntie 7 11/12, Emily, Elle 17 months, Kevin

Mardi Gras 2008

Our Mardi Gras princess.

A serious hazard of watching the parade is the flying beads thrown by float riders. Poor Ellie here was the victim of a hit and run, well hit and ride. Can you see the bead welts? Poor baby.

Kevin and David Hulbert made it their mission to collect Moon Pies from the float riders for dear Coleen Hulbert. So they made this fabulous sign taunting the riders, who totally took the bait and pummeled piles of Moon Pies at them.

Yeesss! Coleen enjoys the fruits of their labor.

We saw Bambi, a good friend from Motivatit, riding on a float. She loaded Elle with loot - beads, toys, stuffed animals, etc.

Ahhh, the spoils of war, or in this case Mardi Gras.

Another Mardi Gras come and gone.

The History of Mardi Gras

(http://www.holidays.net/mardigras/story.htm)

Mardi Gras came to New Orleans through its French heritage in 1699. Early explorers celebrated this French Holiday on the banks of the Mississippi River. Throughout the years, Orleanians have added to the celebration by establishing krewes (organizations) which host parades and balls. Carnival quickly became an exciting holiday for both children and adults.
Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday" and of course is celebrated on that day of the week. The date can fall between February 3 and March 9 depending on the Lunar calendar, used by the Catholic Church to determine the date of Easter. Mardi Gras is always 47 days before Easter Sunday.

The official colors for Mardi Gras are purple, green, and gold. These colors were chosen in 1872 by the King of Carnival, Rex. He chose these colors to stand for the following:

Purple represents justice
green stands for faith
gold stands for power

The Mardi Gras season begins on January 6 and continues until Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. On the Christian calendar, the twelfth day after Christmas is known as "Epiphany", "Twelfth Night", or "Kings Day." It is the day the gift-bearing Magi visited the baby Jesus, and is celebrated with its own unique rituals.

Kevin Heads to China and Korea

Kevin traveled to CHINA and KOREA this month! He spent two weeks in China and another 4 days in Korea. He's participated in an Ag Leadership Seminar group at LSU for the last two years. As a capstone for their course, they travel to a foreign country to learn about industry and agriculture there (not to mention squeeze in a good bit of sightseeing). The entire time while Kevin was gone we had brief instant messaging sessions to keep connected. He LOVED China and was so excited to bring the entire family there one day, until . . . he went to Korea. Yes, Korea more that surpassed his affinity towards China. Korea was a world apart and more elegant and full of grace than he could have imagined. Dad, Arien and Shannon probably already know all this, but Kevin is also now sold on the wonderfulness of Korea.

Check out more pcitures at http://mikedanna.wordpress.com/ or on Kevin's facebook account.

He brought us back some great loot! We were mostly glad to just have him home.

A Sunny Day in January

Christmas 2007

Michael 4, Elle 15 months, HunterEve 7.

Christmas morning! I can't believe it! It's just so amazing!

Pretty much the iPod turned on Christmas day and never turned off.

Michael's OWN Heroscape game. This was really the best Christmas ever!

We're not sure if she loves the farm toy more of the pink chair. Both seem to be immeasureable successes as they kept her attention for more that 5 minutes.

Santa brought Kevin Legos for Christmas! Ok, they are Michael's. No really, they are.

Gorgeous earrings and necklace from MotherA.

Snowball Fight in New Orleans City Park

We had the unusualy opportunity to have a snowball fight in the middle of City Park in downtown New Orleans. They had a snow machine shave pounds of snow into the park for people to come and play in. It was Michael's and Elle's first experience with snow. Michael had a great time teaming up with some other kids in a war against Kevin.

Elle was less than enchanted with the snow since every time she came in contact with it she was being hit in the face by stray snowballs. She was a good sport nonetheless.

No southern Louisiana event would be complete without a jump house or two.

Ahhh, Elle loves her daddy.

Hunter goes for a ride.

The full scene: tiny patch of snow and jump houses in the background, huge park full of lush green grass everywhere else.

Off to the Cafe du Monde for hot coca and beignets. Yumm!

Grandma's 60th Birthday

Emily and the kids drove to surprise grandma for her surprise 60th birthday party in Austin. It was so amazing! She was completely surprised. Arien and John did such a great job planning the party. John even made a video for mom with all her kids and grandkids from across the country wishing her happy birthday. It felt like everyone was there. Here is the video:

Hunty and Sage modeling their twinner shirts at grandma's house.

Elle had a little accident in the parking lot. She tripped off the curb and face planted into the asphalt. Poor kid. Unfortunately, this type of injury was indicitive of Elle's learning-to-walk stage. She usually landed on her check producing a lovely bruise. This time - shredded nose.

"I'll Be Your Present for Christmas"

Michael's Preschool Christmas Program 2007

Thanksgiving in OklaHouma

Halloween 2007

Boba Fett, Amidala and Yoda really scored this Halloween.

As the night progressed, Yoda's patience was wearing thin. But once Elle grasped the concept of trick-or-treating we were on our way. That little Jedi master just wouldn't stop. She waddled from door to door bringing joy to and taking candy from all she met. Hunty and Michael were old pros and endured house after house with grace.

Greg and Jen hosted a Halloween party and hayride. We rode and trick-or-treated around their neighborhood and had the best time ever.

Happy 10th Anniversary

The Half IRONMAN!

Kevin's two best cheerleaders! Michael and Hunty made posters to hold up and cheer Kevin on during his race. We stayed at grandma and grandpa's house in Austin for the race. The Longhorn Triathalon Half Ironman race(http://www.longhorntri.com/longhorn/longhornhalfiron.html) is comprised of at 1.2 freshwater swim, a 56-mile bike through the hill country and a 13.1-mile run - all in a row. This was Kevin's first half ironman! He finished at 8 hours, 12 minutes and 50 seconds (http://www.athlinks.com/myresults.aspx?rid=26515881).

Kevin getting numbered before the crack of dawn on race day.

The first leg - 1.2-mile freshwater swim. And you're right, he was the greatest-looking clydesdale there.

Transition 1 - Swim to Bike.

And he's off!

Elle enjoyed watching her daddy, but I don't think she would have gone far as a participant. As you can see, she can't even stand wearing the swim cap and goggles.

Just a few miles left to go!

And the grand finish!

A proud moment.

I am so proud of Kev. It was such a hot day and a hard race. But he did it! And I got to see it all.

Elle was so impressed. Not only did she love the medal, she was more than esctatic to see her daddy.

Our Half Ironman.