After the party there's an afterparty

Reed here.

You didnt think we were going to end on Christmas and leave you hanging, wondering what we did the REST of the year, did you? Of course not!

We went to St. Augustine, the oldest city in the country. And it was wonderful!

Oh, wait, this first pic is in Fernandina. That's alright, you probably didnt know the diff.

Anyway, fantastic Fernandina. And if you were lucky enough to be our Friend Holly, or our Dad, you got some of Fernandinas Fantastic Fudge!


On to St. Augustine and a chocolate tour! What was that? Simmons chocolate tour? Watch out Whetstone, you're about to go OUT of business!

Check out those big smiles. Let us enter, if you dare!

Oh, it was so good, we got to try chocolate right as it was getting pressed into delicious minty seashells!

Even my newest little brother gives hands up for the dark chocolate! Touchdown!!

And then to tour the awesome fort in St. Augustine. It was really cool. And super cooper to lead the way...

STOP!!! LOOK!!! Family picture (with all that are stateside)!

Christmas at the Beach

Reeder here to walk you through Christmas morning with the Simmons/Irvin/Kappel clan! First, we've gotta leave some treats for Santa and his reindeer...

If Eden and I were reindeer, we'd love carrots!



Merry Christmas Weiler! It's your first one! Get ready for fun! Check out his eyes, he can barely hold back his excitement, if BM'd just let him out of his straight jacket...

Stockings! Check out our loot!

Shockingly to NO ONE, Hayes loved the chocolate teh best!

My fantastic grandparents, taking it all in. They got lotto tickets and new pajamas, what else could you ask for?

Yeah, this was pretty cool, this Christmas thing....

Oh, my brover. That's what I call him, my brover. What am I going to do with him? Yes, that's a different piece of chocolate in his dominant hand.

Perfect, awesome, wonderful, loving, fantastic, perfect Cooper. He got Stephen King's IT for Christmas and stayed in this position for a long time after...

The real jewel-BARBIE TOWNHOUSE! Can you believe that I was good enough ALL year to get the best and biggest and most sought after present of all? Oh, the glory!

Cooper is sooo wonderful. He also became known as the baby whisperer. Which could be used right this second because Weiler is getting worked up again...

And because Eden and I are two of the worlds best big sisters we let the boys play in the BTH too.

Hayes answering the door after Leo rang...

Hope you all had half the Christmas we did-it was INCREDIBLE! (except for our terrible church behavior).

Flo-rida

Weiler here to take you through my first big vacay. You see, I am just too little to take a big road trip. A man's gotta eat, ya know. And this man eats approximately every 25 minutes. That would make for a lot of stops. So, mom and I got to fly! And Big Mama joined us for the trip South. It was fantastic. Check out my rockin' seat!

Shortly after our arrival we were fortunate enough to celebrate Big Mama's birthday! It was fantastic! Cupcakes galore!

And my first trip to the beach was glorious! Check it out! There is no better place than at the beach with your cousins when the rest of the country is frigid!

Surprise! Mr. Larry got fogged in at Amelia Island Airport. He was heading back from Tennessee and got stuck. Lucky for us! He came and hung out with us for the night, and let us climb all over his cool plane in the am before take off. Thanks Mr. Larry!

Reeder kept her distance and surveyed the situation.

Eden and Hayes climbed right on up and acted like they've been there before. Nice job! No fear for those two!

Even Aunt Bizzy got in on the action. Notice that Leo and I (and Reeder mostly) didnt go near the thing. It is just soooo scary, don't you think?

Back to safer ground...

Can you believe how big my sister is getting. Nope, not 13, but she will be 5 in a few short weeks!

Grandma Hoobler would be proud. Posing for holy pictures, that's what she would say.

Yes, it really was this warm. Helps that the pool was heated. I decided not to go, but rather get major snuggle time from Big Mama and some random lady we met at the pool that couldn't get over how cute I am-happens all the time, might as well get used to me blogging about people oggling.

Seriously, aren't I adorable?

Oh, my big brother. This is my role model. Are you as scared as my parents? This is what I look up to on a daily basis. Hayesyboy. Oh, hayesyboy. Teach me the ways big bro...

Luckily I have yin to my yang in my upbringing. Sweet Reeder. Don't let her smile fool you, she rules this house.

We made a last minute surprise trip to Casselberry. Wasn't supposed to happen that way but did in the end. And when leaving, we drove by the old hood, where my big sis was born. And HAD to stop and see the world's best next door neighbors EVER-the Cooties! Ooooh, how we LOVED the time we spent with them. See ya, and all you other crazy Orlandans this Spring!

Before the party there's the preparty

Reeder here folks. I'm gonna walk you through the next couple days of our lives. First off, help arrives. In the form of our fantastic Aunt Bizzy and our awesome cousins Eden and Leo. All are ready to help raise our newest addition and most importantly, give our Mom some much needed help-in the form of sleep mostly.

With the help comes extreme craziness, of course. There will be no quiet time from now til New Years Eve, friends, so get ready.

First off, lets make some cookies!

And there are so many wonderful things to do in the Nasty. Like the art museum. See, they have an entire exhibit just for wedding dresses. And Eden and I LOVE weddings (what girls doesnt?). So, we went to the museum and lucked into many other fun activities while we were there on a super cold, snowy day. It was fantastic.

Oooh, this was a highlight for Hayeser. It was Coops string concert-he did a great job. And Hayes got to sit with him and all the other super cool seventh graders. He was a hit. And you know what else was awesome? They played the nutcracker! Eden and I LOVE the nutcracker too. Grandma Max and Grampa Don took us to see the incredible ballet and we have fallen in love!

And when in such a cold city you need to come up with new creative ideas of ways to stay warm in these frigid winter months. Thus, we went to Krohn Conservatory. And it was WONDERFUL! Ahhh, and so warm:)

And Leo is OBSESSED with trains. So anywere there are trains, we are happy. Thanks Krohn!

There is nothing better than a few homemade gifts for Christmastime. Eden and I concocting something for Big Mama...

And Weiler, making it for someone who will probably read this blog before receiving their present, but please act surprised nonetheless:)

Our finished project. Pretty amazing-dont you think?

Remember Leo's train obsession? Let's go to entertRainment. Get it? They are sooo clever.

And we had some friends come with us, including our cousin Kate.

Eden enrolled in my very prestigious school for the month that she was here. Alas, that includes our little Christmas show and day in with the parents. Here we are, enjoying our day, in our fantastic Christmas dresses.

And now we have to pack and head to Florida...