Beautiful Beaching Babes

If you had not already noticed Marianne has a budding talent as a professional photographer...and the next photo of Leo and Hayes proves it. The bath was a result of Big Mama's arrival - the boys have been very dirty all trip and thankfully BM is here to keep them clean.
In anticipation of the big trip to Disney, we took the girls to see The Princess and the Frog. I am a Disney hater and Princess loather but this movie is ridiculously cute and has an amazing take home message of female empowerment and need v. want - go Mama Oatie...

The weather cleared up in Amelia and we had a sunny warm day at the beach. Papa Jerry was tasked with carrying Hayes' bit (aka kiki according the Irvins or blanket for the rest of you). Hayes also convinced Papa Jerry to carry all of his shells.

Reeder worked her magic and created some beautiful sand art.

Leo loved the sand - and he only ate two or three handfuls before he realized that no matter how much he chewed the sand would not become digestible.

Eden loved the beach but was a little intimidated by the waves. Reeder and Eden spent an hour on the beach creating pots to put their flowers (sticks) in.

And Hayes found lots of shells and really enjoyed sharing them with BEEM - Big Mama.

The fearsome foursome strolling on the beach. Papa Jerry is holding Leo and Big Mama has eagle eyes on the "Hugger"...check out the amazing reflection....another example of Marianne's amazing photo talent.

Jump jump splash splash...

The cozy cute Kappel clan....

Papa Jerry on his journey to the beach...never mind the exposed underwear...it's because we forced him to wear pants not just pajamas....

Big Mama and her little man, Hayes....

Eden's exuberance at creating a sand pile....she tried to teach Hayes how to smash sand piles by jumping on them with his knees. Hayes could not master this trick but he had a really good time trying.

Reeder looks like a precious moments catalogue child....

Self potrait with wind...what a beautiful mommy and baby.

Reeder likes to know where we are going, when we are going there, who is coming...and then she counts us all to make sure noone gets left behind. Here she is checking to make sure that the appropriate posse is following her to the beach.

One morning everyone was accounted for except Papa Jerry and Leo - we went onto the porch and found them circling the pool. I was very helpful and hollered down to Papa that Leo can't swim - just an fyi. Marianne and I grabbed the girls and headed down to check out the unheated absolutely freezing cold pool....which everyone splashed in....

The BEAM has arrived

Today the Beam came. That's Big Mama for those of you who for some unknown reason don't know that. I left E and the boys at home, Dad, Eden, Reeder and I went to the erport (Reeder for airport). Mom's flight was delayed so we wasted as much time as possible at Wal-Mart and Chili's. Eden is convinced Opa loves Chili's, Dad isn't so sure, we'll have to ask him about that.

While in SC, Reeder saw Papa wearing a bib, she thought it was hysterical. I guess this is how my father eats on a normal basis. Wierd, but, well, that's my Dad. He did it again today at lunch-the girls found this quite funny.And decided that they, too, needed bibs.
Then we waited patiently for her to come down the escalator. If you look closely you can imagine quite a conversation going on between these two. Something like...
E-Reeder, what do you think Big Mama will think of our new shoes?
R-Ooooh, she'll love the boots. But, Eden, what about the van?
E-Well it's really cool, and I can pee in it whenever I want.
R-But Big Mama is clean like me, so I think she won't like the layer of crumbs on the floor.
E-Don't worry, at least we can pee.
R-And make gingerbread cookies!
E-Yeah!
And then our big helpers got Big Mama to the car. Shannon, what do you think is in there? I'll give you a hint...Mom had to check the bag because it couldn't go through security....
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah! Perrin-(E's bff)-I blame you! You are an esthetician and you let my sister go out in public like that! I mean, seriously! I asked the lady if she needed a lawn mower? I HAD to step in!
And Leo still loves Papa the most! Or, I think, he stayed in between the two of them because he felt safe from the hugger!
Gingerbread cookie time! We promised the girls as soon as Big Mama got here they could go to town. Pretty good way of giving the moms a little space asap, don't you think? I wonder if Mom noticed...



This was a VERY serious project.
I hope you all love how Eden is rockin' her headband. Do you think she broke a sweat?
And Hayes got in on the action, too...
Scoping out the kill....
Going for it!
When Eden attacks....
And every so often Hayes shows his softer side and sits still for a couple minutes. We lost Papa's reading glasses in DC-hopefully Mom remembered his new ones...

Well, tomorrow is a BIG day. We separate! AHHH! E, the girls and I head to Orlando for some good times with old friends. Mom and Dad stay here with the boys, to meet up for a crazy Disney experience later in the week. See ya tomorrow in the 407!

The Day before Big Mama comes...

Leo would like to take a moment of your busy day to issue an edict. If you are reading this then you need to leave a comment...a comment right now! Leo's Papa Jerry loves reading the comments and it gives all of us something to discuss (we have been together for 2 weeks and are running low on conversation so help us out)!
On this glorious freezing morning (by Florida standards), I (Elizabeth) gave Marianne the best gift a sister can ever give...a morning without children. Since all the kids were up by 7 am, Papa Jerry and I loaded them into their winter gear and the double stroller for a little hot chocolate. The hot chocolate store (as the girls' call it) is located by a fish pond which provided 20 minutes of entertainment - which was very important since we got there before the store opened.


All the stores are decked out in holiday gear and Reeder spent a great deal of time moving the arms of the nutcracker.
After our morning jaunt we headed to the ocean club for lunch...but let's go back to the morning hike. As we wandered around the Amelia shops, Leo took a nice header (you can see the road rash on his forehead and nose). Papa Jerry pointed out that the smart thing to do when falling is to catch yourself with your hands - ergo Leo is not (well I cannot say it because I am his mom but you can infer). On our way to lunch Eden had a little accident which meant that Eden and I took the tram back and left Aunt Wee, Papa Jerry, Reeder, Hayes, and Leo unsupervised. At least Leo had a healthy well balanced lunch...
Then it was time to prepare for the arrival of Big Mama. She comes in the morning...time to clean. Papa Jerry and Hayes tackled the kitchen.
And Reeder found a new toliet brush for cleaning those hard to reach places.
Eden and Reeder put the final finish on the floors. In the background of this pic you can see all our shoes - which Reeder reorganized into matching pairs - definitely not a Simmons trait - that one comes straight from the Hoobler side.
And since I am so electronically handy (hehehe), I rewired the tv system in the hopes of hiding the cables that the little boys love to pull on. Papa Jerry likes that the only toys our sons play with are electronics - remotes, phones, dvd players...
You were probably wondering what Marianne was doing during all this cleaning - since she only got 10 hours of sleep last night she needed to take a nap.
We were almost ready for Big Mama - all we needed to do was buy groceries to make cookies (the girls' idea) and a yummy dinner. Marianne and I spent our Friday night at Harris Teeter - rockin' night!

Plantation Livin'

I may be a bit distracted this blog entry. I'm watching Real Houswives of Atlanta Lost Footage. I'll try to focus, no promises.

Leo didn't sleep well at all last night. So, Dad, being the superGrandpa, offered for he and I to take the other three for a long walk and let E and Leo take a long morning nap. We went off for our big exploration. The plantation has incredible bike paths. E and I spent many days riding our bike through them when we were little. Seriously, all day long, we would ride our bikes, use our imagination, make up our own language, and ride all over "our" plantation. It's pretty cool to take our children through these same paths and watch Reeder and Eden play similar games and go off into their own worlds.


What they didn't have when we were little is an incredible nature center.
And somehow we never found this cool place. Nor had Dad. Aury Island, the girls had a blast.
And the doting grandfather followed them every step.
Papa didn't swing anyone high enough. What you can't see in this picture is the girls chanting "higher, higher!". I had to take over and really push these kids!
Ooooh, and I got away! The crazies dropped me off for a much needed pedicure and a more needed eyebrow waxing. 45 minutes to myself-heaven!
While I was in bliss, E bought everyone peppermint chocolate brownies. And, being the good aunt, I opened the box on the way home and handed 'em out. Wonder why Luda (Hayes' word for Leo that we all use know) loves me?
And Hayes always loves cho-ca.
E was scratching some big X, little x in everyone's back. They were in trances.
After the boys went to bed we got to making our gingerbread house. E making the icing....
Don't worry, we feed Eden, she's just naturally skinny-and YES, she's part Simmons!
They can't wait for Santa to eat it, share some with his reindeer and elves, and leave some for them. How will we get this back to Cincinnati?
The table was disgusting. So, after taking out all the tiles, E and I took it down to a beach shower to power hose the years of disgustingness off it.
And took this opportunity to have a cocktail...
And it's clean now!

That's a wrap-see ya manana!