Happy New Year

New Year's Eve is now upon us and 2012 is waiting in the wings to make its entrance. As we come to the end of 2011, we are each reflecting upon some of the markers on our journey and we here at The Simpson Six are no different. So, come along with us, if you will, to recall some of the events, memories and lessons we've learned in the past 365 days.

2011 started out exponentially better than 2010 ended for our family and aside from the usual bumps along the way, it is ending even better than it began!

A typical scene out our back window in January

January ushered in a cold, snowy winter that kept us home-bound more often than we prefer, but with a new baby, was probably a good thing. We celebrated Christmas in January with Jason's extended family--possibly our new favorite Christmas tradition in recent years. We save our holiday get-together until after the December craziness subsides and have an easy, laid-back time to get together instead of everyone having to hustle and bustle about to the next family dinner. I don't recall who thought up the idea, but they are positively brilliant! Finally, I (Stephanie) started back to providing part-time childcare in January of this year and it has been such a blast to spend my days with not only our little kids, but also with the coolest little pair of brothers I know!

Baby planking

February brought not only more snow, but also ice--and LOTS of ice! Jason was out of school for nearly an entire week straight and then a smattering of other delays and closures due to ice and snow--but mostly ice. We enjoyed a lot of time together, but had to get creative to keep cabin fever from creeping in.

A birthday cake for the birthday girl!

For our family, March starts off Spring in the best possible way--with Lydia's birthday! We had a fun time celebrating as a family at Hollyhock Hill for dinner, and Lydia planned her own Ladybug Picnic theme birthday party, which was fit for our favorite little bug.