Happy Ground Hog's Day!

Tricked ya!!! A whole bunch of apologies for the family anxiously awaiting more posts about our Christmas trip and apologies to friends saying "another Christmas post...it's February 2nd - jeesh!". I was in a post-Christmas funk and was unmotivated and then got busy on other stuff, and well, you know how that goes. But I am trying to get it together again...



Where we last left off...

Loaded up and waiting to check in while Daddy parks in Long term parking.
Happy travelers one and all.

The first of many happy reunions to come! Kayleigh and Bobby (aka Everett, his given name) came with Grandpa and their dad Brad to pick us up at the sprawling Columbia, SC airport. (Not so sprawling - kinda down home - the waiting areas have white rockers!) We spent the next hour realizing that our bags and car seats did not join us on the connection from Atlanta to Columbia. Doh! This is the 3rd time we have not had our bags in the several years we have traveled to SC. Just when I get complacent and neglect to pack a change of clothes for everyone and drag the carseats thru the airport to gate check them... We got loaner carseats and all our stuff was delivered by 6pm the next night.

Christmas Numero Tres. Spoiled these kids are!!! Books and doll outfits and journals and toys. Thank you thank you thank you everyone!

The Brethren went to a Bowl Game. The Meineke Car Care Bowl, to be exact, in Charlotte, NC. UNC Tarheels (Steve's beloved team) lost by one point to West Virginia. So sad. But, they had a great time eating hot dogs and nachos and big sodas and that sort of thing.

Happy Reunions! Aunt Barbara, Uncle John, and Mary-Faith arrived just as we got home from church. We just love being together so much!

This is how the kids slept most of the week. I think this was at about 11am or something. Can you keep count as to how many photos you see with Lindsay wearing her flannel Christmas jammies???

Pretty much a common site at Grandma and Grandpa Simpson's home. Eating. And being silly. I hope Grandpa Bill owns stock in Publix. He keeps them in business during a family visit! Thanks, Grandpa, for catering to their every whim...from suckers to dorritos to cheetos to waffles to bacon to orange drink to soda to strawberry popsicles to gushers to the key lime pie...oh, the list goes on and on...the endless need for napkins and paper plates and paper towels...

And lets not forget Grandma Shirley and the loaves and loaves of her famous sour dough bread she bakes and freezes leading up to a family get together. And the cocount cake and fudge (both with and without nuts) and chocolate chip cookies and black walnut cake...we have a nightly ritual - the desserts come out run down the center of the dining room table and we are supposed to have at it. And we do!!! Thank you!!!

Aunt Jeannie got the kids these great white boards and they played with them all week long - making signs for their various games and antics - stores, boutiques, restaurants, etc.

One evening the Daddy's and kiddos sat around the kitchen table telling battle stories - stories of their scars and the drama in the event of the accident that caused said scars. It was so funny - Steve asked if I had anything to add - then I reminded him that my c-section scars trump them all.

Off and on I worked on a cute little lady bug hat I started knitting over 3 years ago and finally got finished...except for the spots - it was a crochet technique that I need to learn better. But Kate was happy to model - the black antenna are flipped toward the back in this picture but it is so cute!


One afternoon we went to this lovely park along the river next to some bridge. I know it is a famous river and bridge - my civil war history is a little rusty, though! We picked up Bojanges chicken for a late lunch/early dinner picnic and had a great time. I would sit and eat biscuits next to that river any day!

We were close to downtown Columbia so we went to see the state capital building and the grounds. We had our "Rocky" moment running up the stairs - it was quite a jaunt!

But then the kids noticed that we were right by the Columbia ABC affiliate's news studio with a window to the world a la the Today Show. So we all took off to check out the studio and watch the 6 o'clock news. This is everyone jumping up and down outside the window.

Then, the most amazing thing happened. Alicia and Anderson waved us in and we were invited in through the side door of the studio. They were all incredibly gracious to us as the kids (and us adults) got to indulge our curiosity about the inside of a television news studio. And do you want to know what the most impressive thing is? How unimpressive a news studio actually is! It is small, the walls are lined with cubicles and small desks, the sports guy stood in the corner to anchor the news, one camera guy sprinted from camera to camera, and Anderson Burns did the news in his socks! It was all quite fun. (Anderson is the weekend guy filling in for Daniel who was gone for the night but Anderson is totall our guy.) They let us stay while they finished the broadcast and then gave a shout out to all of us. The kids were so excited but I think were a little disappointed we couldn't go home and watch the live broadcast again. Oh well. They left the studio singing "We're famous! We're famous!" over and over again.

The Simpson's from Columbia, Atlanta, and Phoenix, AZ in the studio with Alicia Barnes and Anderson Burns

The funniest back and forth blogging has happened with Anderson (Andy) and Jeannie about our family visit and blogging about it. You can read about it
Here on Jeannie's blog
Here on Andy's blog
and Here again on Jeannie's blog!

Everyone has one...a picture of their Girl's Night Out to see Twilight. Jeannie finally read Twilight and we went to see it together. I am so glad I waited until that trip to see it - there were no crowds (we were 2 of 6 people in the theater) and I got to see it with Jeannie. $9 ticket and $5 soda later, we enjoyed the movie more than we both thought we would!

I often joke with my family that the church would not be true if it weren't for church basketball. I mean, why do they build our chapels with a basketball gym? We (I mean the Dads, Everett, and the rest of the big kids) needed to get out of the house and going to play basketball often fit the bill. The night I went, we pulled up and saw several cars outside. So, Steve went in to check it out to see if the gym was available. He came out a little discouraged saying that it seemed a large group/family was pretty settled in playing volleyball. Well, Steve's dad, also known as President Simpson went in to check it out. Some how, we were then able to share the gym and played half court basketball! (They offered to share the gym with President Simpson, Steve, well, they didn't offer to share the gym with him!) The night was not without injuries - rug burns (seriously, who thought carpeted gyms were a good idea?) and bruised feelings about teams. I played for a while carrying Caroline on my back because she was upset about teams. The kids also had fun putting on their own version of High School Musical on the stage. Such little hams!

New Year's Eve. The brethren had football going on three different TV's it seemed. We made cinnamon breadsticks with lots of icing for dipping. Then the kids and Daddy's braved the cold and light sparklers - only two of them got burned - Lindsay on her hand and Uncle Brad on his foot. What's with the dads not wearing shoes? Caroline sulked on the stairs because everyone was being too loud shouting "Happy New Year!" outside. Now, don't think she was too tired from staying up until midnight. Midnight was child's play compared to the up until 2am shedule they were keeping all week!

A craft for the girls and mamas. Grandma Shirley helped me sponsor a craft day (and night and day) for the kids. We decided to make altered letters - spelling a nickname, innitials, whatever. We cut and glued and modge-podged and decorated letters and left a mighty fine mess. I hear Grandma's dining room recovered but I am so thankful to her for letting the mess happen - we had so much fun!

Now, not to leave out Everett, I made him a "little something" to hang up in his room - a mini tag banner that honors his nickname and says "Bobby Rocks".

Just a few more pictures from the week. Little Cozette making a big mess with the pillows, out for pizza, a carousel ride, grandpa with both little blue eyed babies, and the crazies in a photo booth at the mall.

Thank you, Bill and Shirley, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, for making these trips possible and for helping us build memories to last. We value and treasure the time we spend together as the whole (or most of) the Simpson Clan.