'It's Christmas Time in the City'

This year I had the opportunity to visit New York City during the holiday season with my friend Laura.  I've been to NYC 3 previous times, but a girl's trip to New York during the holidays is a must - put it on your bucket list!  The city is magical and just beaming with Christmas lights and Christmas spirit.  We saw pretty much the entire city of Manhattan by foot and soaked up every last second of our 'Christmas time in the city'.  

We enjoyed roaming through the Christmas markets shopping and sipping apple cider.  We went to all three of them - Union Square, Central Park South and Bryant Park.  This was my personal favorite activity in NYC over the holidays.  The market was full of local talent of any kind - photographers, painters, bakeries, jewelry designers, etc...

Laura and I walked through Central Park to the MET and then admired the never-ending various art forms until we just. couldn't. go. on.

Every morning and afternoon, we took a break and enjoyed a chai tea latte in the cafes we stumbled upon.  It was our time to relax, talk about our day, life or just whatever was on our minds. 

We visited Highline Park and enjoyed some great views of the city, then walked to Chelsea Market and ate a delicious farm-to-table lunch.  

Did some shopping and did some more shopping… We shopped Soho, NoLita, Union Square, 5^th Avenue, Columbus Circle, West Village and so on and so on…

Laura and I both shared a childhood dream of seeing the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and my knight in shining armor made our dream come true.  It was our last night in NYC and we couldn't have ended our Christmas trip any more perfectly.  

We did many, many other things, but these were the highlights.  Our schedule wasn't conducive to lugging around a huge camera, so here are some photos of our very last day in NYC - sadly, my only photos of the trip... 

 Highline Park

 Radio City Christmas Spectacular

Christmas Time in the City

Inside Chelsea Market

Thank you so much for inviting me, Laura.  I had such a good time touring the city by foot with you.  I look forward to many more girl's trips in our future! 

Our Very First Christmas Card

It only took three years of marriage, a photo session and a huge life changing event (our adoption) to convince us it's time, but...we did it!  

We sent out our very first ever Simpson Family Christmas card.

Merry Christmas! 

A not-so happy to HAPPY Birthday!

November 25^th 1982, was the day Kristopher Alan Simpson blessed his family with his arrival.  And 20 years later this man began to bless my life in more ways than I can count.  November 25^th has been a very special day in my life for 9 birthdays now.  And although Kris isn’t a huge fan of celebrating his birthday, I make him know how very special he is to me, Oskar and George and my family.  My hubby is truly one-of-a-kind and he should be celebrated.  

Kris as a newborn

And 21 years later, we celebrated his birthday for the first time together. 

With that being said, I think he and I both have a birthday curse.  Things never seem to go right on either of our birthdays and this year was no exception.  He will now tell you '29 sucks'.  It turns out, 29 doesn't suck, just his actual 29^th birthday.

Here are some 'before his birthday sucked' photos: 

I made him open his present first thing in the morning!

You see Oskar? He never misses opening presents...

 

He LOVES it! 

Happy 29th Birthday to the love of my life!

This year Kris’ birthday fell on Black Friday and we had no idea how this would limit our plans for the day.  We set out to play a round of golf (he plays and I’m his cute caddy), go to the shooting range so he could teach me how to defend myself (something he’s wanted to do for some time but I let my fears hold me back until now) and end the evening with a nice dinner.  We’ll those were great plans in theory until we drove to the golf course we intended to play only to find out they had no open tee times.  So we moved on to plan b, another golf course of our liking, only to hear the same story.  Finally at 2:30 p.m. we arrived at a municipal course desperate to play as planned.  Of course there were open tee times here because they don’t even schedule tee times!  Finally he was able to play some golf and all my poor birthday boy wanted was a couple of beers to celebrate the day.  Guess what – the café was closed and this course had no beer cart – that means no beer for anyone.  So we high-tailed it to the gas station, grabbed some beers and finally headed to the links.  He played 10 or 11 holes and we were having a good time, but it was getting late, so we decided to pack up and head home to get ready for dinner. 

Dinner… Really wish that wasn't another story to represent the birthday curse, but it is.  Kris decided he wanted to go to the mall after dinner to check out the Black Friday deals for me.  Yes, my sweet hubby always thinks of me before himself even on his own birthday.  In my defense, I didn't know he wanted to shop for me until we got to the mall and then I felt guilty shopping for myself on his birthday.  We ended up at what is supposed to be a nice Italian restaurant in the Woodlands (close to the mall) called Luca and Leonardo.  Don’t waste your time or your money – DO NOT GO THERE!  The meal started off nice with delicious bread and a tasty salad, but then our entrees arrived...  My pasta tasted like tomato paste and grilled chicken – there was no flavor and I certainly could have made something better at home and saved the $24 it cost.  On top of that, my poor birthday boy’s meal was the size of a kid’s meal for $28.  Let’s just say we ended up at Taco Bell that night for him after spending money on a ‘nice’ dinner. 

We were able to laugh off all of our bad luck throughout the day, but I just felt so guilty about the way the day turned out.  Our day was wonderful prior to leaving the house – maybe we should have just stayed home!  I told Kris the night of his birthday that I wanted to wake up the next morning and re-do his entire birthday.  He was reluctant, but agreed and I’m so glad he did.  The next day we spent the afternoon doing whatever he wanted to do and we ended the evening at one of his favorite restaurants, El Tiempo, followed by seeing our favorite country music star Cory Morrow at the Firehouse Saloon.  We had a blast and ended his birthday celebration with a bang!  

Cory Morrow came back from his encore to sing our wedding song - Always and Forever.  It was a huge surprise and such a treat. I think that was the perfect way to end Kris' birthday. Couldn't have planned it better myself!

Happy Birthday to my always loving, always thoughtful husband who I'm thankful for each and every day.  I love you 'always and forever'. 

Benjamin Matthew Woolley

If you know me, you've heard me talk about Jenni and Ben many times before.  Jenni has been a huge support system for me throughout our fertility and now adoption journey.  Our paths are similar yet very different as all stories are.  I've admired her grace, strength and most of all her faith throughout her journey to Ben.  And Ben... We'll, he is just the most precious baby boy who warms your heart every time you look at him.  He is my signal of hope.  The day he was born will be a day I will never forget for two reasons.  One, it was March 17th, the day our baby was supposed to be 'conceived' through IVF.  And two, March 17th was a long awaited dream come true for Rusty and Jenni.  Their journey was over and Ben, the baby God always intended for them, was born.  I'll never forget talking to Jenni the following morning and she telling me that Ben was finally here.  I joked that our baby could have been conceived on the same day as her baby was born.  How amazing would that have been?  My other line beeped while we were talking and it was Dr. Dunn only to tell me that my eggs unexpectedly disintegrated; a roadblock none of us could have foreseen and we wouldn't be able to have a biological child.  This was the most devastating time in my life to date.  But, every time Ben has a monthly 'birthday', I don't think about that time in my life, I think about our future.  I think about how one day we will be celebrating these milestones with our baby; the baby that God always intended for us.

  

Ben is my signal of hope. 

I'm thrilled beyond words to say that Jenni and Rusty's journey to Ben is officially complete.  Yesterday, they were declared by a judge at their adoption finalization as a forever family.  Benjamin Matthew is officially what we have always known him as - a Woolley.  

Kris and I were honored to have been a part of this very special day in their family's life.  It was a very happy and emotional day for everyone involved.  

I just love this one. Such a happy and loving family. 

I see a mom that is so proud of her son, Rusty.

  

I just love seeing all of these smiles. 

Those are all happy tears. I don't think there was a dry eye in our crowd.

The judge gave Ben a stuffed animal. I'm sure if will be a forever keepsake. 

The Woolley Family!

Rusty, Jenni and Ben with their families. 

Benjamin Matthew Woolley - could you be any cuter?!

I love this sign Jenni made. 

This is Erica, Jenni's best friend and saving grace.

You can see how much love Aunt Erica has for Ben. So incredibly sweet. 

This is my favorite picture of the day.  I see so much love and happiness between three very special people.

Either poor Ben's ears are bothering him or he's a huge Mickey Mouse fan. I think both. 

Jenni - I can't thank you enough for sharing your life and your journey with me.  Without your story, your support and your love, I wouldn't be half as strong as I am today (I’d be in therapy that’s for sure!).  I’m so thankful God made us neighbors – He sure knew what He was doing!  We love you guys and are so grateful for your friendship and all the ways in which you have been there for us.  

Congratulations Woolley family!