Happy New Year to All!

Hello and Happy New Year to all of my friends out here in blogland! I have been on a long break...I know! When last I posted here I believe I mentioned that I would be heading to Florida for my daughter's graduation from university and its been quite a whirlwind few weeks for me...and it isn't going to slow down any time soon!

Remember, I mentioned doing a Bake Sale with my daughter? Here are some of the cookies we did. I was really proud of my daughter...she did an awesome job of decorating them. They also made some pretty unique Christmas presents which kept us really busy.

Last Sunday was the the 12th day of Christmas, the Feast of Epiphany, and so our decorations were not taken down until after that...in fact I'm still doing it a piece at  a time and our Christmas tree is still up! I'll be rounding up the family on Saturday to take care of this(not my favourite task).

My children went back to school on Monday and I've been taking this week to get my life/house back in order and try to make some plans for what my goals are for this new year. It is very hard to think when the house seems to be bursting at the seams with noise and bustling. Any order went out the window quite some time ago and, being the somewhat lover of order that I am, I am itching to get back to some level of non-chaos.

So, let me share a little of what I've been up to since last we met. We flew off to Florida for my daughter's graduation and hoped to get in a little R&R at the same time. My husband was as excited as a little child for this 'vacation'.  He and my employed daughter were the financiers of this trip and they wanted it to be the most wonderful experience for all of us.

Of course, things seldom go according to plan, but despite some hiccups and last minute stuff to do with my graduating daughter (like her shipping which was supposed to be organised weeks before!) we still managed to get in a day at Disney and a day at Universal Studios.

My daughter's graduation was beautiful...long (800 graduates) and you know I cried!  I have been forbidden by the lady herself from putting up pictures under threat of dire punishment (in fact I've been warned about using pics of anyone in this blog except for my youngest and, of course, myself) but I figure if its blurry or faces unseen it doesn't count (crossing my fingers, toes and all that they see it that way too!). Having said that,  I share with you a little of our adventures.

There she is, with her gold Honors stole and her red international one. How could a proud momma not want to share? Seeing that she's practically unrecognizable I hope she'll let this one pass!

Our days were hectic and fun-filled, exhausting but happy.  It was cold! Well, it was for a Caribbean girl like me, but the rest of the family enjoyed it and three of them walked around in shorts and didn't complain once. Me? Well, I had to endure the indignity of wearing a Mickey Mouse sweater because that's all I could get in Disney World. I felt a little vindicated when my daughter caved and bought gloves and scarves the next day.

Getting a piggyback ride (check out those cute ears!)

Being entertained by the Dr Seuss characters

Lil& Mom on Merry-go-round

Mom & Dad take a break!

Lil & her sisters on the Teacup Ride

 The girls had a wonderful time(so did the parents) and my youngest surprised me with her lack of fear on the roller coasters and rides she wanted to go on. She (and the other girls) obviously has the genes of some adventurous ancestor since neither my husband nor I are thrill seekers. You should have seen the size of the roller coaster my girls went on at Universal...the Hulk! Maybe some of you are familiar with it? It looked like a heart attack waiting to happen... to me!

Lil met the princesses...the highlight of her day. Of course, she had to use the bathroom while we were in a long line waiting and, while Daddy took my place, I had to hop over some cords to get her there ASAP, whereupon I promptly fell trying to cross over one. Don't worry...nothing got bruised or broken...much! If you were in line waiting that day...yep...I was THAT mom! When we left the park that evening, she said "This was the best day of my life!" How happy that made her dad and sister, who paid for this adventure. (and to her momma who suffered a bruised ego...at least it was worth it!)

Of course, there is so much more that we did, but you have better things to do I'm sure!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends and the good Lord blesses you and yours with health, strength and happiness for this new year. I'll be back to regular blogging soon...I have missed this little spot of cyberspace and I'll be coming by to check out your blogs as I catch up with each of you. Until then...be blessed!