Woe is me — I’m super-sad our vacation is over.  It was awesome.  30 family members.  One week in Orlando (where my brother lives) and one week on a cruise to the Bahamas, St. Thomas and St. Maarten.  We are all wearing stretchy pants these days.

Here are 6465321 pictures to show you just how awesome it was:

The family vacation is about to wrap up so I’m stocking up on tropical drinks and sunshine as we speak.  Have a great weekend and look forward to vacation photos galore on Monday (if I’m able to crawl out from the pile of laundry I’m sure to face).

Until then, another pina colada!

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Mason’s preschool is holding an auction fundraiser in March so I designed and assembled 250 invitations for the event.  It struck me while I was at about #183 that these are a little fancy for a preschool event but hey, it’s for a good cause.  Speaking of, I’m more than willing to accept donations!

…but I’ll take his vacation home any day.  Check out other presidential candidates’ homes here.

image via nytimes

These monthly organization checklists from my favorite organizing site Simplify 101 are so great.  I look forward to them every month — wipe the slate clean!

I printed them all off and also wrote things like birthdays and bills to pay that only happen a few times a year, like our car insurance.  Then they go in this tickler file system I have setup with a folder for each month.  I also bought enough birthday cards for the entire year and have them in the appropriate month’s folders.  Try it — you’ll love it!

You know what two of my favorite memories were this holiday season?

Riding with Mason and Matt on a 100-year-old steam train while listening to a reading of The Polar Express.  Pure magic.  And working on a puzzle with Matt late into the night on Christmas day.

The toys and gifts were great.  I love making the house all sparkly.  Dinners with family and friends were very nice.  But some of my favorite moments were quiet and old-fashioned and simple.

*****

Several people forwarded me the article “The Joy of Quiet” on New Year’s Day.  It was excellent timing; I read the article in the middle of thinking about resolutions for 2012.  A good read (and reminder to me) that being constantly online with information coming at you all the time isn’t what makes us smarter or better.  I’m definitely craving quietness and a break from constant information so that I can just think and sort out my goals.  Yoga is sounding really good right now.

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Is anyone else craving grapefruit?  We’re eating a ton of it.  I think it’s a January-New Year thing.  So clean and un-fussy.

This grapefruit rosemary cocktail sounds like it would hit the spot, too.

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Mason was fighting an ear infection after Christmas but so wanted to play with his new loader and tractors in the gravel outside.  Compromise:  a bin full of rice.  I stole this idea from his preschool; they have a sensory table full of rice or lentils and toys like funnels, measuring cups and loaders for the kids to play in.  It’s kept Mason occupied and happy while I’m cooking/cleaning.  A huge hit!

(Except when the dog ate a bunch of rice off the floor and puked.  That wasn’t so fun for me.)

If the captions are jumping around, you can view it directly on the youtube page here.