Breakfast Casserole

Once again, I'm using my blog to save recipes that I come up with so I can recreate them later and not forget how I did it! LOL

½ a bag of Turkey Sausage crumbles
4 large eggs
a few heaping tablespoons of Italian seasoned Diced Tomatoes
1ts of Rancher Seasoning from Wildtree
1c of shredded cheddar
1 can of Grand's biscuits
1 TB of butter

First, I preheated the oven to 350 and used my butter to grease my pan. I cut the biscuits into quarters and laid them in the casserole dish. I mixed all the other ingredients together and poured it on top of the biscuits. It was very tasty, but I think next time I will add more cheese.

Hubfest and a Win!

Last weekend was Hubfest and it was SOOO much fun! If there is one thing we have grown to love about Hattiesburg, is the activities that the city plans for the community! Its great to live in a town that host community events so often. Hubfest is pretty much just a spring celebration where vendors have tents set up and they have a kiddie area.

Cortlyn got her first taste of a Mugshots burger. MAN those are SUPER good! They are huge and just the best burger you have ever tasted! Mommy and Cortlyn shared a burger, and Cortlyn wanted to show it off... and so did Daddy!

In the kiddie area, they set up coloring stations for the kids. Cortlyn thought that was super cool!

Waiting in line for the bouncy house!

And here is Cort getting ready for her audition for Stomp!

We also had a HUGE success this week for Homes of Hope for Children!!! They are the unofficial winners of the grant for $250,000!!! That means they will finish the girls cottage (and lets be clear- this cottage is a BEAUTIFUL home!) and Commissary as well as furnish the home! All while continuing to be debt free! This means, that there will be seven girls living on campus this summer hopefully in time for school to start! Praise God!

Girls Night

Last night was a Girls Night for Cortlyn and I. I had invited a co-worker to come over, with her daughter who is about a month older than Cortlyn. I had no batteries for my camera, and I don't know how to transfer photos to computers- that is Corey's sort of thing!

Megan and Stella arrived and Cortlyn immediately hugged Stella. After about 5 minutes of being here, Cortlyn was saying "Stehlla" and they were having a very good time! They were so excited to play with each other, although, Stella had to figure out what this place was before she really got down to business! We had a cheesy pasta for dinner and then for dessert, Megan brought stuff to make strawberry short cake! YUM! We let the girls help with their whipped cream which was SOOO much fun! Cortlyn first took the tiniest little scoop and wanted to eat it. I grabbed her hand and showed her how to get a scoop of the cream and place it in her half of the little cake. Then, the four of us proceeded to eat the whole package of fresh strawberries! They were really good. We hung out and played with the girls and they even cleaned up some of their mess- of course, they IMMEDIATELY messed it up again, but we're looking at the positives here!

We knew the night was over, when they started arguing over toys when they each had a similar item. We decided that meant it was time for jammies and for Meg & Stel to go home. Cortlyn was very upset to see her new friend leave and screamed for about 2 minutes after I put her in the crib. And then she was OUT for the night. Silly girl!

Today will be spent (Hopefully!) at USM watching the Women's softball tourney! Shelley & Addy are in town, since Addy's daddy is the coach for the Belmont softball team. Julie, Micheal & Caleb will be there as well so it should be a lot of fun! I'm hoping for nice weather, although the forecast said 60% chance of rain. BOO! I'm tired of this crazy weather! We had SNOW FLURRIES again this week. SNOW FLURRIES!!!!!! Is the cold weather following me? I really think it was snowed more here in Mississippi then it did in GA last year! Sigh.

Just an update!

Things have been quiet yet busy around the Southern most Francis household! We've been enjoying the bipolar weather, with a trip to the playground last weekend and bundling up in the puffy jacket this weekend! Crazy. I really thought the weather in Georgia was crazy, but I believe that Southern Mississippi has the corner on that now!!!

Cortlyn is getting more vocal everyday. We're struggling some with her extremely good manners. "Peez!!" is said several times in a row on a daily basis, yet we have no clue what she is wanting when she says it! We're getting better, but we are hoping that she figures out some other words to help Mommy & Daddy out here!

We've got a busy spring ahead for us. Corey's school schedule is full of concerts, events and recitals (well... they haven't quite made it all on the books yet- but he is trying to schedule them!). We're trying to enjoy as much family time right now as possible! We've been cooking dinners at home a LOT and sitting down at the table together. I know that this won't always be possible, but I do love it!

We made it out to Target today with the sole purpose of purchasing shoes (Can someone tell my kid to STOP growing??? We're going to go broke here!!). Of course, the shoes are past the dollar spot and really- who can resist a stop at the Dollar Spot? I searched to see what we needed (a new spoon for the kitchen, a counting book for Cortlyn) and then I saw some silcone cupcake holders! I had already decided with Cortlyn's newest interest in helping and how much fun she had with cookies for Santa, that for her birthday, we'd be decorating cupcakes as the cake AND game! Well, these cupcake holders are colorful and come in different shapes. I got flowers and butterflies! I'm so excited! Strange that cupcake holders would make me so happy, but I'm a mom- isn't that what we do? I also happened to see some sprinkles that were pink and red for Valentine's Day! So, I grabbed those too! I'm thinking I'll have to check back, because they may have some green and gold sprinkles at St Paddy's day and pastles at Easter if I'm lucky! :) We'll be ready for lots of cupcake decorating by the time May rolls around! Oh, and in case you were worried, we DID end up buying some shoes for the girl! She's now comfy in her size 6 shoes.

Our Little helper!

We have a budding chef on our hands! Cortlyn has become quite excited about helping make dinner or lunch as of late! Its been interesting as we try and figure out (quickly, I might add!) how to let help. Sometimes, its easy. We made meatball subs the other night, so we let her sprinkle the cheese on the bread before we toasted. Othertimes, its harder, but we are figuring it out as we go. She is an EXCELLENT cheese sprinkler though. Maybe we should open a pizza place...

Our Christmas!

We had to make a few more cookies for Santa... Chef Cortlyn was on that!

 When we woke in the morning, Cortlyn had so many things under the tree that Santa had brought (And a few things Aunt Cheryl had sent!)

  

Cortlyn was VERY excited about her very own telephone!

 

Santa left one half eaten cookie... which Cortlyn promptly took care of! 

 

After baby got her new outfit on, Cortlyn shared her winter cap that she got from Santa

 

Doctor Cortlyn making sure baby is okay (she is!)

 

 I think this table is going to be a lot of fun for her, she has enjoyed it so far today!

Thanksgiving 2009

Sorry its taking so long to post another blog! Last weekend Nana & Pops came to visit last week, and do you know, I don't have a single picture from that visit?? Sigh. I do have a picture of Cortlyn and daddy hanging out on the couch from that saturday morning (Cortlyn is in her USM t-shirt, although, she had to miss the last game of the season due to freakishly cold & wet weather)


We were able to find a parade on TV (stupid DISH), the Chicago/McDonald's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Cortlyn LOVED to watch the parade and the floats.


She sat there and watched, until I said "Look, Cortlyn! It's Santa!" I didn't expect her to remember Santa or even know what he was about. Well, she shocked me and JUMPED to her feet and pointed at Santa and dancing around. Who'da thunk it?

This is Daddy carving our delish crock pot turkey!! It was SOOO tasty, if I do say so myself!
And this was my shot of the table. We didn't decorate much, but SOMEONE couldn't wait for the meal to start...

Exciting month ahead!

So, the ice cream truck stopped by again on Sunday!!! YEA!!!! Although, it was RIGHT at naptime but it was a nice day and I want Mr. Ice Cream Trusk to know we're a good place to stop in the spring! I thought we could just buy the ice cream and then put it in the freezer and she could have it after nap... Wrong! She figured it out and was NOT happy that we were planning on not giving her the Push Pop right then! So... Momma was the pushover this time. I gave her the ice cream. I figured she was going to eat it anyway, better now than around bedtime, right?

Cortlyn sharing with daddy!

Is this the spitting image of her father or what?

In other exciting news, I found a local beauty pageant to put Cortlyn in! It's not a glitzy, makeup and hair piece thing... just a natural little pageant. I promise... Cortlyn will NOT become a pageant kid! I just think she's so adorable!

The great Push-Up

Tonight was a GREAT night! Why? Because while we were inside our little duplex just hanging out, Momma heard the music of what can only belong to every child's most desired vehicle... THE ICE CREAM TRUCK! We rushed around trying to get somewhat decent (its been an afternoon in pajama's, okay?) and trying to find some cash laying around. We ran outside and up the the window and Cortlyn got her very first Push-up with rainbow sherbet!
Figuring out how it worked...
Good thing we hadn't had a bath yet!
Daddy was worried that the girl would have a sugar rush, but all is well, Cortlyn enjoyed her Push-up and mommy has an ice cream bar in the freezer for later (daddy's still isn't100%... no ice cream for him).

Not MEANING to not post...

We returned from our whirlwind trip home... This is my FAVORITE picture of the girl at Jaemor's Farms.
Since we saw most of our family during our trip home last weekend, we just haven't done anything terribly exciting since then! Corey got sick, I've been working... just kinda normal stuff. Cortlyn still continues to say new words. Tonight she said "sock" as I was putting a pair on her little feet. I love to watch her learn every day!

It has gotten COLD in Southern Mississippi! I'm sure all of you that know me, understand that when I say cold, I mean, it was in the 50's today! BRR!!!! I resisted the temptation to turn on the heat in the house though- SOMEBODY ought to be proud of me! Its been pretty warm until this week here in Mississippi, and last week before I packed to leave on the trip I wanted to try some of Cortlyn's pants on her. She had not worn pants since early spring I'm sure. Well, she was so adorable grabbing the bottoms of her pants and trying to pull them up to her knees and when she walked around she sort of kicked her foot. Poor kid!

Apparently Cortlyn also thinks she's a big kid. She was eating a WHOLE apple at her sitters on Friday. Not pieces cut up. No, Cortlyn saw the other kids eating the whole apple, and so SHE wanted to eat the whole apple. She did great according to Nita (the Sitter) and Corey.

Hibachi!

Tonight was a friend of Corey's birthday party. We packed up and headed to the Japanese Steakhouse...

Look at this face? Seriously? Too cute!
Waiting for the food...
Cortlyn was QUITE amazed with the dinner show...
See... she barely moved!
Until there was food on her plate!!!! :)
We had a wonderful time celebrating Heather's birthday. It was Daddy's visit experience with Hibachi as well, so we had a wonderful night. Corey ALMOST caught some rice in his mouth! The cook we had was very entertaining... he even tried to get Cortlyn involved in the meal. She did great until she was finished eating. She has little patience for the whole "paying the bill." When she's done eating, she is ready to get down and play!

The Art-LESS Walk

Last Saturday, we went to the ArtWalk... which was missing most of the ART! It had rained earlier in the day... But we still had a good time walking around at the few things that were there and exploring what downtown H'burg has to offer. Which isn't a whole lot, other than a great looking tiny whole-in-the-wall greasy spoon and a brick oven pizza place that looks yummy.

We took peanut butter samwich for the Cort Cort. She enjoyed her dinner and ride. (It looks so dark... but it wasn't really even all that late! I think it was the flash.)

Cortlyn thoroughly enjoyed getting her groove on to the steel drum band...

We met her sitter at the art walk... her daughter decided she didn't want to be in the stroller anymore, so Cortlyn decided THAT was the stroller she wanted to be in.