Another year, another trip!

I'm so lucky to have a family that enjoys traveling to Disney Parks as much as I do. I never intended for our family to end up at Walt Disney World so often. I thought when we took our first trip in 2010 that we'd go every few years. However, that quickly changed and we have gone again in 2012 and 2014- not to mention a "girls trip" with my best friend this past summer. Now, we are just weeks away from another trip for our family and I'm getting so excited and antsy!

We decided to make this trip a surprise for our daughters and it's been quite an adventure keeping quiet. I'm hoping that we can make it. We've told them that we were going to the "big city" and that we'll be watching the new Cinderella movie at a fancy theater that has a restaurant. Both of those are truthful statements. LOL We will be spending the night at a hotel in the big city... near the airport! LOL  And then we will be heading to the AMC Fork and Screen at Downtown Disney to watch the Cinderella movie one night.

But the hardest part has been keeping quiet. The girls have been on a kick watching as many Disney Park videos as possible. Thank you YouTube for providing literally hours of entertainment! It's going to be amazing to see their smiling faces when we wake them up early to head to the airport!

Where did the time go

Yikes! Someone is gonna take away my blogging rights if I don't get on here soon, huh? I never intended to get so behind!!

Well, first things first!!! In case you missed it... Our little family is expanding! Yup! Looks like the "Cortlyn Adventures" will be getting a new name here soon. We were caught by surprise, but are very excited about our April addition to the family! So, for now, we'll call the baby The Bean and just pray that everything goes smoothly! Cortlyn wants a baby sister- and she doesn't fall for any tricks! She knows she wants a girl. I'm sure she will be a super big sister!

Football is in full swing at USM! Cortlyn and I enjoyed a WONDERFUL game last week. Even going to the top of the stadium to watch the band at halftime. It was great! This past game was on TV and on a friday night. That didn't work for the Prego and Tired Christen, so Cortlyn and I stayed home. :( BUT in two weeks, one of my best friends Stephanie will be here and we'll leave the girls with a sitter and enjoy the game together! Cannot wait! Cortlyn is looking forward to "Sepony and Anyah" coming to the house!

Hopefully, I'll be able to get on here more often. I've been a little preoccupied planning our family trip to Disney World in December and now with the new Bean, I've just not gotten on here as much! I promise to try to get on and post more often!!!

Crazy Summer

Wow. Its been a year! We have survived our first year here in Hattiesburg! We are excited for the future and are on the downhill slope. The chances for Corey getting a great job next year seem pretty good, we already know of several openings in different states for the 2011 school year and we are sure that more will open up. We have a lot to consider as we gear up for finding a job! Of course, our first choice would be to end up back in the North Georgia area, but we are NOT being closed minded! If God opens doors in Texas, Florida or Arizona, that's where we will go!

On Father's day we ended up going to a local lake park. Nothing like Lake Lanier, but it was a blast. Cortlyn enjoyed swimming and playing in the sand and the adults got to go out on some jet ski's! Cortlyn got to go out in a tube for the first time. which was scary and fun at the same time. Of course, Mommy rode with her, but she seemed to have a good time!

We've been so busy lately! For the Fourth, we traveled to Birmingham to see our friends Stephanie, Scotlon & Alaina. It was a perfect time to rest and hang out! I would post pictures, but because I aim low, I left my camera! Stephanie is suppose to be mailing it to me... at some point!

Cortlyn is officially big enough to be turned around to forward facing. While the "law" says they can be turned at one year and 20 pounds, research shows that staying rear-facing to the limits of the car-seat is the safest! Cortlyn actually was sort of shocked when we turned her in our car. She is a tall little girl, with short legs (like her momma!) and we have her in the tallest carseat shell we can afford. She's growing up so fast!
Football/Marching season is quickly approaching. Just thinking about the football games and the excitement of the pre-game festivities makes me want to wear my Gold and black!

Living by the seat of our pants!

Well, last night, Corey looks at me and says "What do you want to do for Mother's Day?" I thought about it for a minute and said "Why don't we go to the beach?" With the oil spill in the Gulf, the time to go enjoy the beach could be significantly shortened this summer. So, why not? We're close to the beach- lets do it!

Cortlyn LOVED the beach. When we told her this morning we were going, she got so excited! She was ready to be there!! We put in the Car-Ride-Helper (That good old Mary Poppins!) and headed to Pensacola. We have been there before so we knew what to expect as far as the parking/showering. It made the most sense to go with what we know!

Enjoy the picture overload!!!

Beach Time!

It was bound to happen, and now it has! We have a beach bunny on our hands! Cheryl and Emily were in Pensacola for a volleyball tournament and we went to go watch Emily kick some hieny and then tagged along with the Volleyball girls to Pensacola Beach.





















It was warm, but VERY windy! If the wind hadn't been so bad, it would have been a perfect day at the beach. I was very glad that I brought some knit capri's for myself! Cortlyn thoroughly enjoyed playing in the sand! This is where she proved that she isn't my kid! She was pouring the sand on her arms and rubbing it in her hair- She LOVED the sand! Bring it on!

She was very excited about the water too! When she saw the water she was ready to get in there! So, Cortlyn and Daddy headed towards the water! Of course, we knew it was freezing, but how could we keep her out of the water? And this wasn't a bath- she wasn't slowing down on her way towards it!

She had no problem being in the cold water! She was not happy when we took her out! Crazy girl... I see a lot of sand in my future!

So Proud!

Cortlyn is just getting bigger and bigger. I can't believe that this little girl was beginning to pull up on everything this time last year! Its amazing that she runs around the house and chases after us to tickle mommy or runs to hug her daddy. Her hair is finally starting to grow, but man it has the weirdest pattern. I'm sorry baby girl- that would be something you inherited from me!

She's getting very interested in putting on her own clothes. However, this new "talent" is still a work in progress. Shirts become skirts and shoes on the wrong feet. But she is proud of what she's doing! She recently found a pair of our socks and successfully put them on and was running around the house with her latest fashion statement! Mommy's little trendsetter!

Our sitter has been working with her own daughter preparing for preschool with flashcards of letters and numbers. Cortlyn is always close by in the highchair and while they are doing their lessons, Nita includes Cortlyn in all of their studies. This week, Cortlyn counted to 8 using the flashcards with Nita. I feel so blessed to have found such a wonderful woman to care for my daughter. It broke my heart to leave Stephanie *MiMi* behind in Georgia (and this is a different Steph from the one we are seeing this weekend!). I'm glad that we were able to find Nita just in the nick of time!

Cortlyn and I are excited to be headed to Birmingham, AL this weekend to spend some time with Stephanie and Alaina. Steph's family lives there and have allowed us to crash there so we can get the girls together! Cortlyn loves her An-yah! And we have the DVD player ready with Poppins ready to play. Corey will be home focusing on a Paper, Project and Test that he has next week. My hard working student is doing so well down here in school. I'm proud of how hard he is working! We are a pretty good team, if I say so myself. We have found a routine that works for us and we are seeing that light at the end of the tunnel beginning to shine ever-so-softly!

Cortlyn & Alaina

Alaina belongs to one of my best friends, Stephanie. Alaina survived very grim odds when she was born and is our little miracle! Stephanie decided spur of the moment to drop everything and run away for the weekend and visit me- something we both were overdue for!!! Cortlyn LOVED Alaina!

Stephanie got here late on Friday night and then Saturday morning, we decided to follow USM to New Orleans and spend a few hours over there. It was SOO much fun to have Alaina around! I can't wait til our next girls weekend!

THERE'S THE SUNSHINE!

Well, folks... there was sun and lots of it today! Cortlyn got to play in her kiddie pool in the backyard. She enjoys splashing around in the pool in the backyard. We have the big umbrella up to shade her though, since the sun is SOOO bright here!

For lunch today, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. Cortlyn had a good time and was amazed at all the TV's to watch her beloved football on! She started to get restless after we ate and while we were waiting on the check, so we went to the small little game room. I sat her in the car racing video game, and she was having fun pushing the flashing buttons and steering. Corey has a picture of this on his phone... we'll have to get it loaded on here for you later!

Yesterday, Cortlyn and I went to Mobile to go to a friend's baby shower. Cortlyn proved again that she is not a fan of car rides. I had a passenger seat full of toys, snacks and books to help keep her entertained. Didn't help at certain points. I hate to hear her crying in the backseat, but I also know that car rides are a fact of life, so she will have to get used to them at some point. I'm going to start looking for a DVD player that you can strap to the headrest. I hate to have to use that in the car, but I also, think our sanity is going to need a break of some sort when we do try and come home! She did however fall asleep within 5 minutes of getting back in the car to come home... but it was a short nap of only 20 minutes. SIGH... It was great however to see Constance and help shower her expected baby boy with lots of cute clothes and diapers! Cortlyn enjoyed chasing the kitten that belonged to the girl hosting the party, along with Constance's little girl Ella.

I did however win the stupid mom move award last night. :) I put Cortlyn to bed and she was out like a light... well, after about an hour, I heard her chatting. That's VERY odd for Cortlyn, so I left her alone, thinking she'd fall back asleep. Not so much. So, I went to her room and the LIGHT was on! I had accidently turned off her ceiling fan instead of the light! YIKES! She was jumping in her crib and all hiped up. I knew we'd have a fight if I tried to just turn off the light, so I let her get up for a few minutes to see her daddy (since he was at the USM game ALL day long!) and put her to bed about 20 minutes later. She went right back to sleep... but I'll never forget that look on her face. Something like I KNOW I'm awake past my bedtime- woohoo! Sigh... Corey put her to bed tonight and YES the light is OFF!