Easter Greetings From Easter Lily!

Happy Easter, y'all! Easter Lily has had a fabulous day - and hopes you have, too! Now, last year, we were all still getting the hang of this "Lily" thing. We went to mass, ate a whole heap of goodness, and went home. This year, since we're all a little more mobile, we did it up right!

Monogrammed Easter Dress by Modest Me Designs

Beautiful!

Yesterday, we prepped for the Big Bunny by dying eggs for the first time! Yellow, Pink, Blue and Green.

Then we put out the decor. Mommy got to use her new silver coffee/tea service for the first time!Perfect opportunity to break it in, don't you agree?

Vintage foil bunnies are a must

Then the Big Day! This morning, I got up with the sun to finish making the goodies for brunch, and found this waiting for our Easter Lily:

Easter Lily checking out the loot!

Bubbles!

After mass, Kiki, Po, Aunt Brenna and Uncle Will came over for brunch. Looks like the Easter Bunny visited them, too. Look what they brought!

Easter Basket Deux

Easter Lily rockin' shades

Mowgli was especially thrilled to see Po!

Brunch was fabulous! Coffee and OJ, Sausage Casserole, Tomato Spinach Frittata, Cheddar Grits with Louisiana Hot Sauce, and Strawberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake!

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Perfection!

Happy Easter, Y'all!

Cheeseburger Meatloaf

We tried a new dish recently that went over so well I just had to share it. Part Paula Deen, part moi (read: the most fabulous combination ever), it's a different take on the typical meatloaf. Not pretty by any means, but so gooey and yummy it makes up for it! Here it is, y'all. Cheeseburger Meatloaf!

Grab a pound of ground beef, 2 eggs, half of an onion (diced), some minced garlic, a cup of grated cheddar, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 cup sour cream (for real), 1 sleeve of crushed Ritz crackers, stay with me, y'all I'm almost done, 1/4 cup ketchup and 1/4 cup yellow mustard. You can also add bits of bacon, but let's not get too crazy. Just kidding. Let's. Add chopped up cooked bacon to taste.

Mix everything together (with your hands, bien sur, and form it into loaf and toss it in a pan. Pop it in the oven for 35 minutes at 350. Add half a can of french fried onions (the kind you put in green bean casserole!) to the top and return the beast to the oven for another 15 min.

While it's a cookin', mix one can cream of mushroom soup and one cup of milk and bring it to a boil in a sauce pot on the stove. Add a cup and a half of shredded cheddar and the other half of your onion (diced) and mix. Pour about half over the meat once it's done and serve! You'll have a good chunk of the sauce left over, but it's awesome to save and use on just about anything else. The next day I added some to our eggs for breakfast and then used it on baked chicken for dinner. It's amazing!

Enjoy!

Nakie Babies and Odd Faces

Now how's that for a title? So lately Tally has been hot as Hades - unusual this early in the year. But, we Floridians cope. Lily has a slight advantage, though:

I don't think I could get away with this solution! Nakie baby is a happy baby!

To wrap things up, we've also come across a new "I'm not happy" face to use in lieu of "shame on you" face. Attractive, non?

It Walks! It Sleeps!

She's walking.

She has taken baby steps before, but never more than one or two. Yesterday, she took four. To Mowgli. They were playing with nail polish (not as bad as it sounds) and he stepped back. She stood up. He stepped back again, as if he's been watching us as Jason and I have been doing the very same thing for weeks now. He knew the drill, and it worked. She took four steps over to him, slapped pet him, and sat back down. Now Baby Girl is all confidence and a half. We are so tres proud of her, but can't help but think we're in much more trouble now than ever before! Baby girl is mobile!

Also, I hereby give my overwhelmingly passionate endorsement to Sleep Training. Lily is now a self-soother when it comes to letting herself fall asleep, and she hasn't woken up pre-7am in a week! Lily is well rested, Daddy is thrilled for the extra Z's and Mommy doesn't need nearly as much paint to cover up the circles under her eyes! Win-win-win!

Top O' The Mornin'!

Hope y'all had a fabulous St. Patrick's Day! We played it pretty low key over here, but I made sure we started the day off well within the theme!

Legit bowl o' porridge, y'all. Takes forever to make but totally worth it!

Picture o' the Lassies

Reading a bit o' Southern Living

Bit o' Mowgli lovin'. Kiss me, I'm Irish!

Too much o' the green milk will do things to a wee one!

Hope everyone had a merry and safe celebration!

Tuesday Tortilla Soup

Tuesday nights do not produce some of my best work (or effort) in the kitchen. So tonight I made what is possibly the easiest, cheapest and no-hasslest (just go with it) tortilla soup ever. Wanna see how?

First, assemble the Team. This is the most common view from the stove at our house. Even if you're just making coffee. The Team is there for food you.



Team Support is tres important when being lazy in the kitchen and trying to be sneaky about it. Brown and drain a pound of ground beef. Then check back in with the Team:



Lookin' good. OK. Then add:

1 can Tomato Soup
1/2 cup salsa
1/4 cup water
1 cup shredded cheese
5 tortillas ripped into pieces. Take out your Tuesday frustrations on the tortillas. They can handle it.

Now stir it all up. Keep it on Med-Low until it bubbles. Serve it up with a dollop of Daisy and Diet Dr. Pepper ("Diet" 'cause it's healthier, of course.)

Early March

So here's what's been going on in our neck of midtown:


We got a new couch! His name is Beauregard.


Last weekend, Mommy worked at Southwoodstock. It's a Woodstock-inspired annual community event benefiting the Catholic High School. We had artists, musicians, amazing food, family activities and, new to this year's event, dancers! And guess who got 'em there? We had a dance troupe from a local studio perform, Irish step dancers to get the crowds psyched for St. Patty's Day, and a very special performance from the Tallahassee Ballet. Fabulous! Lily came to supervise:

"What are you doing, taking pictures? Get back to work, Mommy!"

Fan Favorite, Braidan and family came, too!

We're all gearing up for St. Patrick's day over here, and to prepare for all that corned beef and cabbage, look what Lily has been working on! Yay!

A note on Sleep Training: The first night was rough. It took about two hours of us going in every twenty minutes to soothe her cries and dry her tears. But last night, night two, it only took one twenty-minute shift to get the job done! We'll see if it's just a fluke after tonight!