Recipe help!

Does anyone have...or can anyone point me to a website or blog that has a wonderful, delicious, really crispy-crunchy chicken fingers recipe??? I cant tell you how many times I have tried to make them (oven-baked and stove-top-fried) and the coating just NEVER sticks and it never quite satisfies like Chili's or Applebee's chicken tenders...and now Hardees is coming out with their own "hand-dipped" chicken tenders! I want to know the secret to getting a nice, crunchy coating and to making it STICK. I've tried egg, buttermilk, plain milk...I've tried coating in flour before coating in the wet mixture...but to no avail. So how 'bout it? Does anyone know the secret??
PS-For the BEST mexi-meal ever, check out this recipe on one of my new favorite blogs It ain't cheap because of all the spices it calls for (twice!) but it's divine! I just made a double batch of the chicken mixture and will freeze half of it to pull out and use after the baby is born. Here is my other favorite food blog. Yum!

What do June Showers bring???

April showers might bring May flowers, but June Showers bring July babies. :~)
A BIG "THANK YOU" to my sweet mother and sister-in-laws for throwing me a super-cute shower and "THANK YOU" to all the sweet friends and family that attended. We will definitely use all the diapers, wipes and boy clothes we recieved!! The food and company were excellent and one of my favorite parts of the evening was the "Baby Food-Sampling Game". I doubt the players enjoyed the game as much as the spectators did. :~) Too funny!!! Thanks again to everyone!!!



I was looking around the storage/Nursery room a week or so ago and realized how boring it was with the plain white walls and furniture crammed into every corner...and I decided I needed to do something to make this room really feel like it belonged to baby Jacob. I saw a cute idea on my friend Mindy's Blog and decided to give it a try. Now, she used the big, paper-mache letters, which turned out adorable, but I found these letters 50% off at Hobby Lobby, so I grabbed them. They are more flat and were already finished with a white paint, but I loved their whimsical shapes! I picked out some scrapbook paper with matching colors and Modge-Podged the paper on top of the letters after tracing and cutting out the shape. I Modge-Podged the top to give it a shine and protect the paper, but next time I will watch my brush strokes more carefully. In the right light, you can really see the srokes going all different directions. :~( On the whole...I quite like them, although I think I need to go back (when I get my next burst of energy) and measure their positions to get the letters to be a little straighter. I had to stand on a step stool and lean my big belly over the crib in order to reach the wall so...maybe it will have to wait until after he's here. :~)

Happy 7th Birthday, Brooklynn!

My baby turned 7 last week and we had a really fun time celebrating the occasion. One thing that she really wanted to do was go to The Melting Pot, a chic fondue restaurant in Knoxville. So a BIG thanks to Grandma Sue-Sue & Grandpa Brad for granting that wish. She could hardly wait for that evening to come and when it did she got all dolled up in a dress and heels. :) Too cute! We met Russ there after he got off work and the restaurant had a birthday card waiting for her at our table.

She LOVED the cheese appetizer...

...but as you can see from her fudge-smeared face and from her seal-of-approval kiss...the chocolate desert was her FAVORITE! (mine too!)

~Russ had to work on Saturday which was her actual birthday so the girls and I went and saw the newest Shrek movie, which was actually pretty good.

~We had her birthday party with family on Sunday after church. Thanks to all of you who helped make this such a special birthday with your love and well-wishes! As you can see, she had a BLAST! Lorna made her some Raggedy Ann pajamas that Brooklynn liked so much that she went and changed into them at the party! It took several people to convince her that they were indeed pajamas and not play clothes. Funny girl!

~Brooklynn, you are such a light in my life and I can't imagine my life without you!! If success in life is based on the amount of smiles, laughter and pure joy they have brought into the world...you are definitely the MOST successful person I know! I remember how your daddy and I would go to sleep with our sides hurting from giggling so much with you. For the first few years of your life we didn't even turn on the TV because YOU were the entertainment! Then, as you kept growing, you amazed me again with your eagerness and capacity to learn. Your inquisitive nature and determination have proven to be a challenge to me as a parent at times, but have also made me sit back and look at you with heart-warming pride. And you just keep making my life better! When your baby sister came along after 4 years of being the only child, I worried about how you would adapt. We definitely had our moments of adjusting...but you have proven to be a HUGE help to me!! You have such strong nurturing and motherly instincts and they have proven extremely helpful to our family. Words cannot express the gratitude that a mother has when her children genuinely try to make family life sweet & harmonious! Thank you for just being you!!! I love and adore you and look forward to what the future holds for you and what YOU hold for the future!!