finley's blessing day

on sunday, december 21st, we blessed finley jean!

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i started *and* finished her dress on saturday ... nothing like a deadline to get me moving on a project. everything turned out lovely. she looked beautiful (of course there were things i would have changed ... but overall i LOVED it.) we were surrounded by friends and family who truly care about our little family. robby gave a beautiful blessing ... overall it was a FABULOUS day.

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here is a picture of our little family.

here is our family with robby's mom, who joined us for the blessing, then headed off to her church to sing ... then joined us again for food after.

finley with my parents. pictures of finley ... i mean is *was* her special day. i sure think she looked cute!close up pictures of her outfit ... headband (all of the flowers are on hairclips ... so they are removable ... and finley can wear them when she gets older and grows more hair)diaper cover ... nicole called them "boy shorts" they looked soooo cute on her under her dress.some close-ups of her dress.and the baby shoes that i made totally completed the ensemble! i absolutely LOVED how they turned out ... and the flower clips just made them 100% cuter!

EDIT: the white fabric was some of the 90/10 cotton lycra knit that i use for my modest clothing (http://www.jocole.net/), the white netting was leftover from the curtains in my living room (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90111980), the headband was made from some nylons.

men in her circle: robby, my dad, scott, tj, my grandfather, and chad kelland ... patrick was supposed to be there, but couldn't because his wife and daughter were sick.

aidan loves his great-grandparents

aidan loves his great-grandparents, g-papa and gigi (ya know ... "G"reat-"G"randma.) yup ... he loves 'em ... and balloons ... let's not forget balloons ... he points them out in stores, on tv, while driving in the car.

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last weekend my parents watched aidan while robby and i attended his work christmas party. my parents had planned to attend a retirement party so they took aidan with them. he was the life of the party saying "hi" and patting them to everyone he saw. all of the sudden he yelled "papa" and started running away from them. my mom tried telling him that "papa" was with her (my dad is called "papa" and was standing next to her). he continued to run. as my mom made her way through the crowd her found aidan. he was at the feet of his great-grandfather and was patting his legs, motioning he wanted to be picked up and excitedly saying "papa" over and over.

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i LOVE that aidan knows his family and is excited when he is with them! when my mom was telling me about what happened it brought joy into my heart. this is why we are so lucky to be able to live close to family.

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updates for this week:

first words the nursrey leader said to me on sunday as i went to pick up aidan ... "what did you feed him for breakfast?! pixy stix?!" apparently he was more exuberant than usual.

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aidan's vocabulary is amazing me everyday. he can now count to 10 and uses sentances (6 words so far!) sheesh! he's growing up so fast!

aidan loves his paci

aidan loves his paci. we've been trying to limit it, sometime is works sometimes it doesn't. these 2 pictures CRACK me up. he's silly even when he has a paci in his mouth. and yes he really does walk around with 2 pacifiers in his mouth.

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head on over to the jocole blog ... i'm talking about clothing personalities this week (on monday, wednesday and friday)

recipe wednesday - parmachoba chicken

parmachoba chicken
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ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
1/4 C Ranch Dressing (prepared)
2/3 cup ritz crackers - crushed (or bread crumbs, potato flakes ... etc.)
2/3 cup parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp dried basil
1/4 C butter, cut into pieces
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directions:

1. preheat over to 400 degrees.

2. marinate the chicken in the ranch dressing, at least for a half hour.

3. in a shallow bowl combine the crushed crackers, parmesan cheese and basil.

4. dip the marinated chicken into the cracker mixture to coat.

5. arrange chicken in a 9x13 baking dish, and place the pieces of butter on top of each piece of chicken.

6. bake in preheated over for 25 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink and the juice run clear.

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the chicken is so tender and flavorful, robby said this was the best chicken i've ever made.

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yes i realize the name is ridiculous ... when i was telling my sister about my made up recipe she said it needed an awesome name, so there you have it: "parmachoba chicken". ENJOY!!