Thing that must go

Something that MUST go: People who hug me, poke me, throw snowballs at me, or otherwise try to invade my personal space via facebook. Furthermore, I am not interested in joining your "cause", playing farmtown, or joining in for the mafia wars thing. I have my own causes and games I enjoy and you don't see me trying to push them on you, do I? Just a current peeve of mine I felt compelled to share. Hope everyone enjoys their turkey-induced coma tomorrow!

It's going on in the kitchen but I don't know what's cooking

Gangtsa's Paradise, anyone? Coolio? No? Just me?

Anywho, I am in no way a chef. In fact, the thought of cooking dinner in the evening gives me cold sweats. But I came across a recipe that I have modified and made my own that I would like to share with you all (all 3 of you) because it is SUPER EASY and mighty tasty.

Chicken Macaroni Bake

2 cups uncooked macaroni noodles
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheese
1 can chicken breast in water, drained (or cook up 1 chicken breast & shred)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl (don't cook the noodles) - transfer mixture to greased 9 x 13 pan - cover with tin foil - bake for 1 hour at 350 - this recipe feeds our family of 4 (2 adults & 2 kids) and usually has leftovers for at least 1 lunch, if not 2.

Seriously, uncooked noodles and canned food? Does it get any easier than that? I think not. You can also rotate thru your food storage with this recipe. I'm pretty sure everyone has macaroni noodles and you can use powdered milk in this recipe with no problem. You can use the reduced fat soups and fat free milk and it tastes the same. The rest of the items are items most of us have in food storage anyway, besides the cheese. I've also made it without the cheese and it's still tasty. We're a cheese-loving family so I add it. But in a pinch, do without! You could also try to sneak in some veggies if you're into that kind of thing. The kids LOVE it!

Happy happy birthday Tysen, dear

Ok, it's a total mommy blog. It was my kid's birthday, deal with it.

Tysen turned 7 in October. How is it that I have a 7 year old? Not sure about that one. Perhaps I was 12 when he was born. Yes, let's go with that.

We normally hesitate having big friend parties. Mostly because I have no patience whatsoever and I'm cheap. But he hasn't had a birthday party since he was 4 so I caved. He decided he wanted a Space themed party. Here's how it went:

I made super-cute invites with a pic from the NASA website of all the planets on the front. They turned out way better than I expected. I'm a little disappointed I didn't scrapbook something, but I work, ok. Give me a break.

First, all the kids played in the backyard for a while. This, I can totally handle. There are various sorts of construction materials in our backyard from improvements we've done since moving in. They were in 7th heaven playing in the yard. Luckily no one bled profusely, so we're all good.

Then, they took turns coming inside to make alien masks. Toby's nieces helped me cut out all the face and ear pieces and I painted all the antennae blue, red & green. The kids had fun and they all turned out cute!
Then, we rounded all the kids up and went outside for the flying saucer toss. My mom helped me make the flying saucers out of paper plates with a paper bowl hot-glued to the underside of the plate. They flew a lot farther than I expected!
After the flying saucers, we blew up film canister rockets. The kids thought that was really cool and again, it worked a lot better than I expected and no one lost an eye. I put that in the win column. Unfortunately, no great pics of that.

We took the kids inside where they played a meteor dart game. I made the dart board out of felt and puff paint. I also made the meteor out of a Styrofoam ball, tin foil & Velcro. It was pretty cute (and still up in my living room if anyone wants to play a round) Tysen opened presents and then it was time for the solar system cake I made. Seriously Martha Stewart, right? (PS don't google 'space cake' unless you keep Cannabis in your pantry) When the kids left, they got to take home their masks as well as a "moon rock" made of coffee dough with a bouncy ball hidden inside along with crayons and a coloring book I made from pics I found online from the Space Program seen here. I was surprised how much the rocks really looked like actual rocks.
Tysen had fun, other than the one meltdown he had. I'm sure Tysen's favorite part was having Grandma & Grandpa Day come for his birthday! Overall I'd say it was successful. I felt even better about it after my drug-induced coma. Next year we're doing Chuckie Cheese.

We also had Halloween (like the rest of the country). Tysen wanted to be a vampire. I borrowed a Snow White costume from a co-worker for Audrey. She was obsessed with the headband. We had an added bonus of Kenlynne's hands and Tysen's hair being stained blue for a couple days from the black stuff we put in Tysen's hair. Thanks to Caryn & Rusty for taking Tysen to the ward party since Audrey was sick that day. As long as I'm mommy blogging, I'll mention that Tysen is playing soccer again this season and having a blast! This is my favorite picture of him because the look on his face makes me laugh and I think the kid in the green is picking his/her nose. This is T with his best friend on the team, Nathaniel.

That's what's up with us for now. We're so interesting, right?