Recipe of the MONTH - Chicken Spaghetti

It has been a long time since I have done a recipe of the month post. To be honest I haven't tried to many new recipes lately. I have been emotionally and physically drained of creativity in my cooking and crafting that I haven't wanted to even try something new, BUT one of my sweet friends (Ann Landis) gave me a recipe for Chicken Spaghetti. She made it for our family when Justin had his knee surgery and afterwards I had to have the recipe because it was so good!!!! So I thought I would share it with all of you. It is super simple, but so tasty. It is the perfect dish for a potluck or a large family event.

Here are the ingredients.

Ingredients:

4-6 chicken breasts cooked and shredded (I like to cook the chicken in the crock pot for most of the day)

12 oz of cooked spaghetti

1 can of Rotel (it is found in the mexican aisle)

1 can of chicken broth

2 cans of Cream of Chicken Soup

1 lb. of Velveeta cheese, cubed

1 1/2 cups of shredded Cheddar Cheese

salt & pepper for taste

Directions:

Cook chicken like I said I like to cook it in the crock pot for most of the day. When it has finished cooking take out the chicken breasts and shred. Next cook spaghetti follow cooking instructions on the spaghetti bag. While spaghetti noodles are cooking in a large sauce pan melt the Rotel, chicken broth, Velveeta cheese, Cream of Chicken soup, and the shredded cheese together. Allow for it all the melt and blend together. After your sauce is created and noodles are cooked combine all the items together...sauce, noodles, and chicken... it makes a large amount so make sure you combine them in a large enough bowl or pan. Put the mixture in a 9X13 pan or as I did today I put it in (2) 8X8 pans that were lined with foil (I plan on freezing my chicken spaghetti that I made today to eat at a later time).

Bake @ 350 degrees for 1 hour in 9X13, small sizes can be less time, just keep an eye on it.

Like I said before I plan on freezing these 8x8 to eat at a later time. I lined my pans with foil so that once they are frozen I can take them out of the pan and the chicken spaghetti with stay in tact. This is a great way to organize frozen meals, they take up less room in the freezer then a pan would and you have the use of pans.

Thanks so much to Ann for sharing your yummy recipe. I hope you all get a chance to try it out for yourselves and remember Happiness is Homemade!

Arizona Museum of Natural History

DINOSAURS!!!! Who doesn't like dinosaurs, right? Today Logan and I picked up Emma and we headed out of a family fun afternoon at the Arizona Museum of Natural History or as my kiddos like to call it the Dinosaur Museum. This museum is so awesome! I went to it when I taught first grade and I took Emma when she was stroller age, so it has been a long time since we have been back. Emma and Logan LOVED the museum. They loved the big dinosaur mountain that is in there, they loved listening to the dinosaurs roar, and liked the hands on experiences that were there as well. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon.

Emma loves rocks especially rocks with sparkles!

My cute kiddos.

One of the dinosaurs on Dinosaur Mountain.

Checking out the exhibit. You can tell Emma isn't so sure about it.

Another dino on Dinosaur Mountain.

Dino Fossils.

Logan and T-Rex.

The museum also had an entire Arizona section so the kids got to play in Indian houses and see what a mine looks like, they even paned for gold. Logan got soaked, but it was worth it. haha!

Emma and her gold nugget she found.

Logan's 1st Day of Preschool

Wow today was Logan's first day of preschool. After a week of sickness we were ready to start the preschool year. Logan was so excited this morning to meet his new friends and play downstairs. This morning I finally realized that my youngest is now in MY preschool. It is just so amazing how fast time goes by. Anyways Logan did great today! He realized that he can't go upstairs when he wants and he can't bring toys downstairs into school...haha, but other than that I think he had a great time. Below are a few pictures from our morning.

First day of Preschool breakfast. Logan's favorite waffles and cereal!

Outside our front door with his sister.

Me and My boy! (Thanks Emma for the picture.)

Playing with play dough while friends arrive.

Making his Clifford craft.

Friendship Fruit Salad for snack.

Overall I had a great first day of school with my handsome boy. I am so lucky to do what I love and share it with my kids!!!!

Family Office

We have a desk area in our kitchen. It has served as a catch all area as well as our family operations headquarters. Today I decided that it needed a make over. Most of the time it is a mess of clutter and calendars. I knew that I needed a better way of staying organized so I created what I hope will be the best way of staying on top of all our schedules and activities. Below is a picture of our desk. I wish I would have taken a before pictures.

I added cork board above our phone and we also have a bulletin board on the side (it was already there). I covered all the boards with scrapbook paper and tried to fancy it up a bit. I don't like things to look to plain.

I love looking at other blogs and I found this idea on a few mommy blogs. It is a binder that has important information in it. I liked this idea because everything was all compiled into one location, no more looking around for specific things. I put information about my kids in it, there is a school section, allergy section, and really anything you think is important. I think it is a great idea for any family.

I added these clothespins to the board so that I could hold items that I would be taking off eventually. Like invitations, cards, etc. I thought it was a fun way to stay organized.

Anyways I love to stay organized and don't always have the time to devote to it, but I hope you all find it fun to see some of my organization in action.

SICKNESS!

Emma and Logan have both been battling a fever. Emma has had it for 4 days and Logan has had it for 2 days. It has been frustrating to say the least. The fever is low grade, but has just exhausted them. Not to mention it has come at the beginning of the school year for both of them. Emma managed to go to school 4 days last week and has missed 2 days so far. Today was suppose to be the first day of preschool and I had to cancel it because of the this fever thing. Needless to say I am ready for this to pass and for my sweet kiddos to get to feeling better. I just hope that this is a fluke and it will be a long school year if we are constantly battling different sicknesses.

Oh side note: the picture you see above was taken the other night before bed. Justin found these cooling pads that kids can wear on their heads to keep their fevers down. They are pretty cool. I had to take a picture of both kids wearing them because they looked to cute even though they are sick.

ASU Football Practice

College football will be starting soon. Our family is looking forward to spending Saturdays tailgating and cheering on our favorite team ASU! Recently Justin took Logan down to the practice fields to watch ASU practice. They had a blast!

Emma's 1st Day of Kindergarten!!!

It was an exciting day in the Chase household. Ms. Emma had her first day of Kindergarten! It was a fun day for Emma and I managed to not cry until I was out of her classroom this morning. Below you will see pictures from our morning...

Emma's 1st day of kinder breakfast, her favorite bacon and pancakes.

Logan eating breakfast too.

Pictures at home before school.

This one is my favorite, she is so excited!!!

Family picture outside of the school.

Putting her backpack away.

Finding her seat!

Proud Momma picture!

Another one!

Really excited!!!

Emma's schedule for the day.

Daddy and his girl!

One last I LOVE YOU!

Logan wishes he was in kindergarten too.

Bye Guys!!!

Gift for the big kindergarten girl!

Picking her up after school. She had a great time!

Making Back to School Brownies after school!

Hooray for Kindergarten!!!!