Birthday Presents for Daddy

It's tough to find a gift for Daddy's birthday that is useful and meaningful and cheap!  It's even more difficult to find something that the kids can make without it being too "girly" and "crafty".

BUT OH, we had fun with this little treasure!
 Super-Hero inspired paper weights!

We got the idea from one of Abby's craft books: "Family Fun: Cut and Easy Crafts."

The kids went outside and found 4 good sized rocks from the driveway.  We brought them in, washed and dried them.

Then I put them in the oven on top of aluminum foil for 15 minutes at 350*.

Pulled them out and put them on a paper plate and let the kids color/paint them with crayons.  The crayons melt onto the hot rock and creates a really cool, shiny look.  To add the swirls, we used a 2nd crayon and pressed it down in certain spots until it started to run.

BE VERY CAREFUL with little ones however...Caedmon will be the first to tell you that it HURTS if you touch the rocks!!  They are HOT! 

We also created a Mod Podge version.  The kids took red tissue paper and Spider-man stickers and pressed it onto a rock then painted over it all with Mod Podge.  A couple of hours later, it's perfectly shiny and set!

So, from left to right we have: Red and Blue for Spider-man, Black and Yellow for Batman, A Spidey Mod Podge, and a Green Kryptonite (my favorite one!)  Superman paper weight.

Dear Hubby is rockin' it out in his office today!

Happy Birthday, PJ!

Debbie Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup

My kids have had a cold all week, so I decided to try my hand a chicken noodle soup to ease their "suffering" and offer some TLC.

It was really yummy!

Here is my recipe:

4 chicken breasts
6 potatoes cubed
1 bag of frozen carrots
1 bag of frozen green beans
1/2 onion chopped
1-2 cups of elbow macaroni
1/2 tbsp of oil
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp pepper
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 1/2 tbsp of chicken bouillon powder (I found some at the Dollar Tree, and seriously I use it every time I make a chicken dish. It's also good in black bean soup).
1 cup chicken stock

Combine the oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, chicken bouillon powder, onions, chicken and potatoes in the slow cooker on high for 5 hours. Add enough water and/or chicken stock until all the ingredients are covered.  Add the carrots, green beans and macaroni an hour before serving. (I cooked the macaroni separate on the stove before adding.)

We ate our soup with scratch made "drop" biscuits.

Yum!