Chicken Noodle Casserole

I don't often think to post recipes on here, but I thought while I was thinking of it, I should post this one because Joe and I (and Layla) thought it was really good last night--and easy:).

1 lg onion, diced
1/4 cup butter
3 (10 oz) cans chicken chunks or 4 cooked chicken breasts
1 pint sour cream
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 (8 oz) package egg noodles
4 oz buttery round crackers, crushed

1. Prehead oven to 350. In medium skillet, fry onion in butter until softened. Pour in 9x13 pan.
2. In large bowl, combine chicken chunks, sour cream and soup. Stir in 2 cups of cheddar cheese. Stir in uncooked egg noodles. Pour over onions in baking dish. Top with crumbled crackers and remaining cheese.
3. Bake 30 mins or until top is golden and noodles are soft.

I made mine in an 8x8 and didn't use as much sour cream, chicken or cheese and omitted the onion since I didn't realize my yellow onion had gone bad. I didn't really think it needed it. I added some onion and touch of garlic seasoning and salt and pepper. I also only had German egg pasta in the house so used that instead and really liked it in the dish.

Gibs' Tubes

Gibson had his tubes put in his ears today and did great! They told us to be at the hospital at 6:30 this morning, so we arrived at about 6:20, turns out the surgery wasn't until 7:45 so it felt like we waited awhile! Gibson did well waiting, but it's kind of hard to watch a kid in a hospital room that just keeps wanting to explore! Thankfully the surgery did start on time though. The drug they gave him b/f taking him away made him a little loopy so he was all smiles as the nurses took him away to surgery. The surgery was super quick, I think only like 5-10 minutes and he seemed to recover pretty quick too. They warned us that often kids come out of anesthesia crying because they don't know where they are, but he came out to us cuddling with the nurse:). He then puked on the way home which they said could happen, but seems to be fine now.

Layla also did well sleeping at "Auntie" Mandi's house! A big thanks to her for letting Layla stay overnight there! She was her quiet shy self when I dropped her off (how she often is when we first arrive somewhere), but she quickly warmed up and Mandi said she went right to sleep and woke up shortly after Mandi's kids. She must have been worn out from all the fun, as she fell asleep on the couch when we got home. Joe transfered her to our bed since Gibs woke up and wanted to just play by his sister on the couch, and so Layla woke up for just a second, and then fell right back asleep. I don't really like her napping too much anymore, as last week she didn't nap at all and then this week when she did nap she then took forever to fall asleep at night. So I'm thinking she doesn't really need naps anymore. Guess I knew that day would come eventually:).

He took off walking as quick as he could the other day while getting dressed...

He doesn't normally pay any attention to the tv, but does like it when there is singing or dancing:)...


Just arriving at the hospital...he was super sleepy (Gibs that is:D)...

In his hospital gown, still a little sleepy:)...

Looking a little nervous:)...

Still waiting...

Trying to find entertainment out in the hallway...he did find a baby next door to us waiting for tubes too:)...

Waiting with mom...

Being playful with Dad after the surgery...

Hopefully now he will start feeling better! With all the goop coming out of his ears, I can see where it would make a huge difference as to how he can hear!!!

Silly Girl

I always think that I should blog when Layla says things that make me laugh, but then by the time I remember to blog, I can't remember what funny things she's said lately:). So I'm trying to get better at writing them down! One thing lately was in the car she said, "Mommy, I broke my leg again." I just said, "Oh, okay," having no idea what she meant, but then I looked and she was pointing to her jeans that have a slight rip in them. Leg, pant leg, same difference, right? :)

So I started this post like a month ago and since then when she has said funny things, I of course still haven't remembered to write any down:(. I love the age she's at and love how creative their little minds are becoming. So while a couple of things are fresh in my mind I thought I'd quick share them mainly for my own memory:). This afternoon I was vacuuming and she took her socks off. When I finished vacuuming she made sure to tell me that she had taken her socks off. When I asked why she had taken them off, she said, "Because it dangerous to leave them on when you vacuum!!". And then yesterday she had shut the door to Gibson's room when he was in there so I told her that she knows not to shut doors when Gibson is in the room and she responded excitedly with, "But then the butterflies will get out!! Not real butterflies, Mom, just pretend." Not sure where she gets some of her silly ideas! She sure loves pretending!

I'm adding this a bit later b/c I remembered something else not really that funny, but just shows her personality with how concerned with things she gets. I had some "me time" yesterday going to get a pedicure and as I was leaving Joe told me that the car didn't have any gas. Layla then watched me leave out the window and saw that I was taking the car so I guess she was all concerned that I took the car without any gas in it, so Joe told her that it'd be okay and that'd I'd get gas. Well, when I returned home a few hours later one of the first things Layla said to me was about how it was nice that I got Daddy gas in his car. Also, the other week she made Joe a Valentine's Day card and was really excited to give it to him when he got home, but once she gave it to him she started apologizing for not making him 2 cards and to me for not making me a card:). She sometimes apologizes for such silly things!

Sledding and then some

Gibson is TERRIBLE with going in my cupboards and he knows just what he wants to pull out, he really likes these Saran Wrap cover things...

He fell asleep on Joe the other week when he was sick so I thought I'd take a pic since it's so rare that he falls asleep on us!

Since many of my pics I post are of Layla and Gibson I thought Elv should get his own pic too:). He was only slightly embarrased to be wearing Layla's tutu:). The Valentines Day shirt he's wearing (which I finally just just took off of him today!) reminds me that the other week I found a tiny red sequin on our floor and said to myself/Layla, "Huh, I have no idea what this is from" and Layla goes, "That's from Elvis' shirt", and so I was like, "Wow, Layla, that was really good that you knew that!" and then she said, "I pulled it off". :)

As long as he's in a good mood, he doesn't mind when Layla lays on him:)...Layla on the other hand pretty much never appreciates him laying on/getting too close to her (or anyone else for that matter). She must have gotten that from her mama:).

Layla thought it'd be a good idea this morning to take the laundry out of the laundry basket so that they could go for a ride in it:). We stayed home from church today b/c the ear doctor said that if he got a bad cold before surgery he we'd have to reschedule and we want it done as soon as possible so we didn't want to risk him getting sick in nursery (like he always does!).

We had lunch at Joe's parents today and got there a little early so the kids could do some sledding. Both kids seemed to love it! Don't mind Gibs' pink mittens, he had brown along and I couldn't find them once we got there and had extra for Layla that he then wore. We later found his mittens in Joe's pocket:).

Auntie Rachael and Layla...

Sledding down the driveway...

They both love Grandma's little table she got for them. Gibs thought he was pretty big stuff sitting there! Too bad he just wants to stick Crayons in his mouth instead of coloring:).

Layla also enjoyed eating her angel food cake...with her hands:). Typically she's a pretty neat eater but apparently the frosting on her face didn't bother her today:)...

Uncle Steve and Auntie Heidi hanging out with Gibs. He doesn't just sit and play on the couch by people very often, but he was pretty tired! He's been extra sleepy/grumpy/drooly lately so I think a tooth must be coming (about time seeing that he only has 2!). However, seeing as how grumpy/sleepy he's been lately, he didn't do too bad after all the sledding and lunch, he just likes attention:)...

Gibson Walking

Gibson's walking has really been taking off! He still crawls at times if he falls down while walking, but for the most part mainly walks. I didn't get video of his first moves b/c I forgot:(, but here is him walking tonight. Layla has finally gotten over the excitement of him walking. For the past month, or however long it's been that he's been taking steps, when she's see him walk when I wasn't looking at him she'd be sure to yell, "Mom! Look! Gibson's walking!! What a big boy!". She's a proud big sister:). Today she decided it was more fun to try to walk like him so she often wobbles around after him or at times it's him chasing her which she then doesn't always appreciate when he then catches up to her and hugs/tackles her:).

Ear Update

Gibson had his appointment at the ENT this morning and the doctor said that he does indeed need tubes. Not surprisingly, he still had fluid in both ears, so in order to make sure it doesn't cause any damage to his ears (since it's been 5 months and hasn't cleared on its own), they recommend doing tubes. He has his surgery scheduled for next Friday. Hopefully he appreciates being able to hear good after the surgery! I know it's just minor surgery and really doesn't take very long, but I'm sure I'll still be a little nervous for him!

Trouble

Ever since Gibson has been on the move he has been getting into trouble. He just somehow always finds the naughtiest thing to play with and does not like to listen to "no". Joe likes to call him Captain Destructo:). It's just hard to watch EVERY single thing he does. Well, last night we were at church (we left quite early b/c I was in nursery and wanted to run some copies for nursery stuff b/f I had to be in nursery and then didn't find out church was cancelled until we were almost there) and I was running copies in our office at church and Gibs was in there for just a minute with me before Joe was going to take the kids to the nursery to wait for me. All of a sudden I noticed the tray that catches the paper was lying on the ground. I picked it up and tried to put it back on the copier when I realized that it was missing a couple of pieces that had cracked off. We looked on the ground for the little pieces and didn't see them so we figured that Gibs must not have broken it--that it must have been broken before and had just been setting on the copy machine instead of being attached. Well, then Joe took the kids out of the room to go play in the nursery so I could finish up making copies and putting them in mailboxes. Joe came back to me like 10 minutes later to show me what he had found in Gibs' mouth--two hard sharp plastic pieces, from the copy machine!! So obviously we knew that Gibson was the one that broke the tray off and that's scary that he had been moving all around with those sharp little pieces in his mouth!! So anyway, just another example of how quick things can happen to your kids!! I'm so glad that with all of Gibs' "naughty" things, he hasn't ever been hurt! Oh, and yes, I did contact the church to let them know what happened:).

Also, as an update on his walking for my own records, he's been taking a lot more steps recently. He's been doing about 10-15 max for what feels like awhile and then just in the past couple of days it seems like he walks about half of the time. Although it's always varied a lot by the day--when he was sick a couple of weeks ago he barely walked at all. He now can do I'd guess more like 20 steps at a time before falling (or arriving at something since our house isn't very big:D) and has gotten better at standing still without holding onto anything (otherwise he didn't really do that--I still have only seen him stand up without pulling up on anything once and that was a few weeks ago). Maybe one of these days he'll drop the crawling!