Best No-Bake Chex Mix recipe...EVER!

My mom has been making this Chex Mix for years now.  It is so YUM, I can't even tell you!!!!  So, I thought I would share the recipe with you!  She calls it "Trash Mix" because it makes such a huge batch that you mix it all up in a trash bag.  You could also use those super large ziploc bags as well.

Here's what you need:

One box Corn Chex

One box Rice Chex

One box Wheat Chex

One bag Bugles (they are my favorite part so I use more!)

One box Honey Nut Cheerios

2 Large bags Pretzel Sticks

2 cups (or more) Pecan Halves (the golden ingredient!)

6 packs dry Ranch Dressing Mix (or just do like I did and buy a whole canister of it)

1-2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (or to taste)

1-2 teaspoons garlic salt

Now, here's the "glue" 1 1/2 cups Vegetable Oil

(Don't worry, you won't even know it's there, the finished product is NOT oily at all!!!)

Directions:

Pour all cereals, Bugles, Pretzels, and pecans into a large trash bag.  Add a little bit of the seasonings to the bag and gently turn bag over and over to mix up the seasonings but be careful to not break any of the munchies.  The bag can get heavy so I like to make this while sitting on the couch with the bag in the floor in front of me while watching some bad reality TV show...my guilty pleasure.  Keep repeating the process - add seasonings and gently toss/turn the bag till all seasonings are used.  Then, drizzle the oil a little at a time, again turning and tossing the bag to coat everything evenly.  

That's it!  

I gifted this famous Chex-Mix to my former boss and co-workers yesterday and I was in such a hurry that I didn't take any pictures of how I presented it to them, but for some I used cute Christmas plastic containers that I purchased at Wal-Mart and for others I simply put in holiday themed ziploc bags and then put them inside gift bags tied with ribbon.  Trust me, they looked cute!  Okay, not gonna lie, it was nothing spectacular, but it's what's inside that counts!  

Seriously, y'all, this Chex Mix is off da chain good!  I love that it's so easy to make and share with others.  I like mine a little strong and edgy so I am heavy handed with the Cayenne pepper, so much so that with this particular batch I had to add another box of chex to calm it down a bit!  Oh, and this stuff WILL make your breath stank.  Consider yourself warned!!!  

Gingerbread House

The kids and I attempted our first Gingerbread House!  I have to say, it was so much fun!  I admit, I was surprised at how well it went and how much it entertained them!  

This was an easy pre-made kit (my kind of project!) and it came with everything that we needed although I didn't use the fancy fondant icing to do detailed work...I just covered the entire house with some Pilsbury frosting and let them have it!  

I love the look of concentration on their faces!

And here is the final masterpiece!  Cute, huh!?!?  I think we'll make this a new family tradition! 

Entryway and Front Door

Happy Friday, y'all!  I've got three sick kiddos.  Yuck.  Snotty noses and lots of sneezes.  Poor babes.

Today I am sharing with you my entryway and front door!  

Nothing too spectacular.  Again, with the kiddos, I can't put out too much because that is just a disaster waiting to happen.  I have tons of Christmas nicknacks and whatnot so I had to be selective and only put out my favorites.   I hung a simple garland around the mirror and attached bows on each corner. 

The cross stitch "Merry Christmas" was done by my mother-in-law and I just love it.

My grandmother always had one of those little ceramic Christmas trees and I was telling my mom how much I loved them and she found me my very own at a thrift shop.  

Ain't she cute?

And here is the front door with my very first every DIY wreath!  I know it's nothing spectacular but I'm quite happy with it!  Just a few glittery sprig thingies, some ornaments and some ribbon....waa laa!

I love this vintage milk crate.  For fall I had pumpkins and gourds in it.  I wanted to continue using it through Christmas so I put some firewood and some tree trimmings in there and wrapped it with a bow.  

We actually "glittered" this letter ourselves!  All of the pre-made ones were around $20 and that was just too steep for me.  We found this cardboard letter for $3 then spray painted it with spray adhesive and glittered away!  That's more like it!

Thanks for checking in!  Hope you all have a fab weekend!!

The Dining Room

Today I am sharing my dining room with you, all decked out with Christmas spirit!  I am proud to say that I didn't spend a single cent on anything in this room!  Gotta love that!!!

To the right of the dining room table is the pie safe.  There I have my beloved Willow Tree nativity that was a wedding gift to us.  Isn't that like the best wedding gift ever?  I thought it was such a unique and thoughtful gift and something that we will enjoy for many years to come.  Then I just added some left over branches from our Christmas tree to one of the vases to add some color and a delicious smell to the room.

The Christmas china was my husband's grandmother's.  She gave it to me a few years ago and I am honored to have it.  She passed away last year and we miss her so.  This is a great way to remember the fabulous woman she was.  She was the epitome of a true Southern lady. 

I kept the rest of the table very simple.  I do, after all, have three curious little ones and a bunch of fussy decorations would just turn disastrous!  The table will look a little different on Christmas day once we surround it with three highchairs, plastic plates, and sippy cups...and you know what?  I can't wait!  

Christmas Card Display

I LOVE me some Christmas cards!  I so look forward to checking my mail each day during December and seeing all of the adorable family pictures and sweet holiday greetings.  But, problem is, I never quite knew how to display them so I usually ended up tossing them in a basket.  That is, until I saw this idea over at Hi Sugarplum!  It's a perfect solution!  

So cute, right???  It's super easy!  I picked up some cute glittery ribbon at Michael's at 50% off and used double stick tape (well, actually, I used Hollywood Fashion Tape because it was all that I had!) to attach it to the cabinet.  Then, I attached the cards to the ribbon using teeny tiny clothes pins, also found at Michael's.    

Now, I just need to put more ribbon on a few more of my cabinets because I've already filled up these!  I love it!  I love that I can now enjoy all of these beautiful pictures of my dear friends and family all throughout the holidays!

What about you?  Any other creative ways to display and enjoy your Christmas cards?

A Birthday Fiesta!

I cannot believe it.  Today my sweet "babies" are turning 3!  Three years ago today was the scariest day of my entire life that was full of fear and uncertainty.  I was only 27 weeks pregnant with my triplets and was told that they were going to have to be delivered that day due to a blood clot in one of the baby's placentas. The doctors went over all of the risks and possible complications that preemies that early could face.  If we didn't deliver them right away we could risk losing the baby with the blood clot and possibly all three.  We knew that we had to deliver them so with all of our parents and step-parents waiting, we went into the OR for the delivery.  Nola was first, weighing in at 1 lb 12 oz, Maddux was second at 1 lb 14 oz., and little Luce (the one with the blood clot) was born last weighing a teeny tiny 1 lb 10 oz.  We spent a total of 76 days in the NICU with our tiny babies watching them struggle and fight to breath.  We watched them grow one ounce at a time and experienced a life roller coaster that we never could have imagined but one that I wouldn't change for the world.  I have a true appreciation for life and I don't take a single moment with my sweet babies for granted.  So, let me bring you up to speed and show you pictures from their 3rd birthday celebration!  This was their first "real" birthday party since their first two birthdays fell during RSV season and due to their low birth weight we had to keep them away from the outside world.  Ever since I found out I was pregnant with triplets they were affectionately nicknamed the "Three Amigos" so we thought a fun theme for the birthday party would be "The Three Amigos Turn 3!"

We had tiny sombreros and mustaches for the party guests:

My husbands aunt made this awesome balloon cactus!

Nola in her mustache...even her beloved "Duckie" has a mustache!

Luce's smile takes my breath away:

My sweet boy, Maddux

Not only was this cake gorgeous, it was DELICIOUS!  Pure chocolate fudge decadence.  This cake weighed like 20 pounds!  

We sang "Happy Birthday" to each child and let them each blow out their own candles

Our best attempt at a pic with all three and their cake

All in all, it was a perfect birthday fiesta complete with a Mexican feast, chocolate fudge cake, gourmet Mexican popsicles, a pinata and mariachi music.  

I'm one blessed momma!!!! 

Living Room

I wanted to show you the rest of my living room and it's Christmas Decor!  As I said yesterday, I decided to mix things up a bit and use teal and green decorations instead of my usual green and red.  Here is my mantle.  It all started with the fun teal sparkly ball thingies that I found and Joann's.  I love em!  

I admit, I do prefer to use fresh greenery, but this year I just wanted to keep it simple and mess free.  With the trio I don't have a lot of extra time to spend changing out the dead branches and adding new ones and so on....so I went the easy route with a fake garland that I had on hand.  I scattered a few ornaments in, some gold candles and added a bow to the vase to give it a festive touch.

This picture is dark (sorry, need to work on my photog skills!) but I wanted to give you a full view of the room.  (I have some funky green curtains to hang on the window on the left, but haven't gotten around to it yet.  I really think they will make a huge difference and really soften up the room.  Will keep you updated on that one!)

And lastly, here is the buffet again which I feel ties it all together!  It's probably my most favorite piece of  furniture in the house!

So, tomorrow I have planned a big old birthday bash for my sweet babies who will be turning 3 on Tuesday.  The theme is "The Three Amigos Turn 3"!  We'll be having a whole Mexican Fiesta!  I'll share pics with you next week!  

Have a great weekend!!!

DIY Buffet Update!

Hey everyone!!!  I've been MIA lately, but I wanted to give you a quick update regarding my DIY buffet!  If you'll remember, here is how she looked before:

And here she is now!  Isn't she beautiful?!?!  I'm so so so in lurve with her!  My stepdad was so awesome and helped me give her an extreme makeover.  He stripped, sanded and primed her and one day I loaded up the trio and we headed to my mom's house for the day to paint.  I decided on Martha Stewart Plumage and I couldn't be happier.  Pay no attention to the baby gate in the background.  And cords?  What cords?  

And I also did another DIY project!  My very own little message board!  With the help of my mom (I'm NOT one to attempt any DIY project on my own!) we pretty much copied Carmel's tutorial from "Our Fifth House" exactly.  You can find it here.  It was super easy and I love how it turned out!  

You can also see some of my Christmas decor in these pics.  For the first time ever I veered away from very traditional decor and decided to use the same color scheme that's in the living room which is teal and green.  There are so many cute decorations in the same colors so I thought, why not?!?  It's been fun to mix it up a little!  I'll show you the rest later!  

So, what do you think!?!?!  Did this buffet turn into a swan or what?!?!

***Update***
To see how the buffet looks now, click here.

Thanks for stopping by!

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It's Fall Y'all!

It's officially fall, one of my most favorite seasons!  I'm especially looking forward to this year as the kids are big enough now to get out and do fun things.   I just know they will love visiting the local pumpkin patches, hayrides, bonfires and all of the fun fall traditions.  

I haven't decorated for fall in three years so I was excited about getting some of my things out of storage.   The kids are still curious and will grab anything within reach so I'm not going all out, but I thought a few fall touches would be fun.  (I'm still undecided on if I'm going to decorate for Halloween too or just do a few fall things and hold out for Christmas.  Call me lazy?)

First of all, my mom is super crafty.  I have been seeing pennants all over Pinterest and blogland so I just knew that I wanted one.  I showed her a few that I loved and she went right to work and surprised me with this original she made just for ME!!!!  Isn't it just so stinkin' cute???  It's hanging on the mirror right in our foyer for all of our guests to see.  I LOVE it!  Thanks mom!

I also did a few things for the mantle.  Nothing amazing, just a garland that I've had for years and a few scattered pumpkins. 

 I got the idea for the pumpkins on the candlesticks from a photo that I saw on Pinterest (do you all spend as much time on there as I do?  I seriously need to step away!!!).  The reindeer moss really dresses them up and adds a little something special.  

Then just a few more pumpkins in a vase and waalaa!  My oh so observant kiddos noticed the fall touches immediately this morning and were excited to see the pumpkins.  I have to say, that kinda made my morning!  I love that they notice and get excited about the little things!  

Speaking of my kiddos, honestly, like, how cute are they???  What is it about kids in pajamas?  Ugh, my heart melts every time I look at this picture.  I am BEYOND BLESSED!