Wednesday Wish List and Monster Munch Recipe

Happy almost-Halloween, everyone! We are enjoying some spooky storms on this Halloween Eve, and I am counting the minutes until tonight when we are FINALLY carving our pumpkins. Better late than never, I suppose. It has been a crazy several days since Trent's party..full of cleaning, recovering, working and trying to figure out what in the world is up with our baby boy. When he woke up from his nap with a big smile today, it finally hit me...because there was a big, shiny MOLAR staring right back at me! He must have been working on it these past few days, and it has finally popped through! Don't get too excited, though. We checked the other side, and there is another just scraping the surface. Yikes. Looks like we are in for a long week.

That being said...my Wednesday wish list this week is simple:

1. A maid
2. A nanny
3. Sleep
4. Another maid

At least the clocks go back this weekend, so I will get an hour of extra sleep! Maybe. As for the rest of the list, I think I'll just have to keep on wishing!

I also wanted to share the monster munch recipe for everyone that asked. It is just a super simple Chex/popcorn mix that is floating around everywhere online lately in slightly varied recipes, and for good reason! It is so yummy and can be changed to fit any theme or holiday. I have made at least six batches this Halloween, and I am already planning a Thanksgiving and Christmas version (maybe with some peppermint swirled in there...ooohhh). Here is what you need to start:

-A cookie sheet/pan with sides
- Foil
- Rice Chex
- Pretzel sticks
- White chocolate or vanilla flavored melting chocolate
- WHITE POPCORN (super important...find just plain old white popcorn..NO butter. This was about the only kind I could find..and brace yourself...they do NOT carry it at Target. I know. My letter is in the complaint box)
- Candy corn
- M&Ms
- Sprinkles


I wish I had done step-by-step photos, but it is honestly so super easy you could do it with your eyes closed. I will take pictures on the next batch.

1. Line your pan with foil. This keeps it from sticking and makes clean-up a breeze.

2. Pop a bag of popcorn.

3. Spread a layer of Rice Chex, a layer of popcorn and a layer of pretzel sticks in your pan. Don't fill the pan too high, or you won't have room to 'toss' the mix with the chocolate. Just eyeball the quantities. Usually I am not a huge fan of the pretzels in these kinds of mixes, but don't skimp on them here! They are possibly the best part. If anything, I would go heavier on pretzels and Chex and a tiny bit lighter on the popcorn.

4. Melt the chocolate. I found that about one full package pictured above was enough for one pan of monster munch.

5. Pour the chocolate evenly over the mix, and toss with a large spoon to coat everything well. Don't toss too long, because the chocolate will harden FAST!

6. Quickly sprinkle your sprinkles, M&Ms and candy corn over the entire mix while the chocolate is still wet/sticky. DO NOT TOSS again after this, or you will coat all the fun colors in white chocolate!

7. Let the chocolate fully harden and cool about 10 minutes. Scoop out the mix and break apart very gently. I found that a large plastic spatula worked best for this step.

8. ENJOY! And make sure you made like five batches at once, because it disappears faster than you can imagine.

We have a jar out that I am constantly refilling and gave little bags of it as favors for Trent's party. We also dropped some off to some friends, family, neighbors, Trent's doctors and some other special people. We tied on some plastic vampire teeth to fit the "monster munch" theme, but those all got snagged first! 

Hope you enjoy! It is so fun, so easy, so quick and so yummy. And the Christmas/peppermint bark version will be the perfect companion to some hot chocolate. I can NOT even wait. 

Weekend Recap

I think this weekend recap should be titled "Weekend Recovery - Ongoing." Wow...I didn't know it was possible to pack SO much into just a few short days. There were definitely some ups and downs, but it was all so worth it for the little guy's one and only FIRST birthday!

All of Friday was spent on party preparations since I had neglected them for months. Our photographer recently said that she hopes her kids will one day forgive her for always posting their photos so long after all of her clients'..."the life of a photographer's kid!" she said. And I immediately thought about how I can relate. I make hundreds of party decorations a month for all of my customers..spend tons of time on them and go ALL out, and then there I was at midnight the night before my own child's party telling myself that he didn't really need a high chair banner. Poor little guy! 

Unfortunately I came down with some sort of bug Friday night that kept me up all night long with terrible nausea, throwing up, the whole nine. I still don't know if it was food poisoning, exhaustion/dehydration from the craziness of Friday or what. I was hoping it would be gone by Saturday morning, but it was even worse..and I was this close to canceling the party. Of course I couldn't do that to Trent, though....however, all shreds of hope for the high chair banner were definitely lost at that point. Everything I had saved on the to do list for the morning of ended up just taking a back seat. It was everything I could do to just take a shower and half dry my hair. Sigh. I swore everything would be homemade and perfect...but in reality I ended up scraping pink sprinkles off of a grocery store smash cake five minutes before guests arrived. Who says I am not easygoing??

By the time the party started I was at least functioning a little better, and we all managed to get through it just fine! It was so fun to see family and friends, celebrate Trent's birthday and just think about all that has happened this past year. He wasn't too interested in opening gifts, but he could have sat in his high chair and eaten cake all day long. 

After everything wrapped up, all three of us took a nap and ventured out to Starbucks, but it wasn't too long before we realized we were all still exhausted and that bedtime was going to come early! So we headed home to recharge for a big Sunday!

I woke up feeling almost 100% thank GOD. We started out the day with breakfast at our favorite local spot, Three Squares. I think we ordered one of everything and ate every last crumb. From there we went to our favorite park downtown to just walk around, people watch and let Bevo stretch his legs. 

After a quick nap time at home, we took Trent to the Dallas Zoo "Halloween Nights" event. We weren't sure what to expect, but it was amazing. Trent did some trick-or-treating, saw some animals, looked at all the other kids in costumes AND managed to hold on to his bucket the whole night. Couldn't have gone better if you ask me. 

We stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's on the way home to say a quick hello, and then it was off to bed. 

We really can't thank everyone enough for helping celebrate Trent's big day with us...and especially for everyone that pitched in to get things together at the last minute while I was hanging my head over the toilet! Now that our big Halloween celebration is over...bring on turkey and trees!!! 

Weekend Recap

We are a day late on the weekend recap again this week....but after the week from you know where, I think just one day late is actually pretty good. I really can't believe it actually is already Tuesday. I thought last week would never end...and here we are, almost to the halfway point of the next week! Where did our weekend go!?!

We went to the park on Friday evening to get both me and Trent out of the house which was much needed. We are loving the new chilly weather and all the fun outfits we can finally bust out!

Matt had to work almost all day Saturday, so I kept Trent busy with every toy in the basket (and the kitchen cabinets) while I worked. PS...obsessed with his bat pajamas...my new faves. One in every size, please!

It was the last game of the season - and finally a DAY game! - so Trent and I went for the first half before he pooped out. Then it was back home for nap time until Daddy was done with work.

We went out to one of our favorite outdoor shopping areas to get some air, enjoy the weather and burn a few calories...which we packed back on with a quick stop at Starbucks. 

Then we rounded out the weekend with a Sunday evening full family photo session. We had kicked off the week with Trent's one year pics...and I think we have decided two photo shoots in one week is just about our limit. It was one of the quirkiest shoots I have ever been a part of, but we all had a ton of fun and can't wait to see the photos! Trent showed off some of his walking skills to Aunt Renee at the end of the evening.

All in all...a good weekend, but not nearly long enough. And now we are in full panic birthday mode getting ready for Trent's party this weekend. Tons of baking, decorating and cleaning to do...slow down, time! 

20 Weeks...about time for a bumpdate!

I had to do a double take when the little alert popped up on my phone this week saying I had hit the halfway mark of pregnancy #2. I thought the weeks would NEVER pass with Trent, and this time they are slipping through my fingers faster than I can even count them. 20 weeks..wow. I feel like this baby has kind of gotten the shaft. We were SO focused on the first pregnancy, but this time around there is just so unbelievably much else going on that some days we almost forget I am pregnant. Until I step on the scale every evening and get a big fat reminder. Sigh.

I have been worried that I am getting so much bigger with this baby, and I didn't ever get all the way back to my pre-Trent body before getting pregnant with this one...so I decided to go back and compare some pics and stats. Here I am at 20 weeks with Trent and 20 weeks with baby girl.

Observations:

1. I am carrying higher.
2. I am definitely showing more/earlier.
3. My butt and thighs are really paying for my awful diet.
4. I obviously have less time to clean.
5. I need a haircut.
6. It is STILL not fall weather around here..grrr!!

So then I compared my weekly stat tracker. Last time by 20 weeks I had gained about 9 pounds, and this week at the doctor the official word was 8 pounds. But like I said...I started out 3-4 pounds heavier this time...so I am still over where I want to be :( I just can't seem to eat well this time! According to my blog, I was all about fruit/cantaloupe at this point in the first pregnancy, and currently I am all about fried..fried...FRIED anything. And sweets. And carbs. The thought of fruit and salad almost makes me vomit. And I have zero time to exercise between work and Trent...so I guess I had better just accept my fate and pull out the sweatpants. Really though, who am I kidding? The sweatpants are out in full force and have been for quite some time.

I came across this today and think it may be the best/most accurate eCard yet..

Anyway...sorry to be a Debbie Downer! On a more positive note.. I went to the grocery store and bought a ton of healthy stuff, took Trent for a long walk and even choked down an orange at lunchtime today. Hopefully I am on the road to recovery here!! Until the holidays at least. BRING.IT.ON.

Weekend Recap, sorry for the delay!

Eeek...it's already Tuesday? Who let that happen?? I think the recent days of magically "long" weekends are behind us, unfortunately. Life is really picking up some major speed, and it seems like there is just never enough time anymore. 

Friday evening Matt and I worked on the house and finally got Trent's reading nook mostly done. I can't wait to share all the pictures with you! If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw a sneak peek. Matt also changed the half bathroom light fixture, so that reveal will be posted shortly as well..yay! It seems like we are finally tying up some loose ends on all of these half done projects which makes me indescribably happy. 

Before it got too dark, we put out what appeared to be Christmas lights and received several "wtf" looks from the neighbors..until they realized they were actually Halloween lights! We bought normal white C9 Christmas strands and replaced the bulbs with orange bulbs. We were able to find a great deal on just the loose bulbs from Amazon, and we will switch back to the white bulbs at Christmas. This way we only have to store the bulbs (which arrived in amazing boxes with individual slots for each bulb to avoid damage and make storage super convenient) rather than four sets of Christmas strands and four sets of Halloween strands. And that makes Matt indescribably happy.

We were going to go with alternating orange, green and purple bulbs but found that it was much cheaper to stick with solid orange. And it couldn't have worked out better, because the following morning was the Texas/OU game, and we needed all the orange we could get! It must have been just what the Horns needed, because for the first time in years we actually WON! YAY! We went to visit my parents for a bit and snapped a few pictures of Trent in all his Texas gear, and then it was time for Matt to head to work.

Trent and I met my mom at the game for just a little while where I drooled over a hot dog but stayed strong...

and then this happened on the way home. Damn. I swear I am going to be twice the size I was with Trent at this rate. I just only want bad food this time around! Bring on the holidays, I guess.

Sunday was a lazy morning..Matt worked on a few house projects, I worked, and Trent stayed in his PJs way longer than he should have. We ran a few errands and made an impromptu stop at a little church pumpkin patch. Trent had his first ride in a red wagon and put that on his Santa list. They are so much better than they used to be! Little seats, backs, seat-belts and cup-holders! Obsessed. Look out, Wednesday Wish List! 

Also...don't mind the absolutely horrendous new hair growth on me. I made it several months after delivery thinking I had somehow beaten the system...but no...then the bottom fell out of the sky  all the hair fell out of my head. Like...all of it. It has finally stopped shedding and I'm sure will grow back just in time to fall out again when baby #2 arrives. Awesome.

That was pretty much our weekend....work, work, work but some fun memories in between...and now we are two days into the week I have had marked as "Hell Week" on my calendar for months now. There is SO much going on this week, but I will do my best to keep up and stay in touch! Lots of fun things to share, a fab new giveaway, some new ideas for yall and more! Oh...and a question for everyone. Thoughts on the iphone 5?? I have GOT to get something new. My 4 is really on its last legs. Shoot me your advice, please!

Giveaway Winner!!

Happy Friday, all! We are so very excited to announce the giveaway winner, Ashton B.! Thanks again to all those that entered, and if you are still interested in getting one of these banners, we are offering 15% off today only! Just purchase it here, and use the coupon code "Fox15" at checkout. And keep your eyes on the shop (and the blog), because new fall and Christmas banners (and giveaways!) are just around the corner! 

Paper Fan Tutorial

With Trent's birthday coming up, I have been hard at work churning out countless decorations. Some days I feel like I'll never be done, but then I take a step back and realize it's so worth it! Things are turning out cute, and most importantly the decorations will double as Halloween decorations for years to come. 

One of my favorite things to make are these paper fans. Here are a few from our baby shower/BBQ last year that we reused for July 4th this year. 

 I have made them for several holidays and events in the past, and this year they are really catching on in some of my favorite stores (Target, of course!) At $3-6 a pop, though, you will be spending a fortune on something that is SO easy and SO cheap to DIY. 

Here's what you need to start. This is for a larger fan, but you can make smaller ones like the red, white and blue ones above with just one sheet of paper.

 Paper cutter (or a pair of scissors and a really steady hand!)
Two sheets of 12" x 12" scrapbook paper
Glue stick
Paper puncher (optional) or just some cut circles of cardstock
Glue gun



1. Start by cutting the two pieces of paper down the middle so that you end up with four 6" x 12" sections.

2. Fold each of the four pieces accordion style into about 3/4" sections.

3. Glue all four pieces end-to-end, connecting a downward fold with an upward fold (see picture), making one long chain of accordion folds. 

4. Pull the two ends together to make sure they will join into a perfect circle. Depending on the size of your folds, you may have to trim off one or two folds so that you don't have excess.

5. Fold the chain over on itself, right sides together, and glue the two loose ends together just as you did when making the chain.

6. Stand the circle upright like a lampshade, pinch together from the top and push down gently to flatten.

7. Starting with the back, apply a generous amount of glue gun to the middle of the fan and place a cardstock circle on top, holding in place until the glue dries. 

8. Repeat step (7) on the front of the fan.

9. You are done!! Now you can either glue a wooden dowel to the back so they can be stuck into centerpieces, glue some twine to hang them or simply place them around your house. 

Once you make the first one, they become a piece of cake, I promise! You can make all different sizes and use them everywhere...even miniature ones as Christmas ornaments, package decorations, etc. They are so fun and festive - hope you enjoy!


Just a quick recap:

As usual, don't forget to enter the giveaway for this fantastic Halloween burlap banner!!! The giveaway ends tonight at 11pm CST, so get your entries in ASAP!