Donut Grow Up

September 27, 2018September 27, 20181 Comment

Y’all!! My BABY is now almost 13 months old! How can this be?! I swear it was last week when she was 13 days old snuggling on my chest (and screaming non stop from 7pm – 10pm). Now she is a few days shy of 13 months old and walking around the house (still snuggling on me too- but only between the laps she WALKS around the house). Why is time such a thief? Why do babies not keep? All of the emotions get me. I am so happy watching her grow up, but I do wish she would stay little for a little while longer.

I have been looking at her FIRST birthday party pictures over and over and over (and maybe over and over). I cannot believe it was a month ago my baby turned ONE. How do we have a ONE year old? I still cannot believe it.

We decided to do a birthday party at home with our family. I wanted the focus to be on Millie and the celebration to be with the people closest to her. Let’s face it- the party is for the parents anyway- and we wanted to keep it for family. I debated on throwing a huge bash- a HOORAY we kept the tiny human alive AND also survived ourselves party- but decided against it.

I purchased all the decorations on Amazon and at the Dollar Tree. Since it was a morning party and a DONUT Grow Up theme it made for easy food options! We had donuts, fruit, and my hash brown casserole (recipe in upcoming blog post).

I bought “If You Give A Dog A Donut” book and had everyone sign the inside of it. I thought this was a great way to have everyone’s sweet wishes for her all in one place. One day (went she won’t chew it and try to rip out the pages) I will give it to her! I hope she thinks it is a special as I do!

What did you do for your child’s first birthday parties? I love to hear all the fun parties and fun themes people chose! It is such a special day.

Simple Chex Mix

September 22, 2018October 7, 20185 Comments

Football season is HERE! This means lots of Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays watching games. Tooooo many days a week if you ask me, but apparently no one did. We go to a lot of football parties- big and small- and most of the time need to bring a snack. I love Chex Mix recipes. I have made many different variations over time, tweaking this recipe and that one. I have finally made a recipe I love. It is husband and Millie approved as well. It is very simple to make and tastes delicious.

Chex Mix Recipe

2 C- mini pretzel twist
3 C- Cheez-Its
4C- Chex
1/4 C- Butter
1 pkg- Ranch

Preheat the oven to 250*

Mix pretzels, cheez-its, chex in large bowl. Melt 1/4 cup butter and pour all over the mix. Shake the ranch packet in the bowl.

Take a large spoon or spatula and mix all of the ingredients until the pretzels, cheez-its, and chex are evenly covered in the butter and ranch. Spread on to a large baking sheet. I put down parchment paper or aluminum foil- totally up to you.

Put the tray in the 250* oven for 45 mins- stirring every 15 mins. After 45 mins are up let cool. Then EAT!! (Place in airtight container to store)

Super east and super yummy too!! If you make it let me know how it goes and how you liked it! Can’t wait to hear about it!

Chex Mix Recipe

2 C- mini pretzel twist
3 C- Cheez-Its
4C- Chex
1/4 C- Butter
1 pkg- Ranch

Preheat the over to 250*

Mix pretzels, cheez-its, chex in large bowl. Melt 1/4 cup butter and pour all over the mix. Shake the ranch packet in the bowl.

Put the tray in the 250* oven for 45 mins- stirring every 15 mins. After 45 mins are up let cool. Then EAT!! (Place in airtight container to store)

Keeping Millie Corralled

September 11, 2018September 12, 201826 Comments

Who knew one tiny human would need so much stuff?! After weeks (more like months) of my husband pointing out that Millie’s toys were in every. single. room. of. the. house. I figured it was time to convert our office (more like throw all room) into a playroom for our little munchkin. It has made the house a lot more tidy and Millie seems to like having a room for all her fun things. The ONLY problem: she is on the move. Like you look to your left for .04 seconds and she is in the kitchen pushing the kitchen table chairs around. Who knew they were so quick?! I knew we needed a baby gate to keep her in!

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The wonderful crew at North States Industries Baby Gates graciously sent us the Arched Auto Close Gate with Easy Step. I love how the grey color and the 18 in door opening incorporates style and function all in one. There are a few reasons we absolutely LOVE about it:

The threshold is low- this makes walking (or crawling) out of the room much easier for all of us
How the gate shuts- with one simple push the gate shuts firmly and securely so you don’t have to worry about the safety of your children
How the door works– The door swings both directions making it convenient for getting in and out. It also has a stopper so the doors can also only swing in one direction if you want
You can lock it- or keep it open- It has a triple locking system so you can have peace of mind OR you can use the hold-open feature so you can pass through easily if you don’t need the gate closed
How easy it was to set up- The pressure mounts were easy to adjust by using the tension knobs to secure the gate in our door way- I set it up by myself (yay me!)
You can put it other places- There was hardware for mounting on the top of stairs too- measuring 28.5 – 38.25 inches wide with two extensions. If you need the gate for a larger opening you can purchase their extensions measuring 7 1/4 in and 10 3/4 in wide. (The gate measures 30 inches high)

We are thrilled with the style and ease of the Arched Auto-Close Gate with Easy Step. It is easy to use and I know she is safe and secure behind the gate.

You can purchase their gates directly off their website. Make sure you use millieandmommie20 to receive 20% off any purchase on northstaesind.com

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