BOON SUDS BOTTLE WASHER REVIEW + GIVEAWAY!!!!

We are big Boon fans over here! How can you not be? Modern design, beautiful colors and major functionality are all things that appeal to these two mamas. Boon was kind enough to send us their new SUDS bottle washer for us to try out. It is peeeeeerfect timing since I am cleaning bottles for our little one that is due in just weeks. I was so excited to try it out, even though I already knew it would be a love at first use kind of thing. 

Dishwashers are great, but lets be real..... How many times do you go into the kitchen in the morning and need a bottle or sippy cup for your little, and realize you DID NOT run the dishwasher or you just still have a FULL SINK of dishes. There is nothing I hate more than a sink full of dishes greeting me in the morning. However... it happens! This SUDS friend of ours totally makes it a quick and slightly enjoyable process to clean a bottle quickly for your little. You simply put the bottle face down on the pump, and move it up and down so that the brush gets every inch of the bottle! GENIUS! Even my husband was intrigued!! Ladies.... this might be how we trick them into doing dishes?!

My only wish for this little gem is that you could actually wash the small inner parts of the bottle. It would be great if there was a smaller brush attachment of some sort to actually do the smaller pieces of the bottle that the milk passes through. We use Dr. Brown's bottles, which contain a couple of smaller pieces that need some scrubbing. However, I just toss those pieces in the bottom tray of the Sudsy, and it makes for a GREAT soaking tray! Sometimes, that may be all you need to get those small pieces clean. 

This is still a product I would highly recommend. Totally worth the $22.99 that it sells for. Especially if you don't have a dishwasher!! You could easily leave this in your sink full of soapy warm water so that you can just easily clean each bottle throughout the day. Sidenote: this is a great method of cleaning for a wine glass ( or two) that us mommies like to indulge in every night every now and then. ;)

Thank you, Boon! We are forever fans, and we truly love all of your products for us moms and our littles. 

**NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY**

Boon was kind enough to offer a SUDS bottle cleaner to one of our lucky readers!! You MUST Follow Boon on Instagram and us of course!

Tag a friend on our IG, and you are entered!!!

For an additional entry, leave a comment below telling us what you FAVORITE Boon product is after visiting their website HERE. There is just too much pretty to look at!

Happy Entering!!!

ROCK PAPER SCISSORS WEBSITE LAUNCH + GIVEAWAY!!!!

** GIVEAWAY CLOSED**

Friends, we have such a fun giveaway today!! Our sweet friend, Lauren, has RE-launched her paper boutique's website, and we are soooooo excited!! Leah and I shop there often, and go to Lauren for ALL of our stationery needs. She and her staff are just the best at what they do... end of story! Now, everything is available to you out of towners as well. YAY!!

We are celebrating with a giveaway!! Lauren was kind enough to offer up one of her custom designed self-inking address stamps for one of our lucky readers. Leah and I both have one, and we LOVE it!! It makes addressing envelopes or stamping your books so much easier and much more stylish. They make great gifts as well.  Although, you may have a really hard time deciding on which one to pick. That is always the hardest part, right? 

Here is how you enter...

1. Go to Lauren's beautiful new site HERE 

2. PIN your favorite stamp design from her site.

3. THEN, come back here and comment on which stamp you liked best! Be sure and leave your Pinterest name in the comment so that we can be sure you pinned!!

** Winner will be announced on Thursday**

Happy entering!!!!

XO,

Heydy Lopez... you are our winner! Please email us to claim your lovely stamp, friend!!! 

Thanks for entering everyone!! We really appreciate you!

MAX'S 1ST BIRTHDAY - ROUND PARTY!

When people asked what theme Max's first birthday was going to be, and I said "round"... they were like... ummm cool. Okay so Max is round, he loves balloons and balls- those are round, and honestly I couldn't think of anything that hadn't been done a million times before! Plus it's so simple- just my style. 

The party was supposed to be in our backyard with lanterns strung from the trees, circular picnic blankets, ring toss, bubbles, etc. Guess what? It poured every. single. day. that week including the day of the party. Super dark outside too for pictures. Fantastic. We're still in our rental (egg yolk and old lady sage walls), so basically my plan was to camouflage the grossness with tons and tons of balloons. I think it turned out really well, and most importantly, everyone had a great time! And let's be honest, when you're dealing with one to four-year-olds really all they need are toys and cake. Cake is clutch. 

FOOD:

See what I mean? Cake is clutch.

I baked two batches of white cake in sheet pans so the layers would be thin, froze the layers, cut with a 2.5" biscuit cutter, then just piped colorful frosting in between. 

 All round food!

 Complete with Aunt Ellie's Campfire Crispies! They are SO. GOOD. Do yourself a favor and order these babies.

DECOR:

Had to cover the nasty chandelier :)

Monthly photos of Maxie cut out into circles, naturally.

I made this little picnic blanket out of a drop cloth. Draw two concentric circles in pencil and paint in the lines. Make sure to paint the circle before you cut. That way it'll look nice and neat! 

FAVORS:

Party crowns, tattoos, hula hoops, bouncy balls

Custom temporary tattoos with each kid's name from our Etsy shop!

ACTIVITIES:

RING TOSS

I ordered the rings on Amazon and got bottles from the dollar section at Target. Since the party was supposed to be outside, I had painted wooden dowels to hammer into the grass. Sigh. Still a fun activity for the kids though! 

DIY GIANT SURPRISE BALL

Getting a surprise ball was a tradition at my sister and my birthday parties growing up. I decided to supersize it by using a container from Party City as the center to make this huge!

Each kid got to unwrap a color, once that streamer color ended, they got the prize and gave the ball to the next kid. It ACTUALLY worked! Couldn't believe how patient the kids were waiting for their turn! So fun!

INVITATIONS:

I got the beach balls from Oriental Trading Company and wrote on them with neon Sharpies. Here's the thing... they can't fold totally flat, so they were considered a parcel... which means they were $3 each to mail! I took them to the post office and got 5 different stamps, which actually looked pretty cool. Thankfully I only invited a handful of people, and I hand-delivered most!

 On the back of the ball it said:

ROLL on over to Max's

(address)

It was a sweet day for my sweet, round little Maxie!

-L

And the winner of the Freshly Picked Giveaway is....

Kelly Vance!

Woohoo!! Please email us at loveandlion@gmail.com!

Thank you all for entering! Many more giveaways to come!

TRIP TO THE PUMPKIN PATCH + FRESHLY PICKED GIVEAWAY!

Fall is my favorite time of year! Love the colors, love the weather, and adore fun fall activities. Jeffrey and I took the kiddos to Gentry's Farm this past weekend to pick pumpkins and take a billion pictures. My twin sis, Ellie, was in town (always a ridiculous amount of laughs), so we made a day of it and afterwards went to one of our fav standbys for dinner, Burger Up. Ari ordered salmon and salad. What. A. Little. Weirdo. But he's MY little weirdo. Meanwhile Ellie and I ordered Hatcher Farm milkshakes. So... anyway...

You know you all dress your littles up when you go to the pumpkin patch. You've gotta, right?! Luckily, Max can fit into all of Ari's old clothes, but shoes are a different story. Jenni and I are OBSESSED with Freshly Picked Moccs. We might have one or three or five pairs for our littles and can't stop won't stop. The are THE softest shoes in the most beautiful colors. They're absolutely perfect for almost walkers like Max too. He is a turbo crawler and these babies have elastic that slip right on and don't fall off. Seriously. The only shoes that Max can't pull off. Also one of the only shoes that fit his chubby feet! The soft, buttery leather and the elastic work their magic.

Jenni and I are so obsessed with Freshly Picked Moccs that we wanted to share the love with you! Scroll down for deets on how to enter the Freshly Picked Moccasins giveaway.

Max is wearing the Butterscotch mocc. Such a yummy color and perfect for fall!

Can't cut those curls. Baby mullet.

**GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED**

And now for the

FRESHLY PICKED MOCCASINS GIVEAWAY!

The lucky duck will win one pair of Freshly Picked Moccs in their choice of color and size.

TO ENTER:

1. Comment on THIS blog post with what color mocc is your fav. See all the beauties right here.

On your cell? Comments only work on the full web version, NOT mobile- blerg

2. Follow @loveandlion and @freshlypicked on Instagram

3. Tag 3 friends on our giveaway Instagram post (@loveandlion)

That's it! 

Contest closes Thursday, October 23 at 12:00am CST.

We will announce the randomly selected winner* on Friday, October 24th right here on the blog.

*Winner must ship to US only and must not have won a giveaway including Freshly Picked Moccs in the last 60 days.

**GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED**

We so appreciate you coming by our little ol' blog, and hope you stick around. Rad parties, crafts, recipes, style, and snippets of our lives!

xo

-L