Freshly Picked: A giveaway!

It's finally here! Your chance to win an adorable pair of Freshly Picked moccasins for your favorite little person!

If you're new to Freshly Picked you've definitely been missing out. They have the cutest leather moccasins for newborns on up to older kiddos. They've come out with lots of new styles and colors and all of them are absolutely precious. I had a hard time choosing for our little gal but I just had to stick with her signature color, coral.

Coral is a color that can definitely be up to interpretations. Some would liken it to orange or red, while others still would say it's closer to pink or peach. I'd say FP's version is definitely on the peach side, which I love because that is our other favorite color for little miss Aurelia.

It won't be long before Aurelia will be running around in these pretty little things, but until then they make a fabulous addition to her coral + peach nursery decor.

Okay- 

so by now you must be ready to find out how you can win a pair! 

Just follow the rules on the entry form below and you're entered to win. 

The more entry methods you complete, the better chance you have of winning...

a Rafflecopter giveaway


This contest begins Monday February 16th, 2015 and is open until midnight Sunday February 22nd. A winner will be chosen at random by Rafflecopter. The winner will be announced here and notified by email at the address associated with their Rafflecopter entries. The winner will have 48 hours to reply to the email to claim their prize or an alternate will be chose.

Interested in seeing your product featured here, see the PR + Disclosures tab and contact Breaking New Ground by email to be considered. Disclosure: I received no compensation for this review. All opinions are my own.This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with, Facebook.  Click for additional disclosures and PR policies.

Questions, concerns, comments unrelated to the nature of this giveaway can be left on other generic posts or emailed to Breaking New Ground. 

Malakai: the ring-bearer

Malakai is going to be a ring bearer next month for the 2nd time. The first time was for my sister-in-law, Kristi's,  wedding back in September. It was interesting, to say the least. I don't recall if I've blogged about it specifically, but I do know I've mentioned Malakai's aversion to clothing. Recently, that has changed some, but I'll get to that later.

So prior to Kristi + Nick's wedding my mother-in-law did a fantastic job prepping him for the big day. Months before hand she talked it up. She made his vest for the big day and his wearing it was our main concern. Not only because it was a piece of clothing (because that alone, was enough to stress him out) but it was a piece of clothing different than T-shirts and shorts.

Now, I do take some responsibility for his attitude toward clothes, I did let him frolic around our house in just his undies for a very long time. I mean...doesn't everyone wish they could do that? I digress. So, when it was time to get dressed, it became a fight. It did get easier as he understood that if he wanted to go   that he'd have to get dressed. He was still picky about what it was that he wore. T-shirts and shorts and occasionally jeans. 

We spent so much time focusing on getting him to wear the vest, that we did forget about the dress pants and button-up shirt. The day before the wedding we were preparing to leave our house for the rehearsal and dinner when Malakai threw the most epic fit about wearing a polo shirt ("buttons!"). He got himself so worked up that he was irretrievable. Then, the puked. He was that upset about it. So, we let him wear whatever he wanted that day and knew to be really careful about how we approached him on the wedding day. We were all a part of the wedding and couldn't risk getting vomited on before walking down the aisle.

After a lot of running around (literally), some tears, and a lot of angry birds graham crackers this is what Malakai wore...

{why yes, that is a yellow Avengers T-shirt underneath his vest}

see, he wore the vest. The rest of the outfit, not so much.

Things have gotten better since then and it got even easier after I made him a list of daily routines, that he started to call his "projects", 3rd on the list is to get dressed.

 He doesn't ask me "where are we going" or "who's coming over" when it's time to put clothes on. He just does it, a lot of the time by himself.

{look mama, it's red, your FAVORITE!}

However, when my cousin Valeena asked me if Kai could be the ring bearer in her wedding next month I was apprehensive. Not because I didn't think he could complete the task, but because I wasn't sure what she'd want him to wear. I warned her about last time and that I'd totally understand if she'd want to back down, but she didn't. So, for this wedding he is going to wear a white T-shirt (hallelujah!), dress pants, shoes, and suspenders- all in brown. I have the shoes, the rest we'll have to work on. I do however have blue suspenders. I can't recall if they were Ben's when he was little, or perhaps my younger brother Cody's. Either way, I decided to warm him up to the idea of them and he blew me away with how curious and almost excited he was about trying something new...

How precious is he in that funky little outfit. My husband threw out the word "hipster", which Kai immediately repeated over and over again. whoops.

So here's hoping we can get him to wear the whole outfit this time around. And hey- anyone have recommendations on where to get the rest of his outfit?... especially brown suspenders?

Thankful on a Thursday: just the two of us

Today is our slowest of the week, just Malakai + I at home. I plan on enjoying some one on one time with my boy. Once he goes down for his nap I'd love to sit around and eat pumpkin bread and catch up on all my blog reading. But, since the rest of the week has been and will continue to be such a blur, I have to catch up on laundry, dishes, and all other sorts of household chores. I'm okay with that, it's the job I chose.

With now having two part time jobs, I've found that keeping up with things at home is becoming more of a challenge. While having a messy kitchen, a bed full of laundry to fold, and turning the guest room back in to a catch-all space isn't my ideal situation, I still get to spend most of my days with my son and I am so thankful for that.

I'm also thankful for...

461. adorable galoshes that Malakai loves even more than I do.

{the big picture is one I found on my camera after Mima babysat yesterday, LOVE!}

462. the few moments I get to myself to update here + work on a few other hobbies.

463. the surprise blessings received when serving others.

464. watching Malakai catch on to new things so quickly- he's soaking it all up like a little sponge these days!

{we only "taught" him nose, the rest he picked up on his own} 

465. the rewarding feeling of Kai learning something that takes a little more time to master (sharing, not hitting, the usual toddler stuff)

466. a working vacuum, a broom + dust pan,  a washer + dryer and other helpful tools for getting things done around the house.

467. internet friends.

468. The time we got to spend watching the game with family, despite the outcome.

469. all 895 square feet of our home sweet home.

470. hearing my boy chatting to himself happily after a good nap/ night's sleep.

What are you thankful for?