Max

ALL DIY HALLOWEEN COSTUMES FOR LITTLES!

Thought we’d put all of our DIY Halloween costumes for littles in one place!
Click the names below for the links. Happy Halloween!!

DIY HALLOWEEN FOR LITTLES – LUKE DANES, GILMORE GIRLS

Okay y’all, this one is purely for my own enjoyment. Baby Luke Danes.
This was just all pulled from Max’s closet and a Little Tikes kitchen set! NO CELL PHONES!
ALL YOU NEED:
Blue baseball cap, backwards
Plaid shirt. Literally any color- Luke wears a different plaid every single day.
Grey undershirt
Jeans
Coffee pot
Lovable scowl
Gilmore Girls fans rejoice! Only a couple more weeks until the revival!
Oy with the poodles already!
xo
-L
MORE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES…
Lots of ideas HERE

DIY HALLOWEEN COSTUME FOR LITTLES – DUSTIN, STRANGER THINGS

Dustin, the most endearing character on Stranger Things!! As soon as he came on the screen I was like… bam. Halloween costume. If I had a girl you KNOW she would have been dressed up as Barb. Ummm anyone have a baby I can borrow?
My almost 3 year old, Max, kind of exudes Dustin’s personality. Silly, funny even when he doesn’t mean to be, totally into farts and chocolate pudding and thinking both are awesome… plus the curly hair! If only I had let it grow longer the past couple months! But hey, can’t plan everything.
Everything is linked at the bottom, but the key pieces here are the hat and shirt. 
The hat is from Sweetgrly Designs and actually comes with the A.V. Club button! How nice is that? Love this Etsy shop! Lots of Stranger Things buttons, 70’s/80’s/90’s trading cards. She sent me a Back-to-the-Future card which I obviously love (see Ari’s Marty McFly costume here). Just tons of retro fun! The hat is adult size but fits Max just fine on the tightest setting.
The shirt is from Tattaaboo, retro clothing for all ages! They shipped super fast, so plenty of time for your Halloween costume. They come in adult sizes in case you want to adapt this for yourself!
I couldn’t find the exact jacket, so I layered a plaid shirt on top of this JACKET which is on sale now! I think any pants and sneaks would work. The tooth paint was the best part hahahaha! I’m still giggling about how it turned out, and I can’t believe it, but Max totally laid still while I painted it on there. It just brushes right off when you’re done. Add a backpack and flashlight, and you’re all set! Now to teach him some of Dustin’s famous quotes….
“She’s our friend, and she’s crazy!”
“Mike! I found the chocolate pudding!”
“Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?”
“I told you a million times, my teeth are coming in. It’s called cleidocranial dysplasia.”
PS….Truth be told, Max will be trick-or-treating as a Ninja Turtle 🙂
LINKS:
More Halloween costumes for littles HERE and HERE
xo
-L

MAX’S COW PARTY!

My little baby turned 2!! Eek! His favorite thing in the whole wide world (besides his big bro) are COWS. He has an entire backpack full of cow figurines that attend all of our outings. With every person he meets, he tells them about cows or the one time he pet a cow or cows say moo… I could go on. There was no other choice but to make him a cute little cow party and celebrate with family!
Cow PBJ’s, farm veggies, and cow cheese! I just used a cow cookie cutter to cut out the bread and black food dye for the spots. Just dab a corner of a paper towel in the food dye and dot on the bread.
 Milk bar anyone? Vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.
 This is what I call a deconstructed cow cake… easy peasy. I used pink frosting and pink jelly beans for the udder 🙂
I cut out squiggles of black paper for the table decoration.
I had some leftover tattoo favors from Max’s little preschool buddies that I used as table decoration. Moooo Max is 2! We do custom packaging like this in our Etsy shop!
 Our party hat DIY is HERE. Just decorate with black squiggly shapes and a pink “2”.
 Max’s “aunt” Ashley got him this bouncy cow for his birthday! He obviously LOVED it!
I made Max his tee shirt with the tattoo image printed on iron-on transfer paper.
Sources – click below:
Letter balloons by Northstar Balloons
– L

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

HOMEMADE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES FOR LITTLES

Well it’s not even mid-September… so naturally it’s time to post about Halloween. I was in Hobby Lobby today and was like…crap! Already? I wanted to share Ari’s past Halloween costumes with you if you’re into DIY’ing it. I totally got away with my choices when he was too little to come up with something himself, but this year it’s his choice. Whomp whomp. Wild Kratts it is!
DIY HALLOWEEN COSTUMES
1. HARRY POTTER
This one is my absolute favorite! You know what a Harry Potter nerd I am. We tell Ari Harry Potter stories (the non-scary ones) now, so he loves looking at this picture of himself!
Outfit: khaki or black pants, white button down shirt, black or gray vest or v-neck sweater
Scarf: I knit this using this pattern
Glasses: here. I popped the plastic lenses out
I used an eye liner pencil for the lightening shaped scar 🙂

2. MARTY MCFLY
I still giggle at this one. Ari still doesn’t really get who he was but people loved it! The Back to the Future Trilogy is one of Jeffrey and my favorite movies (next to HP obvs). 
Outfit: jean jacket, white button down with blue/red plaid, maroon t-shirt, red suspenders, red puffy vest, tight light wash jeans, white Nike high tops
“Look at them moccasins!”

3. THE ORKIN MAN
Ari is obsessed with our Orkin man, George. I think he thinks of George as a grandpa?? George retired last year, so it was only fitting to pay homage to him.
Outfit: white button down, pleated khakis, red hat
Details: I made the epaulets out of red felt with a white button sewed on. I just winged it whip stitched them on the shoulders BUT I did it backwards. The button side is supposed to point towards the neck of the shirt.
You can download the Orkin logo I made here.
Stick on eyebrows/mustache found at a costume shop.
I covered Max in little plastic spiders to make it more Halloween-y!
Tutorial for the spray can is below. There was probably a way easier way like using a silver coffee can, but I used what I had!
Punch a hole through the oatmeal can top for the rubber tube (bought at a hardware store)
Tape the tube inside and on the top of the can
Punch holes for the string before you tape the top on
Wrap can and hose with duct tape
4. CARDINAL
I made this for Ari’s preschool costume, but count it anyway as a great Halloween DIY.
Tack/sew red boa around the turtleneck. I used yellow felt for the feet and attached it to Ari’s crocs. For the hat, I glued felt on top of a foam visor from the craft store. You could always just stick feathers on a red hat and call it a day!

5. BABY NERD
This was my laziest costume but effective. Max already had the white onesie, cardi, and bowtie. I just put masking tape on Ari’s Harry Potter glasses (above)!
Even though Ari is almost four and picking out his own costume this year… there’s always hope for Max!
-L

FAMILY PHOTO SHOOT – WHAT TO WEAR

We had a little family reunion on my husband’s side of the family in St. Louis- so fun! Magic House, Butterfly house, lots of outdoor play- if anyone needs ideas for kiddos in St. Louis, please email me. So much great stuff to do. I grew up in St. Louis, but going back there with littles is a whole new ballgame. 
We had all eight little cousies together and needed to document it! We wanted our outfits to be coordinating, NOT matching, which I think is key in planning family photo shoots. We went with the color scheme of chambray, navy, white, and yellow in different patterns and textures. I love mixing stripes with plaid with solids…to the horror of our photographer! But I think it really worked. If you mix patterns and shades, it looks a little more natural than being totally matchy matchy. Since each family lives in different cities, I did all of our shopping online to make it easy – Gap, J.Crew, and Zara. 
A classic.
I hope this helps give you ideas for your own family portraits!
-L

GIVEAWAY! SOLLY BABY / MAMA & LITTLE (CLOSED)

We are constantly amazed by you, readers, for supporting us, reading every little post, following us on social media, liking, commenting, and just being totally sweet in general. To celebrate YOU….
It’s giveaway time again! Any mamas or soon-to-be mamas out there? Two of our FAV lifesavers / sanity savers are Solly Baby Wraps and Mama & Little teething jewelry. I personally could not get through the day without these products. 
Max wants to be held a lot and having a very busy 3-year-old doesn’t really allow me to do that all the time. Baby wearing is not only super convenient, but it’s also super important in establishing that bond between mama and baby. I’m not sure how I’d get anything done without wearing Max…dishes, laundry, dinner, the list goes on! Here’s what I love about SOLLY BABY: The wrap is light weight, so you can wear this running errands from store to store and just tuck baby in when you’re in need. It’s stylish and most importantly comfy for mom and baby. I also love that Solly Baby donates $1 of each wrap to Every Mother Counts. Read more about it HERE. Elle is now the mama of three and created the Solly Baby wrap out of need when she had her second child. Head on over to her instagram feed to see her gorgeous family and a whole army of Solly Baby fans! 
I am SO grateful to have found Mama and Little teething jewelry. It’s a (fashionable) life saver! I’ve had other teething jewelry before but the beads would always pull my hair out every time I moved or the baby pulled the necklace- OUCH! Also, the styles were not very exciting. Mama & Little jewelry is genius in that there’s a silk cord by the clasp so as not to pull your hair out. Also- have you ever seen those geo beads before on a teething necklace? So. Freaking. Rad. Max is teething (without even having a tooth yet), and he’s also very A.D.D. when drinking his bottle. The Teresa necklace is the perfect distraction for Max while I feed him. He loves to feel each bead and look at the bright colors. Also the perfect height to entertain him when wearing him! I layer it with my Olivia teething necklace because I’m matchy like that and Max just chomps on it- he really goes to town. He also loves my Deila necklace and it happens to go with everything. All of the jewelry is of course completely safe for your little. Read more about it HERE. Arleene created her line of teething jewelry for her sweet little son, Archer. Check out her instagram feed… super excited for her new styles and shapes coming out soon! 
Here’s my (not so little) Maxie!
I’m currently coveting all of the black and white pieces:
Want to own these ridiculously stylish and functional baby goodies?
TO ENTER:
1. Visit SOLLY BABY and MAMA & LITTLE and comment on this post what your favorite colors/products are from both sites. If you’re on your phone/ipad, you MUST be using the WEB version in order comment on our blog. For some reason Blogger doesn’t support comments on the mobile version! Just scroll down to the bottom of the home page and click “view web version”
2. Follow all three of us on instagram: @sollybabywrap, @mamaandlittle, @loveandlion if your account is private, please comment on our instagram (@loveandlion) that you did so.
Thassit!
GIVEAWAY DEETS:
*Winner will receive the Teresa Teething Necklace in Mermaid by Mama & Little AND 
one Solly Baby wrap in the color of your choice
*Contest ends Thursday June 26th at midnight PST
*Winner will be announced Friday, June 27 right here on the blog

Good luck, friends! Your life will be so much easier and way more stylish!

PARTY HAT TUTORIAL – FREE DOWNLOAD

Here’s a quick and easy party hat tutorial for you. If you want a solidly constructed hat with the string and everything (so you can force your baby to wear it like I do) but have it match your decorations, this is my fav way to go. Scroll down for the tutorial and download.
Ari’s third birthday party HERE
Ari’s second birthday party HERE

 PARTY HAT TUTORIAL:

1. Start with any store-bought hat
2. Unfold the hat, design-side down
3. Trace around the hat
4. Cut out traced shape, a little outside the lines to leave room for error
5. Put double stick tape on the two straight edges of the traced shape
6. Start with the “tab” side and tape on the hat, wrapping around the paper as you go
(If you want to do a little fringe or pom pom add this in before you close up the hat)
7. Decorate! 
Download party hat numbers HERE
 And here are my babies in their birthday hats! Oh how I love to torture them.

Jenni covered her hats with chalkboard paper and wrote with chalk. Amara’s first birthday party HERE

We’d love to see your party hats! Email us!
 -L

DOUBLE FEATURE!

So so so incredibly honored to have Ari’s Animal Party AND Max’s nursery featured over on 
Red Tricycle, the go-to blog for stylish, awesome, busy mamas. They take the work out of scouring the internet to find cool crafts, unique nurseries, creative parties, and recipes your kids will actually eat. We read the baby/bump pages but for you all in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, LA, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, SoCal, and DC, you have your very own section of fun things to do around your town, fav children’s boutiques, monthly event calendars, kid-friendly food trucks, and more… 
how perfect is this if you’re traveling with your littles to any of these cities?! We love it! 
See THIS post for Ari’s 2nd Birthday feature
See THIS post for 13 inspirational nurseries- including Max’s!
And see ALL posts for just general awesomeness 🙂 Thanks, Red Tricycle!

NEWBORN / SECOND CHILD ESSENTIALS

If you’re a preggie, a new mom, or a mom of two like me, you’re going to need some of these essentials! I could not function without the following… and I neglected to add an extra large cup of coffee, but that’s an obvious one, right? 
(click on the numbers below for the links)
HANDS-FREE
1. This is the perfect place to plop your baby down wherever you are. It has a little handle on top so it’s easy to carry in one hand while you carry your baby in the other. The best part- you can throw the whole thing in the washing machine! Jenni actually lent me hers that she used with Amara. Life saver! That’s what friends are for!
2. I LOVE the Ergo baby. How else do you get stuff done when your baby needs to be held? You have to get the infant insert as well so the baby is comfy. When they’re a little bigger, you can just use the seat pad so the baby is the right height. This carrier is so comfy that I wore this with Ari from birth (acid reflux baby… omg) up until he was 2.5 years old. 
3. We have a play mat at our house, but Max isn’t a huge fan. My parents keep this play mat at their house, and he is just mesmerized by the black and white shapes! He would stay on the mat kicking and smiling for an hour. You can even reverse the mat for different stimulation during tummy time. 
BABY COMFORTS
1. This is the easiest swaddle. Ever. Mom, dad, grandparents, and babysitters can all keep the baby swaddled the exact same way. This just zips up from the bottom (so easy for diaper changes) and has velcro to put baby’s arms in. Once Max gets in the swaddle, he’s asleep in seconds. Really. 
2. These pacifiers are the same ones you get at the hospital. They’re super soft and most like a nipple. Another thing I love about these is the hole in the middle. Ari loves to “help” and hold the pacifier in Max’s mouth with his finger. So sweet. 
3. Aden and Anais make the best burp cloths! They’re super absorbent, shaped perfectly to fit over your shoulder, they can snap around baby’s neck like a bib, and of course I love the stylish patterns. 
FOR MAMA
1. What in the world did I do before I had a backpack diaper bag?? When I’m getting the kids into the car, closing the stroller, schleping the grocery bags, etc., the last thing I need is my diaper bag falling off my shoulder or swinging around to hit me in the face. This backpack has pockets upon pockets and comes with a changing pad, wet sack, clutch for all of my stuff, a bottle cooler, stroller straps, and a strap to convert this to a shoulder bag. It really makes me feel stylish and organized. Also a bit like Felicity which obviously is amazing.  
2. Jenni gave me this lip gloss when I was in the hospital after having Max. It is the perfect shade of pink-nude and makes me feel a little glam even when I haven’t showered for three days. Isn’t she the best??
3. I adore this teething jewelry from Mama & Little. Made by a mom who wanted to look cute and give her baby the best- what a smarty! All totally safe, super stylish, and incredibly affordable!! They have necklaces you can layer in different lengths and colors all with a satin cord on your neck so it doesn’t pull out your hair! Max just started teething, so I know these will come in handy but also make me feel a little bit more put together. 
BIG BRO / SIS
1. I like to have special projects for Ari to do while I’ve got baby stuff going on. Love this mosaic kit for your older child. We did this over Thanksgiving, and it kept all 5 cousins busy, ages 3-10! 
2. A stool will make your older child feel part of the action at the changing table or crib. Ari feels very important standing on it, squishing Max’s cheeks while I do a diaper change. Anyone else’s kid enthralled with baby poop as much as mine? 
3. When I’m exhausted all the time sometimes I just need to sit, so a big floor puzzle is perfect for tired mamas and active toddlers. Much better than the Sleeping Beauty game I made up where I sleep until my prince kisses me to wake me up. So great when the prince gets distracted and let’s me sleep a little longer 🙂
I have to say the best thing we did for Ari to make him feel extra special was to have a “Big Brother Party”. It was as simple as hanging a few streamers and balloons and getting cupcakes from Kroger- you would have thought it was his birthday with how excited he was. We gave him a big brother gift and a present from Max. I highly recommend this for you mamas out there!!
Mr. Max at 3 months old
What are your favorite baby necessities I’m missing? I’d love to hear from you!
-L