Giveaway

So,

I'm running my own first little giveaway with my photography.

I figured with how much I love pics of my own growing family, along with the fact that I can't make it past any Target dollar spots without picking up something red, pink or otherwise Cupid-themed, and, February is next week...so...forget the two baskets of laundry needing folded downstairs...

it's giveaway time.

What I'm giving away?

Free photo shoot

and

Free pictures.

14 actually.

Get it?

14...Valentine's Day drawing...

So...

Here's the info I posted on my photography Facebook page

To summarize:

1. Make sure you "like" my Facebook page here.

2. Share the giveaway and/or links to my website on your own wall or blog or Twitter.

3. Leave a comment on the Facebook giveaway.

Done.

You're in.

Easy.

Hope you *love* it.

Taken

I broke out the heels for the first time since who knows when.

See, it's down to just a few days now before my sweet cousin is taken.

The white is ordered, the sparkles purchased, the party planned.

So we celebrated again.

We giggled, we squealed, we took pictures.

Her joy, her bubbly, her love...it was contagious.

Sigh.

Such a blessing to celebrate her countdown to marriage.

Such a blessing to be on the other side.

Taken, that is.

Especially when I came home that night to my man scrubbing down the floors.

Yes, he's taken, ladies.

Taken.

Just like the giveaway from Grey May from last week!

Lauren B.! Contact Miss Cindy with Grey May for shipping information.

Thanks for playing!

Season

This season is my favorite.

Baby snuggles and quilted nights.

Games and interrupting and chili and full bellies.

We've drawn for the Secret Santas, given new jammies and have r.s.v.p.'d for red and green parties.

Yes, the season is here.

Just a few more days for this cozy sweet drawing. Click, comment and keep your fingers crossed...

Plus, the newest addition...click here for a new way to "like" my photography...

Thanks...Plus a Giveaway...

I can't end November without the dutiful Thanksgiving post.

So, it's true, we gave thanks.

With a little parade-watching, remote-hogging, silly-face-makin' in the process.

Plus a little baby snuggling.

With a good measure of just playin'.

And not just that,

we jump started the season of lights.

(When I say jump started, I mean we did it right. As in Father-in-Law standing by on the phone inside with my hubby counting down on the cell phone on the front drive. It's true. We did.)

And, it was complete with a visit to Santa.

Who my eldest still hates.

And my babiest now loves.

Go figure.

In all sincerity, we are blessed.

And so very thankful.

...now for the much anticipated next giveaway...

Handmade, modern, soft and darling...

Now featuring the Grey May Etsy Shop:

A sweet beanie just in time for the holiday light, gift giving, picture taking season...

...or for your own nugget's warmth...

Precious!

I kind of want it myself!

More sweet information on this darling gift can be found here.

So...

To enter this giveaway -

1. Become a follower of this blog.

2. Leave a comment here. Any comment will due, but make sure to thank Miss Cindy for this lovely item. She's wonderful.

And then...

For another entry to the giveaway -

1. Favorite Grey May with your Etsy account.

2. Leave another comment thanking Miss Cindy. Again, she's wonderful.

Warning: Etsy? It's addictive. Grey May? Same thing.

You've been warned.

I know, you're thanking me.

Giveaway winner posted next week.

Calm...and a giveaway

I've got quite a task on my hands,

raising a boychild that is.

I mean, I don't know boys.

Seriously, don't know them.

And,

There's those days as a mom, a wife, a lady, a teacher...heck, just a human, that you just feel like life in general is just out of your league.

Let alone totally equipping a small person, a small MAN, for life.

Like we all know when it's one of those days that just keepin' myself from slappin' the snooze one too many times is enough of a challenge.

Or, and I'm telling on my sister with this one, one of those morning when you try to unlock your classroom door with your electric car door button.

Or one of those nights like last night where opening a prepackaged container of guac with a torn bag of tortilla chips qualified as a well-balanced dinner.

And I've got this creepin' feeling that my journey with the wrestle factors of life has only just begun.

So, today,

I

keep calm

and

carry on

pray on

breathe on

press on

sing on

And, well,

it doesn't hurt to look good adoin' it.

So,

introducing a featured fun sponsor...

This etsy shop is run by a long-time-ago friend of mine and holds some absolutely precious vintage accessories.

Lovin', lovin' it.

And so

We are offering her really fun giveaway here today.

A black and white feather headband.

Pretty, hip, simple.

All it takes to win?

Follow this blog,

leave a comment,

then be lucky.

Feeling almost lucky?

"Like" this page on facebook and then tell me about it for an extra entry!

That's all.

Simple.

It's true.

Winner announced next weekend.

Linked up with

Quirks

As anyone and everyone knows, it's our utter quirkiness that makes us beautiful.

It's quirky that I make lists for even the most free of days.

It's a quirk as clear as day that I lay them around the house and often duplicate my list just to have the satisfaction of carefully outlining a box next to this desperately important item and then carefully scratching the down and up of a check mark.

It's quirky that I set a timer for myself when no one is home and challenge myself to see how fast I can get household tasks done.

Something taught by my ever efficient mother. Hey, it works!

It's really quirky, okay, maybe weird, that these things bring satisfaction like none other.

And I've started seeing sweet little quirks in my oldest sweet one.

Like when she stops at the grocery store to carefully straighten the cans on a shelf, aligning them one-by-one to its neighbor.

Or the not as beautiful frustration when we haven't clicked her Leggo into the place on the tower that she knows it belongs.

Or the silence she falls into when patterning the alphabet magnets into a military line on the floor in the kitchen.

Or the other day, after I had spent the day cleaning and straightening the house for my hubby's return home from a week long business trip, when she found it utterly necessary to empty her bookshelf of all books and stack them in a laundry basket in the hall. I, busy with her baby brother, didn't notice until it was too late. I, shaking my head in partial dismay but realizing the humor in it, sighed and laughed to myself. One more thing for the to-do list. She, already busy with the next task across the room, froze and looked up at me. Padding her barefeet over to me, she gently laid her palm against my cheek, stared into my eyes and said, "Mommy, ok?" She thought I was crying. Smiling, I said, "Yes, sweetie, I'm okay." Without a word, she left the room. A minute later she was back, two baby wipes in hand from her room, grasping them in her intense little fist, she reached up and just as gently as before, wiped one of my eyes and then the other. Precious little one.

It makes me so excited for her little brother. For as short a time as he has been in our lives, he has brought so much joy. Such a sense of completion. What a privilege it has been to have him.

Such a privilege to discover and love the quirks in another being.

"You formed my innermost being, you knitted me together in my mother's womb"

Psalm 139:13

And for a way to showcase your quirky beauty, check out this giveaway!

Jammers...and another giveaway.

It was a cozy rosy sort of morning.

One that made it hard to finally peel ourselves off the sheets.

But we did.

And knowing about this super cute giveaway made it easier.

So.

Here are the details.

Visit this etsy shop. It is just darling. Seriously.

And then leave a comment with me (after becoming a follower of this blog, of course) letting me know just how adorable her accessories are.

Ta-da.

You're entered for the drawing for this super sweet headband.

To quote the creator of this beauty,

"I like to say that I rescue neckties from stuffy board meetings and boring conference calls and give them an exciting new life as cute accessories!"

How cute is that! Cute enough to make me want to get out of my jammers today.

Giveaway winner to be announced next Sunday.

Bonus: Use this code LWF20 to get 20% off your order in June!

WILW...and the Giveaway

What I'm loving Wednesday...

My life as a momma.
Soakin' it up.
Even on a day full of yucky spit-up from this one after a spectacular two month well baby check-up with a round of ouchie shots yesterday.



Little man is 10lbs 2 oz. 25% for weight, 75% for height.
Lovin' the fact that our babies seem to have gotten mostly daddy's genes.

Yes, I'm lovin' life as a momma.
Sweetness.
Even on a day with a little 'tude from a sniffly big sister.



So...

Visit this sweet blog and find something cute. Become a follower of Life with the Frenchs (by clicking here) then leave a comment with me adoring her things and...you're in for the giveaway.
For these.

A gift set of three lovely burp cloths.
Mommas know you can't have enough of those.

Announced Saturday.