gratitude tuesday: week five

A little late for Tuesday, but I couldn't help but hold out for this sweet little addition to our extended family.

Welcome to the world,
Gracen Ruth Conner

It was so great to finally meet you! I am sure you are going to be the best of friends with my girls. We can't wait for play dates, sleepovers, ball games, birthday parties, proms and a million other sweet memories with you :)

We love you so very much already ♥

I need your help! BIG TIME!

So, the bad news is that Nick has to work on Valentine's day and we won't get to celebrate it until he is off on the 18th. But the good news is that this set back gives me a little more time to get things together and for this darlin' outfit I ordered from Etsy to arrive! I really hope it fits because I can't imagine a more perfect Wilderness Explorer outfit.

I have decided on doing an Up! inspired Valentine's day, except I am making a few changes to the whole shebang because it is the day of love afterall and pink, red, blue and white are a lot more appropriate than the traditional wildernesss explorer colors on a day like this.

To do:
+ Make 3 Badge Sashes
+ Make lots of little badges to earn as they complete tasks
+ Make Wilderness Explorer pennant flags to wave around
+ Make Wilderness Explorer Handbook filled with challenges
+ Make "My Adeventure Book" for Nick
+ Make little house with tons of balloons tied to it

Challenges:
+ Homemade Trail Mix
+ Learn a Hiking Song
+ Swimming (bathtime!)
+ Recycling Project
+ Tub Fishing
+ Build a Tent for a living room campout (bedtime!)

Please send along more toddler-friendly ideas that can be completed inside. It's a bit too cold and snowy to fly kites, go on a hike, collect rocks, build a fire, or complete any of the more fun (sad face, mad arms) camping tasks.

And the winner is....

Thank you so much to everyone who left comments on my first little giveway! I was delighted to meet so many new followers and hear what you all are looking forward to this spring. I hope you all will stick with us through the rest of winter as we have many wonderful things to share in the upcoming weeks:

+ The birth of Gracen Ruth Conner (My best friend Amy is in labor, right now!)
+ A visit from my BFF, Taylor Mae
+ Another Practice Maternity Shoot for my friend Jennifer
+ An Up! inspired Valentine's Day and other love day spoils
+ Potty training celebrations
+ Long awaited packages for the little akorn family and Marshall family
+ Home Renovation Projects

Oooh, it has been a rough winter indeed, but I am happy to cap it off with new babies to spoil, snowy photoshoots and packages, a diaper free toddler (well, hopefully) and la la la loveeeeeeee! ;)

The winner of the giveaway is,

*drumroll*

Brooke (ruinedyou)

Mandy and Fallon, you are the winners of the two additional little zip pouches. Get me your addresses ladies (kpritchar (at) radford (dot) edu) and I will mail these packages out to you ASAP! :)

(another) winter wonderland...

I hope this short update finds you all warm and well. Our snowy little town has been without electricity for the last few days and several areas of our county are still in the dark. We have tried to make the most of it, but being powerless has literally left me powerless to completing certain tasks and I just feel like I will never see the end of my to do list. I have much to update about, but those entries will come later as right now I am knee-deep in snow, etsy orders, love day planning, baby poop and all the dirty laundry it brings.

Stress stinks, snow stinks, poop stinks... but I will leave you with this list of happy snow day things because these are the things that keep me afloat:

+ Getting cozy in front of the fireplace
+ Bird and Deer watching
+ Uno and Checkers
+ Long naps
+ Successful Potty Training
+ Toddler toe nail painting
+ Pipe cleaners and paper bouquets
+ Cameron's sweet baby clapping
+ Sister cuddles in a pit of snow white pillows

Please send happy thoughts my way and don't forget to enter the giveaway! :)

A Labor of Love

After seeing this sweet garland on Wild Olive last year, I put it on my mental checklist of things I would like to complete this valentine's day. I didn't have any brown kraft paper or paper bags on hand, so I opted for some trusty old book pages instead. I have several more strands to go but I am taking a little breather before I find myself in the midst of another heart attack.

This time around, I am making the strands with several cohesive skinny hearts. I am definitley prefering the emaciated heart look over the healthy, plump heart. Hopefully this batch will balance things out a bit because I am not feeling ambitious enough to start the whole project over! Eeep!

What is it about garlands that makes our lives seem a bit more fuller and the world a bit more happier? ;)

A Happy Little Giveaway

Alrighty, so the blog geek within has me convinced that it is time for me to do a giveaway on my little corner of the net. I have always wanted to do one of these but did not really want to hold one without any rhyme or reason. In the midst of a winter wonderland, I figured a bag full of happy spring loot would be the perfect pick-me-up for many of us! It certainly put a smile on my face putting it together.

What's included??

(*) Reusable Oilcloth Picnic Lunch Bag
(*) Green Polka Dotted Tissue Holder
(*) Haley's Signature Spring Flowers Hair Bow
(*) Brown Muslin Upcycled Pin Cushion
(*) Sweet Bird Patterned Pouch for your goodies

To Enter simply:
(1) Follow my blog and leave a comment about your favorite spring activity on this post
(2) Recieve an additional entry for commenting on a previous post (grab a cup of tea and please stay awhile)
(3) Recieve an additional entry for posting this giveaway on your blog (and please note that you did)

If there's enough interest, I will be drawing 3 names and be sending out 2 additional spring-themed zip pouches :)

Drawing will be held Wednesday, February 10th!
Good Luck, Sweet Friends!

gratitude tuesday : week four

Being snowed in and subsequent snow day baking!

Haley and I fixed the most glorious homemade icecream sandwiches this past weekend. With that said, I guess I am also thankful for vanilla icecream, sugar cookies, and little but willing sticky toddler fingers too :)