we have a winner!

(sorry about the weirdness of this image - i couldn't figure out how to load this to the blog, so i took a picture of the screen.)
thanks to random.org, we have a winner: comment #32 -

Val said...

The bird one is very cute!! What a fun giveaway:)

i'll be sending you an email, val!

thank you once again for all the wonderful comments!

comments are now closed!!

WOW!!! thanks to all who commented - i'll be selecting a winner and announcing said winner this afternoon - thanks again!!

sew, mama, sew giveaway day!!!

it's one of the best days of the year-

giveaway day!!
for this special occasion, i will be giving one fabulous person their choice of pincushions from my etsy shop! to enter, please visit my etsy shop (see the linky thing on the right there) and then leave a comment here telling me which pincushion you like. it's just that simple! i'll be adding more pincushions as the week goes on. here's a preview of the pincushions available:


(if the one you like is not in the shop yet, you can describe it from the photo.)
(btw, the dish is not attached to the pincushions - it was for display purposes only.)

a few rules:
- the contest ends at noon (central time zone) on may 20
- one entry per person
- please leave your email
- at this time, i am not shipping internationally
- the winner will be chosen at random
- there is a chance that the pincushion you like might be sold before the giveaway ends (so please have a back-up in mind)
thanks for stopping by and i hope you have a fabulous day!!

be sure to check out all the other giveaways here!
good luck!

a mom's day off

today is mother's day

kalei: why we love mama is because she is wonderful. the greatest thing about mama is that she has 3 children. why 3 children is great because 2 of them go to school,1 will be going to preschool soon.

koa: i love mama because she helps me when i'm sick. the best thing about mama is that she loves me. my favorite thing to do with mama is to play uno.


kawelo: kalei and koa think that kawelo loves mama because she is sooooo great. i love mama because she stays home with me, and takes me places.


Papa: I love Bess because she is the love of my life and best friend. I am so grateful that she is the most wonderful mother and example for our precious children. Thank you for everything, and enjoy your day off!

WE LOVE YOU !!!

objects in photo are worse than they appear

i think a fact of kawelo's life is that if there is some sort of skin-affecting sickness/virus/allergic reaction, he will get it, and it will be nasty. case in point:

chicken pox.
that's right - chicken pox.
did you know that they have a vaccine for chicken pox now? they do! kids get one at 1 year old, and another at 4 years old. did you also know that if you've only had the one, there's like a 20% chance that you'll still get chicken pox? apparently, we were exposed to chicken pox somewhere (and the virus can live on surfaces for 10 hours, so it could've been literally anywhere) and kawelo fell into that 20% that's still vulnerable. poor guy!!! i took him to the pediatrician to make sure this wasn't some weirdo allergic reaction (like his eye that swelled shut a few weeks ago) and the doctor took one glance at him and said, "oh, yeah. that's chicken pox. no doubt about it." (the good news is that we were in and out of the doctor's office in record time!)
so, we're officially hermits for about a week while we try to help kawelo fight the itchiness with baths, generic benadryl, and calamine lotion. the best news is that he is so wonderful at taking medicine, and he thinks the calamine tickles. feel free to send some prayers our way for a speedy recovery!

13.1? no problem!

in addition to kalei's baptism on the 24th, james ran the country music 1/2 marathon in nashville! that's right, he ran 13.1 miles!
here he is with his dad pre-race looking cool, calm, & collected (so that's where kalei gets it...)

and here he is post-race (looking hot! literally.)

wil & tauna went down with james to support him and scanned the faces of all the runners coming into the finish, but there were so many that they weren't able to actually see james cross the finish line - they were still scanning the runners when james calls to say he's finished - they were so bummed!

the kids made this banner for james to show him how proud we are of him - way to go, james!!!
p.s. i love how the banner captures each kid the way they are right now - the section with cats is kalei's, the robots are koa's, and the scribbles are all kawelo - adorable!

the big day

we had a lot to do to prepare for kalei's big day! thankfully, wil & tauna (james' folks) came in early and wil entertained the kids while tauna & i made cookies..... lots and lots of cookies. (by the way, the time to start weight watchers is NOT the week before you make dozens of scrumptious cookies - just to let you know.) anyhoo, here's tauna with the lemon cookies (they tasted like lemon meringue pie in a cookie - awesome.) we also made chocolate chip (the gold standard) and whoopie pies - yum!

kalei was so excited for her baptism! she & i were able to scoot up to indianapolis for spencer's baptism the day before, and that only heightened her excitement. here are kalei & james before the baptism started (sure, she looks calm, but inside she's super excited, trust me).

and here she is right after her baptism - lovely! i asked her how she felt and she said, "great!" there was such a sweet feeling to the baptism, and i know that heavenly father is so pleased with her decision. (fyi - i was able to keep it together and just had some tearing up, no actual crying - woohoo!)

afterwards, we had a cookie reception (the kids were loving having cookies before dinner):

we are so thankful for all our friends and family that came to support kalei in this great event! (especially considering the tornado warnings and storms blowing through at the time!) all the kids had a wonderful time with their grandparents and we are so appreciative that they took time out to be here - thanks for making kalei's big day extra special - we love you!