giving thanks

grandma invited us up to spend thanksgiving in warsaw this year, and we were so happy to oblige her. the kids had a great time (kawelo is missing his new best friend, my aunt beesa), and we forgot to take very many pictures (the above is the best photo particle i could scrounge). oh, well, the story of our life - sometimes we're really good at commemorating the memories, and other times our brains fly right out the window about it. it was good to spend thanksgiving with family, and black friday in a small town (small crowds!!). we are so thankful for all of our dearest family and friends! happy thanksgiving and black friday, ya'll!

critic's corner

WARNING!!! if you are going to see the twilight movie, and have not yet done so, do not read this post unless you want to be irreversibly biased!!

saturday night, i went to see twilight as a sort of "congratulations!" to myself for all the craftiness i'd produced lately. i had heard mixed reviews from others who had already seen it, and went in with an open mind. i guess i would have loved this movie if i was a teenager who had no convictions concerning character development. i thought the guy who played edward looked the part all the time (although, seriously, he should pump some iron) and acted the part about half the time (edward is 100 years old and has a mind that moves about a thousand times faster than humans' - he should talk in coherent sentences - like a grown-up!). i really disliked the actress who played bella. i thought she looked the part, but her interpretation was "bella with a 'tude." bella is supposed to be non-confrontational and extremely mature - this girl did not get that memo. and maybe she thought she was being intense, but it just boiled down to a lot of staring. also, i thought the actor who played jasper was totally wrong for the part. number one, he's supposed to look old enough to be in college. number two, giving someone blonde highlights does not make them a blonde. number three, his interpretation of jasper's uncomfortableness around humans looked like a 12-year-old with stagefright, or someone who's just realized they ate a whole pan of super-lax brownies. there were also a number of small things that bugged me throughout the movie (body language, positioning, awkward silences), but too many to list out here. so, overall, i was disappointed with the movie and i'm not sure what to expect if they screenwrite the rest of the books. on a side note - i did not like jacob in the books, but thought he was adorable in the movie - pleasant surprise! unfortunately, there were not enough pleasant surprises for me in this movie, and i would have to give it a thumb's down.

crafty fun

this past weekend was a tad crazy - i had my very first craft shows! ....back-to-back! one was friday at the university's student union, and the other was at an elementary school on saturday. james kept the kids both days - i think he was a bit eager to get back to work today! both shows went well - i sat next to friends and laughed and learned a lot. i was also invited to be in another craft show in december (one that you are either invited to or apply to be a part of), so that gave me a nice ego-boost and will give me something to work toward.... cause i'm sure i'll have nothing to do between now and mid-december, right?

second skin

a few weeks before halloween, koa announced that he would like a skeleton shirt. we hadn't seen any anywhere (that i could recall), he just decided he wanted one. a week later, we found this gem at target (the most perfect store in bowling green... and sponsored by bess). he was so excited to wear this with his pirate costume! i figured the newness would wear off and this shirt would become like any other. boy, was i wrong. koa LOVES this shirt. thankfully, it's not the i'm-wearing-this-shirt-no-matter-the-filth-level-and-you-will-have-to-wrestle-it-off-me-to-wash-it kind of infatuation. koa will just happily wear it as quickly as it can be washed. i love this boy and his.... determination? independent mind? stubbornness? whatever it is, it's koa.

fall foliage

our maples in the back have a brief burst of color before they turn a nasty mustardy-brown color, so i tried to capture their autumn glory. the kids were all for it - any excuse to play outside is a good excuse! happy fall! (or winter, i guess, for you northern and/or mountain types.)

halloween happenings

the anticipation built up around halloween was almost a tangible thing by the time friday rolled around. the kids were so incredibly excited about their costumes - kalei was super cat (of course), koa was a pirate (with a cape - kalei had one, so he needed one, too. sure, why not?), and kawelo was a moth (a moth, i tell you! see the brown wings?! okay, so it might look a teensy bit like a girl's butterfly costume, but the brownness we added obviously makes it a moth. obviously. this is what we'll tell him when we bust these pictures out during his dates.). here are our attempts at getting pictures with the three of them:

kawelo was a tad uncooperative, but adorable.

here are my favorite photos:

(thanks again, malia, for linking the cape tutorial!)

needless to say, candy was given away, candy was collected in, and the kids rode the sugar high all the way till koa feel asleep on the ride home. good times!

grand opening!

drumroll, please! i am pleased to announce that i now have an etsy shop! for those who don't know, etsy is an online forum where people can buy and sell handmade items. so, i've posted a few of the pincushions similar to the ones i will be selling at a few craft fairs next month. i have a linky thing at the bottom of the sidebar on the right side of our blog, and i'll be updating it from time to time with stuff that i put in the shop. the web address of the shop is:

http://simplybess.etsy.com
feel free to check it out and let me know what you think!