just a lazy no school Monday

The kids didn't have school today for some reason, I'm not exactly sure why. We've just been hanging out here at home. Beth and Carissa didn't emerge from their bedroom until after 12PM today. They evidently came upstairs this morning and grabbed a bagel before I got up with Sarah around 8, and went back downstairs to play together. Brenna played upstairs in her room by herself for a while, and Bryce got on the computer in his room after we went over his spelling words for tomorrow's quiz. Sarah has been fighting taking a nap since after lunch, and I finally got her to sleep in the swing a few minutes ago. I tried to put her in bed twice and she would just stand up and start screaming and wouldn't lay down and go to sleep. Her sleep habits baffle me, and I dread the day that she is too big for the swing *sigh*

It was a lazy weekend too- Saturday we just stayed home, I puttered around working on stuff on the computer, Mark ensconsed himself upstairs in front of the HDTV watching football, the kids did kid stuff and we did a bit of Halloween crafting. Yesterday we went to church in the AM, where I worked in the nursery watching little people and then we went up to the Denver Nature and Science Museum in the afternoon since it was a free day there. We came home and had breakfast for dinner.

Brenna seems to have turned the corner finally on the potty-training thing! whoo hoo!! we have had several days in a row of success. She's not perfect, but she is taking the initiative when she needs to go and is very proud of herself. I'm not sure what happened, but I will take it and give her as many candy corn and pumpkins as it takes to reinforce how happy we are with her!

My mom and dad headed to Seattle this morning for my mom's surgery tomorrow. She is doing the pre-op tests this afternoon at the hospital and the surgery is scheduled for 7A tomorrow. It should be over in a couple of hours, so hopefully by noon tomorrow my Dad will be able to call and let us know how everything went. Obviously his immune system recovered enough for his doctor to say it was OK for him to go with her. He does plan to stay the week in the hotel near the hospital, but will only visit briefly a couple of times a day to reduce the risk of picking up a nasty bug. There is still a very long way to go and we won't have a good idea if this chemo is going to work well enough to completely erradicate the cancer for a couple more months. In the meantime, the chemo treatments are much harder on him because of the larger doses of drugs he is receiving. Tests last week showed that he has lost a little more heart function since the end of the first chemo treatments; at this point it is a race against time to get the cancer eradicated so that he can have a pacemaker implanted to help prevent a heart attack (the cardiologist can't do this until the cancer is in remission). Thanks for your prayers so far, and please keep praying!

Robin introduced her Colorfully You paper collection at SBB last week! I sent her a set of colors a while back for this project and it was fun to see how she interpreted them. All of the paper packs are gorgeous! I played with a couple of them and came up with this LO about how the twins are similar, but not...

journaling: These two may be twins, but they are far from being the same. They have different hair and eye colors, body types, tastes in food, what they think is ‘fun’ to do, and favorite colors. They do most things together still because they are sisters and do share many interests, but they are learning to explore and appreciate the things that make them different from one another too.
credits: From Colorfully You Collection by Robin Cabana: Brown patterned and greenpapers from Loved set, yellow dots and yellow papers from Happy set, pink floral paper from Classy set, and 'T' from alphatag alpha; glitter flower from Seaside Bliss by Robin Cabana at Scrapdish; inked edge overlay by Robin Cabana; yellow stitching by me
fonts: CK Tea Party, CK Serendipity, Edwardian Script, Clarissa, CK Legacy

Amy challenged her CT to do a LO about our shoes for her big CT introduction announcement she is planning this week. Here's what I came up with. I love my Keds and buy a new pair whenever I wear one out. :)

journaling: They’re worn, frayed, there’s a hole in the big toe area of the right shoe, and they are on the verge of falling apart the next time I put them on, but that is the way I like them. I discovered Keds in high school- they were the ‘trendy’ shoe to wear at the time- and I’ve not stopped wearing them since. I have other shoes I wear occasionally, but I always come back to my Keds because they are casual, and most of all comfortable, and that is what my life as a stay at home mom is like right now. ~Sept 25,‘06
credits: Blue denim and striped papers by Kelley McDonald at DigiDesignShoppe; Brown paper, casual comfort labels, and stamped frame from Carpe Diem by Dani Mogstad and Shawna Clingerman; cord flower from Cord Crazy shapes by Kim Jensen at Scrapdish; "K" Card by Dani Mogstad; Clay hearts from Lovey Dovey Mix by Amy Knepper at DigiChick; knotted Ribbon from Sweet Serenity by Shabby Princess; frayed fabric and torn edge actions by Atomic Cupcake fonts: TXT Abrasive

I've been busy working on RAKs CT stuff this weekend, and can show you a finished goodie that might just pop up in a certain minialbum challenge that starts next week ;) So, if you like it, keep your eyes open!

credits: matchbook minialbum digicraft template by Melinda Staley; Carpe Diem by Dani Mogstad and Shawna Clingerman; stick pin from Eclectic Collage by Shabby Princess; frayed fabric action by Atomic Cupcake; mint heart and metal ring from Candy Hearts kit by Dani Mogstad; paint brush stroke by Michelle Coleman; fonts: SBC Distressed Type, Black Jack, Bickley Script

And lastly, I was tagged by Amy.
Here are the rules:
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

I don't listen to much music these days that is actually picked by me. When it is quiet, I choose to listen to the silence mostly because it is so rare around my house. But, there has been quite a variety of music in the house of late, mainly because Beth and Carissa put on music to practice their dance steps to. They are learning lots of different things, so there is quite an eclectic mix in the CD player in the living room that I dug out for them:

1. Garth Brooks - Mr. Right is usually the song of choice from a collection CD I got at McD's years and years ago.
2. Mariah Carey - Emotions
3. Classical Masterworks in Digital - song of choice is usually 'Die Ver Jahreseiten -Der Fruhling -Allegro' by Vivaldi, aka the Spring movement of his 4 Seasons work.
4. "I Like Jazz" collection CD- song of choice is "S'Wonderful" by Harry Connick, Jr
5. The Dora the Explorer theme and Doodlebop pledge songs - I bet some of you are singing those now too aren't you?? ;)
and a few that are totally my choice:
6. Amore by Andrea Bocelli
7. Elton John's Greatest Hits 1976-1986 - I chose this fun one on the way home from Denver yesterday
and one more album for good measure, since it is sitting on the computer desk:
Seville to SantaFe, A Spanish Guitar Anthology - I picked this one up on vacation a few years ago and love to listen to the classical guitar!

I see most of the people I was going to tag have already been snagged by others, so who is left that I can torture with this little exercise....
Krista, Jen, Raji, Jane, Shawna, Gina, and Stacey

Kiddos are up from their naps and I have more digicraft stuff to work on, so I'm off. Have a great day!