I continue to be amazed at how quickly the school year is moving along, and the kids have been quite busy, so I really haven’t had a chance to update.
Due to the soaring gas prices, and the shortening amount of time that we had for activities, we scaled back on a few extra-curricular items this year. So what are they doing now? Both Bonnie and Clyde are taking a pottery class. They finished their cornucopias last week, and we’ll be grateful to use them to grace our Thanksgiving table. The next project involves making Christmas ornaments, which lets me know that I really need to get cracking on shopping.
Both Bonnie and Clyde are still involved in the chess club. They meet once a week and play practice games, work on chess puzzles, and do some tournament-type play. It’s almost time to re-up for that, so we’ll see if they want […]
Original post by bonnieandclyde
Look what Anna’s got!
I got it for her a few weeks ago. She’s in love. :) She takes it everywhere.
It was fairly pricey but I wanted to get her a quality guitar and it’s an investment. She is such a musical child and she loves to play on the cheap Walmart children’s guitar we have, but it’s not even good enough quality to stay in tune. She is forever writing songs, singing and playing music, and I wanted her to have an area where she got to really shine. It can be hard to be one of four kids, especially in the middle and with Victoria as a big sister. (Victoria, incidentally, is learning to play the dulcimer, which she’s also happy about.) The girls have even taken to entertaining friends with their playing.
We got Anna a lesson book and Daryl has been giving her lessons. He knows […]
Original post by Alicia
We had a marvelous time - JediBoy’s naturally dour expression aside - at the opera today! It was a wonderful experience, a short 40-minute program full of laughter and song. There were enough speaking parts that the kids could easily follow the story, and some wonderfully funny moments of Pig-and-Wolf drama set to familiar passages from Mozart operas. The kids all seemed to enjoy it, and BabyGirl was held absolutely spellbound, sitting perfectly still on my lap to watch the entire performance. She seemed to be able to recognize a bit of the Three Little Pigs story we’ve been telling all week.
The kids even got to chat with - and post with - the four-person cast after the show.
After the opera, JediBoy asked to go out to eat, since we were all dressed up anyway. What’s better than an opera and some ice cream? […]
Original post by piseco
(Now, That’s What I Call Country was provided to me by Special Ops Media for the purpose of this review and giveaway.)
Thanks, everyone for playing. The winner of the Now, That’s What I Call Country CD is…
Nicole!
Watch your e-mail, Nicole, because I’ll be contacting you for mailing information.
Original post by carrie
(Now, That’s What I Call Country was provided to me by Special Ops Media for the purpose of this review and giveaway.)
The world’s best selling multi-artist album series, NOW That’s What I Call Music!, is releasing the highly anticipated compilation of today’s hottest country hits on August 26. NOW That’s What I Call Country will feature 20 hit songs from the superstars of country music as well as the best new artists in the format. This collection contains 15 Top-5 singles.
NOW That’s What I Call Country is the first country music project for the respected and hugely successful NOW That’s What I Call Music! series of compilation albums, which have collectively sold nearly 70 million units in the US in the last 10 years.
I love country music - have ever since I was a kid. I listen to it often, but have to be careful in the car, now that […]
Original post by carrie
Our dear friend Polly lives in Scotland. She asked Daryl to teach the kids to sing “Flower of Scotland” since it’s considered one of their national songs and is so beloved.
Daryl printed the words out and we’ve been singing it together in the car. It is a lovely song and it gets stuck in your head! I’ve asked him to learn it on the dulcimer so we can sing it to music, too.
The tune is a bit tricky to get from just the lyrics so I asked him to find some versions for me to listen to. Here are some favorites.
Video of the Corries singing it 40 years ago…
var flashObject = new FlashObject(”http://www.youtube.com/v/BeOR_sNSPbg”,”fm_BeOR_sNSPbg”,”425″,”350″,”6″,”",”",”",”",”");
flashObject.write(”fo_targ_BeOR_sNSPbg108817421″);
Brigid Gore for a female perspective
and The Red Hot Chili Peppers for a modern rock perspective.
A bit of the history behind it, from this site where you can find national anthems, sheet music and more:
A constituent nation of […]
Original post by Alicia
(Camp Rock was provided to me by Click Communications for the purpose of review.)
This summer is gonna Rock! Get ready to sing and dance like never before with the electrifying Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock! Disney’s exclusive DVD explodes with “Too Cool” bonus features, including an exclusive extended ending and “How To Be A Rock Star,” a sensational series full of tips and secrets from the Camp Rock cast to help make your real-life rock star dream come true!
When Mitchie gets a chance to attend Camp Rock, her life takes an unpredictable twist, and she learns how important it is to be true to yourself. Join the platinum-selling Jonas Brothers and the hottest cast of performers at the coolest summer camp anywhere! Experience Camp Rock in a whole new way in this Extended Rock Star Edition DVD, packed with hit music, hip dance moves, and bonus features that will […]
Original post by carrie
I don’t what took this guy so long to ship his CD, but because he’s so cool, I’ll forgive him. Got this in the mail yesterday! WooHoo!
Original post by a conscious life
Sometimes school can be repetitive - math, science, history, etc., but then we have weekends like THIS where we do lots of exciting things! Bonnie & Clyde’s Chicago grandma is in town this weekend. She arrived on Thursday while the kids were in art class. And, of course, we had a chiropractor appointment, too. We had a nice evening with her, and then on Friday, Bonnie & I left because it was our Brownie troop’s overnight camping experience! I’ll post pictures from that in part 2 - some of those need to be edited, and I’m not up to doing it tonight.
Let me say, though, that we are the most blessed troop in terms of camping weather. Thank you, Joseph! It was another fabulous night - warm temperatures, no rain. And Bonnie’s favorite part was, again, the S’mores.
So, we raced […]
Original post by bonnieandclyde
People in Glass Houses
I build my house of shining glass
of crystal
prisms
light, clear,
delicate.
The wind blows
Sets my rooms to singing.
The sun’s bright rays
are not held back
but pour
their radiance through the rooms
in sparkles of delight.
And what, you ask, of rain
that leaves blurred muddy streaks
across translucent purity?
What, you ask,
of the throwers of stones?
Glass shatters,
breaks,
sharp fragments pierce my flesh,
darken with blood.
The wind tinkles brittle splinters
of shivered crystal.
The stones crash through.
But never mind.
My house
My lovely shining
fragile broken house
is filled with flowers
and founded on a rock.
~ from The Ordering of Love: The New and Collected Poems of Madeleine L’Engle
How’s your April going so far? Did anyone prank you on the first?
We started into our normal week on Tuesday after a long weekend of visiting with family, and it was hard. We had such a great time visiting, but it made for a very busy few days and none of us were ready to jump into school […]
Original post by carrie
A big thank you goes out to Celebrity Baby Blog and Daisy Rock today. Way back in January, I won a contest for three For The Kids cds and a beautiful butterfly guitar. When JediBoy saw what we’d won, he immediately thought of giving it to Em, who dreamed deeply of having such a guitar for herself. There were a few hiccups with shipping, but the guitar arrived safe and sound last week, and today Em gave me a private concert.
She loves it, and we love watching her love it. Now she can rock like Miley Cyrus!
Original post by piseco
I don’t have an iPod, but I do have an MP3 player that has a shuffle feature, so I am going to play along with this fun meme I saw at Praise the Lord and Pass the Prozac.
Here are the instructions:
1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question.
4. NO CHEATING.
Q: What does next year have in store for you?
Show Me the Way to Your Heart - Sara Evans
Q: What does your love life look like next year?
Cinema Paradiso - Josh Groban
Q: What do you say when life gets hard?
Blessing in Disguise - Christine Dente
Q: Song that reminds you of good times?
Tim McGraw - Taylor Swift
Q: What do you think when you get up in the morning?
Never Going Back Again - Fleetwood Mac
Q: What song will you dance to at your wedding?
Already married, but here’s […]
Original post by carrie
About three months ago, I held a giveaway for this CD. Andrea at Atypicalife won, but last week I had to send her an e-mail apologizing, because I still hadn’t received the CD from the company sponsoring the giveaway. Guess what? It showed up in today’s mail - along with two other copies! Since Ayo’s music isn’t really my style, I now have two extra copies to give away. Andrea, yours will be going in the mail as soon as I’m sufficiently recovered from the flu to brave the 16 degrees (F) weather to go to the post office. Actually, it would be nice to only make one trip, so let’s do the giveaway like this: if you’re interested in winning one of the other two copies, please leave a comment here by Saturday morning. I’ll randomly draw two more winners, and that should give us sufficient time to trade […]
Original post by carrie
What are you doing this New Year’s Eve 2007? I am sitting on the couch with my new laptop, watching the kids jump and sing and dance along with their High School Musical game on their new Playstation 2. They are happy, especially since their daddy told them they could stay up until midnight to welcome the New Year. Without asking their mommy. He’s the crazy one - I’ll probably head in to bed, and he’ll be up. And he’s still getting over the flu. He did, however, take a long nap in a quiet house this afternoon while the kids and I were visiting at Michelle’s.
I’m also listening to the song Revival from the CD Revival in Belfast by Robin Marks. We found a new church home this year. It has been nearly two years since we left our old church home. And yet, as soon as this song […]
Original post by carrie
(Now, That’s What I Call Christmas 1, 2, and 3 were provided to me by Special Ops Media for the purpose of review.)
If you are looking for a way to add variety to your Christmas music collection, then Now, That’s What I Call Christmas CDs are the way to go. These CDs hold a very eclectic collection of Christmas music. You’ve got classics from the old-timers like Bing Crosby, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, and Judy Garland. You’ve got cult classics like “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” and “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” And you’ve even got today’s music stars like Britney, Christina, Jessica, Relient K, Celine Dion. Oh, and don’t forget the country favorites, too - Kenny Rogers, Alison Krauss, George Strait, and Kathy Mattea. I’m not kidding - everything from Pavarotti to NSync. And if certain songs bug the heck out of you, like, let’s say […]
Original post by carrie
(P.S. I Love You, the Soundtrack was provided to me by Special Ops Media for the purpose of review.)
Have you seen the trailer for the movie P.S. I Love You? If not, go to this link and watch it right now, then come back. I’m serious - go!
Okay, doesn’t that look like a great, girls’ night, three-hankie movie? And, it has Gerard Butler in it. And, the guy who played Denny on Grey’s Anatomy. Sigh.
Since the movie looks so good, I jumped at the chance to review the soundtrack. And, like all soundtracks, I loved some songs and could take and leave some others.
“Love You ‘Til the End” by the Pogues, “Same Mistake” by James Blunt, “More Time” by Needtobreathe, “Last Train Home” by Ryan Star, “My Sweet Song” by Toby Lightman, “P. S. I Love You” by Nellie McKay, and “Everything We Had” by The Academy Is… […]
Original post by carrie
The house is being cleaned, the cookies are being planned, the Christmas card photo has been taken … that’s right, it’s the official count down to Christmas! Since we were lame about decorating for the other holidays this year, Bonnie and Clyde have insisted that we start decorating early this year, and they think we’ll have our tree by next weekend. All righty, then, I guess we better get going!
Last year we baked 56 dozen cookies. I’m not sure I want to tackle that big a job again this year - that was almost 700 cookies that got baked. Thank goodness I didn’t eat them all. But now that I look at last year’s list, it’s going to be pretty close to the same this year. Yow. Okay, plan an extra day for baking.
When my friend, Jill, heard that the kids were learning […]
Original post by bonnieandclyde
I’m going to take a hint from Melanie at The Refrigerator Door and call today Festive Friday. No getting up at the crack of dawn for all those sales for me. We slept in until 8:30 - it was glorious! After breakfast, we put up the Christmas tree and decorated the house, while listening to Christmas music.
Our Thanksgiving was wonderful. I survived doing the turkey. My stuffing, while a little too moist, still tasted good. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the kids didn’t drive my grandmother crazy. Plus, my mom brought me a present. When we were growing up, this was one of our all-time favorite Christmas records (yes, records) to listen to:
My mom brought me The Roger Whittaker Christmas Album CD yesterday, and I’ve been feeling like a little girl full of Christmas anticipation. This isn’t a CD full of old Christmas favorites - they are all originals, […]
Original post by carrie
I’m supposed to sing tomorrow night at the funeral home. Nobody I know has died recently - thank God. Our local funeral home has a community-wide memorial service every year around Veteran’s Day. It’s not just to remember veterans, though; it’s a time when anyone who has lost someone can come together and remember. For the past five years, the director of the funeral home has asked me to sing. I really enjoy it - though I don’t know how I will do it if I am ever grieving someone close to me. So far, I have been blessed.
Anyway, I have been singing in churches for a long time, so I don’t need a ton of practice time. Mostly, I have to run through the hymns I play during the prelude and postlude time, because it’s been a long time since I regularly played anything besides chords for worship choruses.
So, […]
Original post by carrie
I was talking to someone the other day who was embarrassed to admit she starts listening to Christmas music at Thanksgiving. I had to tell her that I start listening to Christmas music in October, usually before Halloween! Is that too early?
It probably is but the season can’t ever come too soon for me! Riding past the ballpark last week, I kind of cracked up to see an office park that already had its Christmas decorations up. I started to complain and then thought ‘How pretty!’, so it’s really not a big deal to me.
I spent some time today making a playlist for a CD that we will be listening to on the way to spend Thanksgiving with our family. Most of the songs off the Polar Express soundtrack will be on it. My favorite Polar Express song is When Christmas Comes to Town. I love that song!
I’m adding more […]
Original post by tina
The winner of Blue Moo: 17 Jukebox Hits From Way Back Never by Sandra Boynton is…
Comment #118 - Carol
Congratulations, Carol! Watch your e-mail box for instructions about your mailing info.
Thanks, everyone, for playing along with the Fall Y’All Giveaway.
Original post by carrie
Several years ago, when the kids were really little, I started looking for some good children’s music. I checked out a bunch of different CDs from the library, and boy, there is a lot of really awful, annoying kids’ music out there. If you’re a parent, you know what I mean. And then, I found Philadelphia Chickens, the book and CD by Sandra Boynton, and I regained my faith in the idea of music for kids.
We also bought Rhinoceros Tap, and liked it just as much. Sandra Boynton’s whimsical lyrics with catchy music by Michael Ford make for music that parents can listen to with their kids without wanting to bang their heads against the wall.
When the kids and I received a promo package from Workman Publishing with Ms. Boynton’s newest book/CD combo, Blue Moo: 17 Jukebox Hits From Way Back Never, the kids thought it was Christmas. And […]
Original post by carrie
I’m so sorry - I completey forgot about drawing a winner for this! So, without further ado, the winner is…
… Andrea
Congrats! Please e-mail me your new address, cause I only have the old one. As soon as I get the CD, I’ll put it in the mail to you.
Original post by carrie
I love this kind of blog entry/meme. Sooo quick and easy, but it gives some insight the kind of gal I am, I think. BTW, I bummed this from my daughter’s blog.
If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?
Directions:
1. Open your mp3 library
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press Play.
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the Next button.
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool.
7. Don’t skip songs. (Unless they happen to be podcasts/foreign/downright perverted and you don’t want your sister to think you’re some sort of dirty whore.)
Paige’s Note: I’m not only giving you the “soundtrack” of my life, but I’m commenting on the songs as well. *BONUS*
My Movie:
Opening Credits ~ What’s Up? - 4 Non Blondes Didja know the lead singer, Linda Perry, has written/produced for several artists…including Pink and Christina Aguilera? This was one of […]
Original post by paigeparr
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