Christmas Music Countdown

'Tis the season

for my current

Top 5 Christmas Songs:

5) Let it Snow  (Because I miss the possibility of li'l white flurries falling from the sky and blanketing the earth below for a glistening white Christmas.)

4) Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer (It's my favorite Christmas movie too!)

3) Silent Night  (Was taught this one in sign language at church when I was just a girl and have always loved it.)

2)  White Christmas (Sang this one to my first kidlet when he was a newborn, even though it wasn't Christmas time because Girl Scout & Christmas songs were the only songs, in that severe sleep deprived state that I could remember the words to!)

1) The Little Drummer Boy  (Currently, the kidlets and I are absolutely hooked on Pentatonix rendition of this Christmas classic. Nothing like a li'l beatboxing to modernize a traditional favorite. Have a look & listen!)

 

If you listen to Christmas music, what is your current fav?  Song?  Album?

In addition to more Christmas tracks than I can count (heavily laced with Christmas music from Glee), we're also enjoying Kelly Clarkson's newest album, Wrapped In Red, and more from Pentatonix  (which is new to us this year)! 

      Affiliate links are used.

Christmas Music

It's been awhile since I last updated my Christmas music - awhile, as in everything was on CDs.  Now, while I do love some of those CDs - Il Divo: The Christmas Collection, Sarah McLachlan: Wintersong, and Josh Groban: Noel - they're a few years old and it's time to update!

And these are the directions I headed in:

Admittedly, I came to the Glee party nearly a season late (gasp!). But oh my, I haven't been able to get enough since climbing on board Glee Train.  Naturally, I had to check out their first Glee Christmas album from last year!

And while I was getting my holiday Glee on, I had to go shopping for the Glee Christmas Album Volume 2 - of course!  Mercedes' (Amber Riley) All I Want for Christmas is so lively it's perfect for when the To Do list starts to get overwhelming. :>

I adore listening to this guy!  Michel Bublé sings his snazzy Christmas album as only he can and we love it.  My girl's favorite on there right now, is his Jingle Bells with The Puppini Sisters - so fun!

What are you listening to this holiday season?  I've been updating my whole music library, so if Christmas music isn't a holiday you celebrate or simply isn't singing it's notes to you, what are you listening to?  Any new favorites?

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I purchased the music myself, this post is not sponsored, and there are affiliate links included.

She got her Color On!

When I picked my girl up from school on Thursday, her teacher was holding a little surprise for us.  They were about to start the Special Student of the Week and needed us to complete her It's All About Me Tee poster over the weekend.

As we walked to the car, I explained to my girl what she would need to do this weekend and her eyes began to dance.  She was having visions of crayons, stickers, and glitter, oh my!

And after spending two days coloring with her Crayolas, my Prismacolor colored pencils, assisting me glittering the title up with Stickles, getting to use a Sharpie for the first time to write her full name (which as any protective Mama does, I erased it for the photo), and stickering to her little heart's delight, she was literally tickled pink!

When I was asking her the questions that needed answering for the sleeves & pockets, I got a chuckle at a few of her answers...like one of her favorite subjects is homework (may she remember that when she's in high school!) and one of her favorite places to go is Whole Foods...it really is.

I also loved the contrast between the two things she likes to do at home:  play race car on the computer (Need for Speed...just the driving part), as well as arts & crafts.  And her favorite songs?  Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star and Firework by Katy Perry.

It was such a joy to watch her work this weekend.  She really did most of it herself, but I was with her, helping her where she needed it.  When we went looking for something to use to depict the race car, she hugged me and said, "Yup, we're the Mother Daughter Team!"  Melt my heart....

What did you do over the weekend?  I hope there was some fun and laughter mixed in there!

 

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Disclosure:  We purchased Need for Speed years ago & have driven and crashed just about every car the game provides.  And now that our girl can reach the force feedback pedals & steering wheel at the same time, she's having a blast driving her pink car around the racing routes.  And her Uncle purchased the Teenage Dream cd for her birthday, though she's only allowed to listen to Firework at this age.  The links are affiliate links.

21 Lightning Bolts

It's been raining the ol' proverbial cats and dogs for the last couple days here.  Yesterday, those heavy rain clouds, were ever so thoughtful and put a cork in it for the kindergartners' recesses...yes, both of them.

Though, even with a chance to run off excess energy, a rainy day effects a class of twenty-one five year olds in ways I had not experienced before.

I'm fortunate that I'm able volunteer in my girl's classroom this year, one morning a week.  So, when I was with the class yesterday morning, I witnessed those twenty-one lightning bolts that electrify the air on a rainy day.

One or two kidlets at home, might cozy up for indoor activities when the rain pours down.  Mugs of hot tea or cocoa, might be found, cupped in our hands.  We might be relishing the imaginative adventures that can be had indoors at home, while the dark, monstrous clouds in the sky, unleash their insides and drum on the roof above.

All of that gives me a peaceful, warm and fuzzy vibe.

In a classroom?  On a rainy day?  Full of twenty-one electrified li'l ones?

Li'l ones that buzz this way ---------------------------------->

<------------------------------- and li'l ones that buzz that way.

Li'l ones who sing, and go a Shufflin', who belly up on top of the table and fly, who are under the table and just as soon as you get one back in their seat, the next one is zooming this way and that way again.

A classroom that is typically well behaved, full of singing and sweet faced kidlets see the dark rain clouds out the window and CLAP!, those innocent li'l angels are suddenly the lightning that charges a whole room.

Can you just imagine that energy harnessed?! :>

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I knew the LMFAO song, Party Rock Anthem...knew it, as to say I had heard it before.  But, when the kidlets in the classroom were singing it & doing 'the dance', the Shufflin', I looked up the lyrics.  It's definitely a fun party song for dancing, but thankfully, the kidlets who know the song are only singing the chorus.....'cause a couple of the verses, I'd rather my girl didn't learn! ;>

Forward March

TweeEEeet. TweeEEeet. Tweet Tweet Tweet.

The Drum Major’s whistle blew.  Forward march.

Left.  Left.  Left, Right, Left, Uh-huh.

The blue polyester pants, white shirt, and hat complete with plume might not have been something to get excited about, but being part of the marching band was.

The notes coming from my flute were not something to advertise, but band geeks were.

Dad drove me down from our family vacation in the Sierras so I wouldn’t miss a day of Band Camp before school started.  And back up the mountains afterwards.

Left.  Left.  Left, Right, Left, Uh-huh.

Marching and competing in parades in the seventh grade.

Moving just before the eighth grade to a Middle School with no Marching Band, where the lack of close knit band geeks could be felt.

Began marching again in high school.  Marching in Half Time shows.  Marching on Main Street in Disneyland, once a year.

Left.  Left.  Left, Right, Left, Uh-huh.

The school colors, red and black, were a step up, but the polyester flare kick pants were not.

The notes blowing through my flute still weren’t anything exciting.  Practice might have helped with that.  Novel concept.  But, Marching Band coloring high school memories was.

Not much of a joiner in high school, Marching Band helped me stay in step.

Left.  Left.  Left, Right, Left, Uh-huh.

 

Natalie of Mama Track, is guest hosting this week's RemembeRED prompt "to write about a time that rhythm, or a lack thereof, played a role in your life. And don’t use the word 'rhythm'" at The Red Dress Club.

My mind immediately marked in double time to my five years of Marching Band at two schools.  Did you feel the rhythm?

Did you play an instrument as a kidlet?  Do you play one as an adult?

Song

Time can be marked by the songs that beat in my heart.  And while there are oodles of Christmas songs that pass my lips throughout the year, as well as at the most obvious time and music that used to play on vinyl or cassette tape, now on CD or through a digital device, the songs that have etched themselves upon my soul, making them unforgettable, are Girl Scout songs.

The Brownie Smile Song will always remind me that “I’ve got something in my pocket” that’s a whole lot better than lint, lip balm, my cell, or a couple of coins.  It’s a smile “that belongs across my face.”

Gackgoom Went the Little Green Frog (some people call it Barrump), transports me back to a camping trip with my troop in upstate New York, where we all nearly froze at night until we layered on every single piece of clothing in our packs and put two girls to a sleeping bag.

Make New Friends travelled with me, across the country to the three different troops I was lucky enough to belong to.  Troop 667 was my final destination, where we went by camp names; I was Gizmo!  I sang more songs than I can count with this treasured troop.

Rise Up O’ Flame, Piece of Tin, Alice the Camel, send me soaring back…standing on a wooden stage, deeply inhaling campfire smoke, singing with my Senior troop, leading the Juniors in song.

Little Bunny Fu-Fu was great at campfire and it also made for wonderful animated fun with Fishey during the lunch hour at school.  It was funny how free a silly little Girl Scout song sung in school can make you feel;  aware that you are completely enjoying yourselves without a care as to how ‘cool’ or ‘uncool’ you look.

It’s important to sing Perty Daisy with a real strong twang, “It’s just a tattoo of a flower, so I look neat when I’m taking a shower.  It’s on the second toe of my left foot, stem and flower, but there’s no root (‘cause that wouldn’t look good)…” Perty Daisy is a favorite of both Fishey and I, though she has the tattoo to prove it.  Me?  I sang it till my voice was almost gone while potty training a kidlet a few years back!

Singing Girl Scout songs continued on with my kidlets from the moment they came home with us from the hospital.  On My Honor, sang over and over to calm or send a kidlet off to dreamland with.  And Little Birds sang with exuberance to elicit a giggle in the morning, while getting a wriggling munchkin dressed.

It didn’t matter if I was singing these songs to my son or my daughter.  The songs had become a piece of me to share and give to two beautiful pieces of my heart.

The songs are my past, my present, and still friends with many from Girl Scout troop days, will hopefully continue to be my future.

The Red Dress Club prompted us to write about what we know by heart from childhood.

I immediately thought of Girl Scout songs. While I tried flirting with other memories, those songs just kept singing louder and louder, until I gave in to them.

With a 500 words limit, I came in just under the wire with 499!

Mama Kat wants me to name just one?!

A song with significance?  As in 'a', singular, one solo, little, lonely song?

Oh for goodness sakes!

As a gal who grew up playing piano, violin, and flute (I didn't say I was great at them...but, yes, I did take lessons and play!), singing in choirs in schools, singing many a tune with Girl Scouts, with a cousin as a music teacher, an aunt who can play just about anything on a piano or organ if you hum just a bar for her, a best friend who spent hours writing out lyrics to dozens (hundreds?) of songs, how can I pick just one with significance???  How on earth do I do that?!

Do I pick...

...a Neil Diamond or Olivia Newton-John song that I remember listening and singing to as a kidlet?

...or the one from the first group that I had a thing for, Wham's Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go?

...or The Righteous Brother's You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin' that I heard endlessly in grade school (it was Top Gun days, people!)?

...or Kenny Loggin's Footloose or Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out for a Hero from the movie, 'Footloose'?

...or Livin' on a Prayer or You Give Love a Bad Name or Wanted Dead or Alive, all from Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet album and on the first cassette tape that my little brother gave me (think it was music he wanted, but I ended up liking it...a lot and to this day, while that isn't his taste at all anymore, he's still trying to school my taste in music!)?

...or Bill Medley's (I've Had) The Time of My Life? (Yea, I watched 'Dirty Dancing' just a few times!)

...or Whitney Houston's Greatest Love of All, which my most wonderful 5th & 6th grade teacher bought the single to play (on a record player!) for us and insisted we hear the words?

...or Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry, Be Happy, UB40's Red Red Wine, Bangle's Eternal Flame, Cyndi Lauper's I Drove All Night, Mike & The Mechanic's The Living Years, The B-52's The Love Shack, Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire (I could go on and on here!), all of which I remember being played at school dances?

...or the next round of singers, artists, and groups that I was drawn to listen to over and over again:  Dead or Alive, Alphaville, The Smiths, Cause and Effect, Big Audio Dynamite, Ace of Base, Erasure, New Order, Blind Melon, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Queen (and again, I could go on and on!)?

...or one of the only groups/artists that I've seen live (outside of countless band & choir performances), Tears for Fears, Counting Crows, or Meatloaf?

...or the first song Hubby & I danced together to at our wedding, The Righteous Brother's ballad, Unchained Melody?

...or the songs on the CDs in my car right now, the Fox & The Hound 2 soundtrack, the Jungle Book 2 soundtrack, Nelly Furtado (oh wait, that one's just for me when I'm in the car without young ones!), the soundtrack to Cars, the Inspiration Everywhere playlist burned to CD, and the Mama Mia soundtrack that my kidlets' sweet voices sing to every day (especially wee girl...she likes to get her song on!)?

One song with significance? 

Again, how do I pick just one? 

The answer is, I can't.  And that's just fine with me!

What music do you roll, sing, tap your toes, groove to?

KT Tunstall's kickin' it in my head!

Been playing my Inspiration Everywhere iTunes playlist and just can't get KT Tunstall and her "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" outta my head! Sooo...thought I'd share a little YouTube video fun with you.

Here's the music video to go with the song:

And here, she lays down all those sounds, all those rhythms, one on top of the other.  This performance is both wee girl and my favorite!

What songs get your toes a tappin'? Share a favorite video (one that us Mamas don't have to race to shield a kidlets' eyes or ears for please....or at least a warning to watch without them :>), I always love some blurf (blog surf) enabling!

Annnnnnd........are you cheering a team on this weekend for the NFL playoffs??  In case you didn't know (;>), I AM!  Seattle Seahawks are playing Chicago Bears and its an all out call for Seahawk blue this weekend......GO HAWKS!!! 

Hope your weekend is fun, full o' laughter, & simply fantastic! :>

Inspiration Everywhere {Music}

Does music inspire you?  Move you?  Drive you?  Make you laugh?  Sing?  Create?  Smile?

Jessica Sprague had us rockin' it both Old & New school with this Inspiration Everywhere project.

We started by creating a playlist on iTunes and then rocked it Old School, making a Mixed CD (remember the days of Mixed Tapes??  I just came across an old one from my best friend from high school....you might remember her as friend Jenn who sews those fabulous tote bags.....and oh my, did that ever send me back! :>).

And while I got inked & painted up for the Cover & Dedication page, I liked the idea of going digi here and used the pdfs that Jessica provided for the class.

Here's what I'm groovin' to while I'm creating or crafting (often with my wee girl):

1) I Gotta Feeling - The Black Eyed Peas

2) Walking on Sunshine - Katrina & the Waves

3) Black Horse & the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall

4) Jai Ho - A.R. Rahman, Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah, Mahalaxmi Iyer & Vijay Prakash

5) Waiting On the World to Change - John Mayer

6) Time for Miracles - Adam Lambert

7) Pocketful of Sunshine - Natasha Bedingfield

8) Don't Stop Believin' - Journey

9) Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield

10) Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall

11) Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap

12) Dance the Night Away - Van Halen

13) Just Dance - Lady Gaga & Colby O'Donis

And to rock it New School, Jessica had us submit our playlists to iTunes as an iMix and Here is mine.  (Though iTunes dropped Walking on Sunshine by Katrina & the Waves from the list....it was probably a version they didn't have for purchase.)

Do you listen to music while you are getting your creative groove on?  I'd love to know what you are tappin' your toes to, come tell me! :>

Get Your Paint On!

Get your paint on, get your paint on, yea, yea.  Show 'em how you do it now. 

As I was uploading the pics of the kidlets' art, I couldn't get Peaches and Herb's discolicious "Shake Your Groove Thing" out of my head and since its still playing itself over and over and over (so much so that I just had to pull up the whole thing, so that the kidlets could get their groove thing on while I put the pics of them getting their paint on onto the computer!), it just had to work its way into this post! :>

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In our backyard, the kidlets went from loud play, to very quiet - a few whispers could be made out, to a space full of giggles.  And that would be my cue to check up on them.  Yup, yup, they were getting their creative on.....they were full of excitement as they were painting...on the picnic table...with mud. 

Before I needed to pull the hose out, I offered them up a more colorful, but just as creative option that I knew they would jump at.  I offered up my dozens of craft acrylic paints and yes, they were thrilled!  My wee girl asks me to paint almost every day...water colors or acrylics, just give that girl a brush, paint & paper and she's a very happy camper.

My boy slathered on the orange, used two whole pours onto the paper plate, palette and then moved on to the other colors he had chosen. 

Turns out he was creating a space ship....see the windows?  The red on the left would be the thrusters and on the bottom is either more thrusters or landing gear.....he had quite an elaborate story to share and I might be missing a detail or two.  I do remember that the green on the top is a video camera though and I have no doubt that his elaborate story was being played out on the big screen in his head.  Now, that's a movie I'd pay to see!

Wee girl had many colors dancing on her canvas right away, but after her big brother's announcement that he was painting a ship, suddenly she was too.  She even made windows for her main ship, "just like brother".  Apparently, they are all ships, except the brown spot on the right side.  She tells me that's a rock. 

Whatever it all may be, I love watching both of them paint.  He focuses so closely, literally, that his nose almost ends up a tool as he leans in close to put down color, just as he wants it.  And as she concentrates, the sweet little tip of her tongue slips out and tells me how totally involved she is in her process.

My favorite moment of this particular kidlet creative session was my son's exclamation to his sister, "Man, we're really artists!"

Mama's side note:  Yes, you both are.  Live with your hearts, live with color, live with play, live with expression, and may you love it.

I hope you all can find time to live with a little creative fun too!  While they were painting, I painted right along side of them and added more paint to the canvas I'm working on.  What creativity is playing in your life right now?

Here's where I'm going to click my way to some inspiration:

       

Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming!

Well, if you live in the U.S., you just might know why I have Dory stuck in my head!! I am knee deep, okay...well, quite literally waist deep (since I'm working while on the sofa!), in paperwork...bills + T~A~X~E~S!!! Oh now, does that ever deserve a mantra/song/mission statement?! Right?!!?!! Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming.... :>

I *do* have a beautiful butterfly lady all stamped, foil embossed, cut out, and watercolored up, just waiting for a card to take rest upon. But! That "R" word (ooo...ouch....eek! *R*esponsibilities) keeps tapping at my shoulder and so, to be a r-r-r-r-r...esponsible grown up (oh when, REALLY, when did that happen?!), I must get through the pile o' paperwork before I can continue playing. Sigh. (and oodles of cartoonesque disgruntled nosies!)

Though, if you know me, then you know, even when the....

...uh-oh...having a serious '80's flashback....a little Billy Ocean....a little Jewel of the Nile...
...uh-oh...bear with me...

Okay..........so.....now that that particular digression has run its course (yes, I'm good at that!), back to the 'if you know me' part! And that is that even with all the yucky paperwork that has me engulfed to my waist (thank goodness my fingers are free or else I wouldn't be able to get chatty with you all!! :>), its those little things that make me smile!

Like the SUN that is SHINNING right now, the kids & Hubby who are playing their games (don't even say "Music & Soundscapes" right now or else a serious finger is going to be pointing at You and I'll be in a straight jacket, for sure!!), the ribs on the Q, the crafting supplies that are calling my name with all their colorful delight, the books that are singing their songs from my bedside, my son looking forward to growing strawberries again this summer, my daughter looking forward to planting the organic sage & flat leaf parsley we just picked up (no, not from seed....2 1/2" pots), and me, {hopefully} seeing signs that my paperwork might be whittled down enough to squeeze some creative time in quite soon...............ALL make me SMILE!!!

Now, what I really want to know (it just might give me the steam to plow through the rest of this paperwork, these numbers, and all this...uber technical term here: NON-fun stuff!) is what wonderful, from BIG to small, things are making YOU smile today??

Oh Christmas Tree

December sure is zipping on by, isn't it? So fast, that I think it has done a December disappearing act! My jaw hit the floor (THUD) this morning when I realized that it is the 20th already!!! I've been sick for a week, along with Hubby and our Princess. Our Monkeyman is the only one to have escaped this ....... tap, tap, tap ..... knock, knock, knock .... ... Pound, Pound, Pound ...... that would be me, being a wee bit superstitious and um, knocking on wood! I'm hoping we're all healthy for Christmas at the end of this week. The end of this week ????!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHH !!!!!!!!! (Yes, that would be me running .... screaming .... waving my hands in the air!!) AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe a little card talk will calm me down!! As soon as I saw Making Handmade Cards button eKits, I knew I wanted to use them to make a Christmas tree card with them! Tie in a little embroidery thread and a PTI bow and I was a happy gal!

Now, I'm usually a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas colors and I have a hard time deviating from the traditional red & green. I can add in some blues and metallics, But pink?! Well, my oh my, I took that leap across the canyon from the traditionally colored Christmas forest to the one colored a la Candyland...... and I liked it! A little fun with a Funky Christmas and button eKits, some ribbon corners, and more embroidery floss and a pink Chrismtas card sat in front of me .... it even makes me smile.:>

If you are curious about eKits, Sign up for the Making Handmade Cards free newsletter and get a free eKit to play with!

Back to life, back to reality (OH! that is sooo going to be stuck in my head all day now !).........

My inlaws arrive on Wednesday and my 'To-Do' lists are just a wee bit long. Those lists encompass all of this week's to-dos as well as most of last week's as well. Last week was my Monkeyman's last week of school this year and I was delighted to hear him sing "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Deck the Halls" in his Winter Concert. I got inky with some of Tim's tags and some SU Christmas tags for his teachers. But, mostly, in between taking care of my family, I curled up with a book, a blanket, hot tea, and read with the lights of our beautiful Christmas tree aglow, reminding me of my favorite time of year.

I hope you are enjoying this season! What holiday memories are you creating this year? If you don't celebrate at this time, what December delights are making you smile?

Shake It!

Ack! I'm trying to write this post and I have an ultra chaotic '80's mixed tape playing Styx {Mr. Roboto}, the Star Wars theme song....complete with happy little R2-D2 noises, and a good ol' fashioned "Happy Birthday" song playing in my head! Send help quick!

Good thing I've got something super simple to share with you! I honestly do not think I could handle complicated with this track playing rather loudly in my head (oh yea, add in a Star Wars Leapster cartridge sound effect, the Colts @ Dolphins game playing loudly in front of me.....go Reggie Wayne {he just might save our Fantasy Football game tonight!}, and a little girl arguing football with her Daddy).

A month or so ago, I dug through the Michael's clearance bins outside the front of the store and came across a little pack of three dimensional embellishments (Michael's Recollections brand), complete with shaker robot, shaker dinosaur, and little red car, marked down to .79 and I quickly snagged it. I needed a card, and fast, for a super seven year old boy, who loves robots. Clean, crisp and a little simple "Happy Birthday" courtesy of PTI's Borders & Corners Monogram Edition completes this.

To paper crafters, I understand that this could be seen as too simple and without enough paper crafting love. But, let me assure you, this little seven year old boy loved it and immediately started shaking it for a moment.....maybe even two....before he made a beeline for the brightly wrapped present that it was sitting on top of! lol

Hope you all are having a marvelous Monday night, enjoying the game (if you watch/follow NFL), and awake to a terrific Tuesday! As we are in a heat wave here, I would love to know how your part of the world is treating you. I am anxiously awaiting fall and since we are not going to have fall weather to get excited about on the first day of fall tomorrow, might you tease, tempt, and delight me with news of your crisp air, changing colors, and crunchy leaves?