Tag Archives: music

My Sound of Music

20 Nov

For my entire life, I have been surrounded by music (we had 3 different live bands play at our wedding!).  As a kid, I fondly remember Christmas’s on my Dad’s side where everyone sang songs for what seemed like hours.  Anyone who knows my Dad well knows his musical history – Bands like Bandicoot, Rebel,  Mark’s Bros, and Fast Forward….  Stories of opening for the Monkee’s at the Gibbon Ballroom before the Monkee’s were famous ( I hear this story all the time, but still don’t know if it is REALLY true), long travels in the Mark Bros. van, and pyro-technics gone bad.  I met lots of my Dad’s musician friends who came to the studio to record – many who I remember fondly to this day. Back then I saw a lot of my Dad’s brothers, who also have music in their blood, and dearly miss, Uncle Dan, (who mostly played bass guitar) the guy who was so shy in person but not on stage.

And I have no musical talent, or at least never gave it enough time as a kid to develop it.  I remember taking piano lessons and just hating to “practice”.   My Dad bought me the most beautiful red electric guitar for my 10th birthday, and I never really learned how to play it.  I just did not have the passion for it, that my brother Joe developed in High School and still has to this day. I wish I did, I wish I would have focused on it more.  To me, there are few things that are  cooler then girls that can really rock a guitar. Yeah being in an all chic rock band would have fit me just fine.

So here we are today.  I am watching my kids play and sing music and hoping to see the talent develop into something awesome.  CJ likes to sing while Grandpa plays piano.  B just bangs on the drums and keyboard.  We have a room basement that used to be the “train room” but is now more of the “music room” with drums, keyboard, my old (like new) guitar, etc.  The kids like to jam out in here, in a very random, “just make all the noise you can” fashion.  M has shown a lot of interest in my guitar lately, we have been hooking it up to the amp and he has asked to take it to friends’ houses…. we are not quite to that point yet.

I went to  Thursday mass at St.  M’s since the Kindergartner’s had a role.  They walked up with Father with food shelf items since it was the Thanksgiving mass and then got to sing a song.  I patiently waited to the very end of the mass to hear the song that the Kindergartner’s sang.  I had never heard it before, although Grandma H. had, who came with me.  It was the song “Edelweiss” from the movie Sound of Music, a movie I have never seen.  Seeing the 5 and 6 year old’s sing it and do the actions was adorable.  It seemed like the sweetest church song a little kid could sing. I have since done some research on the song…. It is known as “May the Lord, Mighty Lord” when the lyrics were modified for Church use.

The Church Lyrics for “May the Lord” go like this:

“May the Lord, mighty God, Bless and keep you forever.

Grant you peace, perfect peace, Courage in every endeavor.

Lift your eyes and see His face, And His grace forever.

May the Lord, mighty God, Bless and keep you forever.”

So here is the inspiration behind this blog post, M’s version of the song, not taken at the Church with his classmates, but at home a couple days later. Below is Take 2, (Take 1 had bad audio and a meddling brother), so I am glad that M willingly and enthuisastically performed it again for me.

Babies, Communication, and Dance

17 Jul

It is reality that soon by little baby will no longer be the baby. I am not sure if I am really ready for that? I know he is not. He is *a bit* of a mama’s boy, likes to be held ALOT. I am so proud of him though and how he is growing up. He says “gank oo” (thank you) so well…. well maybe not that good because he was saying it to gma all night one night and she did not know what he was saying….Like Mav did when he was his age (and most babes I presume) he eats like a champ. Where Mav is pickier now, B will eat whatever he can, no matter what it is. I wish Mav would not have grown pickier but I guess that is normal!

B has just started being VERY clear about nodding YES and NO. He does it very deliberately when he knows what he wants. It is so precious, and I hope to get video of it online soon.
*note to self- get more vid of the boys!

THe boys love to dance, and it is so hilarious and carefree. Watching them dance and giggle has got to be one of the best stress relievers. We need to work more music into our lives though… and I need to get some vid of them shaking their booty (see this vid from last summer for a little chuckle)

Where to Start? Somewhere. The Fourth of July.

16 Jul

Life is good. I just wish it would slow down a bit so I could take every moment in a little more. Why is everything such a rush? So many special things happen every day, but slowly become a blur. My intentions with this blog was to capture the little thing about my kids’ lives in writing and pictures so I wouldn’t forget… but then when I fall behind I feel the guilty and overwhelmed. I know I dont have to do it, but I really want to. It helps me to remember and appreciate the little things that otherwise go unnoticed. The further I get behind, the harder it is to catch up. Tonite I have been working on moving over 2 years of blog posts to this new blog. My goal was to have it done last spring… there are more posts then I thought. I got a lot done tonite, but still am not satisfied because there are so many more…. Man.

I have so much I want to write about but am a month behind. I am going to start with one of our favorite holidays, the 4th of July. Spent at the house of the rising sun with friends and family for the 10th summer.


Fourth of July- One of the best yet, even though I am so prego and the alcoholic beverages were calling my name. The boys had a fantastic time, with water guns, hoses, anything that involved water. Mav is starting to get more comfortable in the water, but I think the big lake intimdates him. Oh and he is a Fireworks NUT. We spent time at the park, at gma and gpas place, and hanging with the crew at the cabin. Great times. And the highlight for Neil was getting the new patio doors in, thanks to Ben and Dan. I got a lot of time in the Twilight series which was very relaxing indeed. Dad and Joe and gang of musicians jammed at Todd’s. The parade was great, and we were glad to have B’s “monkey” to keep him from running to far into the street. Every piece of candy he got went right into his mouth, wrapper or not. The boys were overly exhausted every single night, but with each night came new memories..

I am now getting kicked out of the library, so I will continue the adventure later…

Maverick Sings Bob the Builder (Video)

18 Jan

Mav has liked Bob the Builder for a while now, even though I think Thomas the Train has earned the #1 spot. The Bob the Builder song is heard often at our house… This video is from Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Haen’s where Maverick shares some of his singing skills.

Watch for: the added guitar strums, the twirl while singing, and the graceful trip.

Full dose of music and lake!

17 Jul

Mav and mom and Grandma took a walk down the point at the lake and found this cool rooty tree to take Mav’s picture by…. the next night Grandpa H played at the diamond lake block party, and even though Mav was totally exhausted, he finally got some claps in at the end. The music was loved by all who attended. Maverick also played some drums with uncle Joe. On Sunday he got plenty dirty crawling around the deck at the lake, but then we just throw him in his little turtle pool. Fun weekend, Grandpa H. had so much fun, that on Monday morning he said, “ I think that was one of the funnest weekends of my life!” Absolutely grandpa H!

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.