'O' Christmas Tree

The boys have their trees up in their rooms! We decided this year that Mason is old enough for a tree in his room (Matthew has had his for two years now) and he adores his tree. (and lucky me, I was lazy about getting ornaments for it, about a week ago finally bought them at Micheal's for 60% off!!) Both boys go to sleep at night with the tree lights on and when I check on them before I go to bed, I turn the lights off. (It's physically impossible for me to go to bed without checking on them first!)

I also made them Christmas cd's but of course the music is off of my Christmas selection on my ipod.

1) Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms (the most requested and played!)

2) Santa Claus is Comin' to Town - The Judds

3) Twelve Days Of Christmas - John Denver and The Muppets Christmas (songs 3-7)

4) Deck the Halls -

5) Little Saint Nick

6) We Wish You a Merry Christmas

7) The Christmas Wish

8) Sleigh Ride - Amy Grant

9) I Believe In Santa Clause - Dolly Parton

10) Greensleeves - A Charlie Brown Christmas (songs 10-14)

11) Christmas Time is Here

12) Linus & Lucy

13) O Tannenbaum

14) Christmas is Coming

15) It's Beginning to look like Christmas - Perry Como

16) God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Bare Naked Ladies with Sarah McLachlan

17) I Saw Three Ships - Sting

New Tunes!

No....not for me...for Mason! :) Ever since Matthew got a clock radio in his room, I think Mason has had the idea that he needs one too. So the other day I caved and bought one at Target and this time I got a little smarter about it. Less buttons = less confusion! Mason can't tell time (yet!) but he is loving the fact that he can have his own music in his room. So not too long ago I made a playlist on my Ipod for the boys (which are mostly songs Mason loves) and I just burned them to a cd which they are upstairs listening to right now! ;) ahhhh....the sound of silence downstairs.....

Here is the kids playlist. You will notice that it is heavily influenced by "Guitar Hero" and the movie "Cars".

1) Real Gone - Sheryl Crow

2) Route 66 - Chuck Berry

3) Life is a Highway - Rascal Flatts (and I can't stand Rascal Flatts, but the song is mildly tolerable)

4) Sh-Boom - The Chords (I enjoy this song, partly because I enjoy this part of the movie!)

5) Route 66 - John Mayer

6) Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones (ok, the whole damn family likes this song!)

5) It's Amazing - Jem (Mason can go around half the day singing this one)

6) Famous for Nothing - Dropkick Murphys (my kids always think it's funny that they talk about basketball in this song. I am usually in the car praying they don't notice the part about "alcohol"!)

7) Fairmount Hill - Dropkick Murphys

8) School's Out - Alice Cooper (OMG if my children don't quit singing this one in public I just may die!)

9) Story of My Life - Social Distortion (ok...this is the 'rad daddles' song! Mason hears the first 2 or 3 notes and freaks out in excitement!)

10) Holiday in Cambodia - Dead Kennedys (hello children, let me introduce you to punk)

11) Stray Cat Strut - Stray Cats ( I don't know how many times I have played this song for both boys. Matthew requests it just as much as Mason.)

Yeah I know, a lot of this isn't typical "kid" music. Mason likes any kind of music and Matthew has always been a bit more picky, preferring some of my music over stuff made for children. So I always figured why fight it? Besides, they love the kitty cat song! ;) (and yes, they know very well the story of Uncle Tyson and how he loved that song as a child and had a kitty dance that he did to the music!!) :)

What's Playing in My Kitchen

So I haven't done a music post in awhile and I figured it was time. I actually have been thinking on it for about a week and then today Sarah inspired me! So this is what has been playing on my Ipod in the kitchen lately. Or "kitchen music" as my kids sometimes call it! ;)

1) "Wake Up Call" Maroon 5 -- kinda dark yet kinda fun.

2) "Falling Down" Duran Duran -- Oh how I loved them as a teenager. I haven't listened to the rest of the album yet but this song reminds me very little of D2 of the past. And that's ok! :)

3) "Burning Down the House" Talking Heads -- Couldn't stand them when this was popular. Must be my own aging process because I am now totally loving the danceability of this now!

4) "Road to Nowhere" Talking Heads -- I had to mention this one because if you listen to the beat and then listen to Keith Urban's "I told You So" there is some similarity. Perhaps KU was inspired?

5) "Crushcrushcrush" Paramore -- Their songs are good for running/walking to.

6) "Don't Stop the Music" Rihanna -- Another good walk/run song ...mama say mama saw mamacousaw (ok, don't know how to spell it, but love the Micheal Jackson sample!)

7) "Left of Center" Suzanne Vega -- I hadn't heard this in years but was glad to be reminded how good this is.

8) "We Both Go Down Together" The Decemberists -- I love their music, such great storytelling....it's like musical books.

9) "Parallel" Bad Religion -- I just go with it....I seem to always need some Bad Religion!

10) "It's Oh So Quiet" Bjork -- Reminds me of show/dance tunes

11) "California Dreamin" The Mamas and The Papas -- Can't explain....I always kinda liked them!

12) "The State of Massachusetts" Dropkick Murphys -- Ok so I am currently having a serious love affair with this group! Pure genius with the melding of celtic and punk.

13) "I Think I'm Paranoid" Garbage -- I still like them... and here is to hoping they release more music. Of course they could totally have something in the works and I can be clueless to the fact!

And a couple of other mentions: on myspace there is a band called The Seedy Seeds. They are very cool and occasionally I get on there and listen to them. They aren't on Itunes but you can listen here. And something else.... I have been slow to jump onto the "Captain Bogg & Salty" train but recently I downloaded their music and I really like it! Did you know they are on myspace as well? Check it out here.