"The Wheels On The Bus..."

Music has always been a big part of our every day life.  It's amazing the way listening to music can make you feel.  Different music can make you excited, calm, energized, happy, or melancholy.  I love that there are so many different genres out there that I find it hard to believe that there is someone out there that doesn't like to listen to music.  If you don't like one station, just flip to another. 

On our way up to Rochester a couple of weeks ago, Justin and I were reminiscing about the many, many concerts we attended before children.  Living in Iowa City, there were always great concerts coming to town, or just down the road in the Quad Cities.  Anything that we were remotely interested in we bought tickets to.  This included Creed, Lonestar, Kenny Chesney (5 times!), Jimmy Buffet, Dave Matthews Band, Guns and Roses, U2, Montgomery Gentry, Phil Vassar, Keith Urban, Brooks and Dunn (and many more that I'm forgetting).  I'll never forget my very first concert, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, at Carver Hawkeye Arena.  I wasn't allowed to go to any concerts in High School so I took the first opportunity that came around and went with my roommates when I was a Freshman in college.  There are many memories from these concerts:  2nd hand marijuana smoke at the Guns and Roses concert, having a few too many cocktails at our last Kenny concert, and losing Justin during our first Jimmy Buffet concert.  Don't worry, we found him after the concert sitting in the back of the truck eating taco salad out of a bowl the size of Texas without a utensil.  Apparently he needed a snack.

Without trying, music has become important in the lives of our children too.  Instead of having the television on, we usually have the radio on.  Alena has always loved music and looks forward to music class at school.  After she was born I bought a three pack of CDs with over 100 children songs.  I'm surprised these CDs even work anymore because we have listened to them so much.  Alena knows nearly every word to each song and she picks up on song lyrics much faster than her mommy does.  (I still believe the lyrics to the Zach Brown's song Chicken Fried are "Biloxi sunrise" not "I like to see the sunrise"-my version makes much more sense).  Lately she has been interested in listening to our music and her new favorite songs are "Call Me Maybe," "Cruise," and "Firework." 

I think the babies are quickly following in her footsteps.  I love watching them sway to music and nothing cheers them up more than singing "Wheels On The Bus."  I always sing the same song to them at night and play their lullabies on their CD player when we lay them down.  When I found myself alone with them during maternity leave, not knowing what to do, I often would make up any silly song, while they stared at me like their mom needed to be committed. 

Thank goodness for electromagnetic radiation and frequencies-they keep us sane and entertained!