Our House in the Middle of Our Street

via Watching The Sound of Music was one of the "15 in 2015" items that I was most looking forward to doing with the kids. I grew up on this movie, and had sung most of the popular songs from the movie to my kids since they were very small. Aside from a youtube clip on the famous puppet and yodeling scene, they didn't know much about the movie's plot, characters, nor did they tie all the songs together as being from the same film until watching. I'm not sure how many times I've seen this movie in my lifetime, but I know it's over 10 (which seems fairly high for a movie). I tried to have restraint and not sing along to all the songs that I loved, but that barely lasted the first five minutes when Maria belts out, "the hills are alive, with the sound of music!" I sang along, and was so pleased that the kids also remembered some of the songs from their toddler years, including one we sang to them often before bed, " Edelweiss ". We...

This was, sadly, the only picture I took during my children's last 10 weeks at music class at Around the Corner Music Studio. This was a very fun session, and they seem to get better and better with each season! Here my children are playing a tambourine along with a festive Irish song while a child (they all take turns) dances in the middle of the circle. Even though I have one child who is exceptionally shy when doing things in big groups (just like his mama, he doesn't like attention drawn!), sister livened right up to the challenge each time this song was played and had at it, jumping and getting cherry-cheeked while loving it. Around the Corner Music Studio is such a gem I found about 2 years ago through a friend on facebook. I'd been looking for a music class to do with the kids, and everywhere I found, were 6 sessions for the same price and a full 60 minutes of time. I've never known a toddler or preschooler to sit still for that amount of time, so I knew it would...

Source: jendotlu.tumblr.com via Sarah on Pinterest I wish I knew the artist of this print because I love it. Link on! *** I know I link up to this all.the.time but I really don't want anyone to miss the thoughtful posts, the simple recipes, and the great ideas for play. Rhythm of the Home has it all, seasonally. Loved this bloomer-to-romper DIY. Looks easy and adorable. Do you need an invite to Pinterest? It's amazing, and...addictive. Maybe I shouldn't tell you it's like a visual inspiration board you can categorize? Let's just say following me will give you amazing inspiration that will melt.your.face. Hair wraps, craft ideas, and recipes included. reading this post about motherhood might have made me tear up. might. As a personal reward after doing a lot of work this summer for a ministry I volunteer for, I gave myself this , this , and this . Happy mail coming Friday! I am so excited for a couple movies this summer including The Help , HP #7 , Forks over ...

photocredit Well this was certainly...a hard movie to digest. If you've heard anything of Black Swan, it's probably the negatives like the ridiculous 'soft' pornographic nature, the gruesome scenes, and the chilling music from Swan Lake. Okay, that last one wasn't a negative, in fact the beautiful music made the story that much more haunting. I was, however, displeased. The story is about a ballerina who gets to become the star, or principle dancer, in a New York City production of Swan Lake . Her perfectionism spirals into overwork and exhaustion mentally and physically, and erupts to produce horrifying dreams, hallucinations, and very awkward girl-on-girl scenes...that may or may not have existed. I, for one, would not want any male I knew watching this movie. It's simply too graphic, and I thought it should have been rated higher than an R for the perverse scenes it entailed. I don't even think I'd recommend it to any woman, either, simply because th...