Happy Anniversary and other musings

Hi everyone (if anyone still checks this blog).  This is Carl. I just wanted to post a few quick thoughts, and this seemed like the best place to do it.

First, while not directly kid-related, I want to wish my lovely wife (and the normal author of these posts) a Happy Anniversary. It's been 8 wonderful years since that extremely hot day in Kansas that we celebrated our love with our family and friends. In some ways it's gone really fast. In other ways, it seems like we've known each other forever. Being a Tuesday today, and given that both of us had to work, we really didn't get to celebrate our anniversary. But, we hope to soon (thanks in advance Grandma and Grandpa!), and I just want to tell Shannon "Happy Anniversary!". I love you.

Second, kid report.  We've all been fighting the crud that is going around, but everyone is rebounding well.  Since our last post, the triplets turned 1 and Joshua turned 4. My how time flies. The triplets birthday was extremely fun, and we'll try to get some pictures posted before they turn 2.  Joshua's birthday was a grand celebration with friends at Chuck E. Cheese's, and he had a blast!  He continues to ask when we can go back.  :)  Joshua has had a busy summer of field trips with his pre-school, and he is having a great time. Matthew, Paige and William continue to learn and grow. All are walking very well (the boys often are nearly running when they go), and they are working hard to figure out how to tell us all the things that they have to say. All 4 keep us on our toes and we're having fun watching them figure everything out.

Third, and finally for tonight, a request.  One of Joshua's recent field trips was to go roller skating (yes, Mom went with him and showed off her 1980s-era skating moves). During the skating party, the DJ lapsed into 80s music. Now, being children of the 80s, we wouldn't complain about that at all. Joshua, however, latched on to his new favorite song there.... We Will Rock You by Queen.  Don't get me wrong, I love the song, and the band. But as he continually requests that I play it on the way to work every morning, we've realized that we need to work on expanding his horizons with other classics. Not kids' songs, per se, but just quality music. So, this is where the request comes in. If you were creating a playlist to play for a 4 year old who is just getting his feet wet with real music, what would you put on it? We have lots of ideas, but I thought it would be fun to get other people's ideas as well (again, if anyone is reading this). We have managed to work some Beatles into the repertoire (Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da and Yellow Submarine seem to be popular (with Joshua knowing a lot of the words to Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da already) and Vertigo by U2 was fairly well received this morning, though I'm not sure Paige was crazy about the guitar riff.  Anyway, I have fond memories of listening to my parents' music as a child (Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Gordon Lightfoot, Tom T. Hall, various Broadway musicals, Rodger and the Tempests, etc.) and I want to try to recreate that fun for my kids. So, leave a comment about what you play for your kids, or what music kids really like in your experience (again, looking for non-kid specific music; LOVE Justin Roberts, but we've already got that covered). :) 

If you've read through this far, thanks for sticking with us even though we are terrible at getting this site updated. And, thanks again to my wife for making me the happiest man in the world for the last 8 years as her husband.

Take care everyone. And God bless.

-Carl