Reasons to be Cheerful!

I haven’t joined in with Michelle’s Reasons to be Cheerful for a couple of weeks. I think I’ve found it really difficult to think of the reasons to be honest, but I have been really busy… Ok, enough excuses. Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week- I couldn’t not join in!

1.
ITS HALF TERM!!!
Yes, I needed the capital letters. Yes, it is number one on the list. Only a teacher will understand the joy of half term and with it the briefest of respites from marking, planning, telling children to sit on their bottoms, telling children to stop telling tales… So there is more to my job than that, but it is a really hard job sometimes. When your baby has you up in the night and you don’t have a desk to sit behind til 5pm. I had a job like that and it was boring. My job is never boring now but it is exhausting. So half term is a real reason to be cheerful, to re-charge my batteries and to get ready to start again in a week’s time.

2. We booked our flights to Florida!! We’re really going! All four tickets for just under £3,000!!!! WOO-HOO-DI-HOO!!!

Image source: couponingtodisney.com

3. I’m going to see Ben Folds next week! If you’ve read this post you’ll know why he is so important to me. Its also a night out for us that I think we really deserve! So, yay!!

Image source:eastvillageradio.com

Music I Want My Children to Listen to- Death Cab For Cutie

Yay! Its time for Music I Want My Chidlren To Listen To and I am so happy that I was forced into putting up a linky for this last week (thanks TheBoyandMe). Since the linky thing was also the culmination of a twittervation with Becky at Hazel and Blue Handmade and AReseidence, decided to share the linky! This week Hazel and Blue Handmade is hosting the linky and I am so looking forward to reading all the great posts!
Some of you will know that this all comes from my original post about music I hope my children would listen to and I started with Ben Folds. Last week I wrote about Daniel Johnston. This week, I give you…

Death Cab For Cutie

At first, the name of the band made me think their CD would be the last thing I wanted to listen to but actually, they aren’t a heavy metal thrash band (sorry). They are a band who write and perform the most amazing songs, with each one telling you a story that is so vivid it is like a movie playing just for you. I am lucky enough to have seen this band twice and can honestly say they are one of my favourite bands ever. This is the kind of music I want my children to listen to.
I want my children to feel the music, to see the music, to taste the music. I want them to imagine the people, the places and the emotions. I want my children to not be afraid to show thier own emotions.
So many of the songs by Death Cab hold important memories for me, like I think good music should. I think about walking with my daughter in her pram, listening on the mp3 player I got for my birthday. I think about travelling in the car down to Kent for our first family holiday. I think about the night before my daughter was born and the night I thought my son would be born- it turned out to be false labour! I think about our first summer as a family of three and then four.

I also want my children to know about a certain song. I don’t want to be morbid but there is one song in particular that I want to be played when I go and I need my children to know about it and to know that its ok.
I will Follow You Into The Dark
Death Cab For Cutie have made some of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard and its only right that two of the most beautiful people in my world should listen to them one day.

Death Cab For Cutie
Postal Service

Make sure you link in to this week’s Music I Want My Children To Listen To over at Hazel and Blue Homemade!

Top Ten Posts I’ve Written…

I discovered a fabulous blog last week: Sluiter Nation , the blog that inspired this post, My Baby’s Feet.
Today Sluicer Nation is hosting Top Ten Tuesdays and the theme is Top Ten Posts I’ve Written. I couldn’t resist! my list is not necessarily the top-rated in terms of readers; they are more like the posts that I have enjoyed writing, feel are important or mean more to me than I could possibly explain here and now (I’m currently sat in my kitchen with the dishawsher to empty and the washing to sort before the baby wakes up and I have to get the big one from school… you get the idea).
So here are my top ten posts:

1. In The Beginning
One of my very first blog posts! Special for that reason but also special because it is about the birth of my daughter, six (SIX??!!) years ago.

2. The Toddler Who came To Tea
How I wish I knew about blogging when my daughter was a baby! This post was written on the day my son took his first steps! Memories set in stone.

3. Having A Social Life
We went out to celebrate my friend’s birthday (read her blog, waterbirthplease!), one of the first nights out since the baby was born!

4. The Wind!!
Sick of reading/ hearing about the snow?? Well, read about the wind instead! Who says British people are obsessed with the weather?

5. A Very Muslim Christmas
I like this post because it reminds me of one of the many reasons why I like teaching the children I teach.

6. Ok, So I Think I Can Do This Now
Some of you will already know this story but I couldn’t leave it out as it is important to me. It’s my son’s birth story- a HUGE reason why I am blogging today, why I know some of the amazing people I know today and why I will always try my best to NEVER take anything for granted in life.

7. There’s A Shreddie on Your Belt and Other Random Objects Stuck to Your Sock
We still laugh about the shreddie on the belt- it sums up our family life so well. I can see seven cheerios on the floor from where I sit now…

8. Music I want My Children To listen To- Ben Folds
I love Ben Folds!

9. My Top 5 Dinner Party Guests
This post is here because I love the thought of this dinner party!

10. My Baby’s Feet
This is my last post and the one that has, for me, brought the most lovely comments to date. You can read some of them here, a couple on my facebook page and a couple exist only in memory of a couple of conversations. They all mean so much to me.

If you would like to take part in this linky, please visit

Music I want my children to listen to- Ben Folds

Last week I took part in Kate takes 5’s Listography task where we were asked to write about our top 5 dinner party guests. I chose Ben Folds and since then I have been re-listening to his music- and loving him all over again. It occurred to me today that this is one artist I want my children to listen to when they’re older. It occurred to me as we were paying for the Blondie CD for the big one- my friend bought her a Blondie t-shirt for christmas and she is now the very proud owner of the greatest hits CD :)- that there are some songs that they just NEED to listen to.
My husband introduced me to Ben Folds in the form of Ben Folds Five and we saw him live when the big one was little. The song Gracie always makes me think of the big one as a baby and how P used to let her fall asleep in his arms and would stay there for hours, so still incase she woke up (“I won’t move you an inch even though my arm’s asleep”). I once came home from a yoga class and he had been in the same position for two hours, watching Songs of Praise because he couldn’t reach the remote control… This song was also played at the naming ceremony of my friend’s daughter (you can read her blog, waterbirthplease here) and very nearly reduced me to tears.
I’ve always loved the way that music can trigger memories that stand sharp in my mind; very few songs can do this every time you listen to them, but Ben Folds is the exception for me. I find myself quoting lyrics that actually mean something; I find myself imagining the people he sings about.
Having seen him live, I would recommend one of his gigs to anyone. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen/ heard ‘Bitches ain’t s**t’ sung to a piano!
But more than this, and the reason for this post- I want my children to love this music too. Their parents grew together listening to this, and other stuff. Their parents bonded over this music and their parents relate a lot of it to them. I think that music is so important, for atmosphere, memories, emotions and story telling. Music helps children to relax, feel happy, feel sad- feel. Music helps children to socialise, to co-ordinate their movements and to learn speech, rhythm, timing, pace and pulse. Music helps children to learn association. Music helps us all in so many ways. Today my baby spent half an hour in HMV, dancing. It was such a happy moment, to see him enjoying music and moving his body.
This is why I want my children to listen to music. This is why one day I want my children to listen to Ben Folds. He tells a story, he invokes emotions. Please note, I did say I want my children to listen to Ben Folds ONE day. He swears every now and then, you see. But Gracie is perfectly fine for children’s ears. Have a listen, see for yourself! You can find out more about Ben Folds here. He rocks.