The Soundtrack to Our Saturday-- Brought to You By Instagram

 Last Saturday, we kept One Ordinary Dad's record player spinning through most of the day. My handsome hubby has amassed quite a collection of vinyl since I got him a record player for his birthday 3 years ago (or was it 4?). If you follow me on Instagram (I'm booknerdmama), these pictures might look familiar. We started off with Glen Hansard's newest.

 Then we got down to my bluegrass roots with Steve Martin's bluegrass album, The Crow.

 Grace Potter and the Nocturnals were up next. Full disclosure: I kind of have a girl crush on Grace Potter. Not gonna lie.

 One Ordinary Dad LOVES James Taylor, so we had to include him.

 Over the Rhine is a local band named for a neighborhood in our city that is making quite a comeback (OTR used to be the scary place you didn't want to go and now it's one of THE places to be in our city).

 Since we recently saw them in concert, we had to give Mumford and Sons a spin.

 And no Saturday would be complete without some Saturday Looks Good to Me.

 This Saturday has been equally laid back and relaxed. We made pancakes this morning, C read B some books, we went to our favorite toy store to get C a new, more challenging (more pieces) puzzle since her 48 piece puzzles aren't cutting it anymore and are too easy, and now we're off to pillage my in-law's garden since they're out of town and don't want anything that is ripe to go to waste.

 I went back to school this week. I seem to have a good (read, well-behaved) but slightly quirky group of students. I'll take the quirks over behavior issues any day though. One Ordinary Dad is back to his superhero role taking care of our kiddos while I teach. I do love my job and feel blessed to have a job that (most days) makes getting up to do it worthwhile. It makes me appreciate these smiles all the more when I get home and get to see them in person.

Happy Saturday! What's on your soundtrack this weekend?

~One Ordinary Mom

Good Music

 I'm pretty sure our week ended how it did for billions of other people-- watching the Opening Ceremonies. This post isn't about the Olympics, but I will say that I thought the Ceremonies were well done and I especially loved that they recognized all of the isles as well as Great Britain's contributions to children's literature (hello, dozens of Mary Poppins, be still my Poppins-lovin' heart). And I will also say that Miss C was fascinated by the Opening Ceremonies and by the idea of London itself. Luckily, I had a children's book, The Story of London, that I picked up when I visited the city six years ago. Between the book and the countless brochures, postcards, maps, and other items I picked up there, my girl is in heaven watching the games and learning about London. She keeps asking when we will go there. I keep telling her, we'll go when we know she'll remember it.

Anyway...this is post is really about how our week began: with good music. Despite being a little tired from last Saturday's reunion, on Sunday we found out that one of our favorite bands, Over the Rhine, was giving a free concert in the neighborhood from which they take their name. So we headed down to Washington Park, and this time we brought swimsuits.

 We also brought some snacks. A late lunch meant nobody wanted dinner. So graham crackers, yogurt, chips and salsa, cheese, fruits, and veggies (and a little wine for Mommy and Daddy) filled our picnic basket.

 A few hundred other people joined us. :-) As the sun began to set behind Music Hall, the band took the stage.

 The kids hung in there for about an hour before they were bored and tired and ready to go home. We changed them into their jammies and headed for the car, happy that we at least got to hear them play one of our favorite songs, Ohio.

On Monday night, a gracious friend stayed with C and B, so that One Ordinary Dad and I could go see Joshua Radin. I love small venue concerts, with only a couple hundred people, where you can be about 20 feet from the stage and not feel claustrophobic. He put on a good show and we're excited for his new album to drop on Tuesday, 7/31. If you haven't listened to him, he's kind of indie-pop, a little mellow at times. In concert, he is amazing (and a terrific storyteller to boot). 

And sandwiched in between the beginning of the week's good tunes and the end of the week's Opening Ceremonies was lots of fun just hangin' around and soakin' up the summer.

Anyone else seen any good live shows recently?

~One Ordinary Mom