Search Results

{Guitars & Granola Bars Podcast} Episode 81: Navigating the Holidays and Looking Towards 2021

Navigating the Holidays and Looking Towards 2021

Episode 81

As we head into the final weeks of 2020, Jaime and I are checking in with each other to compare notes on our families, businesses, and alllll the feelings during this holiday season.

In this episode, we share the highs and lows of business ownership right now, and talk about how we are planning ahead (or not) and handling the transition into a new year.

Photos

Follow on Instagram.

Tweets

Connect on Twitter.

Subscribe

Get episodes via iTunes.

Email

Send me an email.

{Guitars & Granola Bars Podcast} Episode 80

How We’re Coping Personally & Professionally in Fall 2020

Episode 80

We are now 8 months into the COVID-19 pandemic; that makes 8 months of pivoting, adapting, and overcoming challenges both at home and at work.

I’m checking in once again with co-host Jaime Lawrence, owner of Harmony Garden Music Therapy Services, and we’re sharing updates on family life, business ownership, and ourselves in general as we continue to be affected on all fronts by the pandemic.

Photos

Follow on Instagram.

Tweets

Connect on Twitter.

Subscribe

Get episodes via iTunes.

Email

Send me an email.

Pumpkins, Performances & Planning a Book Launch

Those 3 “P”s basically sum up the month of October for me! It’s been a busy one, between all the Halloween-related activities for my children, gigs I’ve played, and of course, the book I’ve been working on for the past 6 months.

Heading into October, I was worried about being able to accomplish everything I needed to do in between all of the events on my personal and professional calendar. Just opening the calendar app on my phone has been scarier than any Halloween movie — it’s packed with kids’ birthday parties (at least one every weekend!), school-sponsored events, local performances, family outings, mini deadlines related to my book, and of course, all of my responsibilities at my main gig, Music Therapy Connections.

read more…

Pick a Pumpkin (Song) or 2

Pumpkin Songs for Children | Listen & Learn Music

I love incorporating seasonal themes into my music therapy sessions and music classes, and autumn is a special time of year where there are so many choices for themes to bring into my work! A few of my favorites are back to school, foliage, apples, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and of course, pumpkins!

With the incredible number of songs about pumpkins in the Listen & Learn Music catalog, it’s about time I wrote about all the ways we can bring the theme of pumpkins into music therapy sessions and music classes. Below, I’m highlighting my favorite pumpkin-themed songs!

read more…

{10 Years of L&L} Year 6: 2013

L&L Turns 10 - Year 6 | Listen & Learn Music

Year 6 at Listen & Learn Music was a time of adjustment and learning. As a brand new mom with a baby at home and two businesses to run, I had to figure out how to prioritize my time and energy…because I didn’t have a whole lot of either (year 6 was also a time of very little sleep).

read more…

23 Days of Gratitude

November always feels like such a magical month to me. We leave behind the sugar rush and spookiness of Halloween (while still embracing all things pumpkin) and officially make our way into the holiday season.

Everyone seems so much more friendly and happy during this time of the year, which to me, is the best part of the holidays. I love the spirit of Thanksgiving, and this year I want to get a jump start on celebrating right away.

read more…

Thanksgiving Sensory Feast

The following is a guest post by Marilyn Webster. After Marilyn told me about this activity she created and led, I mentioned that I would love for her to share it here on the blog. I’m so glad she took me up on it!

Thanksgiving Sensory Feast

Hi, my name is Marilyn Webster, and my daughter has been a client of Rachel’s for years! As my daughter with autism grew, we found it harder and harder to find fun activities that we could enjoy as a family. Her interests and abilities were not the same as her peers, and she was too old to join preschool groups anymore.

And so, I started my own group with the support of my church! We call them family fun nights, and all families with special needs kids are welcome to attend. Our group serves a few functions for our families: it provides us with a sense of community, provides fun activities which our kids are able to fully participate in, and gives families who often feel isolated “something to do”.

As I plan events, one question I challenge myself with is: how can I find ways to take situations which either I personally or others in the group shared have been difficult to access for our kids, and make it accessible? Some of the most commented on events that families find difficult are holidays. Parents desperately want their kids to be able to enjoy these important cultural and family events and participate in the traditions, but our kids can find it overwhelming and confusing.

Now, you’ve probably jumped quickly to the melee of Christmas or the raucousness of Halloween, and you are right, those are struggles. But the one holiday that comes up in conversation more often than you might think is Thanksgiving, and if you give it a moment of reflection, this makes sense.

First of all, the whole idea of Thanksgiving is very abstract. Some of our kids can’t grasp the idea of gratitude yet, and this isn’t a holiday with a lot of concrete symbols like Santa, pumpkins, or eggs that our kids might be able to enjoy. In fact, the only physical symbols of Thanksgiving are foods! And food is one area where our kids tend to struggle immensely! New foods are frightening, and many of our kids have very narrow diets.

So, how to make Thanksgiving a fun and welcoming experience? I created a sensory Thanksgiving feast! This way, kids could explore the smells, textures, and appearances of traditional Thanksgiving foods in a fun, non-threatening way, and maybe build a connection to what we mean when we talk about the holiday.

Our feast included:

playdough

Pumpkin pie playdough: You can use whatever basic play dough recipe you prefer, but add pumpkin pie spices to it and color it to look like pumpkin pie filling.

Cranberry sauce playdough: The texture of this was a bit weird, and most kids didn’t really like it. I think a simple activity with whole cranberries might have been more fun. But here is the recipe.

Dry corn sensory bin: We filled a water table with that dry corn you throw out for the birds. It was a huge hit!

Dry stuffing sensory bin: two bags of dry store bought stuffing in a wide, low bin. I think this bin was responsible for making the whole room smell like Thanksgiving!

Potatoes and “gravy” stamp painting: I cut a few potatoes in half to stamp with. Then I mixed a dry turkey gravy packet into some plain yogurt to use as paint. It looked and smelled like real gravy! This was most definitely “process art” as opposed to “product art”.

While kids explored the feast, we sang a few songs having to do with turkeys and saying thank you.

Our kids had a blast playing with all the Thanksgiving goodies, and their parents had fun being able to enjoy traditional holiday foods with them, albeit in a very unusual way! I know when we sat down to our Thanksgiving feast, and my daughter had her usual plate of spaghetti while the rest of us dug into the turkey, I was thankful that she had at least enjoyed a sensory Thanksgiving meal of her own.

Fall is for Pumpkins and Coffee

Pumpkin patch

Parker is ob-sessed with all things Halloween. He carries around his pumpkin bucket and practices his trick-or-treat technique on a daily basis. His favorite show right now is the Halloween episode of Little Einsteins on Netflix. He talks nonstop about pumpkins, witches and ghosts.

It’s super cute how excited he is, even though I’m not a fan of Halloween. I can’t wait to take him out in his Olaf costume when it’s finally time to trick-or-treat for real. And then we’ll pack up all the Halloween stuff and move on to Frosty around the clock (he’s already made his appearance quite a few times so far this fall).

Parker at the Apple Barn

But for now, pumpkins. And more importantly, coffee. Mia is in the middle of a seemingly never-ending growth spurt, which means she has been waking up at least two times every night to eat. I get up at 5 am every day to do all the work I don’t have time for during normal-people hours, which doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for quality sleep.

So coffee it is. One cup in the morning while I pump and work on the computer, and another right before I go to work in the afternoon. At this point in Parker’s infancy I was drinking 3 per day, so I feel pretty good about limiting myself to 2.

Mia at the Apple Barn

Fall is also for working on lots of projects, continuing to grow my business, getting ready to attend the national music therapy conference, and trying not to get too overwhelmed by all of the above. All of it is good, it’s just a lot — which is pretty much the status quo of my life.

Five Orange Pumpkins

Five Orange Pumpkins

Between singing about them with my clients, admiring them with my two-year-old, and seeing them everywhere, it sort of feels like pumpkins have taken over my life…and I’m okay with that.

It’s fall, after all, and pumpkins are the orange ambassadors of this season. I’ve written many a song about them, and this one is the latest. I’ve been using it in my early childhood classes as well as music therapy sessions to work on counting, 1:1 correspondence, and attending skills.

I cut out and laminated five orange pumpkins so that my students would have a visual representation, and as we sing each verse, we take one away and count the remaining pumpkins. It would also be fun to grab some mini pumpkins for a more tactile experience.

What other pumpkin songs are you singing this fall? Here are a few more (along with some additional Halloween-themed tunes) on my Listen & Learn list.

Members of Listen & Learn Plus! have access to all of these songs (along with tons more) right inside the Dropbox folder I share with them — come over and join us!

Learn more about Listen & Learn Plus

Five Orange Pumpkins

Five Orange Pumpkins

Between singing about them with my clients, admiring them with my two-year-old, and seeing them everywhere, it sort of feels like pumpkins have taken over my life…and I’m okay with that.

It’s fall, after all, and pumpkins are the orange ambassadors of this season. I’ve written many a song about them, and this one is the latest. I’ve been using it in my early childhood classes as well as music therapy sessions to work on counting, 1:1 correspondence, and attending skills.

Album Download: Five Orange Pumpkins

I cut out and laminated five orange pumpkins so that my students would have a visual representation, and as we sing each verse, we take one away and count the remaining pumpkins. It would also be fun to grab some mini pumpkins for a more tactile experience.

What other pumpkin songs are you singing this fall? Here are a few more (along with some additional Halloween-themed tunes) on my Listen & Learn list.

Orange Pumpkin, Orange Pumpkin

Orange Pumpkin Halloween Children's Song

I wish I could take credit for the adapted Halloween song and activity I’m sharing with you today, but alas, I cannot. The mother of one of my students directed me to a pin via Pinterest, which led me here.

Orange Pumpkin Halloween Children's Song

It’s a Halloween version of Eric Carle’s Brown Bear, Brown Bear, which we have sung in music therapy sessions many times to the tune of the “Pinwheel” theme song. The adapted words and accompanying printable pictures are available at First Grade al a Carte.

I put together my own little visual to accompany the song, which I sing to the same “Pinwheel” tune. If you’re not familiar with it, check out my recording of “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” to hear it. It’s very simple and repeats throughout the entire song.

Click here to download my visual.

5 days left to make use of all the great Halloween songs and activities — including this one — that I’ve written and/or collected throughout the years. Any favorites you’d like to share?

{Parker Weekly} 20 Weeks Old

Week 20

The first thing I noticed when I looked at Parker’s 20 week photo was how chunky those thighs are getting! He’s nowhere near a “chunky monkey” but it seems like he adds a new little roll every day. Yay!

This week has been a big improvement over last — mostly because Parker (and therefore, all of us) slept much better. Not only are our nights more restful, but Parker has been either sleeping in or going back to bed after an early morning feeding, which has given me some time to work or be productive around the house.

IMG_4828

This is a pretty typical snapshot of Parker playing in the morning after he wakes up. Hanging out in his footie pajamas, wishing his feet were bare so he could snack on them. What a goofball.

IMG_4778

We kicked off the week with a day trip to Peoria, since Josh and Jeni (my brother and sister-in-law) were in town. They moved to Denver over the summer and hadn’t seen Parker since he was brand new. The funny thing about this picture is that the baby had just spit up all over Josh’s sleeve, so I wiped it up with a paper towel and kept taking photos until I got a keeper. Needless to say, Josh was ready to hand Parker back over at that point.

IMG_4784

Poor, poor Sadie. On top of having to deal with a new baby these last few months, she’s had TERRIBLE allergies since August. After several trips to the vet and different treatments, she finally got an allergy shot this week that seems to have done the trick. But that hasn’t stopped her from being a big couch potato every night.

IMG_4837

Recently I put together Parker’s high chair, and it has been awesome letting him sit in it while I do things in the kitchen. He will entertain himself with toys for a good 20 minutes or so, and I’ll pull him up to the kitchen counter with me while I eat lunch. He looks like such a big boy sitting in it!

IMG_4896

Parker celebrated his first Halloween this week, and of course, he had an outfit dedicated to this occasion. He also had no fewer than 3 “My 1st Halloween” bibs, courtesy of Grandma Libby. With all the drool he has been producing, we actually did make use of all 3 over the course of the day.

IMG_4900

Lately Parker has wanted NOTHING to do with laying down. He is a BIG boy, and wants to sit up like one. Unfortunately he can’t do it on his own yet, which is what Mommy and his Bumbo seat are for.

IMG_4912

As I was going through my photos, I realized that I only have a handful of Parker and I together. Mostly I just have a million of him all by himself. These aren’t the best quality since I took them myself, but I like them because Parker looks so darn cute :)

Mommy & Parker

Last but not least, here’s a quick video I took of Parker reacting to me singing his favorite song, “A Bushel and a Peck”. I have sung tons and tons of songs to him, but this is the one that always makes him smile and cheers him up when he’s crying. If we are in the car and he gets fussy, I play the version I recorded on my iPhone over the speakers and he instantly calms down.

Just Monkeyin’ Around

Parker Halloween Costume 10-2013-7

Check out this little monkey! We weren’t sure how Parker would like being dressed up in his first Halloween costume, but he didn’t seem to mind one bit…not even the headpiece or giant feet.

Parker Halloween Costume 10-2013-1

Parker Halloween Costume 10-2013-2

Parker Halloween Costume 10-2013-4

Parker Halloween Costume 10-2013-5

Parker Halloween Costume 10-2013-6

He was a good sport for our photo shoot, and will have a couple more opportunities to wear his costume before the week is over: to the Halloween party at baby group on Wednesday, and on the big day Thursday when we take him “trick-or-treating” to some of our friends’ and families’ houses. I’ve never been a fan of Halloween, but I have to admit it’s fun dressing up an adorable baby!

{Parker Weekly} 19 Weeks Old

Week 19

Remember last week when I went on and on about how well Parker was sleeping through the night? I totally jinxed myself by writing about it, because the very next night, we were up at least 4 times. The next couple of nights weren’t great, but there was a little improvement over the course of the week. I’m still waiting for that full night’s sleep, though…

We’re pretty convinced that the sleep troubles — as well as the crazy amounts of drool, fussiness, and desire to put EVERYTHING into his mouth — can be attributed to teething. But for the most part, he’s still our happy little guy, full of smiles and giggles.

Nothing too exciting happened this week; it was SO cold that we spent most of it at home, staying warm and cozy. We did go on a couple of walks before the the temps really dropped. I try to get as much use out of the Ergo as possible, because there is nothing better than having Parker snuggled up against me :)

Parker in the Ergo

We found out at baby group on Wednesday that Parker is finally up to 13 pounds! 13 pounds, 2 ounces to be exact. I’m not sure about his length since his last checkup, but it seems like he’s grown another 6 inches. This kid is sooooo long. His 3 month pants are starting to look a little short, but he still has a ways to go as far as filling them out.

We ended week 19 with a little pre-Halloween photo shoot of Parker in his costume. I wasn’t sure how he’d do wearing it, but he seemed to enjoy “monkeying around” in it. Pics to come!

Black Cat

During a recent music therapy session, a student’s mom mentioned that her daughter does well with “echo” songs (she used the “Mahna Mahna” song as an example, and even played a video of my student singing it with her sister).

I did some googling to find a few echo songs we could use in our sessions, and came across “The Other Day I Met a Bear” — that old camp song just about everyone knows. But after taking a look at the lyrics, I wasn’t crazy about them and decided to use the song as a basis for my own echo song.

Since Halloween is just around the corner, I traded a bear for a black cat and went from there. It’s a short, simple song with basic lyrics and an easy-to-sing melody: perfect for addressing the objectives of repeating after me and singing with me.