Brownie

Meet "Brownie," Evalyn's classroom bear! Brownie gets to go home with a different first grader every day. Today was Evalyn's first day to bring home Brownie, and she was excited! We read all about his previous adventures in Brownie's journal. Evalyn will add her own page to the journal tomorrow morning. What a great way to motivate kids to read and write!

I also got to visit Evalyn's classroom for the first time today to sing for the kids. I brought a new song to try out, but the kids who knew me from last year were all hyped up wanting to hear their favorites, so we just did an all requests session. Evalyn and I also took the opportunity to rehearse "Oklahoma Annie" for the Children's Music Network conference in NY, where we plan to perform it at the big round robin.

Boy are we swamped! Lisa got the last of round two CMW Award judging packets mailed off - yeah! Now we're working on a garage sale (will we have it or will we chicken out?) and preparing for the big trip to New York. I'm also securing some bookings, recording "1907" (coming along nicely - watch for it soon!), and preparing for Friday's gig at Crosstimbers Elementary in Edmond, among many other little things.

Life is full. That's a good thing!

Call This an Adventure

We took one last day trip with Paw Paw and Grandma today, before the start of first grade tomorrow. Evalyn says she is excited, nervous, tired, and happy.

We visited the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History in Norman. In the photo Evalyn is "digging up" a dinosaur bone in the Discovery Room. There wasn't much digging to do, however - nearly all the sand is missing from the digging pit! Maybe sand only seemed like a good idea, until kids actually started playing in it! Or maybe it's been slowly removed, one shoeful at a time.

The dinosaurs in that museum are fantastic, by the way; Evalyn's favorite was the mighty Apatosaurus, who's feet are on the floor and who's head must be observed from the top of an elevator ride.

Lisa is coordinating the judging for the Children's Music Web Awards this year, and Evalyn volunteered to be a judge. So for the car trip down to Norman I brought my iPod with a splitter, and Evalyn and I both plugged in. We listened together to eight songs that were entered in the "Best Song For Younger Children" category.

I was impressed with Evalyn as a judge! She decisively assigned numbers to each song for words, music, and overall impression. She has great taste, too; her least favorites and favorite songs corresponded precisely with my own!

The next phase of judging is done by school classrooms. If are a teacher or know of a teacher who would like to do this, or if you just want to find out more, please post a comment or send us an email!

Well, maybe tomorrow I'll get some of my own work done. Stay tuned...

Hearts For Hearing Camp

It was kind of fun for Evalyn and me to be on our own today. In the car we listened to some CDs that she is judging for the CMW Awards. When we got to the church where the Hearts For Hearing camp is located we ate our lunch together, then Evalyn entertained herself with her bag of toys while I set up.

The show was fun - it was a very small group, so I could be a bit informal and answer questions and discuss the history behind the songs a bit more than usual.

I took the photo of Evalyn above. The group photo was taken by the gentleman who came to read his cowboy poetry to the kids after my program was over. Now I wish I'd taken a photo of him and written down his name! Evalyn enjoyed his poems while I packed up the car. But I didn't get to talk to him afterward because I told Lisa I'd be home by 4:00 so she could get to the post office.

As it turned out, Lisa spent the whole day stuffing envelopes and made it only about half-way through the pile! The CMW Web Awards is a bigger job then either of us figured on. PJ Swift has been doing it all on her own for years and years. Kudos to PJ! I'll bet she's glad to get a break, but I also know she's busy with other projects this summer.

So tomorrow I'm on my own. Lisa will stay behind to finish mailing out packages and Evalyn will stay behind for her dance lessons while I spend most of the day driving! Well, time to load up the old iPod Shuffle...

See you at the library!

Perry

Too many mosquitos and too much long wet grass kept us indoors at the Perry library this morning. We had a super audience - they sang absolutely stunningly for "Oklahoma Kids a Kaleidoscope!" And as you can see many of them stayed behind for photos afterwards. Hi, everyone!

Now Lisa is taking a nap and preparing herself for a strenuous push to get all those Children's Music Web Award packages mailed out over the weekend! Next week's shows include Hearts for Hearing in OKC, Durant and Glenpool, plus two libraries in Kansas: Hesston and El Dorado. Kansas is doing the "Get a Clue" theme, so I'll have a different set of songs to practice between now and Wednesday.

See you at the library!

Children's Music Web Awards

Lisa took on the job of collecting entries and corralling judges for this year's CMW awards. Packages have been showing up on our doorstep all summer and our living room has been taken over!! Now she is sorting through the CDs and preparing to send them out to judges. It's a big job! Go Lisa!

We've enjoyed sampling some of the music and stories ourselves. There's a lot of great new stuff out this year. For more info on the CMW Awards, check out the Children's Music Web.

I also thought I would post a link to this review from Little Rock Family in which "Get a Clue" gets a mention: Bill Childs' Column. Bill is co-host (with his daughter, Ella) of the wildly popular "Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child" radio show and podcast, which I will be guest-hosting in August. His column is also printed in Minnesota Parent, Valley Kids, and Albemarle Family.

See you at the library!