Leah and Lucy are on their buses and off to school! Over the past few weeks I have noticed how much I was resisting all the back to school hoopla. I was even feeling guilty since this is the first year we didn’t buy new backpacks – their packs from last year are in great shape!

Last night as they got showered and ready for bed, I ran to the store to get their favorite Lunchables, mostly because I realized we had little to no food that would be lunch worthy… though Lunchables are a far cry from worthy in my opinion.

Leah is now in 5th grade and we have heard horror stories from parents in the neighborhood about how many projects and reports are due in 5th grade. I continually reassure myself that these are Leah’s projects, not mine.

I can’t help but wonder am I resisting out of habit? Is it my 13 + years of dreading fall from a time it actually meant that I had to go back to school? Probably.

I think part of it is looking at the past 3 months of summer and wondering if I blew it. Did we do enough fun family activities or will it live for my girls as a summer of sitting in on business meetings since I didn’t set up play dates in advance or find a babysitter.

As Lucy’s bus pulled away and she signed “I Love You!” as she disappeared in the distance, I could only sigh. I leaned back on Aaron as we stood in the driveway and asked, “Now, why exactly were we dreading this?”

Back To School Basics for Lucy

1. Pureworks Antibacterial Foam– Lucy cannot reach the sink in her classroom, so when all the kids line up to wash hands, she just pumps some of this antibacterial foam on her hands and rubs it in. Since it contains no alcohol it won’t dry her skin and it keeps killing germs for more than 4 hours. She has the travel size in her backpack. We have the large size at home.

2. Crayola Twistables Slick Stix- Easy to hold and easy to use. Lucy uses these at school and at home. The crayons slide easily and give more coverage than typical crayons so Lucy doesn’t have to work SO hard just to color.

What an incredible day we had at Hogle Zoo! I heard tales of how long the line was to enter the zoo pavilion where I was performing. All in all it was a great performance and a great day. When I hit the stage the audience erupted in cheers. When Alex and Leah came up during the Signing Time theme song, they were met with an even bigger cheer than I got! the crowd was electric! It was so much fun for all of us.

BIG NEWS!!!
We are finally able to announce our very first, upcoming Signing Time Live Concert here in Salt Lake City UTAH. All I can say is this will be unlike any Signing Time event you have ever seen in the past. Alex, Leah and I are throwing a surprise birthday party for Hopkins!! (Shhhh don’t tell!) There will be everything you would hope to experience at a birthday party- BRAND NEW SONGS, sneak peeks at new shows, dancing, games, juggling, treats, party favors and so much more. We will even be performing with a live band!

Tickets will be available today Wednesday Aug 22, 10AM at www.smithstix.com There will even be a limited number of backstage passes available! Mark your calendar for Monday, October 8th 2007 - Cottonwood High School. You don’t want to miss it!

Watch the Signing Time Forums for the latest and greatest information and updates!

One of our fabulous Signing Time fans nominated me for the “Stand on A Better World Award”. (Thanks Aly!)

If I get the most on-line votes they will give $10,000 to The Signing Time Foundation! Whooo Hooo! One vote per email address and you will have to confirm your vote when they send you an email. VOTE NOW - Click the green button below.

Of course you can always donate to The Signing Time Foundation (501c3) as well. The Signing Time Foundation’s mission is to enrich the lives of children of all abilities. The Foundation is the main sponsor of the Signing Time television show.

When I went to Grand Rapids Michigan 2 weeks ago I had a terrible head cold and flying was no treat. Now, I completely agree with those babies who scream on airplanes. The fancy part of it was that when I landed, my left ear would not unplug. Try singing with THAT going on, not fun, but I made it through the 3 shows in Grand Rapids.

A little note on Grand Rapids – WGVU is the only station in the country that airs Signing Time daily, M-F! They air it at 3:30pm. How cool is that? We have been on close to 80% of the stations across the U.S. but usually only once or twice a week. It would be so great if the other stations would follow WGVU’s lead. The programmer there feels there is plenty of content in each show so that repetition is important and necessary. And each programmer has some say over what they show and when.

With the 13 episodes from Series 1 they air them like this:
Week 1: Episodes 1 1 2 3 1
Week 2: Episodes 2 2 3 4 2
Week 3: Episodes 3 3 4 5 3 and so on.

The formula obviously works, we had a such a great turn out at each event . The fans were clearly Signing Time TV fans as opposed to Signing Time DVD fans. How do I know? Well for the most part, they didn’t know that Leah was my daughter or that Alex is my nephew. They had no idea that Lucy was mine too. They didn’t know that I write the songs and really sing the songs as well. They didn’t know the story behind Signing Time and how Leah’s language helped her little sister so much. During the “Meet and Greet” people would ask about the colors on my fingers, name signs… all of the things we address in the DVD special features. In that way it was different from the other shows I have done. But I also really experienced that people love Signing Time. If they see it, they love it. In Grand Rapids, a lot of families really get to see it!

P.S. I don’t have any pictures of those events, so if you were there and want me to show yours off, just email me and I’ll add them to my blog!

Leah has been lamenting the fact that she does not have an older sister. She talks about this often and has even told me all of the things that she and her older sister would do if this older sister actually existed. Of course this sister would help her with her homework, play games with her, they would be best friends!
OK – reality check! First of all, she does not currently have an older sister. And funny how she has the idea that this dream older sister would do all of these things that Leah, who IS the older sister in this family, doesn’t actually do with her little sister on a regular basis.

I explained to Leah that she might want to consider all of those things she wishes her big sister would do and actually be THAT big sister to Lucy. Be the dream sister!

We have what we have and we don’t have what we don’t have. Seems obvious right? Isn’t it crazy how much time we spend wishing things were different than they are? We all do it. We wish we had a different job, car, house, relationship, weight, height, age… the list goes on and on. What if we loved and accepted our job, car, house, relationship, weight etc. What on earth would we talk about?

You can now Pre-order the latest and greatest Signing Time DVD’s. The first 200 pre-orders will get an autographed item. All pre-orders will get a $10 coupon good for their next purchase. YeeHaw!!!!
ORDER NOW