I promised something special for tonight’s Signing Time Weekly Chat.  We chat every Wednesday night from 7-9pm Mountain Time.  

Here it is!!!  A sneak peek at one of the new songs from our upcoming Baby Signing Time release.  The song is called Strollin’.  You will only be able to view it for a limited time this evening.  Come chat with us!

Baby Signing Time Strollin

I am happy to share that the Signing Time Foundation is one of the featured foundations of the day, TODAY on GoodSearch and GoodShop.  GoodSearch will give 1 cent to the non-profit of your choice (hopefully us!) for every internet search you do, every single day.

Goodshop is even better!  When you shop on-line a portion of your purchase price is donated to our foundation and it costs you nothing!  All it takes is a few extra clicks.  I could not believe how many online partnerships Goodshop offers.  If you buy tickets and travel from Delta or Travelocity, a portion can come to us!  If you send flowers, shop clothing retailers, send gifts… please visit www.goodsearch.com and select The Signing Time Foundation as the foundation of your choice!

Look for our Signing Time Foundation logo and link in the upper left-hand corner of your screen on www.goodsearch.com and www.goodshop.com today!

This morning I am going back to Ghana! You may have noticed that we have moved my Ghana Journal, Blog and video to the Signing Time Foundation site. All future updates about Ghana will originate on the foundation site. I posted the details about today’s trip in a post called, “Going Back to Ghana Saturday.” Hop over to that site and subscribe to the blog for updates about our continued work in Ghana. Again, I have NO idea if I will have internet access while I am there. I promise that I will journal and take pictures!

I will be back late Thursday night.

Rachel

This morning I was volunteering in Lucy’s class for a couple of hours. When I finished, I walked out to my car and I looked at my cell phone. I had missed an extraordinary number of calls. My first thought was “Uh-oh!” There were multiple calls from Two Little Hands, my sister Emilie, and my husband Aaron. I checked the messages. The first one was from my friend and employee LeeAnn, saying, “Congratulations!!! You have been nominated for an Emmy for “Outstanding Performer in a Children’s Television Series.”

I sat in the car for a minute and thought does she really mean I got nominated?

I called LeeAnn back to verify and I asked her to look at it again just to be sure before I called or emailed everyone. My first call was to my mom. Then my phone began buzzing and ringing nonstop!

I just had to share with all of you too! Can you believe it? Me!!! Rachel Coleman, from Signing Time! Here is the proof. Scroll down halfway.

Last year I posted about my tulips and daffodils and how I do love the flowers that herald Spring. Last Fall I got a message from our office that a package had arrived for me with a letter and bulbs. I double checked the message to make sure I heard it correctly.. Bulbs? Sure enough one of our Signing Time fans who reads my blog and happens to work in landscaping mailed me bulbs!! She even sent bulbs that would match the ones I had shown pictures of. (Thank you Wendy!) But I haven’t SEEN my tulips yet. Just as the weather warms up and my bulbs almost bloom, BAM we get hit with another snowstorm. I can’t really complain because I love the skiing, but I am really ready for the flowers! My daffodils are up, but my tulips have not bloomed, yet.

I was in California last week and it was 88 degrees Ahhh! It felt so good and it makes me remember how much I love Los Angeles. I performed in Yucca Valley and in Los Angeles. The 2 hour drive to Yucca took 3 hours and 45 minutes, which makes me remember what I don’t love about Los Angeles. LOL

Baby Celebration was a blast! I loved seeing so many fans and so may great little signers. I even recognized a few from the auditions we just held. As I walked through the convention center I was shocked at how many different vendors recognized me and asked to take pictures with me and wanted to get their products in our shows! Yeah! Is it silly to say it was the first time I felt like a star? Seriously, don’t laugh!

The last few weeks have been crazy and I think we will be in a holding pattern of “crazy” through June. I’ve had a hundred things to share but I just haven’t been able to sort it out in a way that seems blog worthy:) So here’s a top 10 list in no particular order.

10. I have lost 1 pound a week for the past 20 weeks!
9. Leah came in 5th place in her school Spelling Bee - the word she missed was “asceticism” … can you blame her?
8. I wrote 16 songs in 10 days
7. Lucy got sent to the principals office (LOL)
6. I completed 3 photo shoot days - standing, smiling and signing from 8AM-6PM
5. Cancelled my trip to France in June
4. I am coordinating Lucy’s fetal surgery for spina bifida reunion that will take place in Park City, UT in June
3. Leah wrote a report about her “Hero” - I cried as she read what she wrote about me!
2. Aaron is the lead editor on the new shows (this means we are BOTH up to our eyeballs in Signing Time!)
1. I have been invited to come back to Ghana in May for a world summit to address the education of deaf children (This, of course, is scheduled right in the middle of production for our new shows!) At first I said, “No. I just can’t go.” Now I am having second thoughts.

Plus- I am on a talk show this Friday, I perform in Las Vegas the first week of May. I am filmed for the new shows the second week of May. I have a Marketing Retreat the third week of May and somewhere in there I am trying to squeeze in 6 days in Africa LOL - WHEW! I am not complaining, I am just blown away at what is going to happen in the next 60 days. Is this where I finally learn to ask for help? Anyone interested in a nanny job for 2 adorable, brilliant little girls? You might also need to cook and clean and do laundry.

If there was a reality TV series about my life from now to June, even I would watch it!! I am just dying to know how it all turns out! The cool thing is, it is all going to work out! It always does!

I know that most of you who see me daily on your TV screens recognize the bright orange sweater, but you may be shocked to know that in real life I rarely wear that. Actually I wore it a few weeks ago to my brother-in-law’s 40th birthday party because I had just come from a performance and had no time to change. Sure I felt silly, but all of the kids thought I was better than a party clown! My own nieces and nephews shied away, slightly shocked and nervous to see Aunt Rachel’s alter-ego in real life.

As proof that I have more than that one outfit here is an interview from last month when I traveled to Oklahoma to be the keynote speaker at the OKFCEC (Oklahoma Federation of the Council for Exceptional Children) Conference. I flew to Oklahoma three days after returning home from Ghana.
It was great meeting Tyler Suiters from KOCO. I had met his wife Kimberly and daughter Sloane when they came to Utah to be part of our Baby Signing Time DVD’s. I think the interview turned out great!

This morning on the Today Show they told the story of little Elizabeth Barrett a 17 month old from Lubbock Texas who can read. (Yes, Lubbock PBS airs Signing Time!!) This story has been blogged, linked and aired around the country in the last month. Her parents are both speech pathologists and credit her “favorite television program SIGNING TIME!” as part of the language rich environment that helped her with this amazing skill. Read the story (and rate it high), watch the video links
Today Show Video 1
Today Show Video 2
and email the Today Show about your incredible experiences with Signing Time.

In each interview the Barrett’s have mentioned Signing Time! The Today Show even aired a clip of Signing Time this morning. My mom called and said, “I just saw you on the Today Show!” It’s just great to have so many speech pathologists on-board with signing nowadays! We got in touch with the Barrett’s and Katy said that she feels a great outcome of all of this media attention would be letting more people know about Signing Time. We are sending them the entire Signing Time library to use at home with Elizabeth and in their speech therapy practices. Just our little way of saying “Thank you!”

We really do have the BEST fans!

Tonight is out Thursday night chat. Same place, same time, different day.

Signing Time Chatroom
7:00-9:00PM MST
Thursdays through April.

Hope to see you there!!

Last week in the Signing Time Chat I asked if anyone had noticed Leah making secret appearances in some Signing Time shows. No one had:-)

There is a Signing Time rule that Alex and Leah are ONLY supposed to exist in their treehouse or animated Signing Time environment. We set that up in Volume #4, they may show up all over the place in Signing Time 1, 2 and 3. Leah likes to sneak in during the real world shots as well. Have you spotted her???

Join us tonight with your answers!
Signing Time Chatroom 7-9pm MST

I don’t even know how to sum up last year! For me, it would be a blur of airports, taxis, orange zip-up jackets, lights, cameras, “action!” with a constant score of “Signing Time!” in the background. I can rattle off airport codes, area codes and zip codes. I think I covered the country. PA, NC, New York:

IN, KY, NV, CA, Texas:

AL, MI, ND, MA a total of 58 days on the road. Well, I did break my elbow just to mix it all up a bit.

For Aaron it would be a blur of powder days at Snowbird, editing, camping, hiking, assistant coaching soccer, packing up our old Two Little Hands office and moving it to our new Two Little Hands office, snapping photos and rolling tape… all with a constant score of “Signing Time!” in the background.

Leah just turned 11. She won the school Spelling Bee in June. Dad filmed, we screamed and everyone cried. It has been viewed over 7,900 times on youtube. (She’s practically a star!) She spent literally every day of her summer with her cousin Alex by her side. They had their hair and wardrobe done each day… you can guess where this is going, can’t you?…

all with a constant score of “Signing Time!” in the background.

Lucy is 7. This year Lucy accomplished one of her biggest life long goals. Lucy was able to (as her shirt says below) “defy gravity”

She took her first steps! Lucy has a walker and she graduated from her weekly physical therapy visits, she thought it was weekly torture. Lucy spent the summer playing on an AYSO “Very Important People” (VIP) soccer team.

She also learned to hold her breath under water in the pool. Lucy learned quickly that every time mom said, “Hey Lucy, want me to curl your hair today?” What mom really meant was, “We need to film you doing a few signs for Signing Time!”

I am not sure what 2008 will bring, but I have a feeling there are orange zip up sweaters in my future and a constant score of “Signing Time!” in the background.