Studio3Music Blog

Archive for the ‘Things We Love’ Category

May
12

Peter’s Story

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Things We Love, Village

He was in our Village class for such a short time….I’ll call him Peter. Just a few weeks to enjoy the waning days of Rhythm of Our Day and a little Busy Days, but in that short time we saw a flower open.

I remember his first visit to our class. Peter brought Mommy, Daddy, and Auntie with him and all were intently focused on Peter; his every move mattered. Any indication of pleasure or displeasure a one year old could convey was noted and evaluated. There were tears as he clung to Mommy, not knowing what to make of the wiggling bunch of bouncers and shakers surrounding him. “Peter doesn’t usually hear English spoken in his home.” But there were many hands to console….six to be exact! “I think we’d like to join this class…at least for a little while. They are only here for a short time,” said Auntie.

Only Mommy & Daddy came along next week to shore up little Peter. Fewer tears, but still well sheltered by slightly anxious parents, Peter’s fearful gaze seldom came my way. Mommy and Daddy quietly tapped his tiny hand keeping the steady beat he was not ready to feel.

Week 4: Peter brought only Mommy this week. Timid hands reached outside the cozy confines of Mommy’s legs to pick up a bright red shaker. Mommy and Peter stayed around after class to enjoy the chatter of their cohorts.

Today: Peter sat happily in his white plastic carriage…which looked remarkably like a Target laundry basket. Even a ride to the “Doctors office” wasn’t so bad if all your friends were going, too! The sudden stops for red lights created a palpable tension in the circle and even Peter’s gaze turned towards me in anticipation. Snug in his green towel, he peered out at those around him as if he had been doing this forever….well, for at least 3 weeks. Time to dance! I stood opposite Peter and Mommy. We swayed happily to Mama Paquita, do-si-doed a sly peek-a-boo, and as we met in the middle to say “hello”, Peter giggled and gave me the biggest smile ever!

It’s a friendly and chatty class who linger long, but Mommy and Peter were the last to leave today. Mommy quietly and shyly said, “This is our last class, Miss Colleen. We will be moving far away next week. I just want you to know Peter is much different child now. He loves class. He loves you. Thank you for my child happy now.”

-posted by Miss Colleen, who is happy, too.

Tags: babies, kindermusik, learning, Miss Colleen

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May
10

Wine Less, Smile More, Drink Root Beer!

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Family, Things to do, Things We Love

THAT is the saying outside the store of my new favorite hobby, root beer tasting. I stumbled upon The Root Beer Store one day on the back side of The Home Depot and Target in Redmond. As you are driving on that road, you see lots of signs saying ‘The Root Beer Store’ and ‘60+ Root Beers’ (7102 180^thAve NE). Taking a mental picture, I went home and told my husband that we needed to go to this place and check it out (he’s a big root beer lover, too).

So, one Saturday, we made the trek back to Redmond to go buy some root beer. Being that I’m pregnant right now means that wine tasting is out, so why not go taste and rate some root beer, like we would wine? We thought this was a brilliant idea, and so with critical eyes we set out to get our first 6 bottles of root beer.

When you walk in, you’ll see that all of the walls are lined with different root beers, ginger beers, sarsaparillas, birch beers, diet root beers and one section of cream, orange, grape, lemon and huckleberry sodas. And every third Saturday of the month, they offer free tastings in the store. The store normally has a couple out to taste, but I believe if you want to sample one all you have to do is ask.

We started out our selection process… Now, I have to say, this next part is all my personal opinion. I LOVE a good ginger beer or a root beer with a little bite (more the sarsaparilla side of things). I don’t like root beers that taste too much like vanilla or are too sweet. I do like a good head; otherwise the root beer is to flat by the time you get done drinking it.

My hubby and I differ in some of our tastes, which has lead to some wonderful conversations! I’m serious; we have had full half hour discussions after we’ve tasted a root beer about our differing opinions. It’s been a lot of fun!

For our first 6 pack, we got a variety of root beers, including a fair trade, organic root beer from Maine, a ginger beer from Hollywood, CA, and the store’s favorite root beer from Michigan. This brings me to our rating system. We put together a rating system from 1-5. 1 meaning you wouldn’t even finish the root beer (diet Shasta), to 5 being you would buy this root beer every chance you get (Sprecher Root Beer, WI).

In order to keep track of all the root/ginger beers we taste we are taking pictures of all the ones we buy and recording our ratings next to the pictures. Out of the 2 root beers and 1 ginger beer that I mentioned above Casey and I mostly agreed. The Ginger beer was a 4, having a wonderful burn down the back of your throat after you are done taking a sip (again, I love ginger beer).

The fair trade, organic root beer from Maine received a 4 for a really good head and no high fructose taste. The store’s favorite received a 2. We were really disappointed about this one because we had high hopes for it. It just didn’t deliver the root beer taste we had wanted and it was really too sweet.

As I taste the Jackson Hole, Snake River sarsaparilla for the first time (which at first sip is smooth and has a hint of licorice root in it) reflecting on this experience has really brought a smile to my face. Root beer is a classic past time and it has been very enjoyable to see how many families it brings together. Every time we have been in The Root Beer Store, it has been packed with families having similar conversations on what to try and what they liked last time they were there.

We’ve even brought friends from out of town to this store and they are emailing us their ratings on the different root beers they have tried. This is a family friendly activity that everyone can participate in. Besides, who doesn’t love a good root beer! I encourage you to go check this store out and I would LOVE to hear your reviews on the different root beers you have tried.

-posted by Miss Anna, who wonders if her little one will prefer ginger or root beer…

To find out more info on The Root Beer Store go to www.therootbeerstore.com

Tags: Miss Anna, Things to do

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May
2

Necklace Giveaway from EllieAdorn

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Things We Love

If you’ve read Saturday’s post, you already know Cristi Comes’ story. But what you may not know is that she makes beautiful jewelry that is fun for Mommas to wear, and safe for babies to play with and chew on. Seriously, who’s baby DOESN’T pull on hair, earrings and necklaces and try to eat it anyway? It’s a super clever idea.

Exclusive Studio3Music Giveaway! Win a Custom EllieAdorn Mama Necklace handmade especially for you (value up to $25.)EllieAdorn Mama Necklaces (http://www.EllieAdorn.Etsy.com) are perfect for mommies who want to look stylish, but need jewelry strong and durable to distract tiny fingers. These are great while nursing, bottle-feeding, during diaper changes, just about any time! All are made with durable 100% cotton cord and genuine gemstones or other natural stones. Each are easily adjustable from short to mid chest length with slip knots.

Here’s all you have to do to win:

I’ll pick 2 winners at random on Mother’s Day May 8th and announce them on the blog. You’ll win a custom necklace. How beautiful is that? Enter by May 7 at 11:59 PT! You have several chances to win!

MANDATORY ENTRY:

Just leave a comment below telling me your baby’s favorite object to “mouth”. (You can still enter to win even if your little ones are all grown up!)

OPTIONAL ENTRIES:

(Please leave separate comments for each optional entry you complete, in order to receive that entry.)

1- “Like” Studio3Music on Facebook

2 – “Like” EllieAdorn Blog on Facebook

3 – Subscribe to our Studio3Music blog via RSS or email in the upper right hand corner of this blog page.

4 – Share this giveaway on Facebook once per day. Be sure to tag “My 3rd Baby: EllieAdorn Blog” AND “Studio3Music” by using the @ symbol before typing the page names in your status.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who thankfully no longer has diaper-wearing children to distract, but is going to buy one of these for her sister, who is in labor with her first child as Miss Analiisa writes this!

Tags: giveaway, parenting

9 responses so far, join the conversation!

Apr
26

The Music Box

Posted in Family, Things to do, Things We Love

Normally this time of year I would be passionately talking about my ever growing garden. Seeds starting to sprout, new bed being built, flora and fauna, etc. Not this year. It seems we are no longer in Kansas anymore Toto. Wait, maybe we are in Kansas! So far we’ve had sun, rain, sleet, hail and snow. All in one day. We are just missing the tornado and I’m certainly not hoping for that!

With all the crazy weather here in the PNW, it sadly means we’ve been stuck inside for way too long. I’ve been starting to run out of creative indoor activities. We’ve done the art and craft box, we’ve done the cardboard boxes, we’ve even done a garage sand box (under the bed box w/ lid and wheels. Fill with 1 bag of sand. Play in garage in the rain. It’s portable.)

We have now moved on to The Music Box. This is a toy box filled with a collection of musical instruments, and not the ones you normally think of. There are no tubas, or trombones in this box. Think Kindermusik style instruments. Sticks, and bars, and clackerheads! Below is the list of our magical marching band. Put on costumes, blast some music and bang away!

The Magical Musical Toy Box
2 drums, 1 wooden with mallets, 1 plastic with plastic sticks
2 tambourines, big and small
4 seashell castinets
2 clackerheads
2 shaker eggs (we had more but the cats hid them)
1 set of bars with mallets.
4 jingle bells, differing shapes and sizes
spoons, the kind that smack together
2 harmonicas, 1 plastic, 1 metal
1 slide whistle
1 kazoo
1 recorder
2 sets of sticks, big and small
2 sets of sand blocks
wooden spoon with wooden bowl
6 shakers, random collection
2 sets of guiros frogs

An assortment of bowls and spoons from the kitchen sneak out during our jam session as well. After an hour of this, I’m pretty sure I’ve met my gym quota for the day and the kids are sure to be ready for lunch!

-posted by Kindermusik Momma Heidi Forrester, who can never have too much music in her life!

Studio3Music would like to give away a musical toy box for your family, complete with things to shake, bang, rock and roll. And some music as well! Just visit us on Facebook, and post a picture of your kids making music. We’ll pick a winner at random on May 6th, and deliver a cool prize. Double points for video.

Tags: guest post, kindermusik, parenting, Things to do

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Apr
23

The “Get To Do” List

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Family, parenting, Things We Love

A friend of mine just posted this on my favorite social network site: “The key is to have something to look forward to”. That made me stop and think, and wonder, “Do I have something to look forward to?” I was surprised that I couldn’t think of anything right away…except maybe falling into bed tonight! I think that what my friend was referring to was something bigger and in the more distant future, however.

As a child, it seems I always had a ton of things to look forward to – summer vacation, holidays, trips to Disneyland, birthday parties, slumber parties, the first day of school (yes, I actually did look forward to that!), family outings, swimming at the neighbors’ pool, going away to camp, getting a letter from a pen pal….to name a few.

I wonder if many people feel the same way. And why it changes as we get older. And, most importantly, how we can keep the same magic of anticipation alive in our daily lives? I mean, I do think it’s extremely important; just having something fun or exciting to look forward to helps immensely to get through a difficult period of time, whether it’s a bluesy day or a horrific week. And I, for one, tend to keep forgetting that.

I suppose it all comes down to planning things to look forward to, for ourselves, and our families. If we get in the habit of sprinkling our busy lives with fun and nurturing things to do, it goes from being just a “to do” list to being more of a “GET to do” list!

So why do we have to work harder at this than when we were younger?

It could be that little by little, we become more cynical and resigned, perhaps due to disappointment from canceled plans and dashed hopes. Maybe we are just more guarded; in order to protect ourselves from more disappointment, we stop pinning our hopes on something that “might not happen”. So we shy away from making grand plans due to the fear that they could turn out to be “grounded” plans instead.

As important as it is for us as adults to remember to weave fun and excitement into our lives, and not worry about what could possibly befall us, I think it is also our duty to make sure our children’s lives are not cluttered with too many “to do” lists, and are instead infused with plenty of “get to do’s”. This is not to say that our youngsters should shun responsibility – homework and chores are of course an important part of daily life and are necessary for a child’s healthy development. A reasonable balance is certainly attainable.

“Get to do’s” can be built into a child’s weekly schedule. As an example, “Fun Friday”, which could mean anything from bowling or a movie with family members, going out to a favorite restaurant, ordering pizza, or participating in a favorite project, is one idea I’ve heard families have. Or it can be as simple as letting a child decide on an activity, food, etc. – letting a child make plans (while enforcing limits, of course!) is a great way to boost confidence and self-esteem.

Lastly, we should always do our best to follow through on the anticipated plans. It’s much more likely than not that they will be carried out, and then we can not only feel proud of our success in the planning, but also fully enjoy what we had looked forward to.

-posted by Miss Nancy, who gets to sing her heart out with her jazz vocal group on Wednesdays!