APRIL BREAK!!!!!

Oh. My. Lanta. I don't think I've ever been so ready for a break! My poor lil brain is just barely producing enough brain juices to sustain life at this point ;) Ok so maybe it's not that bad, but I am sincerely excited to have all of next week off! I've got a ton of fun things planned for the weekend with friends here, and then on Monday I'm off to the STL to see the most fabulous Erica Oppelz. We plan to sleep, eat, and do nothing of significance for my whole trip. So pumped!

As for the internship, it's going really well. The kids all seem to know that a break is coming so they have gone a little more nuts than usual, but ya gotta just go with it. I had a group earlier today where my 3 students were simultaneously scripting (repeating phrases they've heard as a vocal stimulation). One student was saying, "I want to go on the bus" mind you it was 9 am, poor guy, the other was saying, "No music tomorrow" and we are all grateful that she in fact does not have music tomorrow, and the last was just saying, "No, no, no, no...." Can't you just picture me sitting there clutching my guitar with a smile plastered on my face attempting to regain control. My supervisor just looked up and laughed :) Thankfully, they finally calmed down, juuuuuust in time for me to sing the "Goodbye Song". Figures.

I'm hoping this break will give me the refreshment I need to think of some new songs and strategies so I don't bore the poor kids with the same thing over and over! I also hope it will give me the motivation to find a job....ya it's for sure that time.....I'll take all the prayers I can get in that department. Specifically, that it would pay insanely well and be located in a tropical area.....ok ok, just kidding. How about that it would pay well enough, and that it would be working with kids with special needs. Those are really my only two requirements :)

So just one more day to get through! Thinking about doing a musical obstacle course with my augmented music ed. class in the morning, we'll see how that goes :) Oh, also, I learned a fabulous new technique from my supervisor about how to get my classes quiet and calm: simply challenge them to see who can hold their breathe for a full minute. Worked like a charm.

So I Truly Am A Blog Slacker....

I'm really not good at keeping up with this thing am I? Apologies to all those who asked me to write it so that they could keep up with me while I'm out east, I'm failing miserably. But, the good thing is that the reason I haven't posted in so long is that I've been busy, and not just with school work....I HAVE FRIENDS haha. But seriously, it's great to have people to hang out with on the weekends and things to do. It's especially for when I'm avoiding all the work I have, because when I'm home alone, I really have no excuse :) February was fabulous! We finally had out Blacklight Show at school, which we've been rehearsing the kids for since about Thanksgiving, and it was sooooooo great! I had a week off for February break, something that I think should catch on in the Midwest for sure. The beautiful, talented, and lovely Ms. Chloie Asbury came to visit, and we had an awesome time! Pictured below are some of our gully travels....

We went to CANADA!!! Ok, so we only just crossed the border to look at Niagara Falls, but it was still exciting!

Told ya she was beautiful! Starbucks is gonna steal this pic and ppl will be rushing the doors

I got jiggy wit it. Typical.

We made my first ever pie. It was apple. And delicious!

Like I said, we had a blast! I went to Erie, PA at the end of the break to see my grandma, aunt and uncle. It was so refreshing! I just got to hang out with my grandma and help her run some errands. We cooked and she gave a run for my money more than once while playing Skip-Bo! And my aunt and uncle prepared an amazing meal for me, complete with steaks that my uncle had to shovel a path through about 15 inches of snow to grill. All because I'm a Kansas girl :) It was so nice to be around family, even if just for a couple days!

School is great, crazy as usual, but great! I love my students and am realizing how VERY much I will miss them with my internship comes to an end. Which also gets me thinking about the fact that I'll be needing a job here in about 6 months! All spare prays available, please send up for me and the job realm! I'm confident that it will all work out, it's just getting from here to there that can be rough :)

I'll end with a cute story from school. I'm walking down the hall the other day, and I see two students headed my way. One is a big kid, I'm talkin at least a head and half taller than me. The other just a little tiny guy, probably up to my shoulder. They are laughing about something, and the big kid looks down at the little one and says, "You're my beeeest friend!" and the little replied with a smile, "Your MY beeest friend!" Cutest. Thing. Ever. I love my life :)

Halfway There....

So Friday was officially the halfway point of my internship. I can't believe it! All the things that I've done and learned in the last 6 months have totally blown my mind and reshaped the way I think about music therapy and myself as a music therapist. I can't even start to imagine having to leave all of my students in June. I'm gonna cry. Without a doubt. I thought now would be a good time to list some of my most memorable moments of my internship thus far, just in case I ever feel myself starting to forget them :) So here they are, in no particular order.

•  Teaching some of my middle school boys with autism how to do the chicken dance, they just couldn't get the shimmy part at the end no matter how hard they tried to model me, hilarious.
• When one of my lower functioning students that I had been struggling to make a connection with all year, suddenly played the tambourine through 3 whole rounds of 'Feliz Navidad".
• When a student finally got the concept of asking a new friend for their name after I had gone over it for like four consecutive sessions, I think I screamed I was so excited.
• When my supervisor, the students aide, and I stationed ourselves around the room holding out paddle drums and the student weaved through us smacking the drums like he was in a pinball machine, laughin up a storm.
• How every time I pull out a book with my group of first grade boys, one of the boys eyes physically bug out of his head because he's so excited.
• How one of my students bursts into the room smiling and yelling for EVERY session, because he's so excited for music.
• I once asked the same student mentioned just above to use his Dyna-Vox (a little computer like device to help him communicate) to tell me what he wanted to do in music. One week he said, "I want wild animals" the next he said, "I want macaroni".
• When I was working with a student on the concepts of fast and slow, I started strumming and singing really fast, and she had a giggle-fest so violent I thought she was going to fall out of her wheel chair.
• When we decided to do a wheel chair dancing activity with my medically fragile class, and they were all laughing and smiling more than I had ever seen before.
• When a student who had been working on breath support finally got her party blower to unroll all the way and squealed with glee.
• When a student grabbed my hand in the middle of the session and wouldn't let it go for anything. He also squeezed my cheeks together and giggled the next session.
• When a student quite a bit bigger than me got a little too into our dancing-fest and jumped up in an attempt to chest bump me.
• When a student that I had only seen be extremely violent with her peers, independently volunteered to share her instrument. My supervisor and I both about fell out of our chairs.
• How students will stop by the music room just to say hello, or tell something exciting about their weekend, or bring up left over cupcakes..... music teachers are the best you know.
• How I have one student who is very volatile and misbehaved in every other context of school but music, and how now she will do her work and cooperate just to be able to come up to the room for extra music time. Also, how I was the only person working with this student who had an abundance of positive things to say about her. With out music, her outlook in school was pretty bleak.

I think that the list could go on forever and ever, but I guess I'll stop there. Basically, I've seen what the  power of music can do in peoples lives and what it can do in my my life through them. It's been such and extreme blessing so far and I can't wait to see what else is in store for me in the next 5 months! And then it's off to the real world...AHHHH

Blog Slacker

Soooooo as of late, I've been told by various people, using varying terms, that I am what I fear. A blog slacker. I mean, seeing as I didn't even post in December, they were basically stating the obvious ha. So here I am, in the first week of January posting it up! Look at me go! All 3 of you reading this are so excited I know it!!! My Christmas break was fantastically too short. I filled it with my three favorite "f's"- family, friends, and food, with a side of sleep. I was in Springfield, MO a couple days at my bro's, who is actually quite the host. 

My pops, dog Roxy, and I just chillin gangsta style at my bro's

We sung down to Branson for my mom's bday, had a blast watching some Chinese acrobatics, which my mom attempted to replicate later that evening :) 

My mommie and I on her bday in Branson

I kicked my brother's butt at Wii bowling. I think this is my first ever documented victory over him in all of my 24 years. 

Of course I took a pic of the score board.

He's really good at winning. Except when it come's to Catch Phrase. Next we journeyed across the great state of Kansas to U-town where I saturated my self in Mexican food from El Ranchito, my favorite place to eat when I go home. The rest of the time I pretty much sat in my dad's huge recliner with my mom's new electric blanket while my parents ran around and took care of me, gloriousness. So good to be home with my amazing family. I hitched a ride with the awesome Romero family up to Kansas City. I bonded with the family by singing 70's songs with Major Romero :) and poking Kit over and over in the back seat for 7+ hours. Once I got to KC, I was on a mission to see as many people as I could in about 72 hours, and I think I did a pretty good job! I got to breakfast with the fabulous Meredith Henderson, who was just about to leave for her internship in Iowa City (where's she's gonna be amazing). So great to catch up with someone with the same passion as me! I headed down to the Roasterie, one of the best places in all of KC, and had coffee with the one and only Mackenzie Gamble. She has the uncanny ability to make me feel extremely important and encouraged every time I talk to her. Love that girl. It was New Years Eve so I crashed a party full of fabulous people, some I knew from church, and some that were gracious enough to let me join and occasionally laugh at my jokes :) Later that night (or more like early the next morning) I got to pick on Kit a little bit more, which always puts a smile on my face. New Years day I grabbed lunch with one of the people I've known the longest in KC, Christina Munford. I truly appreciate people like her. We always have great conversation, she gives me like 12 new artist to listen to that I always love, and most of all, when we talk, she genuinely listens. People that listen are hard to come by these days! Later, I journeyed back to the Roasterie for a LONG overdue reunion with Lauren Hays. It was so great to hear all about her life and her ministry with Campus Crusade in Orlando, and it was also great to rock out to Katy Perry's 'Firework' in her mom's awesome car haha. That night I got to spend some quality time with my old roomie Kasha Seaver, felt sooooo good to just hang out and do nothing with her like we used too probably too frequently. We watched 'Salt'. It was just as disappointing as I expected. We finished out the night at the Flying Saucer with some more great friends and great salsa (that ended up all over my shirt, surprise surprise). I couldn't leave KC with out having some quality Leah Fields time, so we grabbed coffee before church. I'm telling you, that girl is like a breath of fresh air, you talk to her and instantly feel relaxed. We got to talk about her wedding just a tiny bit, and I'm soooooo excited for her, it's gonna be amazing! And then I got to go a little bit of church and had to jet to the airport (get it, jet). So now you know what I mean when I say fantastically too short. And I didn't even get to mention all the places I crashed each night haha. But it really was a great little break. And now I'm back to the real world and tons and tons of papers to avoid. Oh well, if I ever need a pick me up I just look at this picture. Happy Holidays everyone.

Travis. Please don't kill me.