The Laurie Berkner Band Blog

Love Me for Who I Am

Laurie is very proud to announce that she recently was asked to sing vocals with Grammy-nominated family music artist Brady Rymer on a new CD, "Love Me for Who I Am", that celebrates and honors kids of all abilities - particularly those on the autism spectrum.

This is a subject very close to all of our hearts here at the LBB.  We receive a lot of  e-mails about our autistic fans whose lives have been touched by music in a unique and beautiful way.  For this reason, Laurie felt very drawn to this project and is thrilled to have had to opportunity to contribute.

Laurie is featured as a guest vocalist on the song, "Soft Things".  The 10-song CD will be released on April 12th.  Brady was inspired to create the CD through his work with the Celebrate the Children School in New Jersey, and he hopes "the songs will invite a deeper understanding and appreciation of children with autism and other related conditions".

Songs such as, "Picky Eater", "Who Wants to Wear Shoes?", "I Don't Like Change", and "Tune Out" all refer to the experience of a child with Autism or Asperger's Syndrome, but the lyrics ring true for everyone.

Laurie greatly enjoyed recording and collaborating with Brady on this track, especially since her daughter, Lucy, is a big fan of Brady's music

The title track, "Love Me for Who I Am", can be downloaded now - preview or purchase it by clicking here.

 

Upcoming Shows!

We are packing our bags, putting our props into boxes, rehearsing, and getting ourselves all ready for next weekend's show in Washington, DC at the Lisner Auditorium!

We're thrilled to be back in DC again for a 2-show day (11am and 3pm) on March 6th.  The show will be another Birthday Party concert.  What does THAT mean?  It means that we're celebrating EVERYONE'S birthday, all on the same day!

Bring a party hat, an animal (for your head), and your party clothes and get ready to rock out with the Laurie Berkner Band!  You can also print out and color a Cake Picture and bring it to the show for a chance to win an autographed CD!

You can also bring gently worn shoes to donate to Soles4Souls, a company that collects shoes for people in need!  Our friends at Umi Shoes are helping us collect for this great cause.

Tickets are still available to both shows.  Check out our website's live in concert section for more information and the link to purchase tickets!

Hope to see you there :)

The Great Things Your Kids Say

Here's another great round of fun things from the mouths of babes. Send us your favorite quote to our Facebook Fan Page!

Mary Jennings Hoyt:

While being tucked in: "I have so much to think about. Like how am I going to get everything done? I need to get married, have kids, have a job, take ballet, and move around to live with you where ever you live. (Deep sigh.)" - Vanessa age 4

Christine E. Smith:

Me (joking): I'm the greatest mom in the world! My five year old daughter: Don't say that mommy. You'll make all the other mommies feel bad! ♥

Shellee Wilson:

While shopping for upholstery cleaner at Target my 3 year old, Georgia asks "What are you looking for?" Me: Upholstery cleaner for all of the stains on my favorite chair. Georgia says "You need the power of Oxi-Clean"

Chris Robichaud Roth:

My 5 year old was drawing on her easel with crayons and colored pencils. I walked by and asked "Oh, wow, is that a cactus?" and she replied with distain "No Mama, it's an ABSTRACT!"

Martha D. Heidel:

Isabell: I'm not happy. Me: I'm sorry Sweetie. Do you want some hot dogs? Isabell ~whispers to her Wubbzy doll & then says to me: YES Please!! * I know this isn't much but she has Autism & was completly non-verbal until she was 3 (she's now 5). With her telling us she's not happy, it's like moving mountains.*

Shannon Licker Gaghan:

Our 3 year old daughter has an uncanny knack for making huge messes so the one day I said, "Jillian, you're a big old messy mess." To which she replied, "I know Mommy, I can make water sticky!" ☺

Julie Hartgrove:

My son (3) when asked if he was "break dancing" informed me that he did not break dancing, he fixed it :-)

Cecelia Walsh:

Putting Lizzy on the bus my husband tells the driver and aid, "I've got to go to work and make money so I can get rich". The driver and aid both said that they also wanted to get rich. Lizzy says, "I'm already rich".

Melissa A Bugaj:

Our 3 yo girl: (best whiny voice she can muster): MAAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAAAAA, I need help.
Our 5 yo boy's response to his sister: Mama doesn't speak whine, Maggie, try again.

 

Amanda Briggs:

Went to Walgreens yesterday with my 3&4 year olds. My three year old daughter said "what is this place?" I answered "Walgreens." she says "whaaatttt?" this goes on several times, walgreens, what, walgreens, what....finally my four year old son says "SIS! It's WALGREENS...like WALL....like The Great WALgreens of China!! Understand now???" to which she responds, "Oh, walgreens?" lol!!! ;)

Betsy Arndt:

My 3 year old gave us a good laugh with this one- she tooted and said "Mama, I just ran out of gas."

Karri Martin Kennedy:

My 3 year old son, Landon, is a slow eater. This morning he was taking a longer time than usual to finish his breakfast. I kept prompting him to finish his banana. He finally looked at me and said in a very calm voice,"Mommy, my banana is stressing me out."

Dottie Umlor Landis:

Just before Valentines Day, my 4 year old warned me, "Don't let that baby shoot you, or you'll get in love"!

Kiley Fair:

Me: "Emma, please clean up the playroom". Emma: "where am I going to put all this stuff? Its such a mess!" Me: "you'll find a place, just get it off the floor"....20 minutes later I walk downstairs to find that she'd taped the toys to the wall.

Amanda Urie:

Wouldn't do what they say, but what they do! My 3 year old son covered himself with Vaseline everywhere! When u asked why? He said that now you can't catch me!

 

Put "My Family" on Your Album!

We've received a bunch of requests via e-mail for a way to get "My Family" on an album.  Since Nick Jr. decided not to release the song on their new DVD ("Let's Hear it for The Laurie Berkner Band"), and the song also isn't yet on an album, why not burn yourself a special CD with the song on it?!  Here's a simple step-by-step on making your own album.

1) You can download "My Family" by going to iTunes or Amazon.com and searching for the song or just clicking the links!

2) (You'll need to download iTunes if you don't have it already!) First, import whichever album you'd like to add "My Family" to into iTunes.  To do this, simply pop the CD into your computer, open iTunes, and click "Import CD" (you may get a pop-up window that asks if you want to do this!)  You can also download the album (usually for less $ - see yesterday's blog) online.  We are using "Rocketship Run" as an example.

 

3) Make a Playlist by clicking the "+" on the bottom left corner.  Title it whatever makes the most sense to you.  We used "Rocketship Run plus Family"

 

4) Move all the songs from the album you are using to the playlist.  Do this by going to "Music" (top left) and then searching for the album you are looking for.  Highlight all the songs (click on the top song, hold SHIFT, and then click on the bottom song).  Then, drag the highlighted songs to your playlist on the left.

5) Find "My Family" by searching in the right-hand box - just like you did for the album.  Drag it to your playlist!  You can move it around/rearrange the album however you like.  You can also make your own "Best of" CD, or a lullaby mix (see previous blog on this topic)!

Upcoming Shows!

Hey LBB Blog World - we have some shows coming up that you may enjoy!

3/6/2011 - Washington, DC - 11am and 3pm

3/26/2011 - Providence, RI - 11am

Our shows are still Birthday Party Concerts!  Bring an animal for your head, a party hat (and a party outfit - the band wears their favorite party dresses and t-shirts!), a Birthday Cake picture that YOU'VE colored (for a chance to win an autographed CD), and a pair of shoes to donate.  All this stuff is totally optional!

Can't make it to a show, but want to enjoy the fun? Check out our Musical Nightlight webcasts for lots of fun Laurie-time!

And stay tuned - we have two exciting things coming up:

1) The launch of our BRAND NEW website, with lots of fun, interactive activities for kids AND parents

2) Our new Party DVD, coming out in July!

 

Green Valentines Day

Laurie recently asked our Facebook Fans for some great Valentine's Party ideas that are Earth-friendly!  We loved your responses.  We know Valentine's Day is over, but why not keep it going all week?  After all, Love should be celebrated ALL year long!

 

Becca Dever Barstow Our Valentines are earth-friendly in the sense that I recycled some cereal boxes. I cut out a bunch of heart shapes and let the kids go to town painting them red. Now that they've dried we'll add names to them.

Sarah Anne Rennie How about starting an egg carton herb garden? By springtime the little sprouts will be ready to go outside in the sunshine and thrive! Magazine collage valentine cards?

Shannon Santos We have turned brown paper bags inside out, cut them into heart shapes, painted red or pink, and stuffed them with newspaper for big, loveable gift.

Jessica Marks Baking cookies always seems like the fun and right thing to do! To make it earth-friendly, I turn down my thermostat 2 degrees when running the oven. I also substitute half of my flour recipe with whole wheat flour and use canola or applesause when the recipe calls for oil. Keep just enough treats for you and your family, and then wrap (in parchment or clean wrapping paper scraps) the rest for neighbors and deliver them on foot with your kids!

Amy Jo Krueger I found this on the Disney Family Fun website... if you have any left over bits of yarn, this is a great way to use them up! Sticky Hands, Warm Hearts.

1.First, make the glue by combining ¼ cup of cornstarch and ½ cup of water in a saucepan and stirring until smooth.
2.Heat the mixture over medium heat until it's thick and translucent. Allow it to cool to the touch.
3.Cut yarn into foot-long pieces.
4.Place a heart-shaped cookie cutter on the shiny side of a piece of parchment paper. Have your child push a piece of yarn into the glue to coat it. Pick up the piece and run it between a thumb and forefinger to remove the excess glue. Lay the yarn inside the cookie cutter.
5.Repeat with the other pieces until the yarn fills the heart shape in a thin layer. With clean hands, press the yarn flat. Gently lift off the cookie cutter and allow the yarn to dry hard, at least a day.
6.You can speed up the drying process by placing the hearts and parchment paper into an oven set to "warm" for an hour or two.
Tips:
You can store cornstarch glue in the refrigerator for up to a week. If the mixture gets too gel-like, stir in ¼ cup of hot water.

Jen Doyle You could make heart shaped bird seed feeders. Melted suet or shortening, mix in bird seed, press into heart shaped cookie cutters. Insert a straw near the top to make a hole to thread ribbon through. Refrigerate. When hard push out of cutter, string ribbon and share the love with the birds and squirrels!

Cecelia Walsh You should plant violets. Supposedly the original "Valentines" were the leaves of the violets which are heartshaped. St. Valentine was in prison and violets were growinig outside his prison cell. He would reach out and pick the leaves off the violets and etch messages of love to family and friends into the leaves and leave them outside the cell for them to find. Even if it's not true, it's a good story.

Susan Walker Doran Because some kids have peanut allergies, no food is allowed in to school. So for valentines day last year, my daughter and I recycled her broken crayons, peeled the paper from them and placed inside heart-shaped tin. Then we baked on low, like 250-300, and took them out of the oven when fully melted. Let cool. Pop out and and walla - heart shaped crayons. We then placed inside a snack-sized zip-lock baggie with a handmade note.

Beth Alsip Crook Paint wooden clothes pins different colors. Fill small snack zip lock bags with Kix cereal, raisins, cranraisins, or non-food if necessary (only fill 3/4 of the way). Bunch up the middle of the bag and pin the clothes pin on it. Add a pipe cleaner and there you go! It's a butterfly! This is what we are doing for Valentine's treats at school!

Laura Miller We LOVE earth friendly Valentines! For Gavin's 1st grade class, instead of prepackaged cards, we sent recycled cards. We put the cards around cute little pots and filled them with forget me not, mini roses, and strawberry seeds! The teacher emailed me about how cool he thought it was!

Kathleen Youell

I just made a crafty heart that will make a good coaster (the coaster part was accidental). I used red fabric that I got from Freecycle and batting that was leftover from a quilt. Since my batting was thin I sewed a piece of batting to each  heart I had cut out of fabric, then put the hearts (right sides together) and seamed them together, leaving an opening to turn. Then I topstitched to close the hole, and stitched 2 or 3 times inside to make 3 or 4 rows of quilting stitching. I just lined up the last row of stitching with my presser foot to stitch in a heart shape. All reclaimed materials except the thread. My kids loved the 2 I had to do to get my method down.

Cori M AvaraSanchez

Pick up an old blender and some screen mesh from a second hand store. Use it to make paper pulp from shredded junk mail (white paper works best) by blending it with water and a little pomegranate juice. Spread the pulp out on the screen, us e sponges above and below the screen to squish the water out. Cover the pulp with a clean cloth, gently flip over the screen, and carefully massage the screen until the pulp comes free of it onto the cloth. Let it dry 12 hours and you have recycled, colored paper from which to make Valentines. Add wildflower seeds to the paper before pressing the water out, and you have seed cards you can cut into any shape you want.

Leslie Broch I "surprise" my family with a Valentine's breakfast: frozen raspberries (pink) and frozen blueberries (purple) can be added to pancake batter (made into heart-shaped pancakes), yogurt/smoothies, etc. If you cut strawberry stems out in a V, then you can make heart-shaped slices.

Columbus, OH!

We're headed up to Columbus, OH this weekend for a Sunday show at the Palace Theater at 1pm.

We had a blast up in Pittsburgh two weekends ago, and we can't wait to head back up North.

What things can you bring to a Birthday Party Concert?  A stuffed animal (for your head!), a party hat (any hat that feels good to wear is a party hat!), and a pair of lightly used or new shoes to donate to kids in need.  All these are optional!

Check out our concert page for more information about the show and our Birthday Party concerts. 

And don't forget to tune in tonight at 7pm EST for our BRAND NEW Valentine's Day Musical Nightlight Webcast, starring Laurie, Susie, and Lucy!

 

Valentine's Day Webcast Airs 2/10!

Our Valentine's Day 2011 Musical Nightlight Webcast will be airing on Thursday, February 10th!  Join Laurie, Susie, and Lucy for games, songs, and stories.  You can find the webcast on our website at 7pm (it will stay up forever, though, so don't worry if you're not around that night!)  Click here to go straight to the page, where you can find all our past webcasts, too!

Check out the teaser below!

 

And the Winner Is...

Wow! Check it out!  Umi Children's Shoes have picked the winner of the Let's Fly! Sweepstakes.

HA! The Great Things Kids Say

We asked our Facebook fans to tell us the funniest, sweetest, and/or most profound things their kids have said in the last week.  Here are a few of the responses - we love these!

 

My 2.5 year old said the other day: "I a princess!" *to my husband:* "You a prince!" *to me:* "You a waitress!"

 

Last night, Hannah, 2 1/2: "Mommy, I need to wake up early so I can build a RAINBOW!" Which is nice, because it's awfully cold and dreary here in the midwest right now :-P

 

My son said to my husband,
Crew: "Daddy, can I please watch a video?
Travis: "No buddy, it's time for bed."
Crew: "Daddy! Are you ARGUING?! That's it! No shows for you, Daddy!"

 

3-year-old sneezed at breakfast. he said "aw, man!" i said "what?" he said "i got 'bless you' all over my cereal!"

 

Braden to Daddy : Dad, my bed is wet. Ken: I think you need to stop drinking so much before bed. Braden: DAD, it's not juice... it's PEE!! ;)

 

I was playing with my 2 year old daughter "eating" her belly. She was loving every minute of it and laughing hysterically...all of a sudden she stood straight up and put her hand under my chin and said "okay Mommy, spit it out now!" HAHA!

 

‎"Mommy, where are the chopsticks? I need to catch a fly."

 

I told my 2 1/2 year old that I loved her "to the moon and back" and she said "I love you to the moon and front!"

 

My 4 yr old pull a dog toy out from under the bed that belonged to our dog that passed away over a yr ago. i asked her to put it back bc if daddys sees it he'll get upset. she said "it's ok if he sees it, i'll pretend to be a dog and he won't be disappointed"

 

He asked me if I loved his hair. I said yes. He replied: then don't cut it no more. My son has autism and hates the hair cutting process. I just loved how he systematically built his no more haircuts argument. Ha ha

 

My son was home sick this week and he said "Mom I'm going in my room to kick back and listen to The Best of The Laurie Berkner Band"

 

My 2 year old: "Princess Mommy, would you go to the ball with me?"

 

My 6-year-old was running around in just a shirt so I told him he was "three-quarters" naked. So he took off the shirt and yelled "now I'm one dollar naked! "

 

5-year-old daughter said, "Something smells bad in the car." Her 3-year-old brother replied, "I think it's car sauce."

Send us YOUR favorite quote from your child - we can't wait for more!