Tent Living

When I was little, my sister and I would play outside in our front yard.  Some kids played hide and seek.  Others would play house. But not us. We made mud pies.  You know the ones.  Where you find a patch of dirt and get it completely soaked with water and just go to town.  Mom would let us use her pie pans or buy us our own (the disposable tin type) and we would play for hours. 

But as we got older, we took our creativity inside. We built, and I would say...back me up here Janel...mastered the art of tent making.  It started out with 4 chairs and a blanket.  We'd space the chairs a few feet a part and drape the blanket over them, creating an indoor tent.  The more we did this, the bigger our "tent" would get.  I'm sure there were days when mom or dad wondered where all the furniture and blankets in the house went.  Some nights, we would even make a bed on the floor under our tent and sleep there overnight.  So when Jarrod told me the other day he was going to make a fort (his version of my "tent") with Jesalyn, you know I was pumped!  The following are pictures of her first tent making. BTW, she loved it!!

Let's Slow it Down

           If you have ever spent any time around my daughter, you would know that she loves music.  It's a well known fact, but I don't think I've ever actually blogged about it before.  She really had no choice but to love it.  Jarrod and I both come from musical families.  He was raised on musicals as a kid and was in show choir until he was a senior in high school.  He has a knack for instruments, primarily the guitar. I have yet to see him try an instrument that didn't come natural to him.  I also have some music in my family.  I, myself am not all that talented with the instruments-I was mediocre on the saxophone in grade school, and sang a solo or two in praise band at church- but I love music.  Growing up, we actually had a "music room" in our house.  In that room, was just about every musical instrument my dad could get his hands on-guitar, mandoline, harmonica, keyboard, and on and on.  They weren't just in there either.  He knows how to play every one of them.
Also, I may or may not have a country music hall of famer in my family.    All this to say, Jesalyn was pretty much destined to have a musical bone or two in her body. 
             We haven't heard her sing yet, but let me tell ya'll, this girl has got some rhythm.  When she was first born, anytime a song would come on, she would stop what she was doing and listen. As she got a little older, the legs and feet would start to bounce a bit.  When she was old enough to put some weight on her legs while you were holding her, she would wear you out bouncing to the music.  I'm not kidding.  We literally had to pass her around the room one time, because one persons arms would get tired holding her as she bounced for 45 minutes straight. At least 3 times a week, I'll come home from work, we'll turn off the TV, blast the Itunes and all three of us will just dance. She absolutely loves it! And, bonus!, the exercise is awesome. Forget those dumbbells, turn on a Beyonce cd and just hold little Jesa as she goes and you'll have biceps of steel in a week. 
                There is a story I'm leading up to here, so I'll get to it.  So, most of the time she just bounces, she's not really on beat.  But lately, Jesa's getting her groove back.  I came home yesterday and Jarrod says "you'll never believe what your daughter did today?"  Now, in my head, this could be anything. I've learned to never underestimate what she can do.  That day, he had Austin Powers a really informative and educational movie on the tv and she was playing in the floor.  He said that she was dancing to all the 70's music like normal.   And then, Marvin Gaye's "Lets Get It On" come on and he said she stopped playing with her toy and just started moving and swaying her hips to the beat and then started bouncing her head to the music. Did my 10 month old just jump to 19 before his eyes?  I mean, really.  She is sooo no old enough for that yet.  I think we just might have our hands full.