There's a primary song that goes "If you chance to mean a frown, do not let it stay! Quickly turn it upside down and smile that frown away. No one likes a frowny face, change it to a smile! Make the world a better place by smiling all the while." Joee loves that song. But this is how she sings it:


(for those of you who receive our blog posts via email, the video may not appear in the email. You will have to visit the blog directly to view it- Grandma Griffin, that may be you!)

There are few TV shows or movies Jo gets into. Movie wise, Tinkerbell and Toy Story take the cake. TV shows, Fresh Beat Band, Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We don't have TV, so she only sees these things when we go to Mamaws (almost every day anyway) so it is shocking to me when she picks up on the words to the songs they sing.
The other day we were watching Little Einsteins at Mamaws when Jo started singing along. I didn't know the sound on the video was so poor until I went to upload it. You can't hear the TV theme song or her singing it very well but you can hear her count and say "Yeah!" at the end along with them. It is funny because the song goes "5! 4! 3-2-1!" and Jolene, despite how hard we work with her on this, counts like this '2! 9! 2! 90!". Yeah, you read that right. She counts two, nine, two, ninety. We have no idea why and she gets so mad at us when we try to correct her and help her. So for now, that is how you count in our household!
Here is the poor quality video, if you care to sit through it :)

For a year now we've been looking into active activities for Jolene to do. Last summer, she wasn't old enough for anything except gymnastics. We had taken her to a few trial classes at a couple different locations to get a feel for it. While she did love gymnastics, we never were fully thrown into the idea because we basically were paying for an instructor to tell me how to do gymnastics with her instead of her being taught by an instructor.
This summer, she is old enough for dance. I was a little weary of the idea. I just couldn't see Jo following directions (I'm sorry, I couldn't! She's so stubborn!). Although, she DOES love to sing and dance to music, I couldn't picture her following routine. Nonetheless, we attended a trial class.

To my shock and amazement, she did awesome! She followed every direction, did every move and stretch, and did not once try to take over the class. She wasn't even scared to go in the room by herself. Parents are supposed to wait in the lobby and watch via monitor, and I was nervous she'd react to this like she does Nursery at church. But again, she proved me wrong and went running right in with the other kids. I watched on the monitor as she twirled and pointed her toes. She marched and clapped and sat down when instructed to. I know I'm pregnant and hormonal, but I got teary eyed watching her on the monitor. She seemed so grown up. The other moms teased me a bit for being the nervous one not Jo.
They happened to be having a special this month for her age group. Normally it is once a week for 30 minutes and a 5 week session. The promotion was to get 2 for the price of one, so Jolene now has dance twice a week for 5 weeks and a recital at the end. We're very excited. I can't wait to go buy her leotard and shoes.
I'm throwing this picture in there because it is semi-relative. Jolene loves singing. She screams "LA LA LAAAAAA!" and throws her head and arms back (like she's seen on BGT youtube clips of opera singers).
She's such a little ham. Jonathan and I don't know where she gets it from...... ;)

 On a less gross note: Jolene loves the pool this year! Last year, she was super hesitant. This year, Mamaw and Aunt Ali took her to the pool and you could not keep her on the cement! She just jumped right it and kept on jumping! Luckily for us, our tiny girl still fits in her suit from last year (lol) so we can invest in one of those really nice arm and chest floaty things.
 Then, this past Saturday Aunt Ali took Jolene for the afternoon so I could get some well needed rest. They went to Ali's in law's for a few hours and played in the backyard with the splash pad. How cool is this thing? You hook it up to the hose and it only puddles about an inch of water and sprays up through holes! I guess they got it at K-Mart. I fully intend on investigating that claim, because this thing is cool and Joee loved it!

Can I just put a plug out there for Ali? Dude, she is freaking a rock star. She has a 5 month old of her own and still is constantly volunteering to take Joee so I can have a break. She has more energy than any working new mommy I know! When Jo was 5 months and I was working, the LAST thing I wanted was another kid to tag along. Props to you Ali. I don't know what I'd do without you.