The Monkey Barrel

Yes I know you’re all very excited as am I that I have come to week 3 on our Monkey Tune Tuesday and delivered the goods again! Wshew, this could be a pattern ya know.

Today’s offering is actually due to John’s enrollment this summer in music camp. I heard about this amazing family through our church who was puttin on a harvest festival a few years back and The Hunt Family Fiddlers were the headlining entertainment. We were actually unable to attend that year and so missed the opportunity to see these guys. We heard lots of fantastic things about them afterward and continued to hear amazing things from friends of ours whose kids were taking violin lessons from the girls.

I started doing a little of my own research on them and found their website and their fb fan page and man oh man was I surprised by the site. The group consists of dad Clint, momma Sandy, twins Jesse (20) and Jen (20), Josh 17, Jonathan (16), Jord (14), Justine (13), and JJ (11). This family is world renowned and have been on many talk shows, performed world wide and won world championships in fiddle and step dancing competitions including IN Ireland! And to top it off, they’re a family of NINE, yes that adds up to SEVEN kids folks. And I thought I had a hard time keeping just my three monkeys entertained!

John’s first day of camp was yesterday and he is absolutely loving it and loving talking about music with other kids his age. There will be a concert on Friday afternoon at 2p.m. for the kids to show off their mad skills and share with us what they’ve learned. And I am thankful to have this family just around the corner from our humble abode to learn from. I’m seriously considering fiddle lessons for myself in the fall and letting Luke pick an instrument for himself as well.

To learn more about these guys you can visit Hunt Family Fiddlers There are some audio tracks and video clips to see their inspiring talent and even a store to purchase one of the five cd’s they’ve produced. Their latest offering is Hearts Held High and I HIGHLY recommend that you and all of your dearest friends and relatives purchase a copy. And also, check out their touring scheduling and see if they’re coming to a city near you. This is whole family fun people and how often can you find that??

I discovered Harry Connick Jr. when I was about 16 and was introduced to his Blue Light Red Light cd. I was an instant fan and a love affair with his music began in earnest. Though I enjoy the remakes and reworkings of some the old Frank Sinatra songs, it is his original, Louisiana style that really grabs my heart. There is nothing like music captured on record that is produced with such absolute joy in the making of it. I had my one and only chance to see him live in concert about 11 years ago as an early birthday present and just a few weeks after we found out we were expecting John. I have loads of fantastic memories that come back in a flood whenever his tunes hit the airwaves.

I was even more delighted a few years back when he finally produced a children’s album called Songs I Heard. It is a smattering of tunes from Mary Poppins, to The Wizard of Oz, and the Sound of Music. My personal favorites are Supercalafragilistic and A Spoonful of Sugar and now and again I torture the family with my own rendition of The Lonely Goat Herd. Noah has added his own lalla’s to my soundtrack.

And seriously, it doesn’t hurt that he’s added a movie career into the mix and I live for the outtakes on dvd’s. The man has a serious sense of humor. If you weren’t following American Idol this season, he actually had his own week and offered up his band for the contestants to use on the night they performed. I laughed myself silly over the segments with Lee and a few moments of he and Ellen teasing each other. They were a riot. And I don’t know who the powers that be are that haven’t figured out he needs his own late night show, but shame on them. That’s sheer genius they’re missing right there!

Anyway, you can check out the tunes here at Harry Connick Jr\'s offical page but I know you’ll love ‘em as much as I do, and your kids will be begging for you to play it over and over so you’ll wind up purchasing it and it will be worth every dime. The best part of these songs is that they are as much for the grown folk as the ankle biters.

A few weeks back while vacationing in Ohio I had the opportunity to experience my very first Hot N Now. What is a Hot n Now you may ask me. Well I’ll tell you. It’s a Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut, hot off the conveyor. Hence the Hot description and right into your hands for the Now. Many of you have shaken your heads over the amount of years it has taken me to experience such a divine delicacy but it is what it is.

After the crazy response I received and the amount of doughnut love bantered about, I decided this is where my birthday had to be celebrated. So we invited nearly everyone we knew and saddled up to our hometown Krispy Kreme. It was so much fun and such a riot seeing 17 people packed into a tiny space, cramming their gobs full of as many doughnuts as could possibly be stored inside the human mouth. I highly recommend rallying around doughnut stores for good turn outs. Even if they don’t necessarily like you that much, who doesn’t love a doughnut?? Thanks for all the love and wishes for my birthday. It was a great day. Here are the highlights.

Oh yes, I teased, I hinted, I promised and the day is finally here. I have a theme day. Now don’t get too excited because we all know me too well and we all know my tendency to drop the ball. But this is part of my new effort to inspire myself to write more and be more disciplined in getting on here communicating with my people. (sounds grandiose aye??)

With all the music we’ve been listening to and imbuing in our kids brains I thought it was high time we shared our tunes with you. And maybe from time to time some sort of musical craft to go along with the music to inspire you and your kids to make joyful noises of your own.

Today’s tune offering is a little known blue grass style childrens musician named Johnny Bregar . He is a master of the ukulele and has reworked old favorites like Bingo, the ABC song and If You’re Happy and You Know It. Our personal favorite is the Blah delah delah song and Noah sings it allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll day long. You may even find yourself making pancakes some morning and shouting the Pancake song while doing so as your kids bang their dinnerware to the rhythm.

You can purchase his music from his own shop, on amazon, Land of Nod, or the itunes store. If you dig his style and your kids are hummin his tunes all day long, stop in and give him a shout and tell him so. Artists love feedback on where their music is getting to.

I’m sorry it’s been a while since I posted. There’s been a lot of activity going on and the blog completely slipped my memory frankly. June 7th was my grandmother’s birthday and also the year anniversary of her home going. I was a lot more affected than I had anticipated. But later that night I got a call from a dear friend that it was time for her son to make his way into the world and on June 8th at 2:52 I was able to witness the birth of Daniel Scott Jansma.

I am in awe. It was insanely different being on “the other” end of things” in the birth process. Sarah Maclachlan’s Just Another Ordinary Miracle kept playing through my mind and still when I look through his pictures. AND he has the name I have always wanted to use for one of my sons but couldn’t.

I have few projects I’m going to post. I know I know, promises promises. But I really do promise to do so. I’ve been such a busy bee working in the craft room that practically all else has taken a back seat. With the exception of cleaning and yard work. That’s my new mantra really. Cleaning before crafting or no crafting. It’s working. Really. No foolin

I did it. My second craft show. I can’t really say it was a success other than that I did actually make money aside from the table fee. OF course, I owe all that to some great friends who came out to support me and two sweet little girls who bought some socks.

Most of the items you’ve seen before but I’m reposting because I have better pictures. Everything you see is still for sale (hint hint hint hint) with the exception of the boo boo bunnies which I sold out of. Yay for a sell out! Though, I must give credit to my friend Christianne over at Little Page Turners for the tutorial on them. My aunt made them many many moons ago and I still have my pink terry cloth one in a box of packed up girl hopes and dreams. Chris had a posting on them a while back and I was reminded how cute they were and sat down to give them a shot.

Overall my stuff got loads of compliments and oohs and ahhhs but not a lot of purchasing due to seriously slow traffic at the fair. But each show I learn a little something new and it gives me more courage to try again. And seriously, if you see anything here that you like and want to purchase just let me know!

I found an awesome tutorial on making these cute little tissue holders but tweaked the “recipe” a little to make them faster and will post my own DIY later in the week.

I sold this one and only lovey to Michelle BUT am working on some new ones this week.

I could not get a good picture of this display without a glare on it from somewhere. All the flowers in the display case are pins.

Our third year anniversary came and we were so broke and tired working on our new home. Before there was software to make this easy, Fred spent many late nights putting together this video for my gift. It has never been the price tag on a present that has meant anything to me, but the heartfelt sentiment in the giving that stays with me. He polished up this beauty and put it on fb for all the world to see. I have a sneaking suspicion that he likes me a little.
Enjoy!

I’m not sure what it is about spring that brings out the childrens reader in me. I most equate it to my love of animal stories when I was little. Peter Rabbit, Frog and Toad, Jemimah Puddle duck, and the adventures of all the characters in the Wind in the Willows figure largely in my literary foundations.

We had a fantastic teacher in the school I attended who wove beautiful stories of her own creating about mice and rabbits and squirrels to teach us Bible lessons and I would dearly love to find those written somewhere to share with my own boys now. In middle school Mrs. Moss introduced me to the wonders of secret gardens and forlorn princesses and orphan girls and my spectrum broadened.

From the moment my children were born I could not wait to share with them the books and stories I had loved myself and kept in boxes for their library. I have stumbled on some new favorites through thrift stores and scholastic sales. Waddle Waddle Quack Quack written by Barbara Skalak and illustrated by Sylvia Long are high on this list. The story is beautiful and captivating and the illustrations are absolute perfection. Evidently I have a thing for water colors. I would love to splash pages from this book on the baby’s walls for murals.

Safe and dry indoors during these rainy few days, we’ve enjoyed the view of new gosslings and ducklings parading through puddles and searching for succulent spring worms for their dinner. It’s been the perfect time to pull old and new friends alike from the shelves and flip through the pages together. I am thoroughly enjoying passing these delights on to my new generation.

On Friday morning, bright eyed, freshly showered, we scurried over to the gates and waited patiently in line to get to our first band of the day. We’d reviewed a bunch online and Cadillac Sky was recommended as a MUST see so over to the HIllside stage we trekked and found our seats. We were completely unprepared and blown away by these guys. The moment they bounced on stage and the first note sang out over the hills we were on the edge of our seats. I don’t really think you can classify them as bluegrass but then, I am not sure what category you’d put them in. We were fans within minutes and saw every other performance they were slated for during the weekend.

My favorite thing about them besides their high energy performances, their unbelievable musical artistry, and crazy sense of humor was that I noticed in quite a few of their songs they talked about God. It is not at all uncommon in bluegrass to hear lots of old folk tunes and such talking about Jesus but this was different. I”m fairly certain the songs they sing were their own writings. In one of their stage shows, like four songs in a row mentioned him in some form with one of the repeated lyrics being Sin is the Cause and Christ is the Cure. When we bought their latest cd we opened the cover and found a scripture from Colossians 3:17 inside which says, “17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Pretty awesome statement aye??

And just as a little by the way, the entire weekend was dry. There was no alcohol served on the festival grounds anywhere that we could see. There was a huge children’s area with loads and loads of things for them to do. For the most part, people were extremely kind and considerate of others. There was only one time we ran into some bad attitudes but it was really late and people were tired and that’s bound to happen at some point. I can’t give enough credit to the guys who organized the whole event for making it a place you can take your entire family to enjoy.

So Here’s a little taste of two performances of theirs that were the absolute highlight of the festival. You may not enjoy this style music, but you can sure appreciate the artistry in what they do. I have to scoot off to church and may post a little more on them later but chances are slim given my sporadic postings lately. And also, you MUST watch the first one ALL the way to the end to catch Steve’s performance. Cuh Ray ZEEEE Thanks Brian, Matt, Dave, Andy, and Ross for a spectacular anniversary weekend. We will catch you whenever, and wherever we can.

I’m sorry I didn’t get to this sooner. It’s been a pretty nutty week and a lot busier than I had aniticipated. And frankly I wanted to give myself a breather so that I wouldn’t sound like a gushing fan girl over the weekend. Outstanding as it was and indelibly marked into my heart, it requires thought to reminisce and do it justice. Sooooooooo I’ll stick to the comedy parts first!

The drive down to Wilkesborough began uneventfully enough until about 2 hours in when the local paparazzi was flagging us down in Southampton county. And by paparazzi I mean cops and by flagging us down I mean pulling us over for a speeding ticket. I told Fred he should cry and tell the officer he was pregnant and he started laughing really hard as the sheriff was moseying over and could barely compose himself enough to show the due respect you should upon receipt of your misdemeanor.

Ticket in hand we sped on down the road, I mean cruised, yeah, that’s right.. About 2 hours more into the 6 hour drive, Fred slaps the steering wheel, his hand ricochets to his forehead and he exclaims, ” I forgot the schedule!!!” Now this means nothing to you people but represents countless hours and late night meetings agonizing over bands to see and mapping the route from stage to stage and cataloging the “must sees” from the “meh’s”. This process could very nearly have ended what is a pretty stellar marriage if I hadn’t conceded to the master and let him chose the paths we’d take, otherwise my stubborn self would have killed the vacation before it had begun. Trying very hard not to smirk,or maybe not so much, I said, “It’s ok babe, they’ll have more schedules there.” He was not impressed and lamented more than once the rest of the way.

SO…. We arrive at the Wilkes Family YMCA to check in, get our info, and stake our claim for our tent. We’re kinda rushing at this point so we can get over to see the Zac Brown Band. We get the tent set up, and while I’m loading it up, Fred goes back to the car to blow up the air mattress. And for some reason I still haven’t figured out, the car door snicks shut and traps the keys inside in the ignition. All of the keys in fact. The spares hadn’t been unpacked in there various luggage yet. Since it was just barely locked and there was a gap between it and the car, we spent the next 45 min. tracking someone down for a coat hanger or some other device to jimmy the lock. Success was had, but we missed the band. boo hisss We drove over to the Burger King and grabbed a royal meal instead and headed back to camp.

At this point it’s 30 some degrees out and we pile on our warm jammies and crawl into bed. Around 11:30 we finally hit the sheets. About 12 we both wake up and notice that there is no longer any air in the air mattress cushioning our persons. Dead flat. Exhausted beyond belief we roll over and try to ignore the hard ground and catch some z’s.

Tired and sore, the sun streams in at 6 a.m. and we stumble toward our toiletries and shower gear and head for the showers. Hot water is highly, highly under appreciated and underrated. Our first day at the fest was full and I’ll write more on that in our next post but we’re still on the comic tragedy end here folks that’s almost at an end. We pull back into the camp around 11 after a trip to Wally World to grab a new air mattress. We blow that sucker up, settle in, close our eyes around 11:45 and wake up at about 12:15 and realize this mattress also was stickin it to the man and refusing to perform it’s job. Evidently opposed to air containment, we find ourselves mostly on the ground, yet again. Exhaustion winning over comfort we pass out on the hard turf, again.

6 am the sunshine pours in, and we stumble to our gear and head for the showers. Midway there we run into a couple we’d met the previous day who inform us that they Y doesn’t open until 8 on Saturday. WHAT???????? The shuttles begin running to the festival grounds at 8, doors open at around 8:30 and concerts begin around 9. There is NO way that waiting around until 8 for a shower is going to go swiftly with all the other campers having awakened by then and clamored over to the facilities. So we did what any good folk at a hippie festival would do. We forewent the shower. Originally we thought we’d head back later in the morning but as we reviewed the schedule we knew we’d miss quite a few highlighted bands and I sucked it up and threw our gear on and said screw it, we’ve probably had more showers this week than lots of these people have had in a month, no one will notice. And they didn’t. Frankly as hot as it got a shower would have proved pointless anyway.

With a few minor annoyances in all these events, we still managed to have one of the best weekends on our marital record. I missed my boys pretty terribly by Sunday, but we were privileged to hear amazing live music and further instill the place of blue grass/new grass/acoustic music into our souls. I’m debating on giving you the whole festival enchilada or band by band reviews of the 5 we really loved. We’ll see, but for now, you have been teased long enough and I hope I delivered a wee bit o’ humor to your morn. Top o’ the mornin folks!

Be glad this picture isn’t scratch n sniff! It was on the non showering morning