Another year of the Hartford Performing Arts Camp has come and gone, and this time Eve got to go too! Yay! The theme was Where The Wild Things Are and they did a great job turning the sweet book into a musical show.
Lex on the glockenspiel.
Eve in the chorus. She’s the one with the light blue headband/ears.
We had the worst luck with seating this year, somehow managing to frequently be on the wrong side of the speakers from the kids.
The only picture I was able to get of them both together. Lex on the drum and Eve as a “wild thing” sneaking in front.
Eve’s friend and fellow DBS kid played Max. She was great at it! Here she is (in red shorts) arriving on the island of the Wild Things.
I’m a little late with this post (by a week or so) but we still had fun and I want to share.
Alan got tickets to see Solo (Star Wars) and we spent a fun day playing laser tag, going to the movies, and eating too many breadsticks at the Olive Garden. Eve didn’t want to see the movie and I didn’t want to play laser tag, but we both endured and even had a little fun. :) The boys had a blast!
Laser tag makes me squimmish as a parent and teacher, but we played and I survived. The other three LOVE it.
We ate LOTS of popcorn. :)
Eve managed to stay on this moving wall for the entire three minutes. I couldn’t stay on it at all
We got home exhausted and happy. In fact, both kids fell asleep in the car on the way home! They haven’t done that in a long time.
The next day Eve tied all the balloons to the cat. Just because.
Lex got some birthday money and was excited to spend it all on Legos!
How many Legos does one teenager need?!
Not birthday related, but last night Lex ROCKED his spring concert! He had parents and grandparents and kids and everyone coming up to him after the show to comment on his drumming. He gets so into it. So enthusiastic. I love it!
Lex playing the timpinis.
I’m so proud of this guy. He is kind and caring and fun and funny and a total rockstar!
We had a fun-filled musical weekend. Friday and Saturday, anyway. Sunday was spent paying the price. :O
Lex got a special delivery on Friday afternoon. It took him all afternoon to set it up and only near the very end did he discover the instructions. He didn’t need them anyway!
Drummer boy!
He spent a good deal of Saturday hanging out with a new friend, playing Magic the Gathering, jumping on their trampoline, and playing the drums.
Meanwhile, Eve and a few friends got silly.
Saturday night we went out to dinner at Three Tomatoes and then saw Footloose at Northern Stage. It was a North Country Community Teen (NCCT) production, directed by a DBS 4th grade teacher. It was a great show and the kids were surprised by how many songs they recognized. We sat right in the front row, with an amazing view of the stage AND the orchestra!
Drums, front and center.
It was nearly 11pm by the time we got home and well after by the time everyone made it to bed. Needless to say Sunday was a tired day. I had a PTO planning meeting, lots of home work (which I finished), and lesson planning (which I started), and grocery shopping (which will have to wait). Eve had a Girl Scout event that she didn’t want to attend, resulting in an emotionally exhausting day dealing with her and ended with her quitting Girl Scouts. That will have to be another post though!
He recently found an app called My Singing Monsters where you can create music by placing a variety of different monsters. It’s weird, but cool. Check out the song he made. It’s catchy!
And yes, I did record a from one phone to another, and yes, it is a lousy recording. But focus on the music!
I signed him up for drum set lessons too. He starts Monday. I can’t wait!
CORRECTION: I showed this video to Alan last night, bragging about how awesome Lex is and eager to show his work. Alan said, “Cool. That’s Ride, by Twenty One Pilots.” I said no, Lex wrote it, and Alan said, nope! Turns out Alan was right! I asked Lex about it this morning and he said yes, of course, it’s Ride. He said he played it in band awhile ago. I never even heard him listening it here. I feel like a total dope for not realizing. So anyway, I’m still proud of him and I still think it’s a cool video and song, but apparently everyone but me knew it was a “monster” version of Ride, by Twenty One Pilots. Gotta give credit where credit’s due!
Lex had his winter concert tonight. Their concert dress code is black bottoms, white tops, dressy. Last year he wore black sweats and one of Alan’s white Hanes t-shirts, and I thought things were fine. Last night when I was putting him to bed he said to me, “Mom, I think I should get some nicer clothes for the concert tomorrow.” Turns out he felt awkward in his sweats last year and although no one commented, he said he got a few funny looks. Imagine my surprise when he suggested a Polo shirt! After school today he came to DBS to help me set up some robotics kits, then we tried to work out shopping, karate, Girl Scouts, and the concert. I kept waiting for him to bail on the shopping, but nope, he suggested skipping karate so we could go shopping!! We ended up dropping Eve at home (to walk Arlo) and then Lex and I headed to JC Penney. I wish we had better clothing stores around. Penney’s and Khols both have very small kids sections. Plenty of adult clothes and baby/toddler clothes, but my kids are now at that age where they can’t quite wear grownup clothes, but have outgrown the kids section. It’s tricky. He tried on almost a dozen different pants and four shirts before settling on a pair of black jeans and a white collar shirt. He was happy for the entire time! He was a little worried that the jeans were a bit big around the waist, so I suggested a belt. Guess what?! He said OK! Ack! Who is this child?!
We inhaled some pizza, got Eve out the door to Girl Scouts (cookie time is right around the corner!), then rushed off to the concert. Lex was a few minutes later, but we agreed that at least he’d look slick walking in. :) He was happy and the concert was awesome!
On the Eve front, she was going to bed last night, climbing up her bunk bed ladder. She stopped, looked seriously at me, and said, “Mom, puberty is doing weird things to my body.” She then raised her foot up behind her and I looked, expecting to see bumps and blisters, but instead I saw a big googly eye! Stuck to the bottom of her toe! I cracked up! She started giggling and crawled into her bed. Not too grown up yet! <3
Eve picked up her flute tonight. She is so excited! It was a crazy night at “instrument pick-up” where all the 5th graders in the district showed up for their new band instruments.
She also started sewing, all on her own. She sewed up a stuffed animal that Arlo chewed the eye off of, and today, after Arlo got her doggie, Eve went right to work. She does a great job too!
Lex did his second year [first year] at the Hartford Performing Arts Camp this week. The theme was Rock and Roll! They all got tie-dye t-shirts and the final performance today was a rock musical version of Cinderella. So much fun!
My drummer boy!
“Ash” crowd surfing at the concert. :)
I never get tired of watching him play!
“Ash,” getting teased by his “sisters.” The girl in the purple tutu was in Lex’s class and she’s an amazing performer. We always enjoy watching her on stage.
Ice cream at the end.
Another great year! Next year both kids will go. :)
I never imagined I would be spending as much time watching my children perform as I have been this spring! Concerts and plays and spelling bees and plays, oh my!
Lex had his spring concert this week. The band was great and I always love watching him on percussion. The middle school has a fun jazz band too and Lex decided he would join that next year.
Lex had his first middle school concert tonight. It was just 6th graders, which was great! Not too long, not too crowded, just right. Lex ROCKED!
The dress code was nice clothes, black on bottom, white on top. Lex managed the correct colors, but it’s debatable whether black sweats and Alan’s white t-shirt count as “nice” clothes. But hey, he’s up there and he’s rockin’, so all is well!
The band was snapping their fingers making the rain sound and Lex did the rumble of thunder.
I love, love, love watching him play in the band. His confidence is outstanding and he smiles and jokes with the other percussionists between sets. It does my mommy heart proud!
Dad, I’m going to find out when his next concert is and you totally should come. You’d love it!!
Unrelated, but funny, earlier today Arlo was begging for cheese. See his nose? :)
