Levi's First Violin Concert

Levi did a wonderful job at his first concert!   He joined a group called "Creative Young Artists"
They have been working hard to practice for this performance.   The theme was "Dreams and Fantasies" and Levi's group, the String Ensemble played two songs.    The first was "Antagonist" an exciting song representing the "bad guys" in fairy tales.    The second song was a performance of The Frog Prince which was played to accompany actors playing the role of the princess, prince/frog and narrator/king.   Lots of fun to see the show!   

Here they are warming up:

Here is the first song, Antagonist: 

Levi was at the back, so we mostly could see his tuft of hair! 

And here is the second one, Frog Prince:

After his turn, he got to sit near the front to watch the rest of the concert.  During one of the breaks he spotted us and did some enthusiastic waving.   No flash allowed so it was a dark pic!

My sister and her boyfriend surprised Levi by showing up to watch him - and instead of flowers, they brought him some bread he can eat from a bakery near where my sister lives.   He was pleased!

And this outfit I made for him last night - cotton backed satin for the shirt, and the pants are black fabric from my stash... I think from an old sheet.   But he looked very handsome in his outfit.  I even monogrammed his initial on the pocket in white, and his initials on the cuff in black.  

Even though this was his first experience playing for a group, he was confident and did his best to preform well - and he looked great on stage!   He is still really enjoying playing his violin, and is excited to be moving on to the second Suzuki Violin book pretty soon, and maybe even learn a new Christmas song.   

Dragon Festival

Levi and I went to a "Dragon Festival".   It was a medieval sort of event, with knights, jousting, fencing, and more!   Lots of fun for both of us.  

Jousting horse - the parent has to push, and the kid gets to ride and catch rings on the lance.  

Fencing, with a real mask, but a balloon target! 

Finding out how heavy chain mail is! 

Tiny head medieval guy

 This man wrote our names in fancy calligraphy, and then let Levi try, he was impressed with Levi's handwriting!  (wish he would write that nicely on schoolwork!).   He also gave us a demo of bagpipe playing.

This little piggy was barking like a dog, it didn't seem to mind all the kids petting it.

We went to three different shows, the first was a joust with King Arthur there to decide which knight would join his round table.   They had real armor on and everything.

 Purple guy - who was the good guy won!

The next show was hand to hand combat... it was very violent and we had to discuss the topic for a long time afterward.  I regret letting him see this show even though he enjoyed it. 

This was one of the knights, who organized the whole event.  Levi and his friend posed with him.  

The last show was done by children singing, and they invited the audience to participate.  Levi told me that he really liked dancing with everyone.  

We had to do jousting a few more times before they closed down...

And here is my little Dragon, in a mommy made Little Sewing Shop hoodie, complete with wings, dragon tail/spikes, and a dragon knight embroidery design.   I will post better pics of this once I can wrestle it away from him long enough to get some! 

Halloween 2013

Here are some pics of Halloween 2013! 

Levi the decorator crab:

 Video for a 360 view

Boo at the Zoo.  This was the first year I got his costume done in time to go the first weekend!  He won 1st place in the costume contest, this is the 5th year in a row! 

Waiting for the results of the contest...

Winner!   He got a book and some craft supplies, a game and Mr. Potato Head- like pumpkin stick ins. 

In the dragon's nest

Another event, Owl-O-Ween.   Each treat station had something to learn about owls.  

Trick or Treating in Downtown Melbourne.

 Indialantic Fall Festival: 

I convinced him to go in the haunted house having heard it wasn't too scary but it was VERY scary though and he was terrified.   Poor guy. 

There was a fire truck there.  We met our neighbors at the event, and they talked to the firefighters with us, they asked a bunch of great questions so we learned a lot! 

Hay Ride

 They have a few games, and kids get a ticket for each.  1 ticket = 1 prize, all of which are toys (so good for Levi, because he can actually keep them!) 

Cocoa Halloween Event:

This event was $5 for a wrist-band good for all of the activities. When I went to pay, a guy who was buying tickets for his own kid paid for Levi's too!  Love random acts of kindness.

Giant hamster ball (good for hermit crabs too!)

Pumpkin decorating

Train ride

Pumpkin Patch!   We had such a hard time with pumpkins this year.  The ones at the pumpkin patch were either super expensive or rotten.   We ended up getting them last second from the pumpkin patch by our house, where they had a sign saying "take the icky's for free".  They were icky all right!  I found one that was sunken and wrinkled, but no gross bits (we were afraid to carve it though!).  Another I found had a hole in the back where it was rotten, but the inside wasn't rotten, so I snagged it.   Levi got a tiny pumpkin from Publix to carve, a pie pumpkin.   

Grossed out! 

Annual Halloween party!

The set up: 

Craft table (stickers, coloring book, paper, white paint/googly eyes for ghosts)

Nasty Pit, or Pit of Nastyness!
It includes: borax/glue slime, cornstarch/water slime, green hair gel with eyes in it, shaving cream, dyed pasta, agar agar (kinda like jello), cooked beans, old dates.  

A spot to sit the food table, and a reading area

Levi wanted a mad science lab, so this is what we came up with: 

 Inside we have a tornado tube, baking soda with liquid water coloring hidden in it, vinegar in a spray bottle, eye droppers, coffee filters, glitter, eyes, and a glow in the dark chalk kit. 

In action:

Annual attempt at a group photo (always funny to see!)

Trick or Treat! 

Levi collected 12lbs of candy, all of which we donated to the troops!  The dentist does a buy back program, and pays $1/lb + a light up tooth brush.  

(He said he would show his wallet instead of the cash)

We went to Barnes and Noble so he could spend his cash.  He chose a cursive handwriting book, a "Did you Know?" book and those annoying rubber bands for making bracelets (which he has really enjoyed making) 

And a random piece of art Levi made, using magazines for the face pieces.   

And thats it!   Happy Halloween!