Viva Las Elvis!

Many of you already know that my little Liv is a huge Elvis fan. She dressed up as Elvis for Halloween and had an Elvis-themed birthday party. She even went through a phase about a year ago when she would pretend that she was Elvis, complete with insisting that I call her "Elvis" when addressing her. Real fun out in public. Last summer she told some little boy that her name was Rick, we think after the name of a character played by Elvis in a movie.

Anyways, Sunday afternoon my friend Janna called to tell me that an Elvis impersonator - um, I mean, tribute artist - was going to be playing at an old theater just outside of Little Rock. So out came the old halloween costume. I was glad that when I made it, I left an extra huge hem in the pants legs and that I had pinched out some extra length in the torso. The child had grown so much in the last 9 months that I needed every extra inch in length that I could get.

The kids got such a kick out of sitting next to each other, rather than with their respective parents. Before the show started, the big entertainment for them was flipping the seat bottom down so they could watch it swing back to the up position. I had forgotten what a novelty movie theater seats are.

Here they are hamming it up for the camera.

Then, the show started. The two of them stared at the stage, wide mouthed. I'm not sure if it was the flashy jumpsuit, or the music, or the fact that he was really hamming it up, but the kids were completely transfixed. Liv kept her hands over her ears throughout most of the performance because she doesn't deal well with loud noises. The combination of wide-mouthed stare and hands over her ears just totally cracked me up.

Zach loved all the Elvis pelvis moves. He thought it was so funny to see someone wiggling their hips like that.

Near the end of the first half of the show, Janna and I took the kids up front for a closer look. We were up front for maybe a song or two when "Elvis" called them up on stage with him! He gave both of the kids their own Elvis scarves. And he had Liv show her costume to the whole audience, and everyone cheered for her.

She's not typically a shy child - she can walk up to anyone and start a conversation and make friends. But she does get weirded out when lots of eyes are upon her. So when he gave her the mike she said, "I want my mommy," and ran to me waiting at the side of the stage. Zach, however, stayed up there for a song and tried out some Elvis moves. He was pretty good, too.

(Notice the hands over the ears, even on stage. Notice also the resulting highwaters.)

Here's Little Elvis and her daddy during intermission. Awwww....

You would think that 2 1/2 hours of Elvis music would be enough for anyone, but when we got to the car, Liv asked if we could put in the Elvis CD. And would we bring it in so she could listen to it all night long while she slept. We obliged.

Viva Las Elvis!