Star Wars, Star Wars, and More Star Wars!

Star Wars and lightsabers. That pretty much sums up the last few weeks around here.

We gave Ethan some lightsaberss for his birthday, and then he had a Star Wars birthday party with friends.


Here are some snapshots:

Dueling...

Yoda is Jake's favorite so he always goes for the green one...

I downloaded an app that has lightsaber sound effects and battle music. When you swing your phone in the air it makes a lightsaber noise, so in this video I was trying to coordinate that with what the boys were doing:






Lots of fun!



Then for the party, all the young padawans gathered at a small planet on the outer rim of the republic, called "Ethan's House" to complete their jedi training and earn their belts and lightsabers. We played a few games and then destroyed the death star, which was that soccer pinata painted gray.



Here's the "cake." Are you catching on to the lightsaber theme of EVERYTHING?! :)



We wrapped these starships in tin foil so they were "asteroids" and we played "hot asteriod" (like hot potato) until everybody got to unwrap one. Then we flew them downstairs for some fun games in the dark.





"Planet Ring" toss--two hula hoops hanging from the ceiling and you had to use the force to throw glow bracelets through them


It was actually dark, without the flash of the camera, and they were using the force to toss glow in the dark bouncy balls into buckets

Those tasks were enough to earn their lightsabers.

Which they used to keep balloons up in the air. This video captures the fun chaos pretty well...

Fun times.

The pinata was hilarious because the twine kept breaking and so we would restring it a different way, but nothing worked for more than one kid's turn, so pretty soon Kyle just ended up pitching it to the kids like a baseball and they swung at it with a pvc pipe. But eventually the deathstar got destroyed and the kids were happy.

After all the party stuff was over, Ethan loved getting to play soccer with his friends in his own backyard.


Wow! 6 years old!

This and That

Alright. So here is a totally random smattering of life at our house over the last several weeks.

First, I forgot to post these fun pictures of "making" soap for Christmas presents...

We started out with ivory soap bars and then unwrapped them,

and put them into bowls.

Then we used a cheese grater to shred it,

and then added some water, essential oils, and food coloring to each bowl.

We picked out which shapes would be the best for each person on our list,

and then stuck the soap mixture into the shapes!

The soap turned out to be a little bit fragile, but the boys had fun and they looked cute all wrapped up in red netting and little snowman bags. The soap. I didn't wrap the boys in red netting.

And here are a few snapshots of what we've been up to lately:

Ethan had a kindergarten "rodeo" where they all dressed up like cowboys and cowgirls and had a country western celebration. The kids were grouped into "ranches" that each had their own name and flag, and they had made bandanas and stick horses to use that day. Their P.E. teacher led them in an exhibition of their trotting and galloping and skipping on their stick horses, and they had a cowboy storyteller and all kinds of other fun stuff.

I taught this cowboy how to say, "Hey there, little lady..." and it melted my heart. :)

And this is sort of like a cowboy, right? Here he is at the store where we bought the cowboy hat, trying out the viking helmet and the various kinds of swords.

Kyle and I went to a fun ward Valentine's party. They recruited a few folks, including us, to sing some tunes with the live jazz combo and then they had a dance. Kyle and I aren't usually big on dances, but we ended up rather enjoying ourselves tearing up the floor with some polka, swing, and good ol' slow songs--and I even learned how to do the electric slide. Yes, I seriously didn't know how until Saturday night. :)

Oh, and by the way, I got a haircut. Totally impulsive decision. My stylist had already trimmed an inch or so like we had agreed on, and then I just decided, right then, that I wanted her to chop it. A little change now and then is a good thing!

Yeah, so singing jazz tunes with a live combo (piano, drums, and bass player) is pretty much my secret fantasy. It's just really really fun. The piano and drum guy from Saturday are putting together another jazz night for next Monday and asked me to sing a few songs for that so I've been working up "Feelin' Good," "The Nearness of You," and "No Secret Anymore" to do for that. (and I just have to say, to all you long-distance runners out there: I admire you. I really do. But I will never get an endorphin release from sucking wind and pounding the pavement. I've tried. But I only ever feel like I can't breathe and that I'm going to die. Singing, on the other hand, well, that just does it for me. Happy chemicals all over the place. I ran a 5K last year and checked it off my bucket list, and now I make no promises to do any more distance running ever. But I WILL sing with live bands. I know it's not as good for overall fitness, but for the endorphin/happy chemical thing it's just way better for me. Just thought I'd add that in. )
After a little rehearsal the other day, Teague, the drummer, let Jake have a turn on the drums. I think it was the highlight of his YEAR. Look at that expression of sheer delight on his face. :)

And, here is what Jake did one day while I was making dinner. Just needed a little power nap. So cute.



We've been immersed in star wars stuff lately getting ready for Ethan's birthday party. Here we are transforming a soccer pinata into a death star. Can't wait for a bunch of little boys to whack it into oblivion on Saturday. :)






More to come on all that...

Well life is a windy road with some crazy twists and turns, but we're grateful for all the joy that we get along the way...

Come drop into my Living Room and hear my newest song and watch the Indianapolis North Stake Youth Choir sing my arrangement of pioneer hymns!