Henry + Ainsley

The big kids are back in school but the little ones are still on summer vacation, so Henry and I have been busy hanging out with his buddies this week.  Yesterday, we met up with Susan and Ainsley at the zoo.  

It was a warm morning, but definitely not unbearable.  

Henry loves this spitting dinosaur.  

We can't go to the zoo without a couple rides on the carousel.  Henry reached out and grabbed Ainsley's hand.  So sweet.

These two had so much fun playing and exploring together.  

Henry and his favorite girl

Even though Henry and Ainsley are in different classes and are both going to school five days a week, I'm hoping we can play hooky with Susan and Ainsley at least a few times this year.  Yesterday was too fun not to repeat.

First Day of First Grade

 Will started first grade this morning!  How did he get so big?  

All ready for grade 1!

Waiting in the garden outside his classroom. 

The verdict?  Thumbs up!  Will had a great day with a fantastic teacher and some friends from his old class. He did mention that he forgot how much work there was.  The worst part, apparently, was all the coloring!  The best part was making a new, silly friend.

August Fun

Our last month of summer vacation was as busy as the first two.  We went on vacation, celebrated Will's birthday, enjoyed playdates with friends, spent time with family and visited museums.

August was all about:  

a special birthday playdate with Chloe and Bella,

lots of heavy Darth Vader breathing,

many, many games of UNO,

eating a new version of ants on a log with mustard and pumpkin seeds, 

finding new Star Wars shoes (that light up!), 

celebrating Will's birthday with dinner at the guitar restaurant (aka Humble City Cafe, which was his choice because of their spiced apples!),

getting excited about birthday books, 

visiting the Cullen Sculpture Garden on a wet but not-too-hot morning,

more reading, 

figuring out Pop Rocketz with Pop, 

trying out a new-and-challenging slingshot, 

and playing in the pool to cool off.  

Summer 2012 was wonderful and went by so quickly.  School for my big first grader starts tomorrow (he is ready) but I have an extra week of summer with my sidekick Henry, and we're going to enjoy our last week of vacation before the fall routine begins in earnest!

Will's Star Wars Legos Party

Will turned six years old on Saturday,

and we celebrated with a Star Wars Legos party!  

Planning and party prep started back in July.  Gene's task was to turn pool noodles into lightsabers!

It took awhile, but in the end we had 16 awesome lightsabers for the party.

Party decor:  birthday sign for the door,

 banner,

and stars and other hanging pieces.

We had a bunch of Star Wars activity sheets for those who arrived first.  

The boys all went home with their lightsabers and these bags,

which were full of Legos candies.

The party was at lunchtime, so we had a ton of food.  I didn't get a picture of the food table, but we had Padawan Pizza, Han Sandwiches, the Force Fruit, Vader Veggies, Space Puffs (Pirate's Booty) and Chewbacca Cheese.  We also had Jedi Juice and Obi-Wan Water.

Wookie Cookies and Galactic Cupcakes were for dessert.  

When the boys arrived, Will handed them their Jedi Knight name badges.  

On the back was a list of all the tasks they had to complete to become Jedi knights!

Fortunately, Obi-Dad Kenobi was there to lead the Jedi wannabes through their training.

First up was lightsaber training.  

14 boys with lightsabers = pure fun!

After they completed lightsaber training, the boys had to complete their lightsaber ability test, which was bouncing a black balloon on their lightsaber five times without letting it fall to the ground.

Next up was an obstacle course:  crawl through the tunnel, hop through the rings, and use the Force to balance a pom-pom on a spoon while walking between two cones.

The last task was to destroy the Death Star (pinata)!

Jedi Will got the first shot!

Jedi Henry was next.  

The Death Star was hard to destroy!  Obi-Dad to the rescue.   

Success!  

After completing Jedi training, the boys had lunch outside and a very serious Will blew out his candle.

Two hours with 14 energetic Jedis wielding pool noodle lightsabers will wear anyone out, but the party was a blast and my brand-new six-year old loved it!  I'd do it all again in a Tatooine minute.