Darth Vader

Will had his first mini-project of the school year this week. He had to decorate a doll in costume, as for Halloween. He immediately chose Darth Vader, of course, and we got to work on the project this afternoon. Since Will is not a fan of coloring, he cut out the doll with an overlay of black construction paper and just glued them together. Then he made the lightsaber and shapes for Darth Vader's chest while I found a mask on the internet. You can't really tell in this picture, but Darth Vader also has a black construction paper cape.   There will be a writing project to go along with the doll.  I can't wait to see what they do!

Can you guess what Will wants to be for Halloween?

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.

July Fun

Our second month of summer vacation has been the perfect combination of relaxing and busy.  The boys have really enjoyed their time away from school to just play and be kids.

July was all about:

getting super excited after finding Angry Birds crackers at the store,

watching cardinals and other birds in our yard,

eating (always eating!),

reading, reading, reading (Will read these 10 books in one week and has read over 50 books this summer!),

celebrating Mommy's birthday with cupcakes from Crave,

grilling,

visiting the zoo, despite the heat,

and watching the otters play in the water,

 wearing a Spiderman mask after a camp at The Little Gym,

going to art class and wearing the art,

finally seeing the new Ice Age movie,

more swim lessons,

and getting to go to a Star Wars birthday party at Laser Tag.  

One more month of summer and we are planning to enjoy every last minute until school starts!