Use the force!

For the past several months, we have been watching all the Star Wars movies, one by one (I know there are only six of them, but we're kind of slow). Add in the fact that Lego has a whole series of Star Wars kits and the result is that Jared has become obsessed with Star Wars. So it was no surprise that when I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday party he said "Lego Star Wars." On Friday night, Oct. 16th, Jared had his friend, Connor, over for a sleepover. We watched Star Wars Episode 5 and the boys stayed up late playing Legos. For breakfast in the morning, I made Star Wars shaped pancakes. Here are Connor and Jared with their Tie Fighter and X-wing pancakes.

Rather than planning games for the party, we just had Jared's friends bring their Legos and build Star Wars spaceships. Then, they played a game in the basement with their creations.

Krystal and Amber set up a popcorn picnic to watch the show as the big kids flew their spacecraft back and forth.

Jared was so pleased with his spoils, lots and lots of Star Wars Legos.

Finally, pizza and chocolate cake to finish off the party. It was possibly one of the easiest birthday parties ever and the boys had a blast!

But, as usual, when our family gets into something, it doesn't stop there. The kids collectively decided that for Halloween this year we should dress up as characters from the movie Star Wars. So with a few borrowed pieces of costumes, a trip to goodwill, a little bit of sewing, some permanent markers, and a yard sale find - we are the Star Wars family.

Chris is Anakin Skywalker (whom later becomes Darth Vader), I am Padme Amadala (married to Anakin and mother to Luke and Leia). Clarissa is Princess Leia, Jared is Luke Skywalker, Amber is R2-D2 and Krystal is C-3Po. On Wednesday night, the 28th we went to our church Trunk or Treat party and on Halloween night we went to a party at a friend's house with Trick or Treating afterward.

Here are Princess Leia and C-3Po all ready to go get some candy.

Earlier in the week, we had painted pumpkins. This is Krystal hard at work on her masterpiece.

These are Clarissa, Jared, and Amber's pumpkins. We did carve the pumpkins eventually, but don't have pictures of the carved side. All in all, it was a fun Halloween. Personally, I think Halloween gets more fun each year the kids get older. I can't wait until next year!