Carter's Star Wars Party

I would have taken a shot of vodka, if I was a drinker. You know, just to take the edge off.





But since I haven't even touched a drop of alcohol in like 7 years since I've been growing babies and nursing non-stop, I took a shot of lemonade and hoped for the best...



because our boy turned 5, and our house was about to fill up with a lot of little people for one wild and exciting Star Wars party.

With a 13 week old.

You know...just cause I like to spread myself a little too thin sometimes.

So with the table set...

and masks for each kid ready...

Terry clicked the play button, and our Star Wars music started playing at our front door as all of the kids showed up and starting piling into our house. Because Jedi training was in order for these younglings--and this mama who knows nothing about Star Wars tried to pretend like she knew what she was talking about.

So with the amazing help from my awesome dad, we turned the backyard into an obstacle course for the kids, where they had to army crawl through a dark tunnel...

climb up and jump off a tall building (or step stool..whatever)...



walk the balance beam...



step from brick to brick without touching the grass...



shoot the ball in the sling shot (made by my dad of course)..
.

 

whip the ball around the pole two times...

whack the foam tube as hard as you can and watch it cannon ball out the other side...

throw the ball into the bucket...

then run like the wind back to the starting line and let your feet hit the deck to indicate that your training is completed.

Then of course if you're a true Jedi, you need to do some strength training...so tug o' war was next in order. 

And jump-training is probably a Jedi thing, at least that's what we told them...so we stuffed them into potato sacks and let them loose.

Then, just to cause some chaos--we decided to hand each of them their own lightsaber (err..um..pool noodle cut in half and wrapped with some duct tape and electrical tape),

and I taught them a few Jedi moves that I pretended that I knew...when, all of a sudden, the Star Wars music was cranked up and in walked Darth Vader himself (and although after a little investigating, the kids swore it was Terry...it actually really was Darth Vader). 

Then after they each got a turn to use their new Jedi skills to fight off the enemy...
 

Darth was defeated (and quite sore by getting smacked by so many 5yr olds, I might add).

Then they were presented with their Jedi Knight Training Academy certificate of completion (it's so very handy to have a dad who used to work in the sign business), and we headed in for drinks, food and cupcakes. 

 Then after the sugar set in, we headed back outside with our lightsabers and played don't let your balloon hit the ground... 

and pin the lightsaber on Darth Vader (where you get to pick from the candy bowl even if you're completely way off)...

And just as the clock was about to hit the 2hr mark and this mama was about to pass out on the floor, we sat on the grass as this lucky boy got to open all of the wonderful gifts from his generous friends...

and we slowed down a bit as I handed out Star Wars colouring sheets one by one (and pretended that I was back in my beloved kindergarten classroom) and watched as all of these little Jedi's cooled off and quietly coloured before their parents picked them up.

So as each child passed through our front door and waved goodbye, we handed them another lightsaber to take home (or..um...a bubble wand with the handle spray painted silver), with some Star Wars popping candies attached.
  

And we closed the door to another fun party. And a very wiped out mama. 

So thank you family for helping me pull this off--for holding Chloe through all of the fun, for passing around bowls of food to eager little hands, for standing at each obstacle course station, for taking pictures of all of the action and for just being there.  

Carter was one thrilled little 5yr old--and we spent the rest of the night getting into our jammies early, sucking on left over lollipops from the candy bowl and watching a movie together... 

because this Sunday is Mya's birthday party with all of her friends---so it's time to rest up before the next one in a few days.

Good Lord help me.

Erica xo