Halloween Happenings

I knew it was coming: the year we all got to be Star Wars for Halloween.  I definitely got to subtly (and heavily) influence the boys' choices for Newsies, artists, and presidents in past years.  This year, I knew Star Wars was inevitable and way beyond my control.  And you know, it turned out to be awesome!  

First of all, we got to borrow several of the costumes, which made for an easy year.  Secondly, I got to buy that awesome Boba Fett shirt, which I plan to wear frequently.  Here you see Han Solo (Ben, Boba Fett (me), Anakin Skywalker (Henry), Jango Fett (Ellis), and the cutest Darth Vader you've ever seen (Sam).

These pictures are from my friend Amy's phenomenal Halloween party.  They had this photo booth in the yard and gave prizes for the best costumes (we won best family!).

She also had a pumpkin patch where kids could choose and decorate a pumpkin.  Adorable!

I got to help in both Henry and Ellis' classroom parties.  Here you can see Ellis with his Jango Fett helmet on, and his cute teacher who dressed up as a pumpkin.

This was Henry's team for the mummy decorating contest.

And Henry's class.

And this is the picture that came home with Ellis in a cute little Halloween frame.  Ellis, why are you so good at posing in epic pictures?  I laughed for a week, every time I walked past this photo!

Ellis' Star Wars Birthday

I'll admit, I was not thrilled when Ellis insisted that he wanted a Star Wars party for his 6th birthday.  Because I know next to nothing about Star Wars (other than many, many characters' names from reading Star Wars books as bedtime stories -- but I don't understand a thing!), I had absolutely no idea what to plan for the party.  So I consulted my friend, the Internet.  And then I found so many ideas that we all thought looked awesome.  And then I suppose I got carried away doing them.  But it was a lot of fun!  I have to remind Ben that it's my much needed creative outlet (although is copying stuff from Pinterest really creative at all?). 

 The boys had fun getting involved with the planning.  We made a Death Star pinata (whatever that means).

 And lots of beautiful light sabers out of pool noodles and duct tape (I just absolutely love any craft that involves duct tape).

And then the food.  I am very, very proud of my R2-D2 cake! 

 Cookies made using my friend's Williams-Sonoma cookie cutters

 Lightsabers

 And as if there wasn't already enough sugar involved with this party, I couldn't resist... Leia's Buns,

 Yoda Soda (Power Ade), Ewok treats (Teddy Grahams), Han's Rolos, and Thermal Detonators (Whoppers).  Because themed sugar is so much more awesome than just regular sugar!

We made little favor bags with even more sugar inside!

 And then it was time to set things up and hand the party over to the really fun one in our family . . . Ben! 

 First, the boys ate a bunch of sugary snacks.

 Then came the real Jedi training . . . starting with "Talk like a Star Wars guy" competition.

 Next up, Pilot training (pod racing game on the Wii)

 Then light saber training.  Because every Jedi needs to know how to maneuver his weapon.

Ellis was the best one, naturally.  I believe he is showing off his "Yoda moves" here. 

 Then there was a Jedi relay race, which involved attacking the balloon Darth Vader.  But someone attacked Darth Vader too hard, and he flew into the sky before I could catch a picture...  :(

 Time to destroy the Death Star!

 Um, it wasn't very hard to destroy.  Lesson learned in pinata making.  Need more layers!

 And this is my adorable birthday boy, who is proudly six years old.  

 May the force be with you!

Happiest Place

We have been planning this trip for a very long time.  We wanted to go to Disneyland when I wasn't pregnant or nursing, and when all of our kids were old enough to enjoy it.  We figured out a long time ago that the summer of 2013 was our golden opportunity.  We don't look as ecstatic as we should in this picture.  We had an AWESOME time!

We convinced my mom and dad to join us, which made it so much more fun (this was Star Tours - which the boys LOVED - we did it several times)! 

And Brady and McCall and James came too - making it way more fun than it would have been otherwise (notice Sam's crush on Minnie!  He didn't hesitate at all when Brady asked him to kiss her!).

It was a lot more fun to wait in line with buddies -- although I will tell you that we didn't wait in a single line for more than 20 minutes -- thanks to this program called Ride Max that Ben found.  This program asks you what rides you want to do, and the times you want to be there, and it gives you a schedule that minimizes wait times and walking times.  It was AWESOME!  It totally had us doing things in an order we never would have expected, and it had us sending runners to get fast passes at appropriate times, etc.  Let me tell you, on a July weekend at Disneyland, it felt SO good to be walking to the front of nearly every line, looking at everybody else who was waiting in 1-hour plus lines, wondering why they didn't opt to be as cool as us.  Yeah, leave it to my economist husband to find such a program (and check it out if you're going!  They have it for Florida too!).

We kind of took advantage of Brady and McCall's kindness and let them take our kids while we did a bunch of rides.   

Meanwhile, Brady and McCall won major brownie points with three of their nephews! 

   

Henry spotted Jolie's name on the ground among thousands of bricks!  She was an ambassador for Disneyland in 2012 . . .  

 . . . and she is still working for Disney!  She was able to leave her desk (inside Space Mountain) to join us for lunch and to dish out some insider tips.  Our boys idolize Jolie and still ask about which characters she has played at Disneyland.  

Henry planned ahead for the Star Wars Jedi Training, making this sign to ensure that he would get chosen as a volunteer.  He came up with the wording all on his own.

How could they resist such a sign?  He was chosen - of course! 

And . . . he got to fight Darth Vader.  Yep, that's my son. 

 Henry, Yo-da man!

More than one boy's dreams came true in Radiator Springs in Cars Land.  I will say it fulfilled my wildest dreams as well.  That Cars movie makes me teary-eyed at several points.  And thanks to Ride Max, we got on Radiator Springs Racers in 20 minutes.  It ruled.

Several minutes after leaving a gift shop, I discovered that Sam had shoplifted!  He had pulled both of these items off the shelf and successfully swiped them as we walked out of the shop.  He was pretty disappointed when we had to return them . . . 

 Meeting Mickey!

 This was the cute Anaheim house we stayed at.  I love staying in homes like this so we can all be together.  So much more fun than hotels!

There were a lot of stroller naps.  I got this dream stroller right before we left, and it turned out to be a major pain to bring (especially when we had to pay $200 to upgrade the rental car to fit it).  BUT I will say that I thought it was worth it to have a comfy, shaded place for the boys to rest on these intense days. 

Um, we couldn't help but reminisce about the good old days when we were two Layton High choir kids getting into the romance of Disneyland (and maybe, possibly holding hands on the Matterhorn?).  This place holds lovely memories for us, and we had fun introducing the magic of Disneyland to our children!