Star Wars Birthday Party

I am going to warn you know this is probably going to be a lengthy post. And before you start judging me, remember I only have one child, so I only get to plan one birthday party a year. And if I go a little or a lot overboard, that's because I start thinking about it months in advance. Anyway, with that said lets get started!

The Invitations

I found tons of ideas online about possible invitations, I took many of the concepts and added a few of my own to come up with these. I put it all together in Photoshop. Awesome Aunt Rina took Lincoln around to the homes that were close and the rest we sent in the mail. Lincoln wanted to delivery them all by himself, so he was the one who went up to the doors and knocked for his friends.

The Fun

This was a hard area to narrow down as I found tons of ideas online and came up with many others on my own. Since he was inviting so many friends, I knew we needed to utilize the backyard, but since it is so hot here, I knew any activities outside also needed to include water. (we have an above ground pool- but with that many smaller children- we opted not to use that feature. Instead I incorporated "water" games. 

Since we were doing the whole Star Wars theme mixed in with Jedi Training, I decided it would be fun to tour the galaxy on our quest to become a Jedi and defeat the forces of evil. I went online and found pictures of each of the planets I was going to incorporate and then printed them off. I put these around in our main headquarters. I had someone choose a planet every time to change activities. After each activity/Jedi Training we would go back inside - to cool off as well as to choose a new task. I will give you a breakdown of each planet with its accompanying activity and of course pictures.  :0)

Hoth: The Ice Planet 

Activity: Free the Jedi

Task/Explanation: The Jedi need you, their base was attacked on the planet hoth and many of them were not able to escape before dark. Because of the extreme temperatures at night many of them became frozen in ice. It is your job to free them. 

Basically, I found small little Star Wars characters and froze them in water placed in a throw away aluminum mini loaf pan. I froze a bottom layer of water and then added the character and more water. The guys sank but only as far as the bottom layer of ice, so the guys ended up frozen (mostly) in the middle of the block.

Each of the kids got a block of ice that they got to free their Jedi from. At first the kids thought maybe that would just lay them out in the sun, but then they discovered that throwing them to the ground was much more fun and much more effective!

Dagobah

Activity: Jedi Obstacle Course

Task/Explanation: Jedi must learn balance and coordination. They must also protect the galaxy from the forces of evil. You will make your way through the course and then grab a water balloon to defend your fellow Jedi from the tie fighters that are approaching your training center. 

We set up an obstacle course- swamp and all in the backyard. The kids had to balance across the side wall, make their way up and over a ladder, through the swamp, up the playground and down the slide, under/through the tunnel, and then down the slip and slide. Once completed they could grab one water balloon and through it at a tie fighter ( "H's" drawn on the cement wall with sidewalk chalk)

If you squint really hard this will look like a tie fighter ;)

This is gross! I hate swamps...

I made it!

Kamino

Activity: Storm Trooper Stomp

Task/Explanation: It has come to our attention that the storm trooper army is being built on the planet Kamino. We must travel to the planet and stop production. 

This was an inside came, although it could have been done outside. We blew up 100+ white balloons and taped on an image of a storm trooper head. When it was time for the game, we dumped the balloons which had been stored in trash bags into the room. The kids were to jump and stomp on them to "pop" all the troopers. The only problem was, these balloons were tough to pop. Half the problem probably occurred because we didn't fill them completely up. But even Justin was able to step on one with both feet without it popping. So we had to revert to giving them "the force" or a small pin to pop those bad boys!

I've got him, well I think I've got him.

These Storm Troopers are tough!

Tatooine

Activity: Pod Racing

Task/Explanation: As jedi you must have quick reflexes. You are going to build your own pod racer and then race each other in the backyard.

We didn't actually have time to complete this game, but the premise was that the kids were going to build a pod racer and decorate it (I found nerf airplanes and stickers at the dollar store) Then they would have raced them in the backyard,

Mustafar

Activity: Cross the Lava

Task/Explanation: You must help the jedi collect water to use as they battle on the Lava planet, Mustafar. But in order to collect water you have to transfer it form one side of the lava fields to the other, without falling in.

We laid out some red plastic tablecloths to act as the lava. And then had cardboard "rocks" strategically placed throughout the lava fields. They had to jump from one rock to another. The fun part was they were carrying large cups of water across, so every time you jumped you lost water. (I had to make sure and tell them they had to do a bunny hop as they were loosing much water the other way and since the object was to get them wet, the bunny hop worked much better!)

Endor Moon

Activity: Blaster Training

Task/Explanation- The ewoks are under attack. Use your blasters to locate and destroy the enemy (paper storm trooper heads hidden throughout the backyard)

The kids were each given a water gun. Their task was to locate the paper storm troopers and blast them with their water guns. This activity turned into a giant water gun fight- which was pretty much the point of it all. Although, I don't think Daddy was thinking he would be so out numbered!

Naboo

Activity: Rescue the gunguns

Task/Explanation: The gungun city is under attack. The Imperial army dropped mines into their city. It is your task to try and collect as many as you can with one breath. 

We didn't actually have time for this game either, but I purchased dive rings at the dollar store, and we were going to have kids dive into the pool one at a time to try and collect as many as they could.

Alderaan

Activity: Jedi, Jedi, Sith

Task/Explanation- Sometimes it is hard to tell who is good or evil. You will each take a turn to discover the sith among us.

For this game the premise is the same as Duck, Duck, Goose. Except, the person that is it is carrying a large glass of water. Every time they say Jedi, they dump a small amount if water on the players head, if they believe the person to be a Sith lord, they yell Sith and then dump the whole glass on their head and run away as fast as they can. 

Coruscant

Activity: Star Wars Bingo and Thermal Detonator

Task/Explanation: This is our home base, here is where we learn about the force. This game will help us learn our who our fellow Jedi's are and know who the bad guys are as well. 

We played this game first as we waited for all the guests to arrive. I made the Star Wars Bingo cards and then found some large glass beads at the dollar store to use as markers. You won by having 3 in a row and shouting out Star Wars. The winner received "Starbursts"!

We didn't have time for Thermal Detonator. But this was basically going to be a version of Hot Potato. Music would have been played, but instead of a potato it would have been a water balloon. If the water stopped while you were holding the detonator, you would get to throw it at someone.  

Death Star

Activity: Defeat the Death Star or Defeat Darth Vadar

For this one I had two activities planned. For defeat the Death Star, I had a black hamper with the Death star attached to it. The kids each had a Star Fighter ( which was actually a frisbee with a star fighter pictured attached to it) and the goal was going to be to throw the frisbee into the opening of the death star- like Luke had to do. But we didn't have time for this game as we actually had a real life Darth Vadar show up at the party. 

I had the kids trying to learn to use their force on the garage door. They also took their light sabers with them (cheap dollar tree light sabers that they received when they arrived at teh party but that had been resting up till this point.) I told them that if they would all work together we just thought they might be able to force the door up. After a little bit of concentration, the door opened! Little did they know that their enemy was inside waiting to duel.

 

When the kids say Darth Vadar they went crazy! They pretty much all attacked him at once without anyone telling them to. I had to stop them for a second and get them into an orderly line so they could each have a chance fighting Vadar. Luckily Darth Vadar soon decided to join the forces of good and come inside and help them learn how to use the Light Saber. Each Padawan learner got a chance to work one on one with Vadar and of course take a picture. 

Once Vadar proclaimed them masters, they received their Jedi Robes (which my awesome mother sewed together for me!) and we got to pose for one more picture with him before he had to catch his ship home.

The Food

Since we were having the party in the middle of the Day, we knew we would need to feed the hungry Padawan learners. Here was out mennu-

Darth Dogs - Hot dogs

Bobba Fett Buns - Hot Dog Buns

Rebel Relish

Moff Mustard

Kenobi Ketchup

Padawan Popcorn

C3PO-tatoes - Potato Chips

Wookie Cookies - No Bake Cookies

Yoda Soda- 7up with Lime Sherbert

Jedi Juice - Capri-Suns

Wampa Watermelon

Ewok Treats- Strawberries

Greedo Grapes

Vadar Veggies- Carrots, tomatoes, etc

Tribal Horns- Bugle Chips

Light Sabers- Pixie Stixs

Here are a few pictures of the spread

The Party Favors

I found black buckets at the dollar store and then attached a Star Wars logo I printed out on full sheet mailing labels. They matched perfectly and I was very happy! The buckets were stuffed with all kinds of things. Most of the stuff I found at the Dollar Tree, 99 cent store, Target Dollar section, etc.  Some of my best finds were Star Wars playing cards, Star Wars Pez dispenser, Star Wars Notepads an pens we picked up at the Lego store in Downtown Disney. I also found Star Wars fruit snacks, crazy asteriod balls, and of course the frisbees.   

The Cake

And of course no party is complete without a cake, right!? I found the Darth Vadar wilton pan on eBay for a great price, considering some people were trying to sell it for 80+ dollars. I actually made a chocolate buttercream for the first time, as a top online said it would make the black frosting taste better. Which I must say was a great tip. The frosting was great. And if you have ever had black frosting before, you know how nasty it can be- since it take so much dye to get it black!

Anyway, sorry for the long post. But we had a blast at the party, and my brain is already wondering what he might want to do next year. I started planning for this party in November, so it's never too early in my book! ;)

My Little Man is 5!

You might want to sit down for this announcement, I still can't believe it myself but Lincoln is 5!! He has been counting down the days until his birthday. So there is no way he wasn't going to celebrate in style.

We started to day off with his five #5 pancakes. And he was able to eat all 5 of them! (Even though mom made a few bigger ones than she intended!)

He then got to spend the day with some of his preschool friends at summer camp! (Mommy is still working so this gave him something fun to do this week!)

After summer camp Aunt Rina took him to Red Robin and then to Chuck-e-Cheese. He loves to play there and it's at least a cool indoor place for the adults.

And finally he got to blow out some candles on his favorite ice cream- Cookies and Cream! He had a great day and is so excited to be five now. He has a lot of things planned for when he is 5! But for now he is just looking forward to his Star Wars birthday party on Saturday!

Fireworks...a little bit early

Okay, maybe it's just my boys- but they love fireworks. If Lincoln ever hears anything that even remotely sounds like a firework, he is out investigating. And since we are currently living right next to Canyon Gate (they have an agreement with their community to provide fireworks 4 times a year) we get to see them randomly throughout the year.  But that doesn't seem to quench their need for fireworks. So we have a little tradition going, that we get to go buy fireworks out at the Indian reservation and then shoot them off ourselves. And these aren't your run of the mill fireworks, these are the bog mortars that shoot up in the sky and explode. And before you ask, we don't shoot them off in town- that's the illegal part. So instead we go out to the Dry Lake bed for our extravaganza!

We invite friends and family out to enjoy the show. So the kids get to play a little bit as they have a little bit of time to kill before it gets dark enough for the show. We also make sure to have food- I mean what's a get together without food. ;) And overall it is just a fun time. Sometimes I wonder who has more fun- the kids or the Dads!

Rachel had a little bit of car trouble on the way home, so we ended up stuffing all the children into out car. Can you see that they were all a little tired!

Working Hard

We spent the night up at Worthens cabin on Mount Charleston. It's always nice ot get away from town, even if is was just for a short time. We spent most of the night in the dark without electricty- there was an outage on the mountain. But with the glow sticks we brought the kids had plenty of fun, even without lights!

We woke up to a beautiful crisp morning. Just right for a little hard work. The residents/owners are now required to clear out the pine needles on their property. So we helped Grandpa out a little by putting the 13 kids to work. Even the littlest ones helped!

A Preschool Graduate

So it's official, Lincoln is an official Preschool graduate. I can not believe that he is going to be in Kindergarten next year. He loved Mrs. Jaime's Preschool! They always did such cute stuff. The theme for the year was "A Safari" so they did tons of animal projects, learned songs about animals, and had a great time being wild animals!

Lincoln spent two years with most of the kids in his class, so they got to be really good friends. He would always come home talking about Tate, Ben, and Copper. And I think he has a crush on the Ava, Talin, and Kate.  And the three new friends Alec, Hudson, and Grey were part of many a story as well.

Everyone warned me how fast time would go by, and it definitely has. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were bringing him home with us. And life hasn't stopped since. Everyday he adds a little more to our lives. I don't know what we would do without him!!

Ring Of Fire

For anyone who didn't get to see the eclipse today! I'm sorry! It was really quite an amazing thing to see. And although I believe I have seen one before today- I really don't remember it well, if at all. So it was pretty exciting for me to see it and the little man though it was pretty fun to wear the mask- he just wasn't too into sitting around waiting for the sun to be covered up.

The Cheetahs: Soccer 2012

So Lincoln played soccer again this season. Although he is still four they had him playing on a U6 team, we still aren't sure why they did that, or even if it was done on purpose. But it ended up being a really good thing for him. This placement gave him the chance to be on a real team, with the same players every week. In the U4/U5 group or caterpillars as they were known- that he played with in the fall- all the kids came at the same time, practiced all together and then were randomly split into teams. So you were never with the same kids twice, it was hard to feel any connection to the group because there was so many of them. On this team it was the same 6 boys every week. And since the boys were older and more experienced, he was able to learn a lot from them.

Here is a small video where I just happened to be recording when he decided to take the shot and make a goal! He kind of took it from his team mate, but I was still able to catch the action! :o)

Here are the Cheetah's celebrating their final victory! (We won't post the score, but Lincoln did score 4 goals in this game, so the victory was a little one sided!) Way to go- Landon, Micheal, Noah, Evan, Phillip and Lincoln!

He wants to play again next year. But it looks like we might move form AYSO to RYSL. AYSO doesn't have a co-ed league and RYSL does, which means he and Mabry will be able to play together. And when given that as an option he didn't hesitate to say yes. (He would hang out with Mabs everyday if he could!) In order to make sure that everyone is together, we have to sign up as a team with a Coach. Can who guess who got suckered into accepting that job! That's right, yours truly is going to be the coach! Hopefully I can handle that- I am a little bit too competitive for my own good.

My Race

I did it! I ran my first 5K! And I met one of my two goals- I came in under 45 minutes, (I just logged in for my official time. It was 37:31) but I did walk at one point after getting some water. It was in a cup and I couldn't figure out how to drink it while running :0) and I was thirsty so needed some hydration. (It was hot and windy out yesterday morning.)

So overall I am happy with my results. My time was faster than any time I had recorded at my own home, so I was pleasantly surprised. Running or in my case jogging outside is definitely different, but I think I enjoyed it overall. 

 

I need to figure out what's next to keep myself motivated.  There is a 5K in June, but that just sounds hot ;) and there is one next Saturday, but that just sounds like a bad idea! I think I need a little more time in between races!

My First 5K

Okay, it's not my official first 5K. I have already participated in quite a few over the years, but this is my first official 5K in which I will be running. Okay, well maybe running is a strong term, it will be more like a slow jog.
I have been "training" for about 3 months, using the Couch to 5k program on my phone. And so far I am still not a fan. Don't get me wrong the APP is great, the running is the problem. People say you eventually get to really like the rush, or how you feel when you are done. But so far that hasn't been the case with me, I still don't enjoy running!
But I am determined to not let it beat me. So I signed up for the race and have set some goals for myself. For anyone who runs, these goals are going to seem pretty lame I am sure, but I am hoping to run/jog the whole thing and finish in less than 45 minutes. I am a little worried about it, since I have been training on my treadmill, and the race will be outside. I hear running outside is a lot different that on a treadmill, so hopefully I can make the transition. I guess we will see :0) Wish me luck!!

A Look Back

My Papa passed away on Sunday evening. He has always been a fighter, and didn't take the easy way out of this world. He tried to hold on as long as he could, but finally left this world behind at about 6:30 pm. It's strange how you can try to prepare yourself for the death of a loved one, but it never makes it any easier. I am comforted to know that he is no longer suffering, that his knees no longer hurt, and that he was able to hold his son (my uncle Steve) in his arms again. The gospel is a great comfort at a time liek this, knowing that we will see our loved ones again. But it doesn't make the heartache any less real.
There have been so many memories flooding into my mind in the last 24 hours, I can't help but smile. He was a definite character. No one played Atari Pac-Man quite like him. And the words he used instead of cursing, still make me smile- such as diddly-poop. I am grateful for the time I got to serve him, and the many memories I have of him. He loved his family and we all loved him back. He will truly be missed by all.
His funeral is going to be held at the Lorenzi Chapel on Monday, April 23rd. The viewing will be from 9:00-10:45 with the funeral starting at 11. He will be laid to rest at the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City.

Girls Camp Theme 2012

I was once again put in charge of creating the Introduction to Camp /Camp Kickoff video. This year was pretty difficult for me, not that I didn;t have any ideas. I just didn't have any good spiritual songs that I felt went with the theme or what I wanted to do with the video. So instead of trying to force it, I did a 360 degree turn from all the past videos and made it fit the theme the way I wanted it to. I think it turned out great!

Ham Isn't Ham without Pineapple Sauce

So did you know that the only decent way to eat Ham is with Pineapple sauce. If you didn't or have never had Pineapple sauce, then you have never experienced good ham! At least I would argue that you haven't! So the next time you make a ham, serve it with this sauce and see how much more people will eat. Or maybe, don't and just make some for yourself and serve it cold the next day with the leftover ham, it might be even better the next day!


Pineapple Sauce

1 can Pineapple chunks in heavy syrup
1/2 cup sugar
2 scant Tablespoons corn starch * (original recipe calls for flour, but I have to make it GF)

Drain pineapple syrup into saucepan. Heat over medium heat. Mix sugar and corn starch together in separate bowl, making sure to mix thoroughly. Slowly whisk into syrup and heat until thickened. Chop pineapple chunks into smaller pieces, add back to sauce. Heat through. Serve

(I have no idea where this recipe came form, it has been in my family as long as I can remember.)