May the Force Be With You

We had the funnest birthday party for the twins last weekend. Since we've had Disneyworld passes this year, in one of our last trips to Disneyworld we watched them do their Jedi Training Academy that they let a certain amount of kids sign up for each day. It was such a great idea I knew we had to do it for the twins birthday party, so I suggested a Star Wars birthday party to them and they heartily agreed. We've been on so many Star Wars rides at Disneyworld and have started letting them watch the movies that they are definitely into it. And it was a theme I could get into and be a little more excited about than some other kid-themed parties, because hey, Star Wars is cool.

My pictures are terrible because we had someone film with our camera, but didn't get any still shots. So yes, these pictures are me playing the movie back on our tv and taking pictures of it with my iPhone. But hey, you get the idea.

Ryan and I tried to get into character - he was Obi-Wan-Kenobi, and I was, well, his assistant. Another Padowan? I'm not sure what I would be, that's just how they did it at Disneyworld, although the night before I realized I was mad I wasn't being Princess Leia.  Who doesn't want a shot at wearing those side buns??  Ahh, next time. Anyhow, we got our Star Wars theme music playing and marched the kids out to the training platform. Surprisingly, they very dutifully stayed on their marked Xs.

The Jedi master then had them repeat a Jedi oath, explained a little about Jedis and demonstrated how the force can even help you do cool things like make a card float in mid-air (if any of you know Ryan and his awesome magic tricks, you know those have to be thrown in there somewhere)!

Then he talked about how Jedis wear the Jedi robe - believe it or not, in my first sewing experiment ever I actually made three of these - one for Ryan and two I figured the twins could wear and then could be passed around.  The craftsmanship would make any of my sewing friends die of embarrassment, but hey, the overall shape was there. After the robes, of course what does any worthwile Jedi have??  Light sabers of course. But oh, surprise, surprise. Just like every birthday party I've ever worked my tail off to throw for them, my very own kids are always the only ones who throw a fit and won't get into it!

Refusing the Jedi robe and light saber. Seriously?  Well, everyone else was stoked with their light sabers, although I didn't realize it would be so bright outside that you couldn't see how cool they looked all blue and lit up, but whatever, they didn't seem to care.  Everyone was taught how to activate their light sabers with a quick flick of the wrist and we were off on our training. Cash was a very dutiful student.

  

He taught them their training sequence - go for the right shoulder, left shoulder, duck, spin attack, right leg, left leg, and go for the head. It was great. Some were very serious.  And some were a little clueless. :)

But then suddenly Obi-Wan Kenobi felt a disturbance in the force...the music changed, and the kids were rushed over to the side... as DARTH VADER appeared.

Then to defeat him they each had to take a turn fighting Darth Vader using the training sequence they'd just learned (or not, in many cases. :)   Cash was brave enough to be the first one to fight.

Some were very brave:

  

Some seemed a little confused. :)

Some were a bit intimidated!

Some were GRUMPY!

  

And some just had total meltdowns.

But were finally somewhat coerced. :)

Some never did it, but truthfully when I was down at their level and looked up at Darth Vader I was like - ok, yeah, that could freak me out too if I was your size!  I was bummed you couldn't see his red lit up light saber, but then realized it was probably a good thing - that could have been even more intimidating!

Then Obi-Wan had to face off with Darth Vader. Seriously, check out the form.  :)

 

But then things went downhill...

And the younglings all had to come to the rescue.

The kids were all awarded certificates for completing their Jedi training and Phoenix and Ashton were presented with a double light saber.

Then we celebrated with cupcakes.

That magically seemed to fix everything.

But really, I can't think of a more perfect little boy party - adventure, a bit of adrenaline, light sabers, fighting, and an open field to run around and have light saber battles in after.

 

And thanks to our friend James who is such a dang good sport!  Seriously, watch out who you're friends with cause you may get friends who ask some pretty crazy favors!  This is the same guy that took a twin as a lap-rider on a cross-country flight for me (I chalk that up to the fact that he doesn't have kids - had he known what it was like he would have never said yes!), he's watched our kids while we've gone out of town, and he was the one a few weeks ago who watched our kids all day while Ryan was in conference and I had to run a garage sale for the young women, and then came back to the rescue that night when our babysitter went into labor.  He now can add Darth Vader to his list of credentials!

All in all it was a great birthday for my two crazy 4 year-olds!