strong with you the force is

Time flies!! No really...FLIES!! I know everyone says it and my Gramma has been reminding me of it for years but until you have kids I don't think you truly notice how fast it really goes!! Somehow I went from holding my 9lb 4oz brand new baby boy in a hospital room in Ponca City, OK to turning around and finding myself baking and decorating for his 4th birthday!! How did we get here!?!? It almost makes me tear up to think that even though I've been an at home mom all these years, the day-to-day of motherhood starts to run together in my mind and the past four years just seem like a blur. Almost like I sprinted through them somehow the whole while wishing I could slow to a crawl. Wow. Whether I was ready for it or not, though, my baby boy turned 4 on June 26th. We celebrated Maddox's birthday on July 4th this year so that family from out of state could attend and so that we could combine his party with a 4th of July family get together and just have one long day of fun!!

If you know Maddox then you would only need one guess to figure out what theme Maddox wanted for his 4th birthday party. If you don't know him, though, let me fill you in...Maddox is OBSESSED with Star Wars! We thought it would just be a fad and that he would like Star Wars one day and the next he would neglect his action figures, movies and themed bed sheets and move onto something else, but that hasn't been the case with Maddox. For nearly two years now he has lived, breathed, slept and ate everything Star Wars. He watches the movies night and day, knows the names of characters that I didn't even know existed and can quote lines straight from the movies (and cartoons) in his imaginative play at home! The kid just loves all things Star Wars! In fact, his 3rd birthday was also themed Star Wars! So, when Maddox told me that he yet again wanted a Star Wars themed birthday party I was happy for him but also a bit nervous that I wouldn't be able to top his 3rd birthday and make his 4th original and fun!! I scoured the internet, though, and with Maddox's help we came up with some pretty cool stuff!! We settled on hosting a Jedi Training Course where all the party-goers would complete a series of skill building exercises in order to earn their Jedi Status and their very own lightsaber!! We had everything planned out and then the one thing intervened that even a young Jedi can't control...THE WEATHER!! Rain (no downpours!) forced us to move the party completely indoors at the last minute and so we had to do some improvising on our training course. With the help of Auntie Rae to keep me sane (I don't handle change well...) we successfully revamped our Jedi Training Academy and were still able to induct five new Jedi onto the force at the end of the day!!

One of the stations in the training course, however, was learning to fly a pod racer and that couldn't be moved into the house. So, when we noticed a lull in the rain we rushed all the kids outside for a quick pod racing trip around the front yard! I think the neighbors (who were already outside shooting fireworks) thought we were a bunch of crazy people but, hey, the kids had fun!! Brandon turned our wagon into a pod racer using materials from the garage!! We even printed out a faux dashboard for the inside of the pod racer complete with controls and steering wheel!!

The pod racers "motor" eventually ran out of fuel (meaning Brandon got tired of pulling 45 pound kids around the yard!) and so we went back inside to start our Jedi Training Course!! First up...the kiddos had to make their way through a mine field!! Which was actually just the Star Wars tent filled with silver and gold balloons!! It was a big hit, especially with Grayson, who refused to leave the "mine field"!!

Next the young Jedi's-in-training had to fight a REAL stormtrooper!! Of course, when we were planning these tasks we thought we'd be outside and so we had to improvise and put our stormtrooper in the shower!! HA!! Brandon is the stormtrooper (of course) and the boys loved shooting water guns at him in the house!! Elia wouldn't shoot at Uncle B though...

Up next, everyone had to take turns flying their ship into a black hole. In reality, they are throwing a frisbee with a ship picture taped to it into a basket across the room...but you get the idea!!

Finally, as their final challenge, all our Jedi had to make their way across a sea of hot lava!! This was Maddox's favorite!! (Of course, it's also his favorite scene in the real movies!)

In the end, all the Jedi completed their training and were each given their very own lightsaber!! After Jedi Training we moved quickly onto cake because Maddox had been staring at all his gifts lined up on the living room coffee table for over an hour now and he was getting a bit inpatient!! Maddox wanted a cake that looked like Darth Maul. If you know Star Wars then you know that Darth Maul is a bad guy. He is ugly and mean and, I hate to say it, but one of Maddox's favorites! HA!! I decided to make this birthday cake version of Darth Maul as "cartooney" as possible so as not to frighten great gramma, or anyone else for that matter!! Maddox loved the result and, ugly or not, the cake tasted good and that's all that matters!!

FINALLY...it was time for presents!! Maddox received alot of gifts and all but one were new Star Wars toys!! He was really excited!! As he opened each and every gift he carried it over to the coffee table and shoved it underneath. I wasn't sure what he was doing at first but when asked why he was hoarding all his new toys under the coffee table he replied "So Grayson won't get them!" (Grayson is our friends 2-year-old son!) HA!! I guess when you're 4 "sharing" just isn't in your vocabulary!! Maddox also has quite a bit of birthday cash that we have to spend tomorrow! I bet you can guess it too...99.9% chance he'll choose yet another Star Wars toy to add to his collection!!

Despite the rain we had a great party and despite my feelings about it Maddox still turned four! Time has to slow down. I don't know how I'm gonna do it but it just has to! We love you Maddox! Happy Birthday!