Do or do not. There is no try.

A Yoda quote we often tell Ian......

My little preemie 4 lb baby just grew up before my eyes. I remember the day my water broke and I wasn't sure if it was really happening or not. From then on it was a whirlwind but I'll never forget the gush of tears that exited my eyes after he came out. Now- 5 years later, he's a boy. An intelligent, ACTIVE, caring, artistic, tall boy.
On his birthday morning, we greeted him with a song and donut. Then after work we had a family dinner and opened presents.

We had his party on Saturday and hosted our first "drop-off" party. It went surprisingly well! Most of the moms offered to stay and help- but I just had one stay and she helped with the ironing, which was perfect. Our house isn't very open, so too many people in it, starts to feel really crowded. Ian's latest interest is Star Wars Clone Wars (the kid cartoon series of Star Wars), so that was the party theme. He invited eight of his friends and we planned a few activities and crafts. The first was decorating a shirt. (ironing on the letters in their name as well as a few star wars pictures. Then they could decorate their shirt with markers after it was ironed.

Then we had cupcakes and Yoda Sodas ( lime sherbet and sprite). They each picked which kind of cupcake they wanted.

This was the best I could whip up this week without clear pictures of the characters, and no time to look them up. This is my amazing babysitter (daycare provider). She usually comes to all the birthday parties. Libby adores her of course!

We also played "Pin the Light Saber on Yoda". But the real hit of the party were the light sabers. (swimming noodles cut and duct tape on the ends). Those boys chased Dad around the yard for 30 minutes! I looked over and the 2 girls were quietly playing in the sandbox. Poor girls! I tried to find some princess pictures for their shirts from Star Wars.

Dad was incredible with them.

In the invite, we asked to not bring presents, which I think was definitely the right move. It is so hard for kids to get new presents and the whole sharing scene is tricking for everyone when it is a brand new toy- and there isn't enough for everyone. Plus- he doesn't need 8 new gifts on top of everything else. We can barely find room for all the toys they do have. Some of the kids made cards and he loved opening them.

All in all, it was a great success. Luke (not Ian without CONTINUOUS prompting) was the one walking around and saying, "Thanks for coming!". His birthday parties will be MUCH easier.
At least with the social etiquette part.

Onward with the week.

Oh- highlight of my week? Once when my new student went into an anger rage- I was calling the office to have him removed from the class (because it's either that or if it's really bad, I'm supposed to remove my class from the room........Like that's very teaching friendly) So I was on the phone and he went to his backpack and pulled out ............boxing gloves. He put them on and paced around the room pounding his fists together giving me the stare down.

I had to hold my breath from laughing.