Catching up on December Part 1: Eli's Party

I'm back! Pardon the absence, but I am not going to apologize. Once November hits, our lives don't slow down with holidays and birthdays galore. We were busy living our lives, and I was doing a darn good job of staying as stress-free as possible this holiday season. I successfully managed to maintain some joyful Advent and Christmas spirit this year. Cards went out earlier than ever. Christmas shopping was completed and shipped out early too. Found some time for some fun family traditions to continue, made some new memories, and spent time enjoying each other. Accomplished all of the must do's and many of the wanna do's on my list this year. It felt good.

But the blog was the thing to go. So now it is time to try to catch up on what we did last month. Hopefully I will get to it all, and if I don't, oh well.

First up, Eli's birthday party.

Eli had his heart set on a Star Wars themed 6th birthday party. We brainstormed a lot of ideas, and once he remembered how much fun he had skating at his cousin's party nearly a year ago, there was no turning back. So, a Star Wars Skating party it was.

The day before his big party day, Eli had his class Christmas party. Jude and I were able to stop in and help out a bit. Jude always finds a way to stay entertained while Eli and his classmates party party party.

We were all thrilled that Aunt Ann's planned visit happened to be the same weekend as the party. She was able to come and celebrate with us...and she always brings a bag full of goodies for the boys to play with. Can you guess what one of the things in the bag was?

Overall, I tried to keep the party simple, but I found a few ways to put some special touches on it too. Eli was able to help with quite a bit of the projects before the big day. He loved seeing all of the details come together.

Party day went off without {much of} a hitch, and everyone seemed to have a really good time. This was a first time on skates for most of Eli's buddies, and so while many got the hang of it, there was a lot of time spent falling. We were able to get the rink to ourselves. For many reasons, this was awesome, but a main one being that parents {and little brothers} could be in shoes helping {or boogy-ing}.  A couple of brave dads put on skates to join in the fun and feel young again.

Jude was really hoping to "get some a doze" skates on his feet, but instead, he filled his time running around, dancing, chasing the lights on the rink floor, and pretending to play video games. He had a ball!

No skating party is complete without the Hokey Pokey!

The snacks and little touches were a hit with Yoda Soda being a definite favorite. In addition to the green punch, we had: Wookie Cookies, Vader's Veggies, Ewok Snacks (a.k.a. Chex Mix), and Grape Sabers with light saber cupcakes for dessert. 

All good things must come to an end, so Eli passed out the favors to each guest as they left. 

Back home, Eli got to open his gifts, and to say that there was a bit of a theme to the gifts would be an understatement. Our mega-fan was thrilled with all of the Star Wars packages he unwrapped. 

We also got to celebrate an early Christmas with Aunt Ann before she had to head home. We all love our new Christmas jammies. Thank you, Aunt Ann!

At this point, Eli was still 5, and I figured we could just skip his actual birthday....we'd already had the fun party, who needs to actually turn 6? Apparently Eli needed to....because he did....against his Mommy's wishes. Hard to believe he's 6. That sounds so big and so old.  Why do they have to grow up so fast? 

......ok......must save that sentimental, sappy stuff for later. 

May the Force be with you!