Xander's Star Wars party

To celebrate Xander's 5th birthday we had a Star Wars party...what else? He invited 6 of his friends and we had a great night!

Savannah was my young Jedi helper, checking in all our new "recruits" at the Training Center. Each guest was allowed to choose whether they would follow the path of a Jedi or the dark side and become a Sith. Can you believe it? Every friend of Xander's chose to train to become a Jedi but Xander and Noah chose the way of the dark side.

Darth Maul paid a visit to the recruits which most of them liked...the 2 girls that were invited to the party weren't too fond of him.

The training for each Jedi and Sith consisted of physical abilities, weapon skills, light saber skills, use of the force, and teamwork. There were various games they participated in to pass off each requirement. We had an obstacle course,

pod racing,

destroying asteroids,

passing the Death Star without getting blown up,

finding hidden moon rocks, and target practice. The favorite activity of the night was fighting one-on-one with Darth Maul. The girls didn't want to but the boys LOVED it! I had the boys sit in a line to wait for their turn and one little boy was so excited to fight Darth Maul that he could not sit still! He had ants in his pants and a huge smile on his face. When it was his turn, he jumped up and started fighting with gusto. After a few minutes he stopped with his light saber, raised one hand, and "used the force". Darth Maul commented that the force was strong with this one!
We had a group picture with Darth Maul as well as individual ones.

Then it was time for cake and ice cream.

I love doing these parties especially because I know how much my kids enjoy them. Happy Birthday, my little X man!

Happy Birthday, Xander!

It's hard to believe that 5 years ago this goofy little guy, the Xanderman, joined our family. He has definitely kept us on our toes since that October day five years ago.

Birthday balloons!

When Xander arrived at preschool he saw the cute birthday sign hanging next to the classroom door and was greeted with a huge "Happy Birthday!" from his teachers.

A present from his sister...can you believe it was a Star Wars figure?

Oh, my!!! Lots more Star Wars guys!!


5 things I love about my Xander:

• how goofy he is
• how his two front teeth rest on his bottom lip when he smiles
• his great imagination
• how he picks flowers for me whenever we take a walk
• how he tells me that I'm the most beautiful mommy and gives me big hugs
  

Xander's Favorites at 5:

Color: Yellow
Food: Hamburger
Movie: The Clone Wars
Book: Berenstein Bears, Dorrie the Witch, any Star Wars book
Toy: Star Wars
Animal: Cobra (this one was new!)
Sport: Baseball
Thing to Do: play with his Star Wars guys (shocker!)
Fruit: Strawberries
Vegetable: Beans
Music: Pirate music
Holiday: Easter, Christmas, and Halloween
Candy: Swedish Fish
Dessert: vanilla ice-cream
Season: Fall
Restaurant: Freddie's
Temple: Salt Lake City
Scripture Story: Captain Moroni
Place to go: Walmart to buy Star Wars guys
He wants to be a policeman when he grows up.
His best friends are Nathan and Solomon.

Happy Birthday, my sweet little Xander!