In The Circle: May the Fourth Be With You

We were hoping for a big smile but when you have a mouth full of marshmallows and chocolate...

Tagg-man turns four! And he's into Star Wars. Big Time. So you can see the obvious theme for his birthday party...Star Wars meets beach party meets pizza party. Hmmm...maybe that's not so obvious, but it was fun!

Party by Pinterest

I'm kind of crafty but not always inspired. Thanks to Pinterest (not my own creative juices so I can't take all the credit), the party decorations were pretty adorable. I'm not going to lie...Pinterest makes parties a little more expensive. You just can't stop...

Cute yet annoying toy from my nemesis, WalMart. It talks too much
but made a cute centerpiece. Vader was pretty cute too.
Especially after I took the batteries out.

Tiffany hooked us up with a new, amazing cake decorator who whipped up these killer Star Wars cakes - R2D2 for Tagg (the arms are made out of Rice Krispie treats...cool, right?!) and Princess Leah for cousin Kayla who was born 2 years and 1 day after Tagg. Leah's buns are made out of chocolate donuts. Hilarious. Cutting into these suckers was hard, they were so beautiful!

Tagg couldn't keep his hands off the cake. Literally.

The Star Wars Ice Cream Bar was another Pinterest-inspired idea. We put the ice cream scoops in black bowls from...WalMart (zip it, they were a dollar!)...before the party and stuck them in the freezer so it was super quick to pull them out and let the kids start having at the Wookie Cookie Crumbles (Oreos), Cloud City Puffs (marshmellows...the big fave!), Gummy Ewoks (gummy bears), and Han Rolos and Asteroid Crumbles (rolos and chocolate chip chunks). It was quite a hit.

Star Wars Light Sabers. Made out of foam pool noodles (98 cents at WalMart) cut in half, 2 kinds of duct tape - regular and super shiny silver - and electrical tape. Plus one super stoked almost-4-year old to help you cut tape? Funnest birthday party gifts EVER! My friend Amy texted me the day after "Best idea! The boys are running around the backyard beating each other with them as we speak." So I think that's a good thing!

Yet one more unnecessary but cute idea? Degobah Swamp Drinks. Unfiltered organic apple juice (all nice and healthy) with a couple of gummy worms (complete opposite of healthy) hanging on the edge and dropped in the bottom. Looked nasty but the kids loved them. Especially Sloane. She probably had about 14 gummy worms.

Do or Do Not. There Is No Try.

Not when you're having birthday fun, that is. Once the birthday song was over and the Star Wars ice cream sundaes were left melting in abandoned bowls, the party got started. The waterslide was off the hook, in spite of the fact that the water was frigid. The girls got decked out in their "Princess Leia robes" (squares of diaper fabric...you heard me, diaper fabric... with a neck hole and gold rope belts. Too cute.). I made the boys Jedi robes as well but like a total rookie, I got the more authentic burlap fabric. Translate: incredibly stiff and itchy. Not a big hit with the boys.

The battle begins. Apparently Scott was Darth Vader.

And good prevails over evil. It's kind of like the Ewok attack but less furry.

Jedi Princess Harper.

Jedi Princess Kayla (the birthday girl) taking on Grama in a saber fight.

Harper and Sloane...twins with Dora blankets, thanks to Aunt Becky!

The girls were more interested in Ring Around the Rosie than sliding.
Surely that had nothing to do with the all-boy bruiser tackle fest on the slide.

Sloane working on her light saber skills. She actually does the spin move.

The boys beating the crap out of...anything and everything.
Including each other.

The kids chased Scott around the yard, through the water, down the slide,
under the swings until they finally declared victory.

Family Photos.

You gotta have a few Kodak moments. Tagg took 24 (no kidding) family pix with his fingers in his mouth and Sloane had her stoneface on for every one of them. Pretty funny.