this is the droid you are looking for

or, 

scarlett's birthday extravaganza 2014 that started out as a small get together at the pool and exploded into a totally interactive padawan jedi training food fest!

birthdays are exhausting. i don't even fancy myself as someone who has to put together a big to do, but somehow it always seems to turn out that way. 

breakfast waffles a la thomas with a side of pancakes.

gift giving.

scarlett is a pretty big star wars fan. it's one of the few parental things that i feel i am acutally doing right. she especially loves princess leia so we rolled with that in any way we could.

i spent a good amount of time stealing stars wars party ideas from other people's blogs. not an original thought in this head, thank you very much!!!

plus, scarlett really wanted to have a lot of decor input, so some things look weird and i blame her. she loved her black, gold and hot pink balloons so i was happy she was happy. 

food signage:

always FUNNY! every. single. time. NATALIE!

dollar store chic lives here.

my version of going all out on decorations. the paper lanterns are supposed to be planets. the gold stars on the black plastic sheeting are supposed to be outer space. the giant silver stars pulled double duty a week later for the fourth of july. i hate spending money on decorations. i did like writing with the brand new jumbo sharpie pack i splurged on. now all our underwear is labeled too. 

the little food tents were also purchased at the dollar store and i was over the moon about that.

the best shot of the death star that i spent way too much time drawing. as in 10 minutes was way too much time to devote to something that most people didn't even glance at. i made scarlett put it on the door to her room when we got home. 

scarlett was not interested in having her hair braided into princess leia buns because she still does not appreciate my skill and she's just a wimp when it comes to hair pulling, er braiding. we compromised with pigtail braids and i did the princess leia cinnamon buns on myself, which would have looked so much cooler had i waited to cut 10 inches off my hair until after this party. my cinnamon buns were more akin to the gross little debbie cinnamon buns that you get a the gas station. gas station princess leia. 

then the main event, genuine jedi training courtesy of me. most of these kids had no idea what i was talking about but i had so much fun. mostly because i love being in command of an audience who believes every word i say. 

once the padawans had completed their training, we had a completely expected visitor.

reagan- "darth vader! why are you wearing your church shoes?"

i think i was into this more than anyone else.

love. love changes everything. this made me so happy. i was over the moon! i was over alderaan! i was over the death star!

 

 i'm not pregnant here. my shirt is giving birth to my swimsuit. note to self, "suck it in!"

speaking of sucking it in, we sang and had cake. 

blythe spent a lot of time like this:

every party needs a pooper.

finally, later that night. we painted and put stickers on our toenails. and i settled down for a long summer's nap.

scarlett is the most fun, curious, kind, smart beautiful girl in all the galaxy. and i'm her mom.