Monday, May 29, 2017

jimmy's 9th birthday

After another big night of Trick-or-Treating we woke up early to get ready for school and celebrate Jimmy turning 9!  As requested we had his favorite coffee cake for breakfast and then opened presents.
Then it was off to school for All Saints Day Mass.  This year was an extra special one since our cousin Dylan is in 5th Grade and got to dress up as St. Michael the Archangel.  
When we got home from school it was time to enjoy presents and then go out for a special dinner.

Jimmy wanted to go to Five'n'Diner for Burger's and Root Beer Floats.
He was lucky enough to have Nana in town and Baabee meet us there to celebrate...
He sure is growing up fast, but he just gets more awesome every day. 
Happy Birthday Jimbo!!!

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

star wars party and halloween

Star Wars was revisited as the Halloween theme this year.  Burch and Speier family were mostly wanting to do Force Awakens with a little of the originals thrown in, but since Gus was adamant (as usual) about being Anakin our family went with the Episodes 1-3.   They may not be loved by all Star Wars fans, but they are appreciated in our house especially thanks to the boy's love for Clone Wars.   Jimmy is always happy to jump on board a group theme and decided to be young Obi-Wan.  Obi-Wan might be my all time favorite character both young and old so I was on board to make all these costumes.

Nora was told by Gus that she needed to be Padme.  This meant she had many costume choices.  I was pushing for something easy, but she originally wanted the fancy Queen Amidala with the white face.  I thought that was way too complicated, so when she saw this one and wanted it I thought it would be easier...
I know, I was delusional about it being easy, but once I found that fabric it seemed doable. Thank goodness Nana came in town to help (and also maybe see a baby).  Nora sure did love it.

Since both boys birthdays are always at Halloween time we doubled up with Star Wars as the birthday them, too.  We kept the party just family since Erin and Gene were in town and the Woods boys came to get in some lightsaber fighting.
The boys had fun helping make a few decorations...

We were thankful to have all these fun cousins to celebrate with...
Nerf Star Wars toys from the Woods were a big hit.
We were so excited to have Helen and family in town for the party...
At some point we got around to carving pumpkins...
We did our usual little photo shoot...
Gus' class did a Halloween Parade...
We put Francie is her costume a little early just to try it out and she was quite cooperative...
The Force must be strong with her....
Then the real night of Halloween finally came and it was all a whirlwind as usual, but we did our best to get some group shots...
And then some individual shots and partner shots:
Gus as Anakin and Jimmy as Obi-Wan...
Dot as Princess Leia with her Mother, Padme Amidala.  Kateri as Rey and Finn as Finn.
Lili as Jessika Pava and Jack as Poe Dameron.  Audry as Captain Phasma and Lucy as Kylo Ren.
And then there was Martha as BB8 (or Beans-B-8) and a rather reluctant Marian as R2D2...
Zach went as Luke Skywalker on Degobah since he had a little Yoda to carry around.
Here is my cute little clan of Weisse Jedi and Padmes...
Everyone wanted a turn with little Yoda...
Helen was going to be an ewok, but that didn't last long enough for a picture.
Then for the best part of all: The trick-or-treating.
Another fun year for the record books.  
I was exhausted, but birthdays can't wait for tired moms...