May The Force Be With You!!!

Glory to God in the highest!

What a fantastic day we had yesterday at the Monkeys' Birthday Bash! We celebrated all of their birthdays with one giant party [they get small family parties on their actual birthday]. They wanted a Star Wars Theme and it was definitely a day of Jedi Jubilation!

I was a little worried - we had 17 adults and 43 kids in attendance.... and our house isn't really that big. And the forecast called for rain. :) God smiled on us in such a nice way - giving us the small Grace of holding off the downpour until the party was over. Instead, we had an overcast day [which was great - not as hot as July in Atlanta usually is!], and only a few sprinkles here and there. The kids were able to take full advantage of the back yard and they had a blast!!!

The children were all invited to come in costume if they wanted to. Here are the monkeys in their costumes:

Monkey1 came as Padme Amidala in Episode 2. [That would be Luke and Leia's mama, wife of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader..... for those who are NOT Star Wars Geeks. :) ]


Monkey2 came as Luke Skywalker. He had a very difficult time deciding between Luke and Anakin. Eventually he decided to be Luke since Anakin did do that whole "going over to the Dark Side" thing. My friend Cyndi made the Jedi costume - isn't it great?!


Monkey3 came as Princess Leia. She was so cute! She's very happy here because Darth Vader has just been defeated and the Republic has been saved. :)


Monkey4 was supposed to be an Ewok. You can see her cuteness in this pre-party photo. Unfortunately, she shed her Ewok skin before any party goers arrived and decided to be a Sith Lord instead [again, a Sith is a powerful "bad guy" Jedi for the uninitiated]. More in keeping with her personality I guess. LOL!


Here is the whole crew, along with Chewbacca [Sage - who really does look like a Wookie!]. We couldn't get our Wookie to stand up for the photo though!

Here are some of the early arrivals. Aren't they all so cute? I never did get a photo of ALL the kids together - just too many to organize into a photo shoot. We had some AWESOME costumes though - we had several Princess Leias, a couple of Amidala's, numerous Jedi, and even a very authentic Darth Vader and a Clone Trooper!!! It was so fun to see the kids all dressed up!


This is the cake. My friend Cyndi made this. I think she deserves a crown as "Queen of Amazing Cake Making" or something for this feat - is this not the coolest cake you have ever seen? She hand sculpted all the Monkeys' characters out of fondant and placed them on top of the cake, with a giant modeling chocolate death star looming over their heads - it was fantastic! It is hard to tell in the photo just how incredible this cake was - but it really was. The kids were THRILLED [and so was I!].


This was the "spare" cake Cyndi made since there were 60 people coming. I thought this cake was cool too - perfect for the party!

And both cakes were *delicious* - they not only looked awesome, they tasted great. And there was plenty to go around.


The highlight of the party for many of the kids was the beating of Darth Vader's head with light sabers. We started with the youngest and worked our way up. Unfortunately we needed more than one pinata I think because the older kids never got a shot at smacking old Vader - the younger kids were so exuberant in their fight against the Dark Side that he was smashed to pieces before we got through the 8 year olds!

Here is Luke beating Darth Vader.


Monkey1 was actually the one who got to fell the "death blow". Darth Vader had already been seriously wounded and she gave him one ferocious smack with her light saber and he burst into pieces. And candy went everywhere. And the kids went crazy.


Here is Monkey5, who was very overwhelmed by the whole thing but was still an incredibly good baby all day [in spite of having an ear infection - give that kid a medal!]. She is being held by her very sweaty daddy who had just been fighting off hordes of Jedi in the back yard. LOL!


Our Wookie had a great day too. Sage was so excited she almost burst when so many people came over. She had to spend about half an hour in her crate just to calm down. She was going from person to person pawing them frantically for pets - SO many people who had not yet petted her, it was really stressing her out trying to get to them all! Unfortunately when she paws, she scratches pretty hard with her toenails. So, she went into the crate for a half hour and calmed down, and then she roamed freely going [nicely] from person to person getting pets. She behaved very well after her initial cool off period, and the kids all just LOVED her. Something about collies and kids... there is definitely an attraction there. Here you can see one of our beautiful Amidalas petting our happy wookie.

Ooh - and there was a surprise too! Only the kids who hung around to the very end got to see it, but concealed inside the modeling chocolate death star was none other than *Darth Vader* himself!!! It was so cool! Then we got to see Obi Wan Kenobi bite Darth's head off and eat him up. Macabre and amusing all at the same time LOL!

These are the God Twins. :) On the left is Obi Wan Kenobi and on the right is Luke Skywalker. Obi Wan is the son of my friend Cyndi [the amazing woman who made both the cakes and the Jedi costumes], and he and Monkey2 were born on the exact same day. He is quite the charming young man, and he and Monkey2 are inseparable.

And here is the most gifted Cyndi herself! [::Applause::] She was handing out slices of the 20 pizzas we got from Dominos to all the ravenous children! LOL!

Here are Monkeys 4, 3, 2, and 1 getting ready to blow out the candles on their special cake.

That cake was so good it was a shame to use silverware. ;)

Here are the kids jumping on the trampoline. Amazingly nobody got hurt. The only casualty we had all day was Monkey2 who got accidentally hit in the head with a light saber. He was fine after a bit of boo-boo ice.

And I have to make a comment on that. We had 43 children here, all of them armed. And they were SO good. That is quite a statement.

And you know why I think that is? I think it is because EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM was HOMESCHOOLED. There you have it. Call me bias if you like, but those kids were all outstanding - they were all KIND to one another, they all had impeccable manners, they were intelligent, interesting, and just a really fun crowd. Many times I saw kids choose to put others first, allow smaller kids to win, or give up things for the sake of another child.

Not one kid behaved badly all day. [Did I mention they were here for 5 hours with copious amounts of chocolate and cake and surrounded by an overwhelming amount of high energy?!]. And when the party was over, they were all sad, but all very kindly came up to me one by one and thanked me for inviting them to the party and told me they had a great time. I mean seriously - how awesome is that?

All their mamas [and daddies] should be proud because they are doing an incredible job.

I am feeling a bit of irony in my reflection on yesterday. The name of the first Star Wars movie ever made was "Star Wars: A New Hope". And I am feeling so deeply that these good homeschooled children ARE "The New Hope" in a most serious and profound way. Our world needs these children - and Praise and Glory to God that these children are being reared up to be outstanding individuals - to be the Light of Christ to a world that so desperately needs them. They are gentlemen and ladies most sincerely and I thank the Lord for each and every one of them.

Their parents aren't bad either! ;) I was awed and amazed by the kindness and generosity of the adults yesterday too. In the first place, I've already mentioned Cyndi - she's the monkeys' Godmother and she worked so hard to make their day special. She and her husband Bob are such a blessing to our family in so many ways. But the other families who came yesterday were also so incredible. Other dear friends of ours brought these amazing fruit trays - massive amounts of fruit that the children [and adults] just devoured. Likewise, other friends brought a huge veggie platter and dip. Every single family that came offered to bring something - many calling as they left their homes to see if we needed them to pick up anything on the way. We had friends here who brought drinks, spare tables, ice.... the list goes on. And we didn't ask any of them to do this, they just thought of what might be needed and provided it!

The monkeys had asked all their guests to bring a donation to "Everything for a Family with Nothing" to the party instead of bringing gifts. The kids were so happy to be able to do that, and I was proud of them - not once did any of them complain that they weren't getting presents, they asked for the donations with hearts truly full of joy and excitement at being able to give these donations to another family in need.

When the kids started opening the gifts brought by their guests at the end of the party, I was just awed. In fact, when I sat down after the party and totalled it all up, I just burst into tears. These kind and generous families gave so abundantly and unexpectedly - it was incredible. We were hoping to raise maybe $100, expecting each family to bring $5 or 10 for a donation. At the end of the night, the total donations for the day totaled $502.00. Can you believe that? I was stunned!

I am awed and humbled and so grateful to be in the presence of such kind and giving people - I thank God that He has blessed me with such friends. In no way do I deserve such a gift, and I am grateful to the bottom of my toes.

I am also grateful for the precious and loving children Jesus has blessed me with and my sweet and generous husband - I am gifted beyond all measure and it brings tears to my eyes to contemplate just how blessed I truly am.

It was a great day! Happy Birthday little Monkeys!!! I love you SO MUCH!