May The Force Be With You

I don't know how it happened, Clark tried to claim that we just weren't a "Star Wars family," but the pandemonium that has been "The Force Awakens" this year caught like wildfire at our home.  Before December the boys had played a Lego Star Wars game on the Wii from time to time, and they owned a light saber or two but that was about it.  Now it is all light sabers all the time!  This week while the big boys were at school, Quinn was around the corner from me playing and I heard him say, "I'm so proud of you Jedi Quinny (pause) thanks Yoda."   

 

Ethan had been begging for weeks for us to take him to see the new Star Wars movie...we weren't really planning on it because it's rated PG-13, he hadn't seen the other movies, he has never watched anything other than very tame G-rated (usually animated) movies, and he has a tender heart and doesn't like confrontation...even in preschool shows like Paw Patrol.  

I suppose we were so wrapped up in the Christmas spirit that when cousin Scarlett sent the boys a movie gift card and they begged to go see Star Wars we just couldn't say no.  So many of their other little friends had seen it after all...no big deal.  The original plan was for me to take Quinn to a different movie at the same time, but then Quinn was crushed because he wanted to see Star Wars and I didn't want to miss out on a family togetherness event...so we all went.  

Call it crazy, call it a brain lapse, call it a major parenting fail...but Star Wars it was!  When we got to the theater it was packed, so we had to set in the very front row.  Talk about an intense first "real" movie!  If you ask the boys today they will all tell you they loved it!  Quinn probably did the best of all, he cheered when they mentioned Yoda, and yelled out a time or two, "let the force be with you."  Caden snuggled on Clark's lap and did great.  And then there was poor Ethan next to me.  His imagination is as big as the sky, so this movie was completely real to him.  At one point he bolted to the bathroom.  In the hall I reminded him that the movie wasn't real, he didn't believe me.  He said, "mom, those are real people...what do you mean it's not real?"  I tried to explain special effects in 30 seconds, but I could tell he wasn't buying it and he wanted to get back to the show.  A few other times he yelled out, "I want to leave, " so I offered to take him out, but then he was back glued to the screen saying "no, I don't want to leave."  There was a lot of eye covering, grimacing, and maybe even a tear or two, I couldn't even distract him with a treat from my purse.  At this point I was feeling pretty guilty just sure that this night would mark the end of his innocent childhood.  But the movie ended and with a big grin on his face he said, "that was awesome."  He woke us up after having one nightmare that night, but I felt that was fair, I deserved it.  Now he's back to normal, wielding a light saber and ruling his galaxy. 

Ethan and Caden worked hard Saturday morning to make a stop motion Star Wars video.  They were so proud of the final results it was like Christmas morning all over again!  They especially loved when I posted it on Youtube so they could watch it on the big screen.  

Here is their masterpiece:

I thought when I came out of the bathroom this evening looking like Princess Leia my boys would be impressed.  They weren't.

The force is strong in these boys for sure!

Sunbeam

In January Quinn graduated from the Nursery at church and became a Sunbeam in the Primary.  He was pretty excited that he gets to join his big brothers for Sharing Time and Singing Time.  I love to hear him sing, “Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam.”

I think this picture is a pretty accurate capture of our Sunbeam...fun and funny, loving to be in the middle of the action.  

 The following picture captures the Sunbeam everyone see at church.  According to his teacher he's pretty quiet, takes it all in, and doesn't make a peep.

Either way, he's still cute to me!  Quinn at age 3 is so fun.  He is my favorite little buddy during the day while his brothers are at school.  He has an old soul and talks to me like a little man.

He’s growing up so fast.  He's at an easy age, cooperative and fun to take places.  He's potty trained now and sleeping in a big boy bed.  Even though he knows he's a big guy, he still appreciates his spot as the baby of the family.  If one of his brother’s has found a spot on my lap, or is snuggling by me, he quickly comes up and worms his way into a little spot.  

Because of his allergies and asthma when he gets a little cold it usually escalates quickly and he struggles breathing.  Between those issues and a few bouts with the stomach flu I’ve been spending a lot of nights lately in Quinn’s bed with him.  As much as I don’t get a good night sleep those nights, I have to admit that he has me wrapped around his little finger.  He’s just so sweet.  The other night I woke up to something touching my face and realized it was Quinn’s little stuffed horse.  He was giving me kisses with his horse.  He woke me up another time to tell me his lion blankie wasn’t covering his toes all the way.  

I mean how could you not want to snuggle with this little face.

Quinn's first time roller skating at the boys' school skate night.  I thought we would be going as spectators...but there was no way Quinn was just going to sit on the side and watch.

Sometimes Quinn lectures his Radio Flyer horse.  Tonight he tattled on him.  He said, "mom, Bullseye Frederick Lightning Johnson peed on our new carpet."  He's a funny duck.  I love hearing what comes out of his mouth.

New Year's in Durango

We were so happy that we got to spend the New Year's weekend in Durango.  We got there just in time to ring in the New Year with our Durango family!

The boys love to play with their cousins in Durango.  These boys loved having a boy's night!

We loved having tons of snow to play in!  Clark and Derek got the snowmobiles fired up and there was enough snow to sled around the fields.

Quinn asked multiple times if we could leave him in Durango.  He loves the horses and the cows.  He talks about cows constantly.  So having Grandpa to tell him about the cows just made his whole year!