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!