This past year Connor has been really into Star Wars, so we did a Star Wars themed birthday party per his request. We started out the morning with Connor and Kaylee helping to decorate the marshmallows to make them look like storm troopers. They had a fun time making them and they turned out super cute. I went easy this year and just got store bought cupcakes from Dicks Marketplace.

Ashlynn had fun eating all the marshmallows while we decorated.

We then let Connor play his favorite Star Wars game on the Wii for a bit. Kaylee joined in. She wasn't really into it when he first started playing it, but over the past few months she has started to get the hang of it and really likes to play. Kaylee prefers playing it alone however; because her brother plays it so much so he likes to be a little controlling on where they go and who they need to fight etc.

Ashlynn wanted to play too; so we gave her a remote control and let her pretend she was playing along.

Dad took the day off work and went and picked up his gift from us....a NEW BIKE! Connor had been asking for a Rocket bike just like his best friend Jed. According to Connor the Rocket bikes are really really fast.

The bike is a little big for his tiny little body, but he hops on and rides it pretty good. It should last him for a bit.

Dad and Grandma Tenney went and picked up the water slide we rented and got it set up in the backyard. Since the party didn't start till after lunch, we invited Connors friend Jed to come over early as well as the across the street younger neighbor twins to come play with Ashlynn.

Ashlynn has been loving having friends pretty close to her age live across the street. They have a summer birthday so they barely make the cut off to go to school a year above Ashlynn however; so that will be hard when they are in school and she isn't. But for now, they love playing with each other and they are so cute to watch interact with one another.

Connor came in to help me with the last minute set up and decorations. He had to try out the photo prop and make sure it looked cool ;) Since it had been a busy morning, we made the kids come in for quiet time while Ashlynn took her nap before the party started. Connor still get's pretty tired if he doesn't take a minute for some quiet time.

Thanks Pinterest for all the creative Star wars themed ideas.

Connor invited a few friends from school as well as some neighborhood kids and previous friends from before we moved. He always has a huge list of kids he could invite, and its hard for him to narrow it down. That kid can make a friend with anyone with his sweet and tender heart. He is just so easy going and gets along with everybody.

Here are a few action shots of all the fun the kids had playing on the slide

I put dad in charge of doing the games with the kids. I forgot what we called this game; but we put one of the star wars toys we had lying around in some water and froze it. The kids then got to use squirt guns to try to get the guy out of the water. 

L-R (Carlos, Light, Connor, Taylor, Everette, and Evi)

Jed and Eric

June

Grandma Tenney

Uncle Nate

My amazing friend Nina was in town from Texas during Connor's party, so we invited them to come join!! They didn't have swim suits, so we let them borrow some. It was so so good to see Nina and catch up a little at the party.

Aunt Anya and cousin Light

Opening presents 

(far left is Jaxton and to the left of him next to Taylor is his cousin Logan)

Taylor, Evi and Katelynn

My sister Angela came a little later with all of her kids. It was a fun day.

After A LOT of convincing and begging I finally convinced BJ it was time to get a new bed. The mattress we were using was given to us when we were first married (10 years ago) from my brother and his wife. They had also received it early on in their marriage from someone else. Needless to say I have no idea how old it is, but it was time for a new one. Downeast had a good sale going on but the one we wanted was gone. I went back a week later and they had a mattress similar but it was the newer version of it. It was on sale as well, so I tried it out and felt like it was the mattress for us. I also wanted the Downeast bed frame but it was pretty pricey, so we settled with an Ikea bed frame we found off of KSL for pretty cheap. 

So here is our before picture of our bed...

And here is the after! Once we laid it out we weren't supposed to sleep on it for a good 24 hours later. The bed has springs but also made of memory foam. THIS BED IS SOO COMFORTABLE! My back was killing me every morning I woke up with our old bed, but this one I haven't had my back hurt since we got it. It is a king mattress and is taking a little getting used to size wise. Don't get me wrong I love the fact that I don't have to worry about BJ elbowing me in the eye while I am sleeping, but he does seem really far away now. We both sleep on the edges of the bed and while I am pregnant it is not easy to scoot over to him and then get out of bed to pee in the night. But overall I LOVE it and I think even though BJ still thinks we didn't need a new mattress....he loves it too.

The kids had fun trying out baseball this season. Connor loved having his good friend Jed on his team. They were hilarious to watch. They would play in the dirt out in the outfield and they were ALWAYS sitting down. The coaches were so patient and good with all the kids.

Connor learned a lot and actually has a really really good swing. He didn't hit a ton of balls, but his stance is really good. I think he will do well in baseball if he wants to pursue it again next year.

 Kaylee had a pretty good time with her team as well. She unfortunately didn't know anybody on her team and their were a lot of boys who were all good friends. This was also her first experience with baseball so she hated that she wasn't as good a hitter as some of the other kids on her team. I was soo proud of her going out and playing each day. I know it wasn't easy, but she made the best of it. One day she stayed after practice and practiced batting with her coach. She attempted to hit several balls and only ended up hitting one, but she never gave up. During one of her games she got hit pretty hard in the face and it made her cry. But she wiped the tears off and jumped right back in to play. This was such a good learning experience for her.