Well, it was some kind of "Force" ...

OK, party update ... After a dark and dreary start to the morning, it turned out to be one of the most beautiful days of the summer. I woke up tired and rushed through the first part of the day in some kind of frantic fog. Last minute prep, the Open House for Aidan's school, blah blah blah ... I was a summer-skirted whirlwind.

In a nutshell, the party went very well. It was a lot of hard work -- way, way more challenging than I thought. Grace whined and cried the entire time -- it drove me up a wall. I rarely deal with more than three children at a time, so having a small congregation of them -- all jumpy and crazy and loud and jittery with excitement -- was a "Force" that pushed me to my personal limits (if not beyond).

There were, in fact, a few learning moments throughout the afternoon ...

Top 10 Things I Got Out of Yesterday's Party:

1. I was, once again, faced with the absolute affirmation that I am not, and never will be, supposed to be a teacher. An hour and a half of only 6 young children drove me to the medicine cabinet later that evening.

2. Don't ever think that your child won't throw a tantrum at his own party, just because he didn't pick the Blue Team tag out of Darth Vader's helmet.

3. Don't be fooled that kids know what they want. If they don't like the way you envisioned a game, they will tell you.

4. Don't ever buy another piñata. That super-cool Darth Vader head that hung so perfectly from our clothes-line was a huge waste of money. We figured 3 whacks per kids should do the trick. The Birthday Boy got to go first, of course, so with eyes covered and light saber in hand, he set to work. One ... two ... head splits open and candy flies all over the place. Soooo not worth the disappointment.

5. A homemade cake is just fine!

6. Heck, don't even bother with the cake part. Just stick the tub of icing on the table with a candle. That's all they want. I passed out plates of cake. I was given back plates of cake ... minus the icing on top.

7. I have the coolest husband in the world. See photos below. I'm not the only one who thinks so. Don had to email his colleagues, letting them know he'd be away from the phone for part of the afternoon. Of course, he told them why. He was immediately bombarded with a hundred responses from his awe-struck co-workers. I think he rose a few notches more in their estimation -- "this is one cool newbie!" Must be a techno-geek thing.

8. Minus the sporadic moments of aggravation, we did have a really great time.

9. I was reminded once again how much of a reward it is to see your child's eyes shining with sheer joy.

10. I don't know if I will ever do this again.

This was up Don's proverbial alley ... seriously. This was one Star Wars Soundtrack rockin' party!

Part of the obstacle course ... er, um, I mean the "Jedi Light Saber Training Course." After a quick poll, I was informed that this was one of the highlights.
Here we have Matias crawling through the Tunnel of Doom. He must then head toward those 2 little chairs and jump over the light saber that is laid between them. Then he goes to the shovel and steps on it, shooting the light saber up into the air and (hopefully) into his hands ...

... Annika demonstrates the next leg of the Course -- after catching the light saber, she then ran to the trampoline (not pictured), did a few jumps, and then had to come up with her own specialized "Jedi Jump" (or dismount), readying herself to battle Darth Vader.
With iPhone in hand, Vader and the Young Padawan clashed and battled, with seriously awesome sound effects ...

Phew. I'm tired just remembering all of this. The latter half of the "Jedi Academy" involved water games and relays ... always a big hit.

A highlight for my dear boy ... being surrounded by his friends. Seriously -- having great friends is a huge gift for him. When I asked him what he liked most about his party, he said one of the things that meant the most was having friends.

Worth it?

Absolutely.

But it's going to take me another week to recuperate.