Party with Ethan, you must!

Last year after Ethan's crazy huge Dragon party I told Ethan that he'd only be having big parties every other year (that's how my family did it) and that on off years he could have a small 2 person activity- like take 2 friends to the zoo or something. Unfortunately Taylor vetoed that plan and wants us to let the kids have parties for as long as they still want them. He (and lots of our friends who I polled) assures me that by 10 or 11 he'll not want big parties anymore so I might as well enjoy them while he does.
My one stipulation when Taylor insisted was that he HAD to be there and run some of the activities which he assured me he would. And in fairness the party last year would have been a lot easier if he had been there to help but unfortunately he was with Miles in the ER. So bright and early Saturday morning I was cleaning and getting things ready for the party and noticed Miles walking down the hallway spitting and spitting and drooling all over himself. When I backtracked his steps I found a 1/2 empty trial vial of perfume he'd found in a zipped pouch inside a closed drawer inside my bedroom where the door should have been closed. So I had to call poison control to see if we needed to rush him to the ER to get his stomach pumped. Which of course would mean no Taylor at the party AGAIN! But luckily he only drank a small amount and should only be slightly drunk (perfume is apparently concentrated alcohol- fun) and didn't need his stomach pumped but might need some extra supervision. Of course!
So Taylor got to stay and the party was great. It snowed AGAIN so we had to keep things indoors. We started by coloring Star Wars pages I downloaded from the internet, then Taylor took them all downstairs to watch a short episode from the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoons Ethan is in love with. I should stipulate that this was actually a Clone Wars party since Ethan has never actually seen the real movies.
After a quick episode and some instructions on how Jedi's behave (we don't hit others) Taylor broke out the light sabers and let the kids practice their saber skills.
A little bit of chaos and a lot of fun with 15 five and 6 year olds.

Practicing proper landings on the bean bag.

Trying to keep balloons off the floor.

Miles was banned partway through because he wouldn't stop hitting others with his lightsaber.

Luckily Grandpa came along to help him hit balloons instead of guests.

And then we were all hungry so we broke out the ice cream cake that Ethan requested and I made. It was actually pretty easy- just select the 3 flavor of ice cream you want, melt one and pour it into a spring form pan, then let freeze and repeat with the other 2 layers. I also crushed up oreos to add some texture to the middle. Lastly frost with whip cream and decorate with sprinkles and Star Wars figures. Super easy and YUMMY! Okay so it was a little weird tasting because Ethan chose chocolate, strawberry, and birthday cake blast as his flavors, but it was a cake for a 6 year old so it fit.

We barely fit all the kids around the table. It was fun to listen to them all chat and make jokes and laugh. 7 of the kids are on Ethan's soccer team and it was fun to see them all together in a setting where they can play more freely. This year just like last year I kind of got put in my place. After finally agreeing to even do a party this year I told Ethan he could only pick 6 kids. Taylor again vetoed this and said that at least 2 people from each school and church had to come (so they'd at least each have 1 friend they knew besides Ethan) and that the entire soccer team had to be invited. In the end that made 15 kids including my 3 boys (it's not like you can exclude a brother). It sounded insane and too much to me again but just like last year, after it was all said and done, the parents that spoke to me and were the most grateful for us inviting their kids, are the parents of kids I NEVER would have thought to invite. I don't consider them his CLOSE friends. But what I'm realizing (again) is that Ethan has lots of friends and gets invited to lots of parties so I make the assumption that everyone does. But everyone doesn't. And so even if Ethan's not best friends with all these kids, maybe they don't care. Maybe they're just happy to be included since that doesn't happen as often as I'd assume. So we'll probably keep doing these crazy parties. In the end it was over in 2 hours and they all loved it.

Cake wouldn't have been complete without Yoda Soda and Jedi Juice. After food we opened presents and played BINGO (no pictures since it was a little insane trying to help them all find the right pictures.)

Ethan made out like a Star Wars bandit. Apparently Star Wars party means star wars gifts. Which I won't complain about since he got several duplicates and therefore sharing will be a little easier.

Yep, even 2 Captain Rex helmets. Isaac instantly claimed one for himself.

Miles tried to convice everyone that one of them should be for him, but come on, he can't even keep it on! "I've got a big head and wittle arms, I'm just not shure how well thoughout this plan was!"

After the party we had agreed to a night of vegging. We got pizza and watched the first Star Wars movie so Ethan could officially say he'd seen at least 1 of them.

A fun day. Lots of energy but lots of fun!