It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

...which means I'm feeling behind.  The challenge of having family spread across the country is that you lose a week or more of shopping - because you have to save time to ship.  I got smart and ordered a number of things online and had them shipped directly, but there are still a couple of boxes to go out.

That's what I'm supposed to be doing right now.  I'm blogging.  Procrastinate much?

I have some much belated pictures from William's birthday to share.  We went with a Star Wars theme.  Pipe insulation light sabers (customized with colored electrical tape), origami Yodas and Darth Papers (inspired by the books of the same names), light saber cupcakes, and the piece de resistance, custom stormtrooper balloons decorated by Rachel.  They were all different - she googled stormtrooper images and we had everyone from the Clone Troopers to Forest Scouts to Darth Vader himself.

The weather was surprisingly warm for a November birthday, so we threw the boys in the backyard with their light sabers, and tied the balloons to weights all over the yard.  You'd be surprised how much they got into "attacking" the stormtroopers - although poor Darth Vader, after 20 minutes or more of painstaking work by Rachel, ended up an early casualty.  One of the boys whacked him repeatedly and enthusiastically, and he popped quickly.  The others lasted longer - one was accidentally released to the wild, and several actually survived the battle.

After pizza and cupcakes, we plugged them into a Lego Clone Wars DVD.  Worked well as a time filler while the parents trickled in.

Seems like just yesterday... but it was the middle of November - which may explain why I'm gobsmacked that Christmas is so close.