8 is Great

The Force is strong with this one.

And by Force, I mean gas.

Today Addison turned 8.  October 1st the count down to the Star Wars/Clone Wars/Lego party began.  Addison created a count down calendar to mark off the days.  Finally, the day arrived, we revealed our big gift (a trampoline), our friends arrived, and a special guest made an appearance.  Fun times were had by all.

American Academy of Pediatrics be damned.  I’m not letting them spoil my trampoline fun.  Seriously, how long have kids been bouncing on trampolines?  And they just now decide to advise parents against buying them?  AAP, you can take your hoity-toity, educated recommendations and smoke it.  My best friend in high school had a trampoline and we had some awesome times on it and lived to tell the tale.  I may be singing a different tune if any of us break an elbow but for now one at a time please and have as much fun as you can.

Those are some tough looking Jedi.  They talk a big game until they saw who was coming around the corner.

Dear Husband cued up the music, turned it up loud and it was game on.

Addison didn’t want to fight Darth Vader.  I’m not sure if he was embarrassed, a little scared or thought it was dorky.  I had to practically drag him into the group shot.  Harry and the rest of the boys were up the challenge and Dear Husband geeked out just a little bit.

I rented this costume from a costume shop in OKC.  I decided to spring for the more expensive model because of the cool factor.  And it was super cool.  It also helps if you have a friend who is 6’6″ and is just as excited about being Darth Vader as the kids are about seeing him.

Happy birthday my dear, sweet boy.  Every year I want to freeze him right where he is but he just keeps growing.  I have a theme song for this precious face.  I sang it to him when he was tee-tiny and I still hear it in my head when I check on him at night and listen to him breath.  The last line of the song…”the greatest thing you’ll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return.”