how my brother corrupted his niece

my brother patrick doesnt have children, but he does his best to mess with the minds of his nieces and nephews.

case in point...

a princess stormtrooper. (helen)

since star wars episode 3 (swe3) is her favorite, 'bapple', as she calls him, he made her a birthday cake NEVER to be forgotten!

bapple and helen.

need a closer look at the cake?

yes, that is anikan skywalker falling into the lava on mustafar. (i had to google the name of the planet. im a pro on the original sw movies, not so much on the newer ones.)

di is like a treasure hunt!

my youngest loves going to di now. he knows that there will be at least one star wars toy there he can talk me into buying. here is the latest...
it was marked at $1.50 and i just found it on amazon
here for $54.95! yup.
mine was a ton cheaper and the plastic wrap was still on the cards! a lovely di worker did use packing tape to close the box and it ripped while opening, but oh well.
and yes, we have played it and i have beat BOTH of my star wars expert kids.
thats right. i have more knowledge about episodes 4-6 than a 6 and a 9 yr old.
im pretty proud of that.

here is nate just playing with the 'people'. somehow, i am always princess leia.

dont tell ed and wendi!

now, my kids are star wars geeks.

so are their uncles (my brothers).

but there is a whole different class of geek-dom when it comes to our friend ed.

i dont want to embarrass wendi, but he has a whole room of star wars stuff. and he plays with it.

yup-someone like that can actually get married! and have kids!

ed and wendi have 3 beautiful girls.  just adorable.

now they are finally have a boy. and now ed can stop trying to geek-a-fy his daughters and just work on his son.

because i want to help ed with his star wars obsession (im a closeted star wars fan. but only episodes 4-6), i thought the PERFECT baby gift would be a light saber. but since they dont let padawons play with the real thing, im made a stuffed one.

i used a toliet paper roll as the template for the handle. because, really, i dont know what size handle light sabers come in for infants.

i also used the tp roll to make a slightly bigger circle for the bottom of the lightsaber.

i was pretty technical with this part...i used a measuring tape as a guide to taper the green saber (or maybe it is the light) part of the weapon. it ended up being about 22" from top to bottom.

here is where it gets tricky...i made two of these trying to get it right.

but of course, i figured it out and the BEST and easiest way for me to do it was to sew the green and black fabric together first, then flip it inside out and make the cone shape.

i used a ton of stuffing so it is a hard-ish pillow. i got out one of my wodden spoons to really pack it in there.

i hand stitched the bottom circle on because i couldnt come up with a better way to do it.

because all lightsabers need gadgets on them, i used fabric paint to draw somelines and dots on the handle.

this is my 9 year old, parker, holding the little light saber. he told me that he was trying to look like a baby and that is why he has a goofy face.

gee-i thought it was genetics...

and, full disclosure here, this was me halloween 2009 as princess leia.

yup, i made this. (my friend mary helped me with the hair)

i made chris be han solo, but he has on a really bad wig and i thought id be nice and not show it here.

(but if you really want to see it, click here!)

and my kids halloween 2008 as jedis.

yup i made these too. and the pattern has made the rounds of the neighborhood so there are many jedi costumes running around!

so i guess i really shouldnt tease ed all that much.

 


































 
 

the end of the star wars room!

well, nate's room is done. for now at least. here are some highlights. this is right as you first walk into the room. you see his star wars death star art, his non-star wars book (we will get to the star wars ones in a minute) and his magnet board.

then we have his AMAZING clone trooper pillow. nate put his pillow sidewas for the photo. whatever...

here is nate's star wars book library on his dresser. which actually was is aunt mindy's dresser as a kid. then it became parker's now it is nates. it gets around. the frame is holding the peice of film from this post. just where it ended up.

and lastly, here is the corner near his bed. the vinyl on the wall says '3...2...1...blastoff' from years ago. there are some star wars things and some just boy/kids/nate stuff up here.

you cant see it but the worlds coolest star wars clock is right above the poster.

whew...we are DONE! thanks for haning in there with me!

and im not starting another room again until it gets too unbearablely hot ouside. so july.

im linking up with keeping it simple