New Year, New Obsession...please?

New Years Eve is the night for a BIG celebration, right?  So just how did Milt and I party it up and invite in the new year?  Oh you know -we sat home and watched the first original Star Wars movie (Episode IV) with the kids.  It was their first time ever seeing a REAL Star Wars movie, and it was quite the experience.  It is pretty funny how obsessed Maddox is, considering he'd never even seen the movies before now...and now that he's seen a couple of them he's gotten even more crazy about it all! 

After last year when it seemed like EVERYTHING we did was Star Wars related (Valentines, Easter, Father's Day, Birthdays, Christmas, etc....), I was hoping we'd move on to a new obsession for 2011.  Apparently, that's not going to happen.  The girls have become FULL-FLEDGED Star Wars geeks, oh, I mean "fans" along with Milt and Maddox.  Milt assures me that's a good thing because it will just make them the cream of the crop to meet "quality" guys to marry (quality = smart & financially sound). Apparently smart guys want a girl who is good-looking AND who can identify the difference between a tie-fighter and an X-wing.  Heaven help us!

Kennedy is the one who is the most surprising Jedi-wannabe. She is such a little diva/princess everyday, so you wouldn't think it, but she is just as Star Wars obsessed as the rest of them!  It is absolutely appalling how much she understands and talks about Star Wars.  She was deep in thought the other day, and she looked up and asked me what exactly it was that made Anakin decide he didn't want to be a good guy anymore.  I'm starting to worry that she sees the lure from the power of the dark side.  And I am so not kidding.

When Kennedy and Maddox came up and told me that they want to change their names to Luke and Leia, I realized it's too late for them.  They "play" Star Wars almost every day, and we always hear them calling each other Luke and Leia (well, Maddox pronounces it "Lay-la.").  Milt hears it and just about bursts with pride at how great he thinks it all is. It takes just about everything I have to stop myself from calling a child psychologist for counseling!  THEY WANT TO PERMANENTLY CHANGE THEIR NAMES TO LUKE AND LEIA - I think that's a red flag that it's time for an intervention!

And Kennedy, who innately knows exactly what will push someone's buttons the most, is constantly messing with Maddox by whispering things like, "Anakin is Darth Vader. He's a baaaaad guuuuyyyyy."  Maddox of course screams and yells NO at the top of his lungs and lunges for her.  It's delightful.  What kind of kid messes with her little brother like that?  And who would have thought that second Darth Vader mask would come in so handy?  Now I see TWO little lightsaber-carrying kids with Darth Vader masks on walk by me in the hall when I'm doing the laundry (one of whom is wearing a dress and doesn't have a real lightsaber yet).  Talk about disconcerting.

The kicker of it all is that I get Star Wars questions all day long like "how exactly does the Empire build a Death Star in the middle of outer space" and "why they don't make pastel pink lightsabers for the girl Jedi"...things like that.  Or even, "Do they still freeze people in carbonite?" Seriously?  First, this is a fictional world -- IT IS NOT REAL.  And I must say at least 3 times a day that I am not Daddy, and Star Wars questions are not in my area of expertise (and the fact that I often know the answers to their questions makes me so depressed! It's just not right!)  I might grab a lightsaber every now and again to play with the kids, but it just feels wrong.  I apparently do not have any innate Jedi powers.

McKinley loves it just as much as always (anything she can do with Daddy!), so she joins right in with the little kids too.  When Kennedy asked me who Luke's dad is, McKinley frantically yelled at me not to spoil the surprise (it was before we had watched Empire Strikes Back.)  They were counting down last week until Saturday when they got to watch Return of the Jedi with Milt for the first time.  It's only getting worse!  But her favorite thing is making Star Wars shaped pancakes every Saturday with Milt (thanks to our friend Elizabeth in New Orleans for sending the Star Wars presents)!

Here is the video of Maddox watching the intro to A New Hope (Star Wars IV).  I've never seen him get so into watching a show....EVER!  And yes, I realize I'm video-taping a kid WATCHING a movie, but you had to see it!  It was like he was controlled by the Force the whole time and couldn't even look away from the screen!  (I know, I used a SW reference.  It's that bad).

And this is just a little glimpse at Kennedy's new favorite dress-up outfit and Maddox pretending he is Luke.  They seriously talk like this all day when they play with each other.  All. Day. Long.  Cause Kennedy's going to "feat Darf Vada."

And then Milt's brother Roger sent the kids pictures of himself and his wife Jamie being captured by stormtroopers at a convention....everyone is fueling the Star Wars madness!  The kids are so worried about them!  Star Wars is just pretend, right?