How to Make a Lightsaber for $7

Wapley and I saw this lightsaber from Pottery Barn Kids and we fell in love with it.....but not the price. So, I decided I would try to make my own. I went to Home Depot and walked around until I could come up with ideas for materials to build it with. I finally decided that PVC pipe would be the cheapest and easiest to work with. I played around with the different pieces and came home with this little assembly:


First, you want to spray the small long piece red, and all the other pieces black. After they dry, you can assemble them to look like this. Just ignore the random piece of fabric in the corner, I don't really know why it is there...


Don't forget to buy a piece to put on the tip of the lightsaber to give it a rounded edge. Sorry, I am not familiar with PVC pipe piece names, but you can see the little red piece in the picture above and below. Just hot glue it on the end. Next, we move on to the handle:


All you need is some silver paint, and popsicle sticks or tongue depressors. Paint with the silver as you wish; I chose to paint the upper handle silver and then just make stripes on the larger part. Take three of the sticks and cut them in half. Place one horizontal on the handle and then stack the remaining 5 and glue them together. It should look something like this:



Then, paint the single piece silver and the stack black and add two silver buttons. Also, I chose to add glow in the dark paint on top of the red paint to make it extra fun. You can see the streaky paint drying in the pic:


Here is the glow in the dark paint I used. Can't wait for tonight to see how it looks!




I then hammered on the back some little picture frame hangers, and hung it on the wall. Done! Total cost: $7



Wednesday was Gum's first day of preschool. She was SO excited to go!


She had a great first day and loved playing with her friends! Now if only Wapley felt the same way about school....

How to make a Star Wars Shirt

Now that Wapley is at school all day, my priority (according to Wapley) is obviously making Star Wars things for him. I decided to try and start making shirts for him, since now that he is in school he is just going to ruin them anyways; this option is much cheaper. Total cost to make this shirt: $4.

I saw this R2D2 shirt at Old Navy a few months ago that I wanted to buy for him, but it sold out in his size. So, this shirt was my inspiration.

First, you need a plain shirt, freezer paper, an exacto knife, and screen print paint.



Draw any Star Wars design that you want on a piece of paper. And yes, it must be Star Wars. Then, place the freezer paper over top of your drawing, shiny side down and trace your image onto the freezer paper. You can then cut out your stencil with the exacto knife. Don't you just love my craft table?



Place the stencil on your shirt, shiny side down, and iron it on. The heat should cause a seal between the shirt and the stencil. Make sure that you put a layer of freezer paper between the front and back of the shirt so that the color doesn't run through. You can then paint whatever colors you like. This shirt was a little bit complicated, I had to make multiple stencils for the different layers of color.



Here is the first layer completed. Now on to the next layers of stencils....







For the red beam, I used puffy red paint to give it some depth and texture. Almost done...



And, done!



And because this post is way too serious, I will leave you with Wapley's new favorite game......

Wapley's First Week at School

Poor Wapley has had a rough week. Wapley does not like school, not one bit.

Nervous first-day-of-school smile. He got the Star Wars watch he had been wanting with breakfast. I was going to mark on the 3'oclock so he could check his watch whenever he wanted to come home and see how close it was, but sadly the watch was too big and wouldn't stay on his wrist. Strike one.


Wapley also did not like the blueberry waffles because part of it turned brown-ish from toasting. Strike two.

Miss Gum got a Hello Kitty charm for her charm bracelet. She was very excited.



This is what you get when you ask Wapley to smile. Good thing we had some extra time to spare.



Much better......

Ahh finally, there we go.....


And off to school we go. He was very nervous, but a little bit excited. He walked right on in...


Gave his teacher a hug....


Told Gum it would be ok ( she was very upset).....


And went and sat down....


I honestly thought he would be nervous the first day, but then love it. Nope, not the case. When I picked him up, he stared at the ground and walked quietly to the car. When we got in the car, he started crying and said he never wanted to go back.

Nana called and wanted to know how his day was, and he said "Nana, if you ever have a kid come out of your tummy, and it is a big kid, whatever you do, don't send him to that eagle school." That pretty much sums it up right there. Strike 3. Wapley does not like school.

Stories from the First Week:

Wapley likes to talk. He is very upset that his teacher keeps telling him to be quiet and that she doesn't call on him when he raises his hand. "And Mommy, she wouldn't even let me tell her about Darth Vader!!!"

"Mommy, I was talking to my teacher, and I know she heard me but she was pretending that she didn't hear me. So I told her again, and she still pretended she didn't hear me. So I told her again and she still didn't do anything!!!"

Wapley was telling me about some 'singing thing' they were doing, and he didn't want to do it but they made him, so he got upset and went and sat down and started crying. "Mommy, I was crying and some girl in my class came over and patted my back. I didn't tell her to stop, I liked her patting my back. So I pat her back back. And then I held her hand. But Mommy, I didn't hold her hand just because, I held it because she was nice to me when I was sad." So sweet.

Wapley is having a hard time making friends, some of the kids are picking on him. But one thing I love about him is his determination. Wapley does not give up!
Me: What's this?
Wapley: The kid's phone number
Me: Who? Why do you have his number?
Wapley: I don't know, I can't remember his name. You can just call him and say hey kid, 'Wapley' lives here, and tell him where I live, come play Star Wars Legos with him.
Me: I don't think it quite works that way
Wapley: But I asked him if he had Star Wars Legos and he said no. Mommy, he is missing out, he needs to come to my house and play with them.

Every day I went to pick him up, he had no smile, no emotion, just stared at the ground. It just tore at my heart, where was my happy goofy boy? Even at home, he was just not himself. This started to change Friday. I picked him up and we walked outside into the scorching heat.
Me: Wow, it's really hot out here isn't it?
Wapley: Yup. Time to get out your reflector shields. Brrrrooop! (that would be the sound of the reflector shield)
He moved his arm up like a robot to cover his eyes. He told me to do the same, and then said "reflector shield, unite!" and grabbed my hand. I smiled. Wapley was still there.

Later that night, I caught he and Gum standing in front of the mirror looking up their nostrils. "Mommy, look! I have hair in my nose!!!" A few minutes later, I heard him chasing Jason around yelling "Daddy wait! I want to see your nostril hairs!!! And then, "Daddy, if you grow your nostril hair really long will it be a mustache?"

I felt a huge wave of relief. Yup, Wapley is back.......

Back to School Eve

Well, it's 2 am here and I can't sleep. So forgive me if this makes no sense and is full of typos. We had a fun packed weekend to celebrate going to Kindergarten! Children's Museum with Nana and Poppy, movies, frozen yogurt 3 times, and the water park all afternoon Sunday.


This morning, Wapley and Gum were arguing over whether or not Gum's kitties were made out of legos. Jason told them to stop arguing. So Wapley yelled, "Gum started it!" Gum came back with "No Daddy, girls don't start it, but they sure can finish it!"

Shortly after, we were off to the water park. As we were walking in, Wapley yelled "Hey Daddy, you must smell really bad, there are a ton of flies around you!"
Jason replied, "Heeeey now!!" Wapley looked confused for a second, and then said " I was just trying to be funny. Daddy, can't you take a joke?"

We spent 6 hours at the water park, and Gum couldn't stay awake another second. So we left to have dinner. (Excuse the spit all over Wapley's window, he just loves to spit on his finger and then draw with it. Obviously, I love it so much and that is why it's still there.)
While at dinner, I asked Wapley and Gum what our names should be. They are amazingly skilled at coming up with different name combinations. They finally decided that Jason should be Winter Kabob, and I should be Agent Tootcup. Yes, that is toot cup, as in a cup you would toot in.

At the end of the dinner, Wapley said, "Mommy, thank you for this wonderful day." He may be a giant goofball, but he sure is pretty sweet too.

Well, everything is finally ready for the morning! Clothes are laid out. I see Wapley added his light saber to his ensemble.....




Lunch is packed. Turkey Whole Wheat Flatbread sandwiches, fruit kabobs, almonds, and Annie's Organic Trail Mix. I bet all but two bites of this come back home. Ahhhh life with a picky eater....



Back to School Surprises are set out....




And the munchkins are asleep. I think Wapley is nervous about the morning. He decided to sleep in his doorway....


Gum is all cuddled up with her favorite kitties, lion kitty and dalmation....


And I am off to watch a documentary on dreams on netflix. Strange, I know, but it works like a charm. I have yet to make it longer than 20 minutes before falling asleep.....

Wish us luck tomorrow!

Wapley & Gum's Back to School List

Kindergarten starts Monday, and Wapley does NOT want to go. We've been trying very hard to get him excited about school starting, but have made little progress. Wapley is just one stubborn kid.




Wapley heard that he has to get up early for school. And go every day. And read, and work, and learn. "Whaaaaaat?!??!"



" Why would I want to do that?!?!" As he threw his arms up in the air and ran off.

Ever since then, it has been battle. He is very excited about the school buses.....but he only wants to ride them and then come home. He is also excited about the big lunch tables on wheels that fold up, but not excited enough to actually go to school for it. We have, however, managed to get him excited about 'things' for school, we're still working on the actual going to school part. I thought we would share some of Wapley and Gum's Back to School List......



Wapley's List:


1. First off, Wapley recommends the Star Wars Sandwich cutters . How can you eat lunch without Darth Vader and Tie Fighters?


http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/star-wars-lunch-box-sandwich-cutter/?pkey=e|star%2Bwars|13|best|0|1|24||5&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-NoMerchRules-_-

And they are even on sale :-)





2. Next, Wapley recommends that you have a sweet backpack and lunch box. He will be reusing the ones he had for preschool:



http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/star-wars-backpacks-bts2011/?pkey=e|star%2Bwars|19|best|0|1|24||1&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-NoMerchRules-_-


Are you sensing a theme yet???



3. We are still waiting for these waterproof labels to get here to Star Warsify everything else that he has. Wapley is going to love them:


http://www.etsy.com/listing/79366066/60-personalized-waterproof-name

She is also going to custom make some labels with kitties on them for Miss Gum. Miss Gum will be pleased.




4. Wonderful Nana thought she would take Wapley shopping for some Storm Trooper Kindergarten Shoes to help get him excited about school. Wapley's eyes lit up at these bad boys:

He was so excited, he had to wear them home.
Nana said, "Ok, now you have some really awesome shoes and you can go to Kindergarten!"
Wapley replied, "No thanks, I'll just take the shoes."
And ran off.....


Who knows, maybe he will get lucky and I won't be able to find him the morning of Kindergarten??


Gum's List:

Gum, on the other hand, LOVES her preschool and is excited to go back. She remembers all of her friends, and talks about them using their full name, first and last. Gum's back pack and lunch box came in the mail yesterday and she was so excited, she wore it all day. Literally.


1. This back pack and lunch box is on the top of Gum's list:



http://www.landofnod.com/backpacks/backtoschool/all-nighter-backpack/f7385






See, I wasn't joking when I said Gum wore it all day.....


I had to wait until she fell asleep that night to sneak it off of her.






2. Next, Gum recommends Hello Kitty Sandwich Cutters:



We got these from Hobby Lobby and used a 40% off coupon :-)





3. Finally, Gum says you must have purple sparkly shoes. Thanks Nana!

4. Lastly, both Wapley and Gum love these lunch containers.
http://www.containerstore.com/shop/backtoSchool/lunchtimeEssentials/foodContainers?productId=10025083&N=80237


Sure, they are really cool for putting food in for lunches. But they are even cooler as ghostbuster goggles....

Apparently, when you look through them, it looks like you have been slimed by slimer.



Hope you enjoyed our list. Happy last-minute-back to school shopping!