This weekend marked a momentous occasion in the McNutt household. The boys and I watched the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Sweeeeeet. And thus concludes their critical lessons in awesome-ness.

Which paves the way for them to see The Phantom Menace when it hits theaters in 3D next month. I’m pretty excited about having a new annual tradition of going to a Star Wars movie together (they’re releasing all six in 3D, one per year). They don’t totally understand the reasons why I was so adamant that they were not allowed to see the newer Star Wars films until after they had seen the original masterpieces, but some day they will thank me.

And maybe they do get it. Micah liked being surprised to find out Luke and Leia were twins. And he thought it was cool that decades ago people would have been shocked to find out Vader was their father (my kids already know from all the other Star Wars cartoons and toys).

Anyway, it was a LOT of fun to watch it all with them. And they loved the Ewoks kicking the Empire’s butt.

Unfortunately, they’ll probably like Jar Jar.