Travelin' Thru: The First is Nine

Monday, March 9, 2015

The First is Nine

Exactly one month after Wesley turned 7, this dear boy turned 9. On (or near) their birthdays, each of the kids gets to spend a day alone with mom and dad doing whatever (within reason, of course) they choose. Jack chose a night of Minecraft so after dropping his siblings off with grandparents, we stopped for a burger at one of our favorite places, picked up our reserved copy of Minecraft at a Redbox and settled in for a long night of building...or fighting...or whatever it is you do in Minecraft. For this nine-year-old, who is typically limited to an hour of screen time per day (I know, we're no fun), a whole evening with no limits on video games was a dream come true.

The following day was his party and, since he couldn't decide what theme he wanted, I chose one for him and made it a surprise. We'd recently watched Mr. Peabody and Sherman (hilarious!) and had been quoting the lines around our house for a week so I figured it was a safe options.

One of the places Mr. Peabody & Sherman visit in the WABAC machine is ancient Egypt so our guests were welcomed with hieroglyphics.

I really liked the black and white chevron paired with red that I saw here, so I carried that theme throughout the details.

Mr. Peabody's math brilliance was spread across our chalk wall,

and we took a tour through history as we made our way around the island.

Mr. Peabody's spectacles and red bowtie were highlighted on the cake, milk cups and party-wear for the kids.

Instead of hats, I made red bowties for each of the kids to wear.

When Wesley discovered his bowtie and figured out the theme, he went upstairs immediately to change clothes. He came down doing his best Mr. Peabody impersonation.

The other kids tolerated their bowties for awhile...

at least long enough for me to get a picture of them all together.

We served a simple meal of pizza and veggies - black olives, white cauliflower and red tomatoes.

The pizzas were made to look like Mr. Peabody (with his black olive specs and pepperoni bowtie) and Sherman (with his matching black specs and red pepper hair).

I took advantage of the history lesson in the movie and created a game that involved a favorite pastime around our house: shooting things (don't worry, we use Nerf guns).

I created four targets - France, Egypt, Greece & Italy - and then made cards containing trivia about historical events from each of those countries. When a card/clue was read, the kids had to shoot the corresponding target/country with a Nerf dart.