Maps & Invitations

Isn't it amazing how kids soak up everything like super sponges?!  I have to really remember that sometimes...it makes for awkward social situations, lol!  (not that my child would ever repeat things like 'crap!') 

Let's just take a look at this picture above.

1) Maverick knows how to use the mouse and keyboard.

2) He is pointing to a map of the United States.

I am sort of proud to say that Mav knows almost all 50 states!  A couple of the small ones like Vermont and Delaware give him some trouble, but other than that he really has it down.  Even more funny is how he pronounces them all.  I think my favorites are "Bash-ee-go" (Washington), "Habee-ee" (Hawaii), and "Peepoopana" (Pennsylvania).

I have to blame thank my mother-in-law.  She bought this huge map/poster and started teaching him, and the kid is now obsessed.  Robbie saved a picture of a map on our computer, saved it to the desktop, and Mav knows where to put the mouse to ask for it.  My MIL has a world atlas and is threatening to start on Europe, lol!

Mav is getting pretty good at saying his own name now, too.  He pronounces it "Mam-ick" or "May-mick", ha!  And we've been working on changing his response to "How old are you?" from "One!" to "Two!".

Speaking of which, I started working on Mav's birthday invitations. I like homemade invitations. Mostly because I love crafty things. :) So of course I hit up Pinterest for some inspiration.

Last year we decided to go with a Thanksgiving theme since I knew it would probably be the only time I could get away with it.  From now on it will be, "But mooooooom!  I want laser guided robots!".  I made cute little turkey invitations that said, "Our little turkey is One!".  I still have the huge box of cardstock left over from that project, which is great for this year's invites!

Deciding on his party theme this year was pretty easy.  We knew it would most certainly have to be firetrucks, monster trucks, cars, airplanes, buses or tractors.  I was thinking just firetrucks, but Robbie thought it would be cool to incorporate a whole transportation theme.  And he was right--a lot more cool & fun ideas as a whole.

The 'hardest' part to my invitations was cutting out the little trucks, cars, tractors, and airplanes.  When I switched to my hair cutting shears, it was a lot easier, ha!  The pic above is my piles of transportation cut-outs.

I can't take credit for the cute poem.  I found a transportation themed party pin on Pinterest, and the poem was part of it.  All I had to do was cut out the little vehicles, glue on some black paper circles and add a little sharpie detail...and ta-da!  The back has another cardstock rectangle with our address and rsvp info.

I'm excited that we get to throw the party on his actual birthday, which falls on a Saturday this year. (Not that Mav cares).  Let's see, I think I figured out that every 6 (maybe 7?) years it will fall on Thanksgiving day again like his birth day.  So I don't know what we'll do as far as keeping his birthday and Thanksgiving separate.  (I know how that feels...my birthday is 2 days after Christmas)  Maybe he won't super care as long as there is pizza and cake...I know that worked for me!  :)

This year we're making it a lot more low key, too.  Last year we had a full dinner and dessert and I think it was a bit much.  So this year we'll have snacks with cake & ice cream.  (Sorry, ha ha!)

Can't believe my baby is going to be 2!