Our hungry little caterpillar turns 4!

I LOVE Summer birthday parties. These are so much easier to deal with than Winter parties that so often have to occur indoors in our climate. 

Mietta celebrated her birthday with a Hungry Caterpillar birthday party. Just 24 hours prior, it was going to be a tea party... but then a change of plans as I didn't think the little boys would cope so well... and besides, we had a hard time finding old teacups and saucers at the local thrift shops. I had always secretly wanted to do a Hungry Caterpillar Party - and I figured this would be my last chance! 

Our cupcakes easily transitioned into a caterpillar cake. Eric Carle made planning the rest of a Caterpillar party menu foolproof - as the whole menu is listed in his book and is very straightforward: apples, oranges, plums, pears, strawberries, watermelon, pizza, salami, cherry pie... easy! 

Once Mietta saw her cake, she was sold on the idea - PHEW!

I made some pizza dough and made pesto and tomato and pepperoni pizzas, bought some salami, swiss cheese, cornichons (for pickles) and a readymade cherry pie. 

 A quick trip to our local International Market helped to fill our Goodie Bags with exotic treats: puffed rice, mango jelly, rice crackers, milk caramels, ginger chews... and of course, Lollypops (from the book). 

puppy impact

The kids LOVE their dog!
Rascal has become a real focus for our family... in more ways than one. 
The boys have been using Rascal as a theme for just about EVERYTHING they write about at school. Puppy books are the most often borrowed from the library. We seem to be watching more of 'Wishbone', 'Underdog' and the 'Buddies' movie series...  

One of Luc's school projects required he make a collage of an 'adventure'. Of course, Luc chose the subject of Rascal's disappearance - as Rascal chased deer through the forest early one morning. The collage and short story detailed Luc's subsequent upsetting recovery mission as he first loses his dog, then himself. Rascal returned home first, and then a tearful, scratched but ultimately relieved Luc.