The Very Hungry Caterpillar Snack (and a snippet of a life lesson)

We got to bring snack to preschool today, and I was soo looking forward to doing something fun! I scouted out this gem over at Quick Dish and Cooper thought it was the coolest! So, we set out gathering our snack supplies, which didn’t turn out to be too difficult:

• Gushers (watermelon are green)
• Apples
• Watermelon
• Strawberries
• Cheese
• Cuties
• Cherry tomatoes
• Pretzels
• Spinach leaf
• Fondue plates from Crate & Barrel that we’ve MAYBE used twice since they were gifted to us for our wedding =( At least they were put to good use today!

The gushers and the watermelon were the only 2 things I didn’t already have on hand. It actually was quite easy. Let me give you the low down…

#1. Buying the Gushers

When buying the gushers, I couldn’t find just a watermelon pack, so I bought the variety and used the green from the watermelon (they also have reds in them) and the tropical flavor (they’re lighter green). In one package, I got 15 greens total making 3 “hungry caterpillars”.

#2. Assembling the snack

To get the pretzels to stick upright out of the tomato head, I used an ice pick (bizarre that we have one, weird story, don’t ask..but it’s actually come in quite handy many a time!) – I’m sure you could just as easily use a skewer – to poke a hole and insert the pretzel piece. Then I laid the head on top of the spinach leaf!Because I figured the parents didn’t want their 3 year olds to be eating 5 gushers, I put one cute plate in the middle so each child could have one gusher, and then I got to preparing the kids’ plates.

They got a slice of watermelon, a strawberry, an apple slice, and a slice of cheese, all of course with “caterpillar nibbles” in them. aka: holes poked out with a straw, which my son promptly pointed out. The teacher was so sweet and said, “Did the caterpillar eat your snack?”

To which Cooper responds, “No, a straw did!” Classic!

Side note: The straw did not go through the apple, obviously, so I used the ice pick on those too. But it surprisingly went through the rest quite easily. See the cute little hole in Cooper’s slice of cheese above? Love it!

The teacher even did a little switcheroo and read The Very Hungry Caterpillar in circle time. Fun!

Here’s Cooper’s class enjoying their yummy snack! Seriously, how cute is this little boy in Cooper’s preschool class?! I love he and his mom to pieces. In fact, let me share a little “life lesson” with you today in which God used her to help me to come to a realization.

**Life Lesson**

As you plan and live your life, keep your motives in check.

As I explain today’s little “life lesson”, hopefully my words make sense and don’t come across as arrogant or insincere. Part of the reason I love this mom is she’s REAL and GENUINE. I brought in the snack, she saw it and swooned, and then promptly said,

“Alright, Becky, that’s it! I think I have to break up with you…we can no longer be friends”. With a hint of sarcasm of course! Which is part of the reason we’ll never “break-up”, because we both have a love of sarcasm! There’s just something about sarcasm that bonds us sarcasm lovers together, isn’t there?

Behind most sarcasm, there’s a hint of truth, and God used that to help me conclude today’s life lesson.

It’s true, right? There’s a part of almost all of us, I think, that feels slightly out of sorts when another mom does something fantastic. That age old comparison between people, especially moms with their kids! I sometimes hesitate to do cool fun, creative stuff like this because I don’t want others to feel “one upped”. That would obviously NEVER be my intent.

I was actually just last night having a conversation with a beloved group of mommy friends where many of us pointed out how our own mom’s have made comments about how the bar is set so high for us moms in today’s society. These outlandish birthday parties, crazy play dates, etc. We understood what they were saying, but…we also noted how much we enjoyed these fun things and the awesome access we have to such great ideas via the internet.

So, herein lies the question…why do you do fun stuff like this, and/or how do you handle it when another mom does it? I think the bottom line answer is…what is your (or their) motive behind doing it? And I’ll admit, I need to keep myself accountable here! 

Are you doing it to get those desired glances implying, “Wow…you’re amazing?” Are you doing it to appear as if you have it altogether? Or are you really, truly, doing it to make life fun! I hope that is my motive 100% of the time. Cooper was truly excited about bringing this snack to school, and I think his classmates enjoyed it. Also, I naturally love carrying out fun ideas like this. If it’s not your cup of tea… don’t cut yourself down for not doing them. Lame! How exhausting would it be if all of us did stuff like this all of the time? Then it wouldn’t be special! I’m no good at plenty of other areas where you might have superb strengths!

For example, I have a friend who writes the sweetest, most thoughtful notes to friends, just because. Some of my friends provide just the right distraction for my kids when I’m about ready to pull my hair out!! That’s priceless. Some women have the gift of listening, and make me feel like I’m the most loved, cared for girl ever. I could go on and on about other cool ways my friends bless me. But, my reason for sharing this is…think about why you do what you do in life. Our motives should always be pure.

This is actually one of my frequent prayers for my children:

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation’. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.” –Philippians 2:14-16

I’ll leave you with hopefully one last thought. A goal in my blog is to inspire other moms, not create jealousy or leave people feeling inadequate. I hope that is what is being created! As long as we love on our kiddos, we are successful moms. Bear that in mind – and go be a great mom! =)