Come. Sit. Stay!

Saturday was Olive’s puppy paw-ty!

Sadly, the stranger I invited didn’t show up, but six of her little friends did along with their parents, my sister and her husband, and my mom! Our place never seemed quite so small as it did on Saturday, bursting with the chaos of so many kids, adults, and even a puppy guest.

Initially, Olive wanted a science lab party. I was pumped, I’d already started trying to figure out how to make mini lab coats, I had researched cool volcano experiments and how to make rice krispie treats that looked like molecules. Then she changed her mind to a mermaid party. Then a dragon party. Then, after looking at pictures from last year’s party, she decided she wanted to another dinosaur party.

Finally, after much deliberation, she settled on puppies. A puppy party! Fantastic! I got to work, trying to create a fun, puppy-themed party that would also work within the zero-waste month I started Oct 1 (more on that later!).

She absolutely loved the end result, and I’ve never felt more like a mom than I did on Friday night, standing in my kitchen using a cookie cutter to painstakingly cut slices of deli meat and cheese into little dog bone shapes.

Thirteen-year-old Olive, if you read this someday this is proof of how very, very much I adore you.

Here are some pictures of the festivities!

I tried to get a nice photo with Olive, aaand this is what I ended up with.

My beautiful four-year-old, ladies and gentlemen.

She and her little buddies had a fantastic time running around like maniacs, playing with balloons, jumping on the bed and taking turns pouring cups of  “toilet water”. They even braved the snow to take the trampoline for a test drive!

And then as soon as it began, it was over. Yesterday I finally took down the happy birthday banner and put away the party plates. Today, my four-year-old and I get back to normal life.

C’est fini. Woof.