4th of July cookie-cake

I've never made one of those flag cakes for the 4th. For some reason, I've always strayed from the most obvious holiday fare. Well, pictorial fare, at least. I'm pretty predictable, otherwise. This year, since the kids are old enough to recognize our country's flag, I thought it was time we finally make one. We tried the cookie version.
If you're familiar with fruit pizza, you'll know exactly how to do this. If not, here is the recipe for the pizza and flag.

Fruit Pizza
1 roll refrigerated sugar cookie dough
(or 1 lb. homemade sugar cookie dough)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/3 c powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 pint strawberries, sliced
2 kiwi, sliced
2 bananas, sliced
1/2 c blueberries
or any desired mix of fruit

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Roll cookie out to fit pizza pan (about 12").
Bake cookie dough approximately 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow crust to cool.
Blend cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla together until smooth. Spread on top of cookie crust.
Arrange sliced fruit on top of filling.
Slice and serve.
Refrigerate leftovers.

Alternate filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 jar marshmallow creme (about 7 oz.)

Beat until smooth.
Great as a fruit dip; one of my favorites.

American Flag Cookie
same cookie crust
same filling (I used the fruit dip filling)
1 1/2 pints blueberries
2-6 oz. boxes of raspberries
2 bananas, sliced
1/2 lb. strawberries, sliced
some cherries, pitted and halved
some mini marshmallows
(Keep in mind, much of the fruit was consumed during assembly. If you're not planning on eating it, you could prepare a smaller amount).

Roll crust out into rectangle approx. 10x14 (I did not measure mine, but it was bigger than a casserole) on top of parchment. Lift parchment and place parchment and rolled dough in a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan.
Bake and cool as above.
Blend filling and spread over cookie.
Arrange blueberries in top left corner, optional marshmallows as stars. Arrange red fruits into stripes alternating with banana and marshmallow (white) stripes. We were short a couple stripes, but who's counting?

This is super simple and fun for kids to make and eat. I like it pretty well, myself.

Chinese Moon Festival

Sunday marked the Chinese holiday of Mid-Autumn. This is traditionally celebrated in China, and Chinatowns around the world, through the Mid-Autumn Festival. (Also apparently referred to as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, depending on where you look or with whom you speak). I found it timely that we happened to be studying China this week with our homeschool co-op and took the opportunity to make mooncakes, fortune cookies, and learn a bit about the Festival along with the culture.
I'm not intending a lecture here, but thought I'd share a few basic internet resources (for someone like me who doesn't want to take 3 small kids to the library to participate in group research):
A basic explanation of the Mid-Autumn Festival with links to related articles.
General info on China. Includes population, capital city, history, geography, travel and shopping tips, culture, and how to say "that tickles," in case you end up getting a massage while visiting China.
Super simplified recipe for mooncakes. These look nothing like mooncakes, really, but can be made quickly with pantry ingredients (I don't keep lotus bean paste around here). Preschoolers probably won't be concerned about the cookie's authenticity.
Really tasty sounding mooncake recipe. (I have made other dishes by Nina Simonds with success.)
Great read-aloud Chinese folktale: Tikki Tikki Tembo.
Colorful rhyming book of shapes and Chinese culture: Round is a Mooncake.
Almond fortune cookie recipe (pictured above).

To make fortune cookies a fun and educational experience, insert a combination of messages like the silly and sweet ones pictured below and these informational (and possibly interactive) ones:
1.2 billion people live in China.
Ni hao! Hello!
Let's build a Great Wall. (Easy to do with pillows, beanbags, cardboard boxes, etc. on the floor).
Beijing is the capital city of China.

Metal Tooling and Father's Day: Not For Daddy To Read!

Yesterday we attempted Mexican Metal Tooling. This is a really fun and unique project. I think children older than mine will enjoy it more and could turn out more complicated and colorful designs, but mine did help create this nice little hanging for their daddy's office.

I love the look of the added beads on these other great examples of metal tooling (here at Pepper Paints via The Crafty Crow and here at Kinderart), but we thought it was a little much given the limited display space of a cubicle. Maybe another time.

See those sites for easy-to-follow tutorials for making your own metal art.

Note: We included foil circles created by tracing around a tin can and added the foil banner at the top to customize it for Father's Day. Our subject matter includes meaningful images relating to my children and their personalities or experiences with their dad.