Teddy Bear Snacks by Two Peas

Posted on February 12, 2012

The oldest pea became a Brownie Girl Scout this year and when she was picked to bring the snack for one of the meetings she wanted to make it herself no store bought treats from her no way! So she grabbed her Silly Snacks Cookbook and found a recipe for the Teddy Bear Snack Mix and from there she made her own rendition.

First she added Golden Grahams -

The Teddy Grahams not one but two kinds of Teddy Grahams -

We needed two bowls because we have a lot of girls in out Troop (-:

Then chocolate chips -

LOTS of chocolate chips!

And pretzels the recipe called for potato sticks but we looked everywhere and couldn’t find them so we switched it up.

Then mix it all up! (with CLEAN hands of course!)

Your hands may get a little messy

Doesn’t it look good?

She was so proud and did it all herself she even put it in the little individual containers for the girls. Now shouldn’t there be a badge for that??

Now comes the youngest pea she wanted to make her own treats for Valentine’s Day so what better than the Teddy Bear Snack Mix?? and yes she did it ALL by herself.

A while ago Dad of 2 Peas bought a huge container of cheeseballs I kept the container for scraps of ribbon but hadn’t used it yet. I pulled it out for Phoebe to make her mix it was perfect for her!

So again we used Golden Grahams ……

Teddy Grahams…….

She wanted to add marshmallows! …….

Lots of marshmallows!!!

We found the potato sticks ……

We used tiny cjocolate chips for tiny hands …….

Added more of EVERYTHING to fill to container……

And shook it up up to mix it now she was the proud pea and I am one proud Mommy !

So to sum it up here are each of the peas versions of the Teddy Bear Snack Mix :

Pyper: Phoebe: Golden Grahams Golden Grahams Teddy Grahams 2 kinds Teddy Grahams Chocolate Chips Mini Chocolate Chips Pretzels Potato Sticks and then Phoebe had to out do her sisters mix and added the Mini Marshmallows~!

Go ahead and let your littles make thier own version of the Teddy Bear Snack Mix they will be so proud to do it all themselves (-:

The Peas’ 4th Annual Cookie Party

Posted on February 11, 2012

A better late than never post !

Every Christmas season our the Peas host a cookie party. We have invited the same families the last three years and have seen several additions to those families each year. It’s our way of seeing some of our friends at least once a year and let the kids have fun and get messy. (ok the adults get pretty messy too LOL) This year we had a few cancellations so we were able to invite a new family to join in and they had a blast I mean who doesn’t love cookies right??

Our invites always include the BYORP rule, that’s right bring your own rolling-pin (-:

I whip up the white icing and Dad of two peas always mixes the colors the girls love watching him.

Phoebe was just wanting to eat it!

A little socialization before we dive in…….

First some healthy snacks make sure the girl’s hair is out of their faces…….

some giggles………..

some sanitizer…………..

Finally!! So how we work this party is simple, we always get the pre-made dough and give the kids their own roll. They get wax paper, plenty of flour and we always have tons of cookie cutters.

This year was the most exciting for Phoebe because she could do almost all of it by herself.

Pyper my little perfectionist (-;

Aunt Lisa to the rescue, last year they were attached at the hip this year Lisa was able to watch, enjoy and even make some of her own cookies.

Almost everyone is one picture !

I love Phoebe’s mini rolling-pin it’s the perfect size for those teeny hands!

As the kids got their cookies cut out Chad was baking as fast as he could to keep up…..

And let’s not forget REAL MEN BAKE!

Quick clean up by rolling the plastic table-cloth and it was time for a pizza break while the cookies get finished baking and cooling we ate dinner…

One last table-cloth change and on to the icing!! We use little cheese spreaders for the icing since the little hands can hold them better.

She was so proud to ice her first cookie all by herself….

Pyper was very serious about her cookie decorating….

We always let the kids eat the first one hey decorate (-: that’s the best part!

YUM!!! Pyper is an old pro she loves her cookie parties (-:

Phoebe sharing decorating tips with Dena …………

OHHH sneaking more icing in the mouth I see…..

Lisa made a cookie tree with some cookie cutters that she brought over she did great!

More icing….. WHAT! no wonder she was awake all night!

Py wondering where she would put the rest of the cookies, she ran out of room in her tins. We made so many this year we filled 8 tins and 4 plastic cookie holders.

My biggest joy is getting the take homes ready for the kids this year I was able to find these cute gingerbread train baskets from Target, all the other gingerbread themed things were from Oriental Trading Company.

We try to get something different ever year for the families to take their cookies home this year JoAnne Fabric’s had these and they were awesome very deep to fits lots of cookies.

Cookie also always give each of the kids their own “Riley Girl’s XX Annual Cookie Party” ornament we hang them on the tree and let them look for them to take home.

And there you have it The Riley Girl’s 4th Annual Cookie Party…..we can’t wait until next year!

iHeartFaces – Autumn Splendor

Posted on November 15, 2011

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge – www.iheartfaces.com

It’s been awhile but I love love love my girls with a fall setting! So I had to enter this weeks iHeartFaces contest.

Every year we go to Circle S Farms to pick our pumpkins. This year it was so windy the girls almost blew away! I love this shot of the Peas when we first walked into the farm; the sun on Py’s red hair is lovely.

Be sure to head over to iHeartFaces.com to check out all the other entries !

Two Peas, a bushel and a peck!

Posted on October 3, 2011

This year my friend Jen and I took all the kids to Fruitful Farms to pick apples. I always wanted to go and this year seemed perfect. Once we got there the kids were too excited! They even posed for a pic right away (and yes this is when I realized little pea put her shoes on the wrong feet! we fixed that after I got the shot LOL)

We got out bags from the farmer and he took us all on his wagon to show us what was ready to pick and what apples were used for what.

He then took us to the best tree for our first photo op seems like he has done this before he even took the picture so I could be in one! (it was pretty early in the morning as you can see by Maxwell yawning)

Then onto the picking!

Our only rules from Farmer Congrove were to make sure that whatever apples were eaten we put the cores go in the buckets so that hornets don’t go after them from the ground. He encourages us to eat as many apples as we wanted to try to make sure we liked them…..well Phoebe took that to heart.

Pyper was a little more picky like me (-:

Phoebe and Maxwell had a blast they talked the whole time and compared apples. They even made a game looking for conjoined apples.

I made the mistake of saying they looked like apple butts and there you go. The Find the Apple Butt Game was born. I have a feeling it will be around for many years to come (oh gosh).

I tried to get a picture of my peas together and it was difficult Phoebe and Max were attached like an apple butt but I got her to sorta stand still. (it took 8 shots to get Phoebe to look at me!)

Farmer and Mrs. Congrove checked in on us often sometimes picking up children and taking them for quick rides around the orchard. Phoebe loved it she felt like such a big girl! (apples in hand)

Not to be left out as soon as Mrs. Congrove came around they ALL jumped on! This was not part of the apple picking experience but we were the only ones there; once the farm started filling up with pickers the rides stopped. But, how great of them to do it for the kids while they could.

I got this picture of Py on my cell phone what a lucky shot!

Eating MORE apples ….

Just remember the rules to avoid hornets making nest in the ground make sure your apple cores go in the bucket!

The signs next to the trees and buckets let us know what variety the apple tree was and if it was good for cooking, eating or both. They also gave you examples of which apple was just for sauce, pie, jelly etc. I appreciated that because I am such a novice but really wanted to make lots of apple foods!

We picked just a little more before we had to head out…..

One last ride up to the barn to pay.

We picked a bushel and a peck and grabbed a small bag of honey crisp on our way out, it was very reasonable I spent $26 for all of them. But the fun we had and the special way the kids were treated made it worth every penny!

Fruit Full Acres, Inc.

19817 Raymond Road

Marysville, OH 43040

937-642-6961

fruitfullacres@yahoo.com

Apple Harvest Chart (printable)

Beckie and Thomas Congrove – Owners

http://www.pickyourown.org/OHcolumbus.htm

http://www.ohioapples.com/ohio_apple_orchards_member.php?memberid=21

The Youngest Peas First Interview (or as we like to call it….pink)

Posted on September 11, 2011

As you all know every year I give Pyper a birthday interview I love seeing how her answers change each year and thought it would b e something she would laugh at later in life. Today Phoebe turned three! What a great age to start the interview, right? Well you tell me……

What is your favorite color? “pink or blue” great start !

What’s your favorite song right now? “pink” do you know what a song is? it’s what we sing in the car what do you like to sing in the car? “the happy song”

How about your favorite tv shows?? “pink” Phoebe what do you like to watch on tv? “Dora”

and your favorite movie? “Cinderella” she sure understood that one!

what about a book? “Dora” awesome!

What do you like to do at Jessica’s?? “play a happy song” I’ll ask what song that is tomorrow ….

Phoebe, What is your favorite thing about sissy? “pink” I am seeing a trend here….

your favorite game?? “um Cinderella” I must look into this game I’ve never heard of it maybe she means when I call her Cinderella and let her vacuum with the little vac (she loves it I swear!)

What about Pete and Puff??? “they pee in the potty” um?

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?? “to pee in the potty” well she is doing that very well lately!

If you could get rid of one food forever never to see it again what food would that be??? “I like Grove City” I think I lost her here

If you could meet someone famous who would it be? “I don’t know” it is a tough question

What is your favorite memory? “OH pink” I’m not even bothering to explain at this point it’s too funny the way it is!

Would you rather go to the doctor or the dentist? “dentist” well your wish will come true now that you are three!

When you look at the clouds what do you think of ? “pink” fair enough

If Daddy had a boat and let you name it what would you call it? “pink” he may not like that one but OK

And last but not least the famous ….What do you want to be when you grow up? “a princess bed” you mean a princess? “a princess bed mommy like my new bed” ok then….

So maybe three years old is a little too soon for the annual interview but it was worth a shot!!

The Oldest Peas Seventh Year Interview………..

Posted on July 21, 2011

PYPER SINCLAIR’S SEVENTH YEAR INTERVIEW

It’s that time of year again, same questions as the last three years !

What is your favorite color? “pink” - of course it is that one never changes 0-:

What’s your favorite song right now? “Fireflies and Freak the Freak Out” - OK I could have guessed Fireflies by Owl City as it is the ONLY song she wants to sing on the Wii (Disney Sing It) over and over and over again…….

How about your favorite tv shows?? “A.N.T. Farm and iCarly” – I admit I do like these as well iCarly is still hanging in there as a favorite it’s nice to see somethings didn’t change well that and pink!

and your favorite movie? “Justin Beiber Never Say Never” (ugg **rolling my eyes**) )

what about a book? “Judy Moody and the Not So Bummer Summer” – NICE being as I bought it for you and you never read it! Not all those books you got for your birthday and actually read??

What is your best subject in school?? “Art” – I approve

OK Py, What is your favorite thing about sissy? “she’s cute” – she is cute lol

your favorite game?? “Just Dance 2″ – I like it too!

What about Pete and Puff??? “they are snuggly well Puff is anyway Pete is kind of” – yeah Pete is a loner huh? – “Yeah”

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?? Florida Why Florida? “because its really fun because its Disney and its really fun” – nuff said

Ok Py lets get to the nitty gritty of this interview…..

If you could get rid of one food forever never to see it again what food would that be??? “Onions and Tomatos” – hmmm sure Math isn;t your favorite subject? “Mommy” just teasing you…

If you could meet someone famous who would it be? “Justin Beiber” (Phoebe seconds that) – I got nothing …

What is your favorite memory? “Grandma Ellis she used to rock me in her arms and sing me a song to fall asleep and she made me a bed on the floor” – and I hope you always remember her pickle….

Would you rather go to the doctor or the dentist? “dentist…because they give surprises balloons and toys!” – well gosh who can argue with that???

When you look at the clouds what do you think of ? “Grandma Ellis” – me too

If Daddy had a boat and let you name it what would you call it? “Cinderella ! (Daddy screamed WHAT?!?) I’m kidding mommy I would name it Prince Charming for Daddy” – well that’s better than Jess from last years interview! and kind of sweet too (-:

And last but not least the famous ….What do you want to be when you grow up? “ummm…..Phoebe’s Lawyer” What is Phoebe going to need a lawyer for????? No wonder you want to run off to Canada~!

I love giving Py her yearly “interview” and she loves it too, I hope she gets a good laugh out of them when she is older. If you have littles you should do this too all us parents have to have something good to break out when they get married or graduate from something just to embarrass them LOL!

The Littlest Peas 1st Trip to Cosi

Posted on May 31, 2011

The first time we went to Cosi with my in laws I took the oldest Peas thinking that the littlest pea would be stuck in a stroller and miserable all day so she stayed home with Daddy…….. little did I know they practically have a whole floor just for those little people 5 years and under!

So we had to come back with Phoebe and our friends Brandy and Dave and their boys THEN come to find out it was Dad of 2 Peas first visit too so we had lot to look at and do for both of these two!

When you first walk in you are immediately greeted with “cool stuff” as the oldest pea would put it. A harp without strings but plays when you touch it because of lasers!

Then we wandered on over to the heart beat thingamagig Py liked this one a lot Phoebe was still a little confused LOL!

Once our friends arrived we headed up to the little’s floor, unfortunately Pyper was too old so she and Chad played a X-Box Kinects in a little room away from the big kids. And trust me when we say this the staff makes sure the big kids don’t mix in we had Py comes out of the little room to watch rat races they were putting on and this one staff member stared her down like she was about to rob a bank!

Once we were in there Phoebe was a little overwhelmed yeah, she just stood there taking it in not knowing what to do first. There was so much!

I finally got her to go back to the water part where she had to don a rain coat and looked so dang cute !

What to do what to do. I have never seen Phoebe so shy about playing!

After a good 30 minutes I got her to look at other stuff, she liked this ball race but once a little guy tried to play with her she took off!

When she gets shy she makes this face that is so funny, kind of like she just got caught doing something embarrassing she did it a lot when the other kids tried to play with her. She is with other kids everyday so not sure why she was so shy but she was!

So we went over to the other side of the floor the medical heath part, she put a band aid on a baby doll….

watched a video on the eye doctor…..

and talked to animals (-:

By this time she was ready to catch up with sissy and Dad, so we grabbed our friends and moved along.

We found Chad and Pyper in the “Progress” section across the way…..it was AWESOME the last time we were there Py and I went back in time to 1898 and now they added 1962!

Chad showed Py how to use the 18oo’s hoops…..

and do I even mention that Peas hair I love her piggie tails (-:

Chad showed both the peas the telegram office with a talking bird!

Birds was kinda frightening dare I say Alfred Hitcocky?

Chad loved the old camera Pyper was posing of course and I missed it OOPS

Then we scurried over to the 1960′s! Phoebe loved this little ride that used to be outside the grocery stores, it was kind of hard to tell what it was a helicopter? a UFO? it didn’t matter she loved it no matter what it was!

Pyper loved the phone booth, I used to go up the street from out house all the time to call boys on a payphone and here my little one had no clue what it was she didn’t even know what the cord was for…..I am getting SO old!

Phoebe was walking with Chad from window to window she was just taking it all in. Here’s a few shots of the 60′s so cool and notice the Sinclair Gas Station this is Pyper last name the thought it was so cool (-:

See Pyper looking at the bike up there? she wanted to ride it we would have never caught her.

After seeing her middle name in lights we lost her again….PYPER! where did that child go??

OH BOY of course she would find the tv studio she always says she wants to be famous!

There she is!

Daddy’s turn he read the teleprompter with breaking news of Kennedy’s Assassination

Pyper was the camera man Phoebe, Xander and Zach were the crew Phoebe was a little freaked out by the tv so she never went behind the desk

Now hoopla hoops! nothing like the 1800′s hoop they just rolled down the street!

Next up the Gadgets so much to tinker with~! Dave even signed Py and Zach up for a class while Brandy and I took the littles to their own thing Brandy has that pic…hmmm you reading this Brandy I need that picture LOL

again Pyper took off Phoebe played with Daddy and I lost the Maas family, this Mom of 2 Peas clearly was not keeping up~!

OK there she is on the pulley having so much fun~!

Phoebe was getting hungry so after discovering their inner engineer we headed to the cafeteria…..I love the burger and fries, but they have everything there and it is all so good.

After we ate and the bellies were happy we made our way outside, I knew my little one would love this!

THE

~BIG SCIENCE PARK~

to be continued so stay tuned! ……….(lots of pics to go through)

The Littlest Pea’s Not So Little Anymore…..

Posted on May 21, 2011

April 2011, while on an over night visit with Grandpa my little Phoebe grew into a toddler. No longer willing to sleep in a pack and play she crawled out while napping and met me at the top of the steps. An immediate phone call to Dad of 2 Peas was made to inform him of his little escape artist and the fact that she will need to sleep in a big girl bed soon. When we got home I refused to run to the store for a bed rail she is still a baby and needs her crib surely she can’t jump out of that! WRONG that same day I caught her half way over the crib so we went to Target and got the bleeping bed rail. My baby was no longer a baby and she was so excited to finally sleep in the big bed. Pyper helped Chad put the rail together and we waited while he put it on the bed.

That night I thought I would have to lay with her get her used to it, constantly run back up and lay her down…….

again….WRONG so I did what any Mom would do and just started to take pictures.

She wasn’t to into that either, she just wanted to sleep in her big girl bed…….

After Bibble was covered up, her Dora Pillow under her head and her binky right there in her mouth she was ready to go night night…..

No more pictures!

Before she could go to sleep, Professor Puffington took a look around and was slightly confused, where is Phoebe?? Just bed pillows in the crib now. Soon the crib will be taken down and will be a head and foot board for Phoebe’s big girl bed. That will be the end of cribs in this house and I am a little sad about that. Both my girls are growing more and more independent, yes I know she is only 2 and a half but it’s the little things that I already miss. She doesn’t want me to help her into bed, she doesn’t want to hold my hand coming down the stairs, she gets her cereal in the morning and brings it to me. I could go on and on. This is just another step in Phoebe’s growing up guess Mommy needs to too!

As for how she is sleeping, it’s like she has always been in the big girl bed. She falls asleep great and doesn’t get out until we wake her up. she has had her moments but if I find the bink and return it to her she lays right back down and falls asleep. We are pretty lucky that both our kids are good at going to sleep. Unless she is snot feeling well then she is up every hour…..but that’s a post for another day (-;

Sweet Dreams my little Pea

Pyper’s first field trip……THE ZOO……in the SNOW!

Posted on April 4, 2011

Pyper’s first field trip how could we not go ! For weeks Pyper was excited Mom and Dad were going to chaperone and the letter we got sent to us said we would be in charge of 7 children. I was excited too (-: Dad of 2 Peas and I got to the school that morning for a quick review of what we were doing only to find out we weren’t the only ones excited………

there were so many parents we only got 3 children! and that was because one of the grandparents didn’t show.

As soon as we got in the gate our girls took off! Yes this was what we would see the whole days running in joy from exhibit to exhibit!

The girls had their agenda they wanted to get to the Polar Bears and fast! But we made frequent stops along the way..the the goats because they could pet them and brush them…….

and Pyper!

Then we went on a Moose hunt well you know what I mean….they had the signs and all the antlers up but no Moose! But…..

it was super close to the Polar Bears! They were so excited and our one little friends Gram showed up!

Seeing them from the top of the exhibit was cool but seeing them from the bottom EVEN COOLER!

After hanging out with the Polars for awhile Dad of 2 Peas and the littles were trying to map out where to go next…..it was then it started snowing and they got hungry so we stopped to eat and ran into lots of other school friends.

She sat with her buddies and teacher so we decided we would go with them too (the teacher had the more active kids so we thought we could help)…….

Now we had 6 children and a teacher let the fun begin! Now as everyone knows I love to take pictures and I thought these friends will never slow down enough to get any BOY was I wrong! They wanted pictures constinately….kidws after my own heart letting the mamaratzzi do as she pleased (-:

We then made our way to Africa there we saw Elephants, a Rhino and some monkeys!

Do you see the baby? It was so hard to tell by that tail belongs to the baby!

Had to bang the drum!

They saw Tigers they were amazing ev en this wooden one kept their attention! I told them to growl the little one on the end was so cute!

now they got it!!!! how me your inner tiger!

The Lions were ready to pounce ! its hard to see but a teeny bunny rabbit was taunting them they were going nuts it I hope you can see the lion on the left and the bunny close to the tree.

Next was the aquarium I admit I wish there was more or more tanks but this was a pretty cool picture of the group!

The kids were tired of being indoors they wanted to scream and run so we ran to the penguins ….well the bottom half of a hiding penguin anyway. He was too cold to some out in the snow imagine that!

I have no idea what everyone was looking at but they sure were mesmerized!

Looking for monkeys …..here monkey monkey monkey …..here monkey!

The Reptile House ~ we met lots of other school kids in here too probably because it was nice and warm!

This Ball Python…..didn’t phase Pyper a bit….

This lizard…..

Scared the pants off her! (she saw his tongue and freaked out!)

We had time for one last picture with the Kimodo Dragon and one last exhibit before the kids had to get back to the bus….

Our rambunctious group chose the African Gorillas they did not read the sign LOL

Everyone was at the same window…..what in the world were they all looking at??

A BABY!!!!!! What a wonderful sight a baby and her mama sorry the pictures are a little out of focus he was a busy little thing (-:

OK OK one last picture with the Gorilla statue (-: then off to meet the rest of the class……

While we waited it was still snowing a steady light snow as it had all day, so light the camera never really picked it up…..

Until now! just in time to get back to the school!

Chad and I had a great time with all those peanuts well lets just call them Peas (-:

If you have never been to the Columbus Zoo you should visit this summer they have lots to do in the summer go to the website at www.colszoo.org/

Have a great day~! Be sure to leave me a comment blog about your field trip with your kids and share the link I would love to read all about it!

Photo Books

Posted on February 21, 2011

When you walk into my office downtown it has a wall of art…..preschool and kindergarten art. I often get asked the question what do you do with all that art work this can’t be it! It’s not trust me I have tons and that’s just one daughter’s work. So a few years ago I started taking pictures of the art work before we tossed it away. (Dad of Two Peas swears this was his idea….so we will give him the credit)

Not only did it make me feel better but it made Pyper feels better too; we weren’t just tossing aside her hard work, we were keeping it forever on the computer! I do have to admit if anything was painted with her little hand prints then I did keep those. I mean come on! I have to keep some right?

I then realized after taking all these pictures what a great idea to make them into a book, you can do it anywhere anymore I did ours through winkflash.com I love that site. After we made the art books we gave them to the grandparents for Christmas a couple of years ago. My Gram LOVED it, her hairdresser told us at the funeral that Gram was so proud of all us she took down pictures to show off every week. One week she took the art book and just gloated!

Here is part of the one we made …enjoy the art (-: