The Littlest Pea and a Girl Scout Overnight at Franklin Park Conservatory

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We have lived in Central Ohio for almost 15 years and there is still so many things on my list of places to visit. I have been so lucky that in these past few months I have been able to visit these places with my peas and our Girl Scout troop.

Not only did we get to visit the Franklin Park Conservatory but we were able to visit during the colorful and delicate exhibit of Chihuly: Celebrating Nature & Chihuly Nights and we got to spend the night!  We toured the exhibit in the evening and in the daytime and it was like viewing two different places.

http://www.fpconservatory.org       www.chihuly.com   

We brought our sleeping bags and stayed in the Wells Barn…I will spare you how it was a wooden floor and I am a chubby 45 year old woman who had no business sleeping that way next time a blow up mattress (I didn’t know I could bring one and paid for that) ANYWHO….


Our Scouts were able to learn how to make home made noodles which honestly I would love to have her do here she said they were so good!

After this yummy homemade pasta snack we headed downstairs for some painting and modge podge….

THEN we walked over to the Conservatory and yes, it was everything I had hoped it would be …. and oh yeah the pea liked it too LOL 🙂 

We walked in to immediately see the first two Chihulys I think we were all in awe because we just stared at them for awhile, they were so beautiful.

There were so many areas of the Conservatory just peppered with Chihuly and beautiful plants specifically Orchids this time of year. 

We walked through with our guide and saw a wedding set up for the next day I can only imagine how gorgeous that wedding will be.

After out night walk in the Conservatory the girls were invited to make S’mores it was so cold!!

Those are the leaders up there after smores it was free time and get ready for bed …..OH MY GOSH I honestly could have just stayed up all night HARD WOOD FLOOR….

After what seemed like forever we got up the next morning for breakfast I had coffee while I tried to straighten out my body…..

After we were able to pack everything up in the car and grab out patches we were allowed to go back to the Conservatory for one last look seeing it in a different light.  We even saw some areas that we missed the night before.

 

There is so much to see here and in the summer we plan to go back for the outside sites too! 

 

As of now during our time of staying at home the Conservatory is closed, please visit their website for updates on when they plan to reopen and hope to support the Conservatory during this time.

Gram of Two Peas

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It’s been ten years TEN YEARS since Gram passed, it still seems like yesterday and every year I read her obit and every year I think we could have written that so much better.  My Gramps, Aunt and I were just not prepared and the Funeral Home Director pretty much wrote it based on what he knew about her.  You can see that one below…..after the original I’m going to rewrite it the way it should have been written.

L. Louise Ellis, age 82, of Kenmore, passed away on May 9th, 2010.

Mrs. Ellis was born in Barberton and lived in the area all of her life. She was a member of the Akron Baptist Temple where she was active in the Ladies Bible Study. She helped start the Exceptionals Group. She had retired from National City Bank.

She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers and one sister. She is survived by her husband, Jene; son, Fred; daughter, Cheryl Cartwright. She raised as her own, granddaughters, Shelia (Vince) Goodman, Jamie (Chad) Riley and grandson, Ben Ellis; and six great-grandchildren; sister, Jean (Dick) Rudolph, four nieces and nine great-nieces and nephews and one great-great-nephew.

Funeral services at the Prentice Funeral Home, 1154 Kenmore Blvd., on Thursday at 12 Noon with Pastor Ernie Kemppel offciating. Interment at Greenlawn Memorial Park. Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. Family requests donations be made to the Akron Baptist Temple.

 

L. Louise Ellis, age 82, of Kenmore, passed away on Mother’s Day, May 9th, 2010.

Mrs. Ellis was born in Barberton and lived with her beloved husband in the area most of her life.  She was a member of the Akron Baptist Temple where she helped form the Exceptionals Class for the Disabled as well as helping in the Nursery, she was currently very active in the Ladies Bible Study.  She had retired from National City Bank to care for her mentally disabled daughter and grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers and one sister. She is survived by her loving and devoted husband, Jene; son, Fred Ellis; daughter, Cheryl Cartwright and those grandchildren she raised as her own children,  Shelia (Vince) Goodman, Jamie Riley and grandson, Ben (I’m adding Tanesa she would have adored her) Ellis; and eight (I added the two she never got to meet) great-grandchildren; sister, Jean (Dick) Rudolph, four nieces and nine great-nieces and nephews and one great-great-nephew.

Louise was a selfless, tough and loving Grandmother, Mother, Aunt, Sister and Friend, she will missed beyond measure, loved and remembered forever.

 

I feel better about this one……

 

I miss you Gram, I love you and wish you were here every day.  Thank you for loving us with all you had I hope we have made you proud. You would absolutely love all these grand kids today.

Two Peas and the Otherworld

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Filed under Family Fun, My girls, Single Mom of Two Peas

After our morning at the amazing cat cafe we headed to the other side of town to OtherWorld an Immersive Art Exhibit or as all the girls saw it a pretty freaking amazing Instagram photo op!~

https://otherworldohio.com

The line was out the door but we got prepaid tickets well even that line was out the door it is a pretty popular spot and from what I understand they have a new way of handling that thank goodness because we were in the rain it was kind of cold and miserable for a few minutes.

The cost was $22 each not too bad we floated through area some crowded areas and some areas we couldn’t even get to but the ones we did were pretty dang amazing.

Not a lot to write about but more to show with the colors and lights and pure genius of the artist.

 

Of course the older girls took their own pics for the gram or snap or whatever it is they do but the littlest pea let me be her photographer 🙂 

The last photo op before we took was this tree that I was obsessed with so a picture was taken with every color change! 

And because I am that mom I made the girls pretend to be the picture behind them LOL ~!  Can you find it? they have the facial expressions spot on and hint they are twins wearing yellow with hats 🙂 

 

We spend a few hours here and they would love to come back sometime let us know if you went or plan to go and your favorite part! 

Two Peas and a Cat Cafe

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Before we hit our new status of stay at home the peas and I were lucky enough to hang out with some friends and go to a few amazing local places. One place that the peas had been begging to go to was our local cat cafe Eat, Purr, Love.

https://www.eatpurrlovecatcafe.com/

The cafe is really fun we are able to make a reservation on line it was $10.75 an hour for each of us. The cafe is ran by Columbus Humane so all the cats are adoptable, unfortunately we couldn’t adopt as we just adopted Nightmare from the streets LOL. But we really wanted to spend some time with them and be able to donate to the organization. While we waited for our friends to get the oldest pea got a hot chocolate and the littlest pea grabbed a board game to play. You go through two doors to get in the cat area so that they don’t get out, they allow 10 people back there and who I will call the cat concierge takes us back.

Once we got back there everyone scattered !

These cat’s have it made while they wait for their forever homes; they even have a fish tank to watch it may have caught the attention of the The Pheebs too.

The back wall of the cafe have pictures of all of the adoptees and they are running out of room happily~ !

We had a great time visiting with our new fur friends and believe it or not none of these guys where there a week later they were all adopted !

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Right now the cafe is closed BUT the new online store is open so you can still support the cause. And hopefully they will be open again soon! Until then follow them on Instagram and Facebook for updates~

Two Peas and the Ginger Zombies

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Filed under Family Fun, My girls

2015   It all began with a little pea and not so perfect gingerbread man cut out.

Phoebe was upset that her gingerbread looked like they had broken legs well Pyper and I thought they looked like Zombies!  So to keep my littlest little stay jolly and not be upset Ginger Zombies and a Riley girl tradition was made!

We use the Pillsbury ready made cookie dough it’s much easier and actually tastier than that one year…………yikes we won’t talk about that OK we will …….. the year was 2016 the stores every single store didn’t sell the dough I thought I was late the all sold out but a quick google search would show they never sold them in the first place SO we went homemade because no one sold them!

We started this new tradition to our little Riley girl family  December of 2015 this will be out 4th year and they are now expected by some of our friends but mostly the peas Uncle Ben (my brother).

And of course we have to have just the right way to give them right?  The first year we found the PERFECT tin from Jo Ann Fabrics but we never found them again so we just look for ones we can zombify.

Ever made ginger zombies or crazy ginger bread people we did Ginger Ninjas once too but they didn’t stick like zombies? Let us know how you do them!~

In the meantime please enjoy these Ginger Zombie making day pics through out the couple of years!

2016 – We did a gingerbread house because because the homemade dough was gross.

2017 – The year the oldest pea just wasn’t interested…..

2018 – The year Phoebe added eyes!

We hope you enjoyed our zombies I’ll update after our 2019 hoard is complete!

Mom of 2 Peas and The Nosy Smartphone

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Filed under our furry children, sid vicious

So we have all heard that out smartphones listen in….how else do social media sites like my FB page and Insta give me ads about something I LITERALLY spoke about ten minutes earlier??? They target you with the hopes that you’ll buy whatever they are selling….well guess what….

Shhhhh they can hear you……

I did!

It all started when our little Sid Vicious decided he could be Houdini and remove himself from every harness I have ever purchased for him. Not only would he do his magic tricks but he would walk so hard that he would choke himself out by pulling in the leash when we tried to walk him. We have been with Sid for TWO years and I had tried different harnesses I bought online or in stores that were supposed to keep him from choking none worked. The red one below that ring on his chest was supposed to keep him from pulling it was meant to make him turn all it did was make him fall and get tangled and then he had one arm out and could have ran. Yes this furbaby id a runner he loves to chase the nemesis …. squirrel.

I would let him out on his lead (we don’t have a fence) He rolled in the grass until his arm got through the hole and boom he’s out!

Well nosey FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM heard my plight and thought I should try https://puglifeharness.com/ I debated for months and for months it just kept popping up even when I was reading articles on YAHOO it was the cute little corner ad. Then they got me….a limited edition Halloween harness.

Yes I went ahead and spent the $39.99 plus shipping and handling (ended up like $55.00?) the most I ever spent on a dang harness BUT if it worked it would be worth every penny and I had to try Sid needs walked not carried around all the time to keep from choking.

The two side rings are to keep him from pulling he will just walk in a circle back to me not forward if he pulls. They are just for training purposed so eventually he stops pulling all together.

First I went to YouTube to make sure I put it on correctly there are lots of videos from people rating them and yes they were all good. Let me say this harness is the easiest one I have ever put on once you get it fitting well taking it off and on is a cinch!

Could the nosy advertising people on my phone know what they are doing? Maybe….. I mean they did this time!

I could not be any happier with this harness and NO I’m not being paid I don’t have a secret code for you to get $ off but it seems to me they are always on sale! I just want to share how much this harness has helped my little punk be able to breath when we walk him and not choke out because that was scary for the peas and me; as you know he doesn’t like other dogs he loves cats but dogs…no so when we walk him he pulls harder to get to them not anymore Pugs Life has kept him from getting hurt because this little thinks he is big LOL and could be taken down with one bite from the dogs he tried to intimidate.

See the difference above? The Pugs Life is a heavy duty velcro and yes it stands up to the pull and never comes apart the old one squeezed hard when he would pull. I think you get the idea by now….

He is pretty happy too we don’t have to keep it on all day because it it so easy to take off and on and our little guy likes to be naked LOL

So if you are in need of an amazing harness that won’t hurt your favorite pup I suggest this one from Pug Life. https://puglifeharness.com/ Let me know how it works for you if you do!

Pot Belly …..The Pot Belly Bear

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This is Pot Belly, I have had him since 1980 I was 6 years old when my grandparents got him for me.  I loved this bear he and my stuffed leopard are the only things I have of my childhood before we moved in with my grands permanently. 
This bear went everywhere with me, I took VERY good care of him. I even had jammies with his face on them LOL (come on I was 6)  after I outgrew them I put the shirt on him that helped keeping him in such great shape!
Now when you are 6 to however old I was when I put him away; you don’t think I need to keep this in order to pass this down to my children.  Yet in 2014 there I was getting into a box I hadn’t opened since I moved out of my Grandparent’s house 22 years ago. 

 

Pot Belly’s Second Life

When I decided to post about him I took a few of the now pictures I wish i could go through all of my pictures and find more through out his second life but trust me it happened. 

After the split in 2014 the first weekend away from me Phoebe was having nightmares and there was nothing I could do. (We did change the schedule up a bit to help her and have yet to change it back). When the girls came home and Phoebe was too anxious to fall asleep that night well, this was how the divorce was affecting her she never showed any other signs that she was upset over it.  But she was 6 years old and she didn’t know how to express it that’s when I opened the box. 

I told her when I was little I had Pot Belly with me at bedtime always and he kept the nightmares away.  She took him and hasn’t slept without him since.  It’s been over 4 years she is 10 now and yes I might have just ratted her out but I’m pretty sure her friends don’t read my “lame” blog LOL ! 

So here he is well loved, broken whiskers, one eye and a chewed bottom paw (thanks to Sid)

He has done his job well I think  🙂 

Thanks Potbelly for helping my kiddo when she needed it and still being her favorite pillow today 🙂 

 

Daekor manufactured Pot Bellies from 1979 to who knows when! But if you ever see one and want to send it my way please do! 

The Littlest Pea and Pancake Art

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Filed under DIY, Family Fun, My girls, Photo Blog, Single Mom of Two Peas

t and most fun art project we have done is because of the pancake art challenges on YouTube the littlest pea is obsessed! 

So when she asked if we could do them, that was an easy yes we can…..She didn’t even need help with the batter…..

 

We used a few more colors this time (we’ve done this a couple times) and put them in ketchup and mustard bottles and a few bottles from the Dollar Tree.

 

Always spray the skillets …..We need an electric one like the YouTubers ….

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Let the fun begin! 

When you mess up make it a swimming pool…..or if your shamrock looks like a tree add apples~  And when you make the oldest pea into a pancake don’t say that the bubbles are her pimples she gets offended LOL ! 

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We made a Pyper and her friend Kenedi who cracked up over the “Me” pancake…..

Pay no attention to background spray (our puppy has accidents 😦 )

 

I love the P that Phoebe made me she was pretty proud (so was I) ! 

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Some pics from last time rainbows, Narwhals, and even the big sis helped last time  !

Making Magic with the Littlest Pea

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Home without the Oldest Pea so what could the Pheebs and I get ourselves into??? 

~~~We made Harry Potter Wands~~~

We just Googled how to and saw SO many tutorials!  All pretty great, some easy, some so detailed that it was cool to watch but a little too hard for the 9yr old.  The easier tutorials were simply chop sticks, hot glue gun, and paint ….some added glitter so of course we did too~ 

I made the first one and had her watch told her not to touch the glue or the end because of the burn factor and then let her go.  Can we just look at that sheer determination and not the unbrushed hair bahaha ! 

After the glue was wrapped around the chopstick she treated it like a troll

Because we didn’t want a flat side to the wand we let them dry like this in the glitter jar:

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The dry pretty quickly and if you don’t like how it turned out you can peel it off and start again.

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Then once they are dry you do the paint and glitter. 

Our creations: 

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And one special wand for one special person.

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The week we made the wands was also Teacher Appreciation Week so she made her teacher one and then made her a sweet painting to match. 

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Add glitter! 

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~TADA~

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We hope she liked it!

We hope you like this post and let us know if you made wands and how you did it ! 

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This is the face I love my crazy little pea 🙂 

Two Peas and a Castle

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Every year since I can remember nothing good has ever happened on my birthday, there has been stitches, broken bones, bruises, accidents and even heartbreak.  Last year I refused to leave my house because I didn’t want to risk it!

This year I refused to believe my birthday was cursed.  I wanted to be with the peas and have an awesome day.  I chose to visit the Loveland Castle or as it is formally called the Château Laroche.

 

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It took 90 minutes to get there not bad and the girls were in great moods so that was even better!

They are open 11 – 4 and its only $5 to take a self guided tour which I personally LOVE when you go in you are greeted by a volunteer who tells you a little about the castle and which rooms are which.  Of course the first thing we saw was the Dungeon <—– sign.

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And immediately ran to it….

They cracked up because someone placed a lucky troll in there with the “prisoner” not too lucky it seems !

The dungeon led out to the gardens but we wanted to see the rest of the castle before we headed out there.

We went back upstairs and saw Sir Harry’s office, it was amazing left just as he had left it. (behind bars so no one could disturb)

His bedroom was in the same condition so awesome…..

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Then up one more flight and the dining room was something out of King Arthur

 In the back they have a sword collection and a video playing that tells you all about the Castle and Sir Harry, all the art, the chairs, the chains, and the Suit Of Armors

But that wasn’t all there was one more floor sort of….it was blocked off but the roof area was just spectacular from what we could see and just the stairs going up there well the kids said they were way cool 🙂

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I would have loved to roamed all over the roof it did look pretty cool. So we went back down a flight look again in case we missed something.

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Also those were some of the best pics I ever took of these girls!

We found a oriel window….a small balcony to look over some of the garden.

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Look at the dragon!

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Now look at us LOL

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We ventured outside the castle and it was gorgeous…..

We loved this little trip we even ran back in for one more picture….

They weren’t too into it and the little wouldn’t sit alone I made her pretend to be royal apparently royal is a mean mug. HA!

The castle was a perfect day trip for my birthday with my girls for more info about the place go here:  http://www.lovelandcastle.com/  if you check it out let us know how much you liked it!

OH and then there was this!

Next time we go we will go on one of the castle days they host once a month is the summer….also going to go hiking right there too !~  Sir Harry lived from 1890 – 1981 his life was amazing and the way he built this castle by himself stone by stone is nothing short of amazing.   So do it Google him I feel if I start adding facts and stories I will have lifted it all from other website…I don’t want to do that 🙂

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PS……for those that believe in b-day curses……on our way home at the gas station waiting to turn into a spot to get gas…..we got hit by a lady pulling out of a parking spot……she didn’t see us.

Next year we might just might not leave the house again $1580 of damage but at least we were able to drive home…..kind of killed the day though thanks lady!

 

Update to answer a question from a follower: Phoebe’s T-shirt came from https://www.humanunlimited.com/  We all have one! She wears hers at least once a week ~ I have gotten a few from them and they are amazing to check them out!!! (also they are located in my hometown of Akron OHIO! woohoo!)