Sunday, October 27, 2013

Heathy Halloween Treats


Ok everyone, let me just tell you I LOVE to bake. It's an obsession really. So needless to say whenever a holiday comes around I itching to make breads, cake, cookies, muffins, all kinds of yummy but not so healthy treats. So this year my goal is to get creative with some keyword HEALTHY treats to share with my kiddos this year.


Banana Ghosts and Orange Pumpkins 

I just love these Banana Ghosts and Orange Pumpkins and I think my kiddos will do. The best part, they get a serving of fruit!




Ingredients


Bananas
Chocolate Chips (regular and mini)
Oranges or Clementines
Celery









Apple Bites

Again I love the ingredients for these as opposed to candy, cookies, etc. 




Ingredients 

Apples
Almond Slices 

If you are not serving right away you can baste the apple slices with orange or lemon juice to keep them from browning. 













Pumpkin Veggie Tray

The one veggie my kids will eat without hesitation is carrots so I'm sure they will love this pumpkin shaped veggie tray!



Ingredients 
1 Large baby of baby carrots
1 Cucumber
1 Head of broccoli
Your favorite Veggie Dip
Small dipping containers

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Letter Learning Fun

Hello all!


I love love love turning learning into games. I believe its important that kids are having fun when they learn. If they are not having fun while learning it can make the child apprehensive in any future learning experiences. I know parents want the very best for their children, that is a given. We want them to be ahead of the curve. But we have to realize as parents that they are just kids! The most important thing for children to do is have fun. If your kiddo isn't digging a certain learning activity it's ok! Whatever you do don't try to push them into it. Try finding a different activity they relates the same information in a different way that your child will enjoy. Or you could try setting out a couple of different activities and let your little one choose which one they would like to do.

Children are always learning, they are little sponges absorbing everything around them. You don't necessarily need planned activities either. Everyday experiences can be learning experiences. Take you kids to the grocery store (make sure you have ample time and are not in a rush). I have always had Ayden get things off the shelf for me. I will say, "Ok I need 3 red apples and 3 green apples. Can you get them for me? How many apples do we have all together?". I even let Ay pump gas every now that he is big enough (under close supervision). I have him enter our zip code at the pump and watch the numbers as the gas is being pumped, "Ok we need to stop when the numbers get to $30.00".

But I do love printables. Especially one's we can use our bingo daubers on.

This week we have been working on letter recognition, formation, and sounds. Ay is pretty good with his uppercase letters so our main focus was on matching lower case with upper case and formation. I found these amazing printables from 1+1+1=1. I'm addicted to her blog and she has a huge collection of printables that are FREE. Anyways, we used the letter maze printables. I printed one for every letter, once Ay got the hang of it he was off and running doing them on his own. We used our bingo daubers and regular markers to follow the letters on the maze.



These are just great. They incorporate upper and lower case matching and have a picture of  something that begins with that letter. For example, the letter Aa has apples on the top left corner and a basket on the bottom right. You follow the maze to get the apples into the basket. You can use the corresponding pictures to practice stretching words out to hear each letters individual sound and give more examples of words that start with that particular letter.

SO, these have been a huge hit with Ay. He keeps asking to do them over and over again. So enjoy!

image

Friday, March 22, 2013

Photographer

I want to give a shout out to the photographer that took the pictures in my banner. +Monica Weingate from Butterfly Kissed photography did our engagement pictures and wedding pictures which all turned out fabulous. I highly recommend her if you are looking for a photographer in the area!

You can visit her webiste HERE

Fun at the Air Zoo

I hope everyone is having a happy Friday! Good news...I have a little girl starting soon yay! Right now I am completely outnumbered by boys. My husband, our dog, my son Ayden, and my three current daycare kids are all BOYS. So needless to say I cannot wait for my little girl to start. More good news I have officially filled all my open spots for daycare.  :) 

Anyways, somehow I have Friday's off since all my daycare kids are off on Fridays. So I decided to dedicate Fridays to Ayden and Mommy days since the rest of the week we have a house full of children. Today we went to one of our favorite spots in the area, the Air Zoo. If you live in the Kalamazoo area this is one spot you absolutely must check out. They have something for everyone. Our favorite part is the rides in the kids section. Even my husband loves it because of all the planes and historical exhibits. Oh and the airplane simulator which I refuse to ride with him because he just spins it upside down for the entire three minutes. Best part? Its so cheap! Admission is only $8 and kids 4 and under are FREE. I finally wised up and bought a membership for the year, only $35! So now we can go as much as we want and we don't have to pay a dime. Here is their website if you want to check it out.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

More Easter Printables

I've found quite a few prtinables I'm in love with so here they are!

 
 
 

Easter Fun cont.

I just found these ADORABLE Easter printables that are perfect for sending home treats with my kiddos. The best part? They are free, free, free! I will post pictures of the final product when I put my treat bags together :)

Find them HERE
 

Easter Fun

As we all know Easter is right around the corner so, I am putting together some fun decorating ideas and projects for the kiddo's and I thought I would share what we find. Enjoy!

Easter Egg Yarn Garland
 
 
I absolutely love these Easter Egg Garlands made out of yard. The best part? They are super easy and inexpensive to make. All you need are some balloons, yarn, and mod podge. We will be doing these this weekend, I will post pictures of the finished product :)

View Tutorial Here
 

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Window Crayons

 
Window Crayon Fun
 
 
Ok let me just say we love arts and crafts. I have two cabinets full of all of our art supplies. But when I busted these babies out my boys were so excited they were jumping up and down. I let them go to town on our slider in the kitchen. These are by far their favorite arts and crafts time activity. It also keeps their attention the longest which is great for me so I can get some cooking done and still keep an eye out to made sure the artwork stays on the windows. The best part, it washes right off. Just be careful when your wiping it off. I sprayed the whole window with all purpose cleaner and wiped it down a little too fast because splashes of color flung onto my curtains and floor. But luckily it washed out of my curtains and came right off the floor.
 
 
The end result:
 

Pipe Cleaners and Strainers

 
Let's face it, two four year old boys don't always have the best attention span. Especially when it involves sitting at the table doing activities. So I have decided to post some activities that will entertain my boys for more than five minutes ; )


Pipe Cleaners and Strainers
 

This one is pretty self explanatory. Get out a strainer and some pipe cleaners and let them go to town! I have two because every time I go my mother in laws she gives me something to take home : ) Which came in handy here since my two boys are still learning the importance of sharing. This activity would be great for toddlers developing their fine motor skills. We added some beads for the boys to string onto the pipe cleaners to switch it up (and keep their attention longer). While we did this I had them name the colors of the beads and pipe cleaners and count how many they each had in their strainer when it was time to clean up.




Welcome...

Welcome


Well hello there! Welcome to Peanut Butter and  Pickles. If your wondering about where on earth I came up with this name it is what I craved when I was pregnant with my now four year old son, Ayden. I know gross right? Now a little bit about me :) I have just left my job in finance to venture in the world of being a stay at home mom AND a daycare provider. As of right now I have my son, another four year old, a 12 month old, and a 10 month old. Oh and my German Short haired Pointer who is one and a half, and of coarse like my other child. My name is Nichole and I welcome you to follow me through this journey!!

About Me

  • My name is Nichole, not Nicole. My mother said she wanted my name to be "different"
  • I am six foot tall but told everyone I was 5'11 and 3/4 for years (that quarter inch really mattered!)
  • I want two more children of my own
  • My husband is a gun carrying, hunting, fishing, maintenance man.
  • I am addicted to Pintrest...no really I think I may need Pintrest Rehab
  • I LOVE the summer time. Winters in Michigan are to cold!
  • I love to bake and hate to clean up the mess
  • I am just like the "extreme" couponers every other week. I would do it more often but it is very time consuming
  • As a child you could not get me out of the lake in the summer, now I am afraid of lake water and I have no idea why or what changed
  • I am 23 and my husband is 32
  • I love Sangria
  • I have been married for  5 months
  • I will ride any water slide there is but refuse to ride any roller coasters