Fisher Price Friday - Little People Motorcycle

It's time to feel the wind in your face today on Fisher Price Friday.  We're hitting the road with Little People Motorcycle #2451. Made from 1985-1990 this set only had 3 pieces; the motorcycle, double cones and a driver with a helmet.  

The motorcycle was yellow with red handlebars and big thick black tires.  Not to be confused with the red motorcycle that came with the Pop Up Camper #992.  This same motorcycle came with the Play Family Camper #994.  The driver is one of two helmeted little people, the other being the all in black driver for the Race Car #2450.  This driver is tall and blue with a white helmet.  He isn't an exclusive for he was also made for the #634 Motorcycle set, sold only in the UK (with more pieces including a ramp!).

The double cones or traffic pylons are unique but not exclusives to the set.  They also came with the Lift and Load Builders #789 and the #2352 Construction Set.

It may be a simple set but it's pretty cute!  A favorite of my girls, I just wish we had the UK version with the ramps and motorcycle trailer.  Hopefully someday!

Fisher Price Friday - Things to Make

It's been awhile since I've shared a vintage Fisher Price book.  With summer in full swing and my kids home looking for things to do this book Things to Make is perfect.  It is a Fisher-Price Activity Book published by Random House in 1978.  Things to Make was written by Peggy R Greene and Illustrated by Bill Dugan.

It is a sweet little book full of wait for it....things for kids to make.  Ha!  The 32 page paperback book has crafts, art projects and art tips.  

They include: 

How to Trace
Cardboard Carton Toys (bucking bronco, carton train)
Noodle Jewelry (a classic!!)

Rock Art (published in 1978 after all!)
Paper Playthings (sailor hat, helmet, whirlybird, spinning top, pinwheel and paper plane)
Paper Plate Plaques
Holiday Trimmings (paper chains, pomander balls, flag chains and aluminum balls)
Cookie Patterns (rocking horse, gingerbread man)
Egg Heads (funny, bunny and humpty dumpty)
Egg Carton Creatures (monster and crocodile)
Covered Cans and Boxes (paper covered can, ribbon covered can, and covered boxes)
Clay Play (hand prints, turtle, porcupine pencil holder (you NEED this, ha!!) and candle holder
Paper Bag Masks
Hand Puppets
Yarn Weaving (another 70/80's classic)

How fun do those sound?  I didn't want to read this book (out loud) but I had to share the cute pages.  My 6 year old helped turn the pages and I've got a fun vintage Sesame Street record playing in the background (on my Fisher Price Phonograph #825) for mood music.  Enjoy!




For more vintage Fisher Price books check out:

Care and Share a Book About Manners
Mini Block Board Books
Chunky People Books (The Big Town Garage, Good Morning Farm, Whose Hat is That)
Meet Timmy and Penny

Little stacks of Potato Heaven (Parmesan Potato Stacks Recipe)

Parmesan Potato Stacks 

Ingredients 
2 tablespoons butter, melted 
2 tablespoons olive oil 
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
1 teaspoon thyme (fresh or dried), and more for garnish 
salt and black pepper 
8-10 gold potatoes, sliced super thin (about 1/16 inch thick) 

Instructions 
1. Preheat your oven to 375°F.  Coat 12 standard muffin cups with olive oil (I use a paper towel to apply) or nonstick cooking spray. 

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, olive oil, Parmesan, thyme, salt and black pepper. Add the potato slices and toss to coat evenly. 

3. Layer the potato slices into stacks in the prepared muffin cups, filling each one to the very top. Bake until the edges and tops are golden brown and the centers are tender, 45 to 55 minutes. Remove the muffin tin from the oven and let the Parmesan Potato Stacks rest for 5 minutes. Carefully remove them with a small spoon and sprinkle with thyme leaves and lots of extra Parmesan cheese (if you love it like we do!) along with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

These are little stacks of potato heaven.  The family applauded and dinner was a success!  I served mine with steak and veggies but they would be great for brunch too.

Fisher Price Friday - Little People Race Car

Vroom Vroom.  This is a speedy little toy, the #2450 Little People Race Car.  Made from 1985-1990 this set came with only 2 pieces.  The same car and driver were also found in #327 Indy Racer but that version had other pieces too.

Last month we visited Disney's CA Adventure and saw none other than Lightning McQueen.  Doesn't he look quite a bit like the Fisher Price race car?

The red race car has a high backrest and a spoiler on top.  The four black wheels could be stamped with "Fisher Price" or not (two versions).  The sweet little racer dude is all black with a fabulous helmet.  He is short, the size of a small man/boy.

Now that's one talented little driver.

Simple Teacher Appreciation Gift

Believe it or not my oldest has been on summer break for almost 3 weeks already.  We start and finish early here in the Valley of the Sun.  I wish they stayed in school longer because it gets SO hot and it will be 115 when they start this August.  But I digress.

For the end of the school year I sent a simple teacher appreciation gift.  I had seen SO many fabulous and somewhat complicated ideas on Pinterest but since we'd just had Teacher Appreciation Week a couple weeks before I decided to go simple.

The last day of school my daughter brought in this flower and a flower-themed card that said "Thanks for Helping Me Bloom".  Although I thought of that sweet little ditty all by myself I am sure that I am not the first one to connect a "bloom" card with flowers.  But hey, it is still sweet and easy.

I bought the flowers at Home Depot and added them to a pretty pot.  If you want to get more fancy you could have your child make a flower card using their hand print (or tracing) to make a bloom.  I didn't have time for that but I did have her write a little something inside.

I'll intend on doing something more creative next year, but who am I kidding.  It was so crazy the last day of school here that I actually missed picking up my daughter from the bus stop.  On her last day.  Nice.  So most likely next year's teacher will get the same exact gift.  

But I'll make sure to pick up my daughter.  Ha!

Fisher Price Friday - Farm Friends

I have another mini-farm set to share with you today.  Fisher Price produced quite a few accessory sets for their popular #915 Play Family Farm.  This little 5 piece set was made from 1983-1984 and includes some familiar pieces.  It could be played with alone or with the classic Family Farm.  In 1985 they switched the number to #2448 and added one piece (a burlap feed bag).

The pieces included a tractor, cart, farmer, dog and a red rooster.

The tractor is the same size as the original #915 tractor, but is green and yellow instead of red and yellow.  The tractor has lithographs on each side of the engine with three colored dots (red, yellow and blue.  The wheels are yellow with green rivets.

The tractor has a yellow cart with black wheels and green axles.  Like many Fisher Price sets there are variations to the color combos, for example the tractor could be yellow with green wheels and the cart green with yellow axles.

The farmer has a blue body with yellow hat and yellow scarf.  There was also an orange scarf variation as pictured.  The orange scarf man was the farmer for the #2448 version. 

Lucky the dog has a red collar with lines.  Next to him is a red rooster.  The rooster has a square hole in it's base and the words "Made In China" (on the bottom).

For more Farm fun check out:

Play Family Barnyard Friends #117
Play Family Farm Family and Cart #716
Play Family Farm #915

For farm pieces of your own check out my Etsy Shop: Vintage Little People

Crockpot Chicken Noodle or Rice Soup or both!

My friend Kymm of Will Work For Eskimo Kisses had the best Crock Pot Chicken Soup Recipe on her blog a few months ago.  I've made it a couple times and recently while my family was overwhelmed with a pass-it-along virus I decided to mix up the recipe a little.  I decided that we could have noodle or rice soup, or both.

I made the base of the soup first and at the end allowed each family member to choose pasta or rice to add.  We had both on hand (already cooked) and the benefit to this is there was more broth and the leftovers didn't have the swollen noodle issue most soups have.

So here you go, sick or not this soup is fantastic!

Crock Pot Chicken Noodle or Rice Soup 

2 frozen chicken breasts 
4 cups water 
4 cups chicken broth 
1 tsp seasoned salt 
1 tsp salt 
1/4 tsp pepper 
1 small onion, chopped 
2 carrot, chopped 
2 stalks celery, chopped 
2 tbsp dried or fresh parsley 
1/2 tsp basil (or a few fresh leaves)
2 sprigs of rosemary 
1 bay leaf 
cooked noodles or rice  

Place all ingredients except for noodles/rice in crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 7 or 8 hours. Remove bay leaf and rosemary sprigs from pot. Using two forks, shred the chicken meat.

Add rice or noodles to the finished soup and serve!  

Note: If you want to cook the noodles in the crock pot add about 6oz of noodles (I recommend a firm kind) 30 minutes before serving.