Trying to Be Adventurous

Yesterday, we attempted to make homemade ice cream.  

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In honor of St. Patrick's Day we attempted to make mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Notice the ingredients in the background?

Spinach, Greek yogurt, mint extract, and semi-sweet chocolate chips...and there was also confectioners sugar added. 

We had fun making it.

Em helped puree the spinach and loved making the blender go.  The loud cacophony coming from our kitchen amazingly didn't wake up Madison from her nap.  Many of the chocolate chips never even made it into the bowl.  Emily gobbled them up one after the other.  I would let them dissolve into chocolatey goodness before swallowing, savoring the bite of the chocolate.  We then watched the clouds of sugar puff out of the bowl.  It was exciting sticking the concoction into the freezer for the 2 hours and then waiting, waiting, and waiting.

Eating it wasn't so much fun. Memorable though.

I snuck a bite before calling the girls out.  It was pretty awful. My husband laughed and asked how I thought it could possibly taste good.

My response, "but the cookbook said..." I wondered if maybe I had followed the instructions of pureeing the mint extract with the spinach if it would have been better rather than just throwing it into the bowl.

Emily spit it out...on the floor.

Madison wouldn't even try it.  She covered her mouth and ran away.  We got a glimpse of her diaper covered butt as she hurried away into the "dress-up room" (our family room).

That was until I pulled out the carton of chocolate ice cream from the freezer.

(There are no pictures of the taste tasting since my kids would not cooperate.)

If you participate in Wordless Wednesday, link up at the following sites: 5 Minutes For Mom, Woven by Words, Two of a Kind Working on a Full House and Wordful Wednesday with Parenting by Dummies (if your like me and you can't not write a full post with your picture).

Let Your Light Shine

Emily just started dance class.  She has always loved to dance and bop along to music as soon as she discovered she could.

As soon as she discovered she could put videos in the DVD player herself she did.  Dancing Barbies and beginner ballet videos would play repeatedly until I turned them off .  She would try to mimic what she saw onscreen.

Then the "can I go to dance class, Mommy?" began.

I signed her up for her first dance class last week.  That first night the teacher asked if we were just trying out a class or if Emily was definitely going to be taking the pre-ballet/tap.  I smiled and said I think she was definitely staying in the class even though that first night Emily seemed to be more interested in watching herself twirl in the floor length mirrors than to follow the teacher's instructions. 

This was the smile on her face when she came home from class the other night.  She couldn't wait to show her dad her new moves and to show off her green heart sticker that all the dancers got from their teacher. 

Let your light shine, baby...let it shine.

When Inspiration Hits Nothing Is Safe From the Pen

Where do you write your creative ideas? 

For me it depends on where I am.  When I get an idea, nothing is safe from my pen.  Envelopes, newspapers, a yellow legal tablet, backs of thank you cards, memo pads, envelopes that once contained bills, padded envelopes, post-its, scraps of paper...

Anything and everything usually ends up with scribbles across it.  Then it goes into a file folder to be pulled out when needed.

What items hold your musings or those sparks of inspiration that strike at random moments?

Splish Splash!

Emily wanted to play outside-her favorite thing to do. With the weather over 90 degrees, I filled up their little sand box (that has never yet been filled with sand) and let them splash around.


Madison wanted to play with the camera after throwing out all of the water toys and then trying to get out herself.

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit here, and 5 Minutes for Mom and more wordful Wednesday can be found at Seven Clown Circus.

WW: I *Heart* You & Want to Drive My Tractor

As you have probably noticed, I am playing  "a MEME a day" this week.  I am working on some blog housekeeping (Wordpress here I come) and some regular housekeeping to.  We're going through some schedule changes (ah-hm...some early 5 am risers need to go back to sleep) and party planning (my baby is turning one). My regular blogging hours have been temporarily interrupted.

These photos were taken this weekend. Em and her cousin had so much fun riding around in his birthday toy.  She sat like such a little lady.  At least until he got off of the tractor.  Then, she hopped over into the driver's seat and away she went. I held my breath a few times but her cousin was an excellent driver.  Em-not so much.

I had bought Em a little Jeep at a yard sale.  She is still a little young so I thought a used one would be good. It needed a battery though according to the man selling it.  It was a $200 toy that I got for $40.    A little to good to be true since batteries (when you buy the charger to) can cost about $70.  The man selling it said batteries only cost about $25 for two.  Then, it turned out that the Jeep was from 1989 and that it had been recalled since they have electrical problems and could start a fire.  Amazingly, they still honored the recall when I called.  Now we need to get it to the center where they can replace the batteries and the connectors. Hopefully, it starts when that is all said and done...

There is something comforting about the fact that a company will still honor recalls for several years after the recall was done AND when the item is secondhand (yes, I was honest).


Have you ever had any experiences with recalls after a long length of time has passed or funny motorized vehicle stories starring your kids?

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit here, and 5 Minutes for Mom and more wordful Wednesday can be found at Seven Clown Circus.

Any suggestions for tomorrow's meme?

WW: Enjoying the Sun

 

 A little bit of this and that in the sun.

Emily loves to be outside.  She was "helping" her daddy with a construction project the one day.  

It is hard to believe Madison will be one in a little over a month.  I barely remember holding her in my arms as an infant and yet I can still remember Emily as an infant.  Once Madison was born, everything seemed to blur a bit. 

As for the poodle hat, it is usually in Emily's dress-up box.  Her daddy had told her she could wear it to the park.  When the two of them came outside, I asked my husband what the deal was with the hat.  His response, "What?!?! She wanted to wear it."  Of course, she refuses to wear sun hats or baseball hats.  Yet, on this particular day, she refused to take that hat off.  She wore it ALL day long.  Win some, lose some.  But, I have to say she does look kind of cute.  She certainly garnered a lot of attention at the playground.  

We pulled her tricycle out so she could ride it in the driveway.  Note the safety packaging!

For more Wordful Wednesday visit Seven Clown Circus.  For more Wordless Wednesday visit here and 5Minutes For Mom.

WW: Running Away Screaming

Ever wonder what scares little kids?

That's easy...

People dressed up as giant monkeys...

Or giant pigs with pigtails...

Who am I kidding?

They kind of scare me to...

For more Wordless Wednesday visit the Wordless Wednesday website and 5 Minutes For Mom.  For more Wordful Wednesday visit Seven Clown Circus.

Wordless/Wordful Wednesday: A Fishy Story

If you remember my post from the other week, you may remember that my husband is an avid fisherman. As in, he takes it very seriously.  Trips to Cabela's are like a pilgrimage.

He takes it so seriously in fact that he is part of a fishing club and participates in bass fishing tournaments about twice a month.  Put him on a boat in the middle of the ocean and he is happy as a clam.  Occasionally, he will go on 18 or 24 hour deep sea fishing trips. 

Me?  I prefer my feet on solid ground.  I turn green and need to lie down the entire trip when the boat stops in the middle of the ocean. Standing will only propel me to the side of the boat to feed the fishies. Gross, I know.  It is the rocking of the boat when the engines are off that does it every time.  I am fine as long as the boat is moving but the second they stop the engines, I am a goner.

I have many happy and unhappy memories that involve my husband's favorite pastime.

My first time meeting my future mother-in-law included my first deep sea fishing expedition in the Florida Keys. I didn't know I would get sea sick. Not the impression I wanted to leave.  Needless to say, his family had a blast fishing and catching up while I laid down inside the whole trip to sick to talk.  That was my first but unfortunately not my last trip deep sea fishing.  Getting off of the boat I had to endure listening to the captain's (not so funny) jokes about hugging palm trees and land lovers.

When we first started dating, we would meet up with friends and my sister-in-law and her husband to go cat fishing later at night.  I liked that my feet never left land since we fished from the shore of the river.  I am a girl but was game for tying a piece of chicken liver in a piece of cheesecloth.  As far as touching a worm.  EEEWWWW.  Not a chance. 

On our honeymoon in Cancun, we signed up for all kinds of excursions.  A Mayan adventure trip, a trip to Chichen Itza, Xel-Ha (a huge natural aquarium/natural waterpark), snorkeling and shopping in Cozumel, and of course deep sea fishing.

 

This is the picture I took of my husband catching a marlin.  Was my subsconscious trying to payback my husband for making me go deep sea fishing?  I took this picture with a disposable camera from our wedding.  When we got our pictures developed my husband was devastated.  He had caught a once in a lifetime fish and all he had to show for it was him and the fin of the fish.  Ooops.  

The next day we went to Best Buy to buy a digital camera.

Today if I have any free time, I can tell you what you will NOT find me doing and that is fishing.  I would take a good book along to sit in the boat, in the sun, and relax. That is if my husband invited me along.

I am about as close to fish as I want to be right now staring at them swimming in the fish tank.

For more Wordless/Wordful Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes For Mom, Seven Clown Circus, and here.

Wordless/Wordful Wednesday: Here Fishy, Fishy

I always thought watching fish swim would be relaxing as they meander around the tank.  It isn't.  The sound of the water in the tank can be relaxing but the fish move energetically, propelling themselves from one end of the tank to the other. At times they look to be playing their own game of fish tag. It is entertaining.

My husband has a 125 gallon tank. This is what it looked like before we moved to our current house.

It was filled with beautiful colored cichlids, a delight for any child since they were so colorful.  His tank truly did remind me of Dr. Seuss's One Fish,Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish since these freshwater fish come in a dazzling array of bright colors (at least the males do).

My husband is restarting the tank with fish-not cichlids this time since the tank requires a lot of attention but with little fishies that Emmy got to pick out at the pet store.  When she woke up from her nap she was screaming, "fishies, time pick out fishies".  She was so excited.

Emmy loves fish.  Friends of ours have a koi pond in their backyard.  If we would have let her, she would have jumped right in to play with the fish.

We had gone with my husband and some friends on their annual pilgrimage to Canada to go fishing.  Emmy had a blast catching her first fish.  Okay, so she may have had more fun throwing her princess fishing pole in the lake and watching my husband fish it out with the net.

We are now the proud owners of some red-tailed sharks, corys, Buenos Aires tetras, and some marigold wag swordtails.  Emmy even picked out a little house for the fishies to live in.  She now likes to stand on a small chair in front of the tank calling, "Here fishy, fishies. Where are you?"

They are right there Emmy, swimming right past your little nose.  Her squeals of delight are priceless.

Check out more Wordless Wednesday here and at 5 Minutes for Mom.  More Wordful Wednesday can be found at Seven Clown Circus.

Wordless Wednesday: Babezillas in LP Land

My daughters playing with their Little People village. 

Watching them made me think of Godzilla as he wreaked havoc on NYC in the movies.
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What's That Smell?

I can almost smell spring.

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There is more Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes For Mom also.

*This pic was taken early last summer at a B&B we stayed at outside of Mystic, CT.

Wordless Wednesday: What Does Not Belong In This Picture?

What does not belong in this picture?

Yep, that is my daughter attempting to play hide-n-go-seek.  She also likes to hide under things and behind curtains.  My heart always skips a beat when I leave the room and I come back to find a seemingly empty room.  It turns out that she is playing hide-n-go-seek with...herself.

Wordless Wednesday: Our Wedding Day

 

In honor of Valentine's Day, I pulled out one of my favorite pictures from our wedding.  This was taken after we had left the church and everyone had thrown the rice. We were going back inside the church to have our pictures taken with our families.

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Wordless Wednesday

I keep seeing previews for the romantic comedy When in Rome with Josh Duhamel, Kristen Bell, and Angelica Houston so this seemed a fitting picture for today.  In 2006, I visited Europe with my sister-in-law.   This photo is of the Trevi Fountain in Rome.  It has appeared in a myriad of films so many of you may recognize it.  Throwing a coin into the fountain is said to ensure a return trip to Rome.  Since I'm a sucker for superstitions, I had to join other tourists in throwing a coin into the fountain. I can only hope to return one day.

Wordless Wednesday

I recently read an article about how the majority of the herd of sea lions that normally delights visitors at Pier 39 in San Franciso had left, probably to chase a food source.  In September 2008, my husband and I had spent a long weekend in Napa Valley and in San Francisco (which is now one of my favorite cities in the U.S.). We had spent about an hour watching the sea lions and their antics, of course the majority of them just lay there snoozing in the sun. Just looking at this picture I can feel my nose wrinkling, because I also haven't forgotten the smell. 

To read more about the sea lions, click here.

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Wordless Wednesday

I kept seeing pictures on other sites on Wordless Wednesdays.  I thought I would join in on the fun. 

 I doubt any explanation is needed for this picture.  She is sitting on the lid to her toy box.

Oh, the imagination of little ones.

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.