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).

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.

Wordful Wednesday

 Can you guess who did this?

Yep, this was done by our two year old.  At Thanksgiving, my sister-in-law brought canvases and fingerpaints for the kids to create their own works of art.  Needless to say they had a blast creating their own masterpieces.  

All you need:

• fingerpaints
• canvases (Michaels sells inexpensive canvases and they often have circulars in the Sunday paper with 40% off coupons)
• a vinyl tablecloth (or use a garbage bag that has been cut open to cover the table or floor)
• paintbrushes (if your have older children)
• dixie cups (cut down to size which will help avoid accidental spills) to hold the paint  and one full-size one to hold water to clean the brushes
• old clothes or smocks if you have them
• patience (it is probably going to be a messy process so try to avoid the urge to clean as they paint)
• wet paper towels or rags to clean up the kids and to wipe down their clothes

This was very easy to clean up.  Now we can  say we have an original work of art, probably the only one we will ever own.  You can get your very own masterpiece for under $10 or give one as a gift.  If you have older children three canvases hung side-by-side on the wall would look fashionable in a family room or playroom.

*Since I am incapable of just posting a picture without commentary, I figured participating in Wordful Wednesday was more my style!  For more Wordful Wednesday, visit Seven Clown Circus