Happy National Ice Cream Day!

I can't believe I wasn't fully aware of the existence of such a day until just now. Apparently, in 1984, President Reagan declared July National Ice Cream month and the 3rd Sunday in July National Ice Cream Day! Republican or Democrat, there's no arguing with the brilliance of this idea!
My first thought about celebrating this fabulous occasion was to head to Handel's the use my buy-one-get-one coupon, but then just a moment later, I had a flash of mommy craftiness. I remembered having read a recipe somewhere about making your own ice cream! In ziplock baggies, no less. Fun and easy. Just our style.

By the way, this is my second bout of so-called craftiness this month! A personal best! I'm not one to often do "special' projects with the kids, but I have moments every now and then. And the other week, I decided we'd go on a nature walk and make nature collages with our findings. You can see the photo evidence here. Note that Q's collage is all done in rows, and Keira's is totally random. If that isn't a good insight into their personalities, I don't know what is. And the fact that I nearly went bonkers after letting K use a glue stick for 10 minutes is a fair insight into my personality...hence the reason we don't break out the craft supplies all too often. But anyway. Back to the ice cream.

After a lame dinner of leftovers, we got ready to make our ice cream dessert. The leftovers were really part of my master plan - after such a meal, the ice cream was bound to be a hit, no matter how it turned out, right?

There are really only 3 ingredients for this ice-cream-in-a-bag: half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla. Only 2 ingredients for our chocolate ice cream variation: chocolate milk and sugar.

You put it all into a quart ziplock bag. Put that quart bag into a gallon ziplock, which is filled with ice cubes and salt.
Then shake. Shake. And shake. For 5 minutes, according to the recipe. We shook it for almost 10 minutes the second time around, and it got a bit firmer. Either way, it was yummy.

The kids enjoyed the shaking. Well, for the first minute or so anyway. The bags get really really cold, so we put towels around them to make it easier on the kids. And us, too.
And of course, they enjoyed the eating. Keira kept singing "Happy Birthday to me!" And when I got to thinking about it, I realized that she pretty much only gets ice cream at birthday parties. Poor child....first a craft-less mom and now a mom who deprives her of ice cream! Sheesh.

Anyway, it was a fun project - fun to do and fun to eat.

So hip-hip-hooray for National Ice Cream Day! One of Reagan's greatest ideas. I'm not sure Obama or McCain could top this. Unless of course they declare a Free McDonald's French Fries and Diet Coke Day.

I Never Thought I'd Say This

I like Michigan.

There. I said it. My Ohio family is cringing this very moment. You see, being born and raised in Ohio - Buckeye style - no one, I mean no one (except a few crazies here and there, some of whom I am related to), claims to like Michigan. They stink. It stinks. Boo-hiss to the maize and blue. You get the idea. Of course, since my formative years, I've moved to the Hoosier state, gotten an advanced degree from Purdue, cheer for the black and gold on Saturdays, and well, have been generally ridiculued since. But that's for another time.

Back to Michigan.
It's nice up there. Seriously.
For the second summer in a row, we made a quick trip up north with the kiddies in tow. All for a little Lake Michigan beach time. South Haven style. And it has been much fun.

So, to borrow shamelessly from a well-known series of commercials, here's a quick run-down on our 3-day excursion.

Sand toys from Target: $4.99

Book to read on beach while hubby plays with kids: $11.20

Stale bread to feed the ducks: $0.59

New Wonder Pets video to help pass time on a rainy morning: $7.99

Making lots of memories: Priceless!

Blog, Schmog

Now that summer is basically half over, I think it's time for a look at just what in the heck has been going on here. We know what hasn't been going here, and that's blogging. My record so far during these summer days is about as dismal as that of the Reds. Sigh. But before getting too depressed, let me just move on to the excuses and the photos. Here we go.
I haven't been blogging because we've been.....

...at Disney.
OK - you all already knew this. It's been over a month now, so I've got to wipe that off my excuses list.
....busy telling the kids we aren't going back to Disney just yet. As you can see below, Keira is more than ready. The morning after we got back from sunny Florida, K put on her "Pin-cess hat" and "pack-pack" and declared herself "All set, mama! Kiki go tea cups! Kiki see Paw-paw!"

....touching sharks! At our zoo here in Indy, you can touch sharks. And Quinn did it a few weeks ago. About 10 times, no less. He would've gone for more, but his nervous mother ushered him and his increasingly brave sister from the Oceans exhibit before a certain little Asian delicacy flipped herself into the tank!

...celebrating Keira's half-birthday! We try to make it a little something special, since her actual b-day is amidst the hub-bub of Christmas. Of course, this year, our idea of something special was letting her eat all the "Fench Fies" (Rs optional in K-speak) she wanted at Red Robin (yumm-ola!) and then coming home and disguising leftover Quinn bday ice cream cake as a little slice of heaven for a 2.5 year old. With Spiderman sliced off and long ago eaten, this well-preserved piece of Oreo ice cream cake was just the ticket.

....at the movies! With a few rainy weekend days around here, I've had the chance to take Quinn to see a couple of movies. We saw Kung Fu Panda (just a mommy-son outing), and we also got to see WALL-E with friends the week after. In a head-to-head match-up between the panda and the robot, Q gives the edge to Wall-e, but I have to go with the panda. But you can't lose with either. I have a feeling both DVDs will end up on somebody's X-mas list.

....playing dress-up! Here is the lovely Princess Keira, still in post-Disney euphoria. (Don't worry Cousin M - we are taking good care of your Cinderella costume and will return it soon! Thanks for the loan!)

But mostly this summer, we are just plain ol' hanging out.

Hope you all are having just as much fun as we are.
I can't wait to see what's in store for the second half.

Yankee Doodle Dandy

OK - she wasn't quite born on the 4th of July, but she is a dandy of a friend. The she I refer to in this case is a wonderful and faithful friend, fabulous mom to 3, superwife (the girl can cook!), recent blog-reading addict ;-) and just one of the all-around best people on the planet.
My kids call her Aunt M. My hubby calls her "Martha" (see above note on kitchen skills!).
And I am happy to call her anytime I need to.
So without further adieu.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY, M! We hope your day is filled with all the goodness you deserve.

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

Sorry Aunt M, I think I ate all your cake!

Yup, I did. All gone. It was yummy, too!

Have a super sunny day! We love you!!!

The Friendly Skies

I'm going to ignore the fact that I've been such a slacker at blogging (and at life in general) because, well, these are the lazy days of summer. I'm just moving on to a long-overdue Disney download....

Here are 2 of my basic rules of motherhood:
1. There is nothing so attractive as a mom on the phone or on the computer or in the bathroom.
And,
2. Kids who otherwise fight will play nicely when a) the threat of bedtime looms overhead and/or b) they think they are "getting away" with something (like jumping on the bed).
And now, I have something to add to rule #2: kids will also play nicely... when on a plane to DISNEY!! (The flight back home does not fall under this rule, by the way, but I'm sure you could've surmised that on your own.)
Yup, the kids were so thrilled to be headed to Mouseville that they were willing to share juice, share iPod headphones, the whole kit-and-kaboodle. Apparently though, Keira draws the line at sharing princess stickers.
Anyway, the flight down went better than I thought. This was Quinn's first flight and he was just wide-eyed and full of wonder. I could hear the businessmen behind us getting a chuckle out of his awe....."Mom - we are backing up!.....Oh my gosh, we are going faster.....We're flying! We're flying! This is it!....[calmer voice, head tilted] Aw mom, this is better than I even imagined!" I thought I had my cuteness overload right there and then. And we weren't even out of Indiana farmland yet!

I won't give you the blow by blow of our 8 day vacation. At least not all at one time. But I will share this tidbit: Downtown Disney is not necessarily a good idea on Day 1. See, we got down there Friday afternoon and the rest of the clan wasn't coming until the next day. We weren't going to start using our park pass until everyone arrived, so we headed to DTDisney to eat (Rainforest Cafe "too loud too loud" per Keira....of course, she'd go on to say that same phrase another 1,289 times during the stay, but that's another story) and to look around. Well, if you've ever been to DTD, you'll know that next to eating, pretty much to only other thing to do there is shop. Of course, there is Cirque du Soleil and Pleasure Island and stuff, but we have little ones. Anyway, the shopping. Oh, the shopping. Everything Disney. Everything supremely appealing to the preschool set. And, if you are like us (and another 28 sets of parents I heard along the way), you probably were telling your kids that "We're just looking...there's so much to see...you can look it over and decide what you want and we'll buy something at the end of the trip....blahblahblah..." In preschoolese, this translates to no-no-no-no....which results is whining. Begging. And other assorted undesirable actions.

Of course, it wasn't as bad as it sounds. But I was already tired of saying "Not yet, sweetie; we'll buy something later"...and we hadn't even slept once in Florida! On the upside, it was good practice for the rest of the week, especially since, as I found, Dis seems to love love love having you exit rides smack-dab into the middle of a store. Marketing geniuses they are.

Anyway, the trip was a whole lot of fun. My kiddos were in heaven, which seems to have this formula: grandparents + cousins + sunny Florida + Mickey and friends. Mix well. Enjoy daily.

Oh, and just as Quinn loved flying, Keira loved Disney transportation....no car seat! That was part of her heavenly equation. She always tried to position herself by grandpa and a shiny silver pole. "Kiki hold tight" she'd say, grinning like the Cheshire cat all the while.

And for now, we close with these photos........

Prince Charming with my princess (one of the few characters she'd let get close).

And Cinderella with my prince charming.

If only we could bottle the magic and bring it home. Maybe then I'd have more than 3 things to list under rule #2!

Where in the World...?

Miss us? Wonder what we've been up to?
Here are a few clues. More on the festivities later this week....

(By the way, K really did love the teacups, despite looking dazed and confused here!)

Sugar and Spice

Well, today, my number 1 son had his last day of preschool. Next stop (after a summer of some T-ball and pool time and Disney): kindergarten. The big time. The school bus. The cafeteria. The homework (kindergarten is the new first grade, I hear!).
But, before Q left the easy-going ways of preschool, I was invited - along with the other moms in the class - to a Mother's Day Tea the other week. The kids made our lunch and put on a few little skits based on nursery rhymes. (Quinn was fabulous as one of the king's men, despite failing terribly at putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.)
The kids made recipe card holders as their gift to us. Each child had also dictated a favorite recipe to the teachers and added the recipe to the holder. You can see Quinn's here.
I have to admit that I was initially disappointed that he started out by indicating that we buy the cookie dough at our local grocery store....I make my cookies from scratch, thank you very much! At least Q remembered that we add eggs and chocolate chips. Then, when I realized that other kids had written recipes for microwave hot dogs and Kraft Easy Mac, I figured that I came out looking pretty good. Besides, he could've given out my super-secret waffle recipe (open freezer....take out box....walk to toaster....) or my most excellent french toast recipe (see waffles).

On the way home, after such a great morning, I was marveling at how totally wonderful my son is. How sweet and kind. And how smart (for keeping my culinary secrets safe). I was feeling so happy about the day. I was singing along to his favorite tunes.
And then this from the back seat: "Uh, zip it, mom."
OK, I'm never going to be a Broadway star, but I thought telling me to zip it was a little harsh. So I said so: "Quinn, that wasn't very polite."

His response? "Zip it, please."
Ah, yes. He's sweet, kind, smart and polite. Lucky me.

Mom Really Does Know Best

Another mom once asked me if I felt that I was short-changing my son by adopting our daughter. I wasn't really sure what she was asking, and I said so. She seemed to be getting at something along the lines of loving one more than the other, or treating them differently or something. I responded that, no - I love them both the same and that I'm sure Quinn felt as short-changed as any 5 year old with a little sister, no matter where she came from. (This same mom also said that she would consider adopting....maybe....someday....she wasn't "above adopting".....huh? what's that supposed to mean??? But that's for another post....)

Anyway, after declaring that I love them both them same, I thought back to these same types of declarations my mom used to make. Way back when, I used to frequently pester my mom about which of us 4 kids she loved the most. I was alternately convinced it was my brother (the oldest and only boy), little sister #1 (based solely on her cuteness, smallness, and generally quiet disposition), or little sister #2 (youngest...they always get everything, right?!). Anyway, my mother consistently maintained that she loved us all the same. Impossible, I'd say. Surely there would have to be leanings one way or another. Nope, she'd say; all he same.

You know, I don't think my mom ever lied to me, but really, I thought she was just being a little bit nuts here. How could you not have a favorite? I was just glad she was so good at covering it up, because I was pretty sure the fav wasn't me. Just sparing my feelings, I thought.

But now 30 years later I realize she was indeed telling the truth. You can, in fact, love them all the same. You love them all with the same fierce, pure, full-to-overflowing love. The love that makes you cry just looking at their angelic, sleeping faces. The love that makes your heart leap for joy when you get an unsolicited I Love You. The love that wants their lives to be happy, healthy, and lived to their fullest potential. The love for your kids that is purely parental.

And it has nothing to do with who brought them into this world, but who is helping them make their way in this world.

So, thanks mom, for that lesson. It may have taken me a while to really learn it. But I'll never forget.

Gettin' Bossy

Quinn and I have a little running joke going. Sometimes, when he asks why I'm doing this or that, I respond with this: Because moms can do whatever they want. (That's not the joke part!)

Quinn grins and says, "Wellllll.....you're not the boss of the house; daddy is!" Of course, my super clever comeback is, "Oh yeah?"

And so it goes.

But tonight, it got a new twist. And a very nice one, I think.

After telling me that I'm not the boss of the house, he tacked on this: "But you are the boss of the love."

Oh. Well. How sweet is that?!

I guess I am in charge after all.

Of course, he may just be angling for more double-stuf oreos! He knows it only takes a little bit of sweet-talking, since in reality, I want them as much as he does. But either way, I'll take it.

Watch out Springsteen, there's a new boss in town!

Parenting Tips #44 and #45

No, no - you didn't miss my tips #1 to 43, it's just that these little items are so insignificant, they didn't really merit numbers 1 and 2, so I jumped ahead a bit. Besides, it is just an excuse to write a little and post a few more cute pics. Pics which really have nothing to do with the post, but I won't let that stop me.

So, here they are....


Tip #44: Spunky daughter will keep hairbow in for the duration of church - not touching it one.single.bit! - IF you promise a donut afterward (see also this post for more on the Almighty Donut!). Said spunky daughter also fully realizes her promise and the significance of the deal - after a couple hours of leaving the super-cute hairbow alone, she promptly removes it once the donut has been fully consumed. We're are nothing here, if not good to our word.



Tip #45: You can spend lots less at Target if you go with no cart and a 2 year old on the loose! I left there with 2 items (all I could carry while keeping one free hand to avoid unnecessary destruction of aisle end-caps!) and I spent only $3.12. Amazing. Even more amazing: a girl galloping (literally) through Target can illicit smiles from the somber and stickers from the managers.

As the mighty one says, "Kiki happy!"


And there's nothing better than a Happy Kiki.

Except for a Happy Kiki and a Happy Quinn.

Good Day, Sunshine!

It is a little rainy here today, so I'm providing my own sunshine by way of a few pix from Wednesday. Keira's playgroup met at White River State Gardens and the Zoo and we had a great time. Her playgroup consists of 6 girls (which includes a set of twins), all about the same age (Sept - Dec 05 birthdays), all adopted from China within a few months of each other, and all living here in the same ol' suburb. I feel lucky that we somehow found each other, and hopefully the girls will feel as lucky to have each other, too.
We often get together on one of Quinn's off-days from preschool, so he tags along. He makes the most of it and enjoys chasing the little ones sometimes. (A few of the other girls have older siblings, but they are already in school.)
Anyway, here are a few photos from that bright and sunny day (seeing as how Quinn is squinting in more than one photo, me mentioning the sun is probably a bit redundant)........