I scream, you scream . . .

we all scream for ice cream!

On my long list of things I wanted to accomplish this summer was making ice cream.  I kept buying all the ingredients and then just not getting to it.  So I went back to the store repeatedly for fresh ingredients. The strawberries had been eaten, the half and half was expired, we used all the eggs for breakfast.  But now I am proud to report that with a lot of help and enthusiasm and borrowed ice from my neighboors, we have now made ice cream not once, not twice, but three times, in three different ways. 

First attempt. 

Method: Kitchen Aid Ice Cream Maker attachment. 

Very handy, attaches right onto my stand mixer.  My only complaint is that the freezer bowl has to live in your freezer for 15 hours before you make the ice cream.  Which means you have to plan ahead, not my strong suit when it comes to cooking.  And you have to make the space for it in there with all the frozen pizza. Not easy!  Kids can help you make the batter, but then there's some overnight wait time while it chills, then they can watch the mixer and listen for the clicking to know it's done (unless your child is scared of the mixer, then you'll have to do most of the work yourself like me).

Recipe:  Triple Chocolate
Who doesn't love something that has chunks of Hershey bar AND three other kinds of chocolate.  If I'm counting correctly this should actually be called quadruple chocolate because it had semisweet baking chocolate, unsweetened baking chocolate, unsweetened cocoa powder, plus the chopped up Hershey bars which you add literally at the last minute.  It was a little on the complicated side.  Lots of ingredients and lots of steps.

Results: Yum! It made enough that we ate some fresh, then put the rest in a big tupperware and ate it for a few days, maybe even a whole week.  So I guess all that hardwork paid off!

Second attempt.

Method:  Mega Ice Cream "Ball"   http://www.icecreamrevolution.com/
The big plan was that the mob of kids outside on a hot day were going to kick the ball around for the 30 minutes it takes for the ice cream to freeze.  As it turned out, the ball is too heavy for the little kids to kick or push around for very long. And even the big kids ran out of attention span for this one, so the moms ended up doing most of the "shaking".  You have to pack the ball with ice so you need to plan ahead to save up enough (or go door to door borrowing ice).

Recipe: Vanilla

All it took was half and half (I actually didn't quite have enough so I mixed in some whole milk), vanilla, and sugar.

Results: Yum!  It freezes hard around the edges where it is touching the metal canister, and it's more like soft serve in the center.  Scoop it into bowls and eat right away!  Or if you don't have a big enough crowd to eat it all, scoop it into a tupperware and freeze it for later.


Third attempt.

Method: Ziplock Bags

I like this because you don't need any special equipment, most of us have two sizes of plastic bags on hand already.  But you still need quite a bit of ice!

Recipe: Vanilla

Whole milk, sugar, vanilla.  You probably have those on hand too! 

Results: Yum!  Firmer than the ice cream ball. It freezes faster because it's broken up into single servings.  It's less time to shake, but our kids still didn't stick with the shaking for the whole five minutes. Beware that this strategy uses lots of plastic bags so be prepared to wash and reuse them.  We ate it straight out of the bags but I suppose you could transfer it to a dish. 

Watch out Haagen-Dazs five!  I can make yummy ice  cream with only three ingredients. 

I'm the Messiest Thing in this Ocean

Well, I would be if I lived in the ocean, but instead "I'm the messiest person that lives in this house!"  If you don't know Kevin Sherry's books about the giant squid yet, you may not hear these comparison's in the giant squids low booming voice (read perfectly by Miss Sarah of the Issaquah and Sammamish libarary storytime fame).  But at our house these days, I like to bellow my challenges to the little ones in my deepest echo-y voice- "I'm the fastest toy picker-upper", "I have the cleanest teeth in the ocean", "I give the tightest hugs in the ocean".  These are met with the comeback that tops all comebacks,"No, I am the . . . ."  And works everytime, well, until next week when we'll be on to the next strategy for getting them to do what we want.

Anyhow, we just discovered the second book about the giant squid, I'm the Best Artist in the Ocean, in which the shark wants the squid to stop painting because he is making such a HUGE MESS.  And the giant squid, continuing to bask in his own brilliance and talent, hears him say that his work of art (done on the side of the blue whale and strangely similar to Picasso's Guernica) is a "MESSTERPIECE". 

I love it!  A new word which perfectly describes the state of my house at the moment.  My messterpiece is the result of cleaning the garage by moving things into the house, then cleaning the closet by moving things out into the hall.  However, the mess paid off yesterday in a whirl of creative activity which was only possible because I have saved all sorts of stuff most sane people would recycle.

Let me set the stage.  Hot, hot, day.  Looking for something to do in the shade since the usual activity of riding bikes and pushing tricycles in circles on the hot pavement seemed unthinkable.  Wading pool. Neighboor kid and friend went inside to build a pirate ship out of cardboard.  Hmmm.  Gears in my brain turn.  Craft foam, popsicle sticks, duct tape, bubble wrap, miscellaneous lids and plastic containers, scissors, pipe cleaners, yarn, toothpicks, straws are all easily accessible right in the middle of my hallway. Some of those things float.  DING-DONG.  Want to come outside and build boats with us?

So here are some messterpieces of the floating variety. Aren't they cool?

 I can hear the giant squid now, "I built the coolest, most-floatyest, least-sinkyest boat in the ocean, err ahem, in this wading pool."

Worm Farming 101

Nothing like learning how to do something by just doing it.  And nothing like starting a worm bin to make a mess!  Our inspiration came from a new favorite book, Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer by Carol Brendler.  This endearing girl earns money to buy herself a new wagon by starting a worm farm and sharing the compost with her neighboors.  Winnie Finn is a worm expert, I on the other hand knew nothing except what I read on the last page of the book. 

I bought a cheap storage bin, top soil, and chicken manure.  Then we collected newspapers (just the black and white pages) and ran them through our paper shredder.  I ordered a pound of red wigglers and when they arrived we assembled their new home.  It was an exercise in layering.

First, newspaper "bedding". 

Second, soil and manure mixed together.

Third, more shredded paper and some water.

Finally, worms! 

Sawyer was super excited to "feed" the worms so I let him add some kitchen scraps.  Winnie Finn claims that worms like egg shells, and we also shared some pieces of overripe peach and corn husks.  Who knew that his first "pet" would be a bunch of worms.  He is taking their wellbeing very seriously which makes me more likely to consider an actual pet in the future. 

So far, so good.  No worms have escaped that we know of.  And it's pretty cool to see the tracks where the worms have been moving against the side of the transparent container. Unfortunately, the fruit flies are abundant when you open the lid.  Guess I need to read a little more about what happens next!

Go Fly a Kite!

Or try one of my other top ten picks for what to do next time you are in Seaside, Oregon.  I've been going there since I was itsty-bitsy.  My daughter (who is somehow almost one already!!) has already been there five times.  Anyhow, you would think that doing the same stuff would get old, but somehow it never does. 

1.  Read a Book.     I saw one wise woman laying on a beach towel with a blanket over her, head toward the ocean, reading.  Looked pretty cozy!  Yes, I know, some of you are thinking that people should be wearing bikinis at the beach in June, not blankets. Yet somehow I still prefer a blanket. 

I have made some good finds at Beach Books, including Beach by Elisha Cooper.  It has amazing illustrations that kids could pour over all day if you are patient enough to let them.  My other recent beachy pick is Bears at the Beach by Niki Yektai which I found at Under the Big Top Toys.

On this trip I managed to read a book in three days.  That has to be some kind of record for a person with two little kids.  I started and finished Novella Carpenter's book Farm City while curled up in bed with a little person snoozing away and a view of the ocean.  And our favorite storytime reads courtesy of King County Library were Dunk Skunk by Michael Rex and Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis.  Both are simple enough for young children to read along with you. We had to laugh when we were at the beach and noticed that I was telling Sawyer, "Be careful with that stick!" and he looked at me and said, "It's not a stick, it's a rocket!"

2.  Make a Castle.  It's risky building castles with preschoolers around. They like to destroy them as much or more as they like to build them.  We reached a compromise, Sawyer agreed to only destroy the castles that I built for that purpose and to leave the rest of my creations undisturbed.  This strategy worked great, until Peyton crawled right into the middle and smushed the whole thing anyhow.  Darn.

This time we built our castles using a variety of recycled containers as forms.  Buckets work great, but so do old "snack pack" tubs (Teddy Grahams, Ritz Bits, you know the ones?) and plastic easter eggs.  We also went on a hunt around the beach for wood, feathers, shells, things to decorate and use as drawbridges.  The gathering was just as fun as the embellishing. 

3.  Fly a Kite.  Always fun on a windy day.  Plus lots of running in the fresh air might equal a long nap which will allow you to accomplish # 1 (see above).

4.  Ride a Bike.  Up and down the prom.  To town and back. To the swings and back. Or for a change of scenery head past the aging Tides motel at the South end along the residential streets and over to the cove.  Head up the hill to the Tillamook Head trail head (to Ecola state park and Cannon Beach) if you need a workout.

5.  Eat.  Specifically the Cheesy Shrimp Bread at Harbor Bites.  It's a fun, neighboorhoody place at the opposite end of town from everything else.  They have live music on Tuesdays and more often in the summer and you can eat, enjoy a pitcher of beer (or a soda) with your kids in tow, and then walk or ride your bike home.

6.  Ride the Carousel.  It spins pretty quickly so beginners should start with the Ostrich or Giraffe which don't go up and down. $1.50 a person.  Adults are free if they are riding with a paying child.  The train across the street is fun but it's not consistently open which can lead to dashed hopes and thus tears.  Free rides are available on the beach swings, the ones near the turn around get crowded so head to the ones that are further down the prom.

7.  Eat More.  Fudge. Tom and Larry's. Enough said.

8.  Play.  Skee ball.  Air hockey.  Pin Ball.  And what the heck- Dance Dance Revolution.  All at the arcade.

9.  Eat.  Popcorn.  Phillip's candies. Caramel or Cheese? Sweet or salty or a little of both?  Take your pick and some napkins (especially if you choose the cheese).  And beware- the sizes are decieving because they pack it up over the box and let it spill into a little clear bag around the box that they seal with a twist-tie.

10.  Play Ten Tiny Tees.  At $3.00 a pop, this is a mini-golf bargain.  It hasn't changed since I was a kid so there's plenty of chance for mastery.  The only problem is that kids under 6 aren't allowed to play on their own.  You can however play together (meaning: you hold the club, they get to help).

Oh, and a little known secret, Seaside has an awesome public swimming pool.  Non-residents pay $3.00 a person for Open Swim.  There is a warm water pool and a jacuzzi, and in the big, cold pool there is a slide, rock climbing wall, and rope swing.  And the locker rooms even have suit spinners!  There are regular Kinder-splash times for the 3 and under set as well as regular lap swim hours.  Call to check the schedule- Sunset Empire Parks and Rec.  The pool is located on the other side of the highway near Safeway, the library, and Broadway Park (which has a new play structure and a skate park).

Tee-Ball Morning

Clock says green.

Let's get up and go.

Books.

Breakfast.

Showers for two.

Clock says we're doing fine,

on time.

T-Shirts.

Tears.

"Find your glove!"

Shoes on.

Come on,

come on,

come on!

In the car.

Not going far.

That's great.

Because guess what?
We're running late.

2, 4, 6, 8, Who do we appreciate?

Moms, and teachers!  Lucky me, I happen to be both! 

We celebrated my son's teachers with flowers.  In fact, we took lilacs in to school not one but two different days because I saw the Teacher Appreciation email and swung into action.  Many thanks to Arlene's mom who saw me with flowers in the parking lot and told me that I was a week early.  But you can never have too many lilacs!  And you can never appreciate teachers too much either!

And we also made them some homemade artwork.  I let Sawyer take the lead on this one.  This is where not minding having an easel and art supplies and paper all over my kitchen pays off.  He wanted to do a box painting which we've done before at home (I wrote about it in one of the early Mess Fest posts!) and they have done it at school as well.  So I grabbed a box from the laundry room and we got started.  He found the objects to "paint" with, a potato and a rock from the kitchen counter.  He chose the colors of paint, rolled it around, and told me which teacher each painting was for. 

Then apparently he wasn't done because he picked up the strips of paper that I had trimmed off in order to fit the papers in the box and started making prints on them off of the original paintings.  Then we went with that idea and put some paint down on a new sheet of paper in order to print on the other strips. Which with a little lamination became bookmarks for his teachers.  Thanks Kinkos!

Two more ideas that came from The Children's Studio!  My darling mother's day gift from Sawyer was a portable hug, created by tracing his arm span on paper, cutting it out and rolling it up.  It was packaged with a ribbon and a tag that said "Happiness is unexpected hugs."  And it was delivered with a real hug and chocolate kiss.

I think I might make two more for the grandmas to go with the rainbow handprints we made.  A week or two ago, one of the teachers at school was doing this as a project with one child at a time.  Sawyer, as usual, was not interested in doing an art project at school, with so many other cool things to explore.  But a couple days later, at home, he decided he wanted to do rainbow handprints. 

When I do handprints, I always have babywipes on hand because they wipe the paint right off when you finish.  I painted each finger and the palm of his hand a different color, then asked him to spread his fingers wide, and pressed his hand down.  Then pulled his hand straight up.  Presto!  We reapplied the paint so we would have one for each grandma, then we switched hands and repeated the process.  He also enjoyed doing several prints without reapplying the paint.  That made a cool banner that I am keeping for myself!

Although I never got around to actually writing a love letter to his teachers, I did manage to put my thoughts together in a poem for them.  We put the poem on the back side of the bookmarks, and he was super excited to show it off to each of them. 

Here it is, my poem celebrating Lindsey, Linda, Rebecca, and Kim!  Inspired by the growth I've seen in Sawyer this year in his imagination, memory, speech, silliness and confidence.  And by the way that his teachers let the environment of the school do the work!  They provide what the kids need.  And the kids grow.

teachers

preparing soil
planting seeds
sprinkling water

letting the sun shine
the plants grow
always watching
waiting

children
deep roots growing
strong stems shooting up
turning their true leaves
             toward the sun


thriving

Ready or Not Here I Come

Who doesn't love a good game of Hide and Seek?  Especially when you are playing with a young child where "hiding" means they can't see you.  Usually they hide in the same place over and over again, tell you where they are hiding, or hide where they just found you.  Now I love playing this game with my kids, but I recently discovered a way to play this game with food.  Yes, you read that correctly.  It's time to play Hide and Seek with your food.

Hide and Seek Muffins. 
This is another big hit from Mollie Katzen, author of Pretend Soup.  Which I am happily cooking my way through.

You measure and dump and mix and pour muffin batter in the pan just like usual, then you take strawberries, roll them in sugar to add some sparkle factor, and hide one in each muffin.  When we hid ours, they were still poking out a bit.  But we were also a bit low on batter after a baby on the loose grabbed the mixing bowl and sloshed some of the ingredients out.  We didn't know exactly how much of which ingredients we lost so we just continued as though nothing had happened.  So, maybe your berries will be all the way hidden at this point. 

Then while we weren't looking, our muffin batter baked itself right up over the berries and hid them inside.  Well, in our case it was more like a Peek-a-Boo situation, where not much berry was showing.  But I'm interested to try again and see if they are all the way covered up next time!

These muffins taste just like strawberry shortcake. Yummers!  And while you are eating them you get to "seek" the treasure in the middle.  Sawyer always chose to eat the muffin that had the least berry showing because he loved the surprise of finding the berry in the middle after a few bites.