Little Things in Life

How do Mom bloggers post every day - some even multiple times a day?  I didn't start that long ago and have not been very good at keeping up with this!  Some days I am just too tired and other days nothing really "important" enough happens to bother writing about!...and then there are the days I totally, completely forget to even think about it!

Last night we didn't sleep well.  Brent was fighting a fever and claimed he was hungry.  It's hard to convince your child he needs to wait until the sun comes up to eat.  Saturday, I told my husband I thought Brent was getting sick.  Right before he get sick, he becomes unusually defiant (such as refusing to do simple tasks), he doesn't eat, and he doesn't sleep.  Sure enough, last night the fever showed up.  He seemed fine today, but it's obvious he is fighting something, though no symptoms have showed themselves.

He was sad I didn't let him play outside long.  It's colder than it has been, and if he's fighting a cold, I definitely didn't want to make matters worse.  He was sad, frustrated, and annoyed.  Ice cream has been his absolute favorite lately, and I remembered an activity I did with my first graders several years ago.  Brent enjoys helping in the kitchen, and he loves ice cream, so I thought this activity would be a hit!  We made ice cream in a bag...he LOVED it and brought him out of his grumpy mood!  (See recipe below.)

I really need to remember to take the time and do these easy, classroom-like things with him.  If this is something I do often, he'll grow up to remember when "Mom use to let me make ice cream"...it's too easy not to try to make these memories!

1 point for Mommy Success.  Minus 1 Parenting point for letting your little boy go hungry at night...

From teachnet.com

Make Ice Cream in a Plastic Bag

1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon sugar
4 cups crushed ice
4 tablespoons salt
2 quart size Zip-loc bags
1 gallon size Zip-loc freezer bag
a hand towel or gloves to keep fingers from freezing as well

Mix the milk, vanilla and sugar together in one of the quart size bags. Seal tightly, allowing as little air to remain in the bag as possible. Too much air left inside may force the bag open during shaking. Place this bag inside the other quart size bag, again leaving as little air inside as possible and sealing well. By double-bagging, the risk of salt and ice leaking into the ice cream is minimized. Put the two bags inside the gallon size bag and fill the bag with ice, then sprinkle salt on top. Again let all the air escape and seal the bag. Wrap the bag in the towel or put your gloves on, and shake and massage the bag, making sure the ice surrounds the cream mixture. Five to eight minutes is adequate time for the mixture to freeze into ice cream.  Makes one serving.

Tips
Freezer bags work best because they are thicker and less likely to develop small holes, allowing the bags to leak. You can get away with using regular Zip-loc bags for the smaller quart sizes, because you are double-bagging. Especially if you plan to do this indoors, we strongly recommend using gallon size freezer bags.