Ice cream

Last night on our way home from Aunt Missy's party, we stopped and got ice cream. There's a place around the corner from us that makes homemade ice cream. It's delicious. Anyways, Gillian got chocolate and John got mint chocolate chip. The kids didn't finish all their ice cream so we put it in the freezer for another day. 

This morning I was helping Gillian find something for breakfast. She just keep telling me "I don't know what I want." I asked her one last time and she said "Can I whisper it in your ear?" She came over and whispered "I like ice cream." I said "Me too. But you aren't having ice cream for breakfast." She continued to argue with me "But I really like it!" 

My Grandma's Birthday

Last Monday, was my Grandma's birthday. She would have been John and Gillian's great-grandmother. Unfortunately she passed away before Daddy and I got married. She never got to meet John and Gillian. But I know she looks down on us. I see a lot of her in my Gillian. 

Anyway after we went to the beach on Monday, we went to Grandma's house for lunch. After lunch we celebrated Grandma's birthday. We had cake, Dixie cups and M&Ms. It took awhile to explain to Gillian that we were celebrating MY grandma's birthday and not HER grandma's birthday. I told her all about how we would go to my grandma's house for birthday parties and we would get Dixie cups and she would save the plastic Dixie cups and fill them with M&Ms. 

Gillian enjoyed the celebration and would have made my grandma very proud. She ate every last bite of her ice cream. 

Ice Cream

Last night at dinner, Gillian and John had ice cream for dessert. The waiter brought out these huge sundae glasses full of ice cream. 

John wasn't able to finish his vanilla. But Gillian housed hers. 

And she didn't miss a drop. 

Plus she didn't make a mess!

Magic Shell

I made vanilla ice cream on Saturday.  This kids were super excited to try it out.  I also gave them the option of having Magic Shell on top of it.  For those who don't know, Magic Shell is chocolate that you pour over the ice cream and it hardens.  It always reminds me of my Grandma and I haven't had any in the house for a while.  So I said "Here's a special treat."  Gillian immediately told me "I've had this before.  At Grandma's house.  It's the best!"  I only put a little on their ice cream but they loved it just the same. 

On Sunday, they again were super excited to have more ice cream.  Gillian helped me out by shaking the Magic Shell bottle.  Of course I got it on video.

The one with the fireworks

On Saturday, we took the kids to Manasquan to see the fireworks. We set up our chairs and blanket and went to get some ice cream. Gillian and I decided to split a vanilla and chocolate twist. John had mint chocolate chip with rainbow sprinkles. I had like two bites of "our" ice cream and Gillian said "That's it. It's mine. You ate too much!" We need to work on sharing. 

I tried to distract her and grab a bite when she wasn't looking but she caught me every time. She only gave up the ice cream when John said "I'm going to build a castle." We went back to the beach and the kids attempted to build a castle. 

They also decided to feel the water. 

 

They couldn't just get their toes wet. They got their pants wet and John also splashed Aunt Betty. Wet pants didn't slow them down. They played in the sand and realized that they couldn't build a castle. So they settled by digging a big hole. Gillian decorated the sand piles with flags. 

As it started to get dark, Gillian kept asking "When's the show going to start?" When the fireworks started she cried and said "I's scared!" She wasn't scared for long because she started to say "Wow! Look at that one! Amazing!" And the she would remember that the booms scared her and she would cry "I'm scared." John, on the other hand, loved the fireworks. He sat with me for awhile and would "predict" where the fireworks would explode. 

The kids had a great time even though it was way past their bedtime. They didn't complain when we had to walk back to the car. And they both fell asleep on the car ride home. 

Gillian's Adventure

Gillian spent Friday night at Uncle T and Aunt Missy's house.  Aunt Missy came to pick her up.  Gillian was ready before Daddy could get her car seat into Aunt Missy's car.  "I go now?"  I buckled her in the car and gave her a kiss.  I tried to get another kiss, but she had enough.  She wanted to go. 

Aunt Missy told me that they had to stop at the food store to get something for dinner.  At the food store, Gillian conned Aunt Missy into buying donuts.  She hugged the bag saying "I goin to eat them all!"  Gillian also saw some My Little Pony fruit snacks that she had to have.  Next she told Aunt Missy "I need yogurt."  Missy picked up a package of yogurt, and Gillian told her "We don't need all of them.  Just one!"  Aunt Missy explained to her that you had to buy the whole package and you could buy just one. 

Aunt Missy sent me a picture of Gillian eating her ice cream after dinner.  Gillian truly enjoys ice cream and desserts and wants to make sure her whole face gets some too! 

     
In the morning, Uncle T went to check on Gillian.  She was awake in her bed.  Gillian told me "Uncle T wake me up!"  Then she got to watch cartoons and have breakfast with Aunt Missy. 

Gillian and Aunt Missy went to the beach after they had breakfast.  Gillian got to make some new friends and play in the sand.  They even saw some dolphins in the water.  Gillian told me "Them jump out of the water!" 

When I was tucking Gillian into bed on Saturday night, I asked Gillian if she would like to spend the night at Aunt Missy and Uncle T's house again.  She didn't say anything, she just gave me a big smile and a thumbs up. 

How do you eat a Klondike bar?

Tonight I gave the kids Klondike bars for dessert. This isn't their first time eating them, but for some reason they asked for bowls and spoons. Gillian unwrapped her bar and put it in her bowl. She said "You cut it. Cut it into little pieces!" I did what she asked. She also asked for a fork. John, on the other hand, asked for a spoon. The two of them ate their Klondike bars with utensils. But somehow Gillian still ended up with ice cream in her hair. Daddy got home while we were eating out dessert. He asked what we were doing. Gillian said "We eating zert!" I'm sure a million kids say that, but we called dessert zert in my house growing up. Love that she picked it up too. 

Brownies

I made brownies this afternoon, simply so that we could have brownies a la mode for dessert tonight. I let the kids taste the batter. John gave me a thumbs up and Gillian insisted on a second taste. The second time she dipped her entire finger in the batter and tried to quickly stick in her mouth. She ended up dripping brownie batter down the front of her shirt. She didn't care. She loved it. She said "It's yummy!" I made the brownies and as I was taking them out of the oven Gillian watched me. She asked "Who's birthday is it? Are we going to sing?" I explained that it wasn't anyone's birthday but I just wanted to make brownies. 

At dinner, Gillian refused to eat. I told her no brownies if she didn't eat. She immediately picked up her fork and ate all her chicken. After dinner, I made the kids their dessert. They dug right into their dessert. John ate all of his ice cream. They requested extra scoops of ice cream (how can you say no to that?). Overall fun night with my kids. 

Ice cream

I decided this summer I would finally use out ice cream maker that Daddy and I received as a wedding present (I know. We will be married 10 years in September. What was I waiting for?). I figured I would start with a easy recipe and a crowd pleaser. Daddy loves pumpkin ice cream. Well actually, John and Daddy love pumpkin ice cream. Gillian loves pumpkin muffins, so I assumed that she would like the ice cream too. I have never made ice cream before I didn't realize there would be so many steps. But I started first thing this morning and had everything ready so that we could run the ice cream maker after dinner. 

During dinner Gillian was fussy and didn't want to eat. We told her that if she didn't eat than she couldn't have dessert. John whispered to her "It's pumpkin ice cream. You know you like ice cream." John's little pep talk didn't help. John didn't even want to finish everything on his plate. Daddy told John "It's ok. I'll eat it all!" John said "No you won't you'll get a belly ache!" John ended up eating everything on his plate and he helped me set up the ice cream maker. We poured the pumpkin mixture into the ice cream maker and told John it would be twenty minutes before the ice cream was ready. John sat and watched the clock for about two minutes and got very impatient. Daddy let him lick the bowl. That made him happy. Gillian finally finished her dinner and was able to lick the spoon too. 

After waiting forever (it seemed like that for an impatient 6 year old), the ice cream was ready. I gave John and Gillian a scoop while I emptied the ice cream maker. John said "Why did I only get one scoop?" We gave him a few more scoops and Daddy took the remaining ice cream for himself. John couldn't finish all of his ice cream so he brought it to Daddy. Daddy told him "I can't." And showed John the empty bowl. John said "I knew it! I knew you would get a belly ache!"

The kids had a great time with the ice cream maker. The ice cream came out pretty well (if I so say so myself). 

Stretching and ice cream

John had Amazing Athletes today. At dinner tonight, we asked him to tell us about his day. He said "I had Amazing Athletes. First we stretched out!" This is the first time we heard about stretching, so Daddy asked him to tell us what kind of stretches they do. "Well, you know that there's one stretch you do all the time. When I said 'I don't know' (and he shrugged his shoulders) I was actually doing a stretch!" He shrugged his shoulders a couple times. Then he said "See! I'm stretching now! I'm stretching my shoulders!"

After Gillian finished dinner, I told her that she could pick out something for desert. She stood up in her chair and points across the room. She kept saying "I lick!" And pointed. Finally we had her get up and show us what she was pointing at. She got up and ran to the kitchen island and pulled out a box of ice cream cones. "I eat ice cream! I lick!" We didn't give her a cone, but she did have ice cream. She ate two bites and then started crying. She said "My teeth! My teeth hurt." Someone tried to eat her ice cream too quickly!