Ice Cream in a Bag

Its been an extremely long time since Ive posted, so what better way to reconnect with everyone than with an activity you can do with you kids that is both educational (hey, you can call it "science" lol) and entertaining while also being very yummy!! Did I just hear someone say they wanted a party in their tummy?? I seriously watch to much Yo Gabba Gabba.....

Okay, so I know that I am a mommy to an almost four year old, however, there are STILL things I am just recently learning that just make me think "WHY did I not know this before?!" Needless to say, this may not be something new for you. I just may in fact be the last person on the planet to have learned this. But if you are like me and had no clue you could do this then this recipe is just for you!! I found this scavenging the Internet for something quick and fun to do with my daughter outside today before her nap. It had to be quick, mess free (its sorta mess free.....), and I had to have everything needed to complete this task. This activity fit the bill!! Here is how simple it is to make homemade ice cream in a bag in just about 5 minutes!! No Joke!!


**Disclaimer! I was way to involved in the making of this activity to stop and photograph the process, which I wish I had, so the following pictures are not my own :-)



                                                 First you need to gather your ingredients!

Milk, Sugar, and Vanilla.

You can vary how much of each ingredient you use. Since Gracie and I each wanted our own little bit of ice cream, I made each recipe twice. For one person to have a small amount, I recommend using (per person) 1 cup of milk, 3 table spoons sugar (we like it sweet people!), and 1 table spoon of vanilla and just a tiny tiny pinch of salt.

Now, this is where you could talk to your kids about how we measure, let them poor the ingredients into the bag, talk to them about the flavors and what each one might taste like inside the ice cream. Ask them questions and get their brains movin!

In a small Ziploc bag, place your cup of milk, sugar and vanilla and use a spoon to mix gently. Seal the bag very tightly and try to get as much of the air out as you can so it doesn't pop later in the process.

In a Large zip lock back, place about 3 cups of ice. You want to fill the bag about half way of Ice. Next place about 6 tablespoons of rock salt into the Ice bag and give the bag a little shake to evenly distribute the salt into the ice. We were out of rock salt so I used a half and half mixture of kosher salt and table salt. This worked just fine! This is what you should have in front of you at this point.....

Now, just place your sealed bag of milk mixture into the ice bag and seal the ice bag very tightly.

I recommend going outside for this next part. Once your outside you want to shake the bag and move it around as much as you can for a few minutes. Basically moving the ice around the ice cream mixture as much as you can. Your child's hands will probably only be able to handle it for a few seconds because the bag gets VERY cold. After only a few minutes you will be able to feel the ice cream mixture and tell that it is now a soft ice cream texture. Once its firm enough its done! Just take it back in side, poor the ice cream in a bowl and enjoy!

She Did It! She Did It! YAY!!

We officially did it! Gracie has now ventured into the world of wearing big girl panties, at least 90% of the time! Yes, I said it! She is now potty trained!!! YAY!! I'm so excited! Can you since my excitement in the least bit?! Did you just feel the earth shake from all the jumping I'm doing for this new accomplishment in our household??!? If your a parent yourself and you have tackled potty training then you can completely understand what that excitement feels like. I cant even begin to tell you how happy I am that she decided she was ready for this, and all before school starts! Couldn't be better timing :) We have dabbled in trying to master the potty situation for about 6-8 months. But we never got farther then just sitting on the potty and playing, she just wasn't ready. We would sit on the potty only before bath time, because that's the only time I could get her to sit there long enough. 9 out of 10 times she wouldn't pee, and if she did pee, I would just figure it was luck. But last Tuesday when she came to me wanting to sit on the potty in the beginning of our day, I was SHOCKED! But, I let her try, thinking it was more of a game to her then anything else. To my surprise, she was serious. She went right at that moment in the potty and continued to go in the potty the rest of the day. She would tell me about 80% of the time that she needed to go. After a few days of successfully still using the potty every time she needed to go, the "Potty Fairy" made a visit to our house (potty fairy, aka her grandmother lol). The Potty Fairy brought Gracie a new princess potty (as seen in the picture above), a new matching princess stool that would be easier for her to move around, and new princess panties. This was just the thing to keep Gracie on track! She was so excited about the new potty supplies that it encouraged her to want to keep going in the potty! If she peed/pooped in the potty I would let her pick out a piece of candy and found some old stickers and some construction paper and let her put a sticker on her "potty chart" every time she went. She LOVED all this excitement about potty training and now over a week later she is still using the potty! We use Pull-Up's at night time only, for obvious reasons. We have had a couple "accidents" during this first week of training, but they have all been poop related. I think, at least I'm guessing, that the poop "feeling" might be a little bit harder to detect for the little ones, and honestly its only been a couple times that we have had that "accident" so I'm not complaining. Even going on vacation last week she was able to still stay focused enough to still go when she needed to "go". So I'm curious, how did the rest of you tackle potty training? Did you have any crazy things that worked to get them interested and did your kids just decide on their own they were ready?! What were your results and how did you feel when they finally mastered the obstacle's?!