Tag Archives: vanilla

Family, Food, Fun

Whipped Cream, Nuts & A Cherry

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Last weekend we were supposed to bring the Cuisinart out of hibernation and make ice cream for Father’s Day.

Didn’t quite happen…sorry, Babe!

Tonight we made Pioneer Woman’s Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and boy, was it worth the wait!

Banana Splitinis it was…

Sliced bananas, freshly churned soft vanilla bean ice cream, a drizzle of Hershey’s syrup, a swirl of whipped cream, some rainbow sprinkles, coconut {for me}, peanuts {for Jay} and the proverbial maraschino cherry on top.

These would also be fun served in small mason jars!

*****

The slip n slide also came out this afternoon after a brief hiatus…

Last week was filled with necessary errands in the beginning of the week and a couple pool play dates at the end.

Tomorrow this guy starts summer camp thanks to his grandparents and sweet friends…for his birthday in February, we decided in lieu of {more} toys a nice gift would be a 3-day a week summer camp at his preschool. Three of his best buds chipped in and gave him a week as well! It’s a win/win situation ~ a fun 3 hours for him and 3 hours for me! We’re so grateful….thanks again.

This girl is going to gymnastics camp mañana. Same thing…for her b-day, the grandparents generously gave her the same 3 days a week to tumble and jump this summer. Again, it gives me a little time to myself and his preschool and the gym are right near each other so it’s perfect.

It’s a GREAT way to break up the summer.

I’ll say it again ~ thank you Lolo & Lola, Gramma, Popsi, Emma, Landon & Dylan.

This gift is truly the cherry on top of this mama’s banana split!

Have a great week everyone!

Funnies

Wake-Up Call

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8:10am.

Wal-mart.

Last year’s Easter jammies covered in black raspberry preserves from this morning’s toast.

Outer space socks.

Soccer cleats.

Imagine what a wake-up call it was at 5:40am when I remembered we were out of coffee.

Dunkin’ Donuts.

Cinnamon Vanilla La Creme.

An impromptu 68¢ {zero calorie} Cherry Limeade.

And I paid with my free $5 promo gift card.

That’s how I’m rollin’ this morning.

Bring on Friday the 13th!

 

Family, Friends

{Purple} Thursday

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In kindergarten there is a color system used in class for behavior.

From what I understand, everyone starts off on GREEN at the beginning of the day.

From there you can go down to YELLOW.

Or RED.

Red is not good.

Or, you can go up from green to PURPLE.

Purple is good.

We like purple.

Then, at the end of the day, if you are on green, you get one sticker on your card.

If you’re on purple, you get 2 stickers on your card.

When you have 15 stickers, you get to pick something out of the treasure chest.

I love the days when Elliott runs to me at pick-up and yells, “I got to go in the treasure chest!” and holds up her {treasure}.

As far as I know, she has never landed on red. I would know, I’m sure. And I would not be happy.

*****

For me, today was a PURPLE day. One of those days where everything goes just right.

[Received an invitation to the Kindergarten Award Ceremony next week. Elliott is receiving an award!]

[Ran a quick errand and snatched up 3 birthday gifts in under 20 minutes!]

[Made great time in the Starbucks drive-thru as I picked up 2 tall skinny vanilla lattes ~ one for Elliott’s teacher and one for me!]

[Got to her parent/teacher conference a few minutes early and didn’t have to wait]

[Received a glowing review from Mrs. H…SO proud that she is excelling in reading and received beautiful citizenship marks]

[60* and sunny!]

[Noticed that our tax return was deposited! Jay neglected to tell me…ha! Wonder why!]

[Finally “sold my old gold” ~ you know the old stuff sitting around in your jewelry box…one earring here, a messed up herringbone bracelet there. It all adds up….cash money in the wallet. Cha-ching!]

[Chatted with a friend across the miles]

I would definitely say that my Thursday ended up on PURPLE.

Still need to make a spaghetti dinner and play tennis at 7:30.

Not too bad. Not too bad at all.

I guess I get 2 stickers for my card, huh?

{via}

*****

Hope your Thursday has you on purple…or at least green.

Go ahead, choose a sticker!

Family, Food

Ice Cream For Breakfast

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Last night the kids mixed up their first batch of ice cream.

Everyone helped and had their little paws involved…

We were going to make Vanilla Bean, but I was feeling cheap and didn’t want to pay $13 for a single bean (I could buy a whole outfit for that!)

So, we just made Vanilla. Minus the bean.

I guess that’s a good place to start for homemade ice cream beginners.

Plain. Simple.

The directions said to leave the mixture in the ‘fridge overnight so what did we do first thing this morning?

Make ice cream, naturally!

And by naturally, I mean naturally…whole milk, sugar, half & half, pure vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.

That’s it.

I sound like a commercial for Breyer’s.

Pouring in the mixture with my assistants:

Uh, they were a wee bit excited…

…just a wee bit.

Churn! Churn!

Good morning, ice cream!

And there you have it…ice cream for breakfast.

Summer is all about breaking the rules, right?

Next up…something a little more exciting ~ Nutella and Peanut Butter Cup.

Here is the recipe:

Simple Vanilla Ice Cream

I always thought homemade ice cream was too much fuss, but it is so easy! I’m sure the more fancy you get the more there is to preparing the mixture, but generally speaking, it’s a piece of cake!

Also looking forward to trying the Coconut Sorbet.

The possibilities are endlesss….

Hope your Father’s Day Weekend is full of endless possibilities as well!

Enjoy!

Frugal Finds

Exfoliate!

I whipped up some homemade Vanilla Brown Sugar Scrub for Elliott’s preschool teacher, Miss Linda, as part of her end-of-the-year thank you gift.

It’s the easiest thing ever.

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup regular sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

6 drops vanilla extract

That’s it!

Pour oil into a clear glass container, then add the sugars and vanilla.

Stir.

That’s it!

I found the recipe here. {It calls for equal parts oil and sugars, but I bumped up the oil by 1/4 cup…too dry otherwise}

Dollar Tree had these cute little glass jars.

I had the oil, sugars and vanilla and leftover zebra ribbon from her party.

Easy. Peasy.

I added a little plastic spoon to make it easy to stir up and scoop before use.

Looking forward to trying the peppermint one for Christmas!