Fun Mom

I hate to admit it, but I am not one of those "fun moms." I don't do crafty things with my kids or make homemade, nutritious and exciting after-school snacks. I don't have a constant stream of play dates lined up, and I don't sit around playing board games with them everyday. I do occasionally pin something fun-momish on Pintrest, but my follow-through isn't so great. But, every once in a great while, I channel the fun mom I wish I was and come up with something that will hopefully be enough to keep the kids out of therapy when they are adults. (And, during those moments, I'm extremely glad I spent time pinning ideas on Pintrest.) So, today was a fun mom day. And, by that, I mean I told Ruth and Max (but not Weston, because he's away for the weekend) we could make dessert, and then I let Ruth browse my Pintrest "Sweet Tooth" board and pick out something we already had all the ingredients for. But, she picked something fun, and I oversaw the project and suggested the really amazing make-your-own-ice-cream-in-a-Ziploc-bag part. So, I'm going to go ahead and take some fun mom credit. We made ice cream sandwiches, which consisted of chocolate cake waffles and the aforementioned Ziploc bag ice cream. If you're in need of your own fun mom ideas, here's what you do:

Mix up a chocolate cake mix (or any flavor), according to the package directions. (We added chocolate chips, because, hello, fun!) Then, pour reasonable scoopfuls into your waffle maker, and cook it until it's done. Then, freeze the waffles for a while to firm them up. Be sure to let your kids lick the chocolate off the spatula and bowl, for full fun-mom points.

For the ice cream, pour 1/2 cup of milk, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 Tablespoon on sugar into a quart-sized Ziploc bag. (I actually quadrupled the recipe in the quart-sized bag to keep the bag usage to a minimum). Let most of the air out and put it into another quart-sized bag, again letting out most of the air. Then, put that whole package into a gallon-sized Ziploc, surround it with crushed ice, sprinkle in several tablespoons of salt, wrap it in a towel to keep your hands from freezing and shake the heck out of it. (This is the fun part!) After about 10 minutes, you'll have a nice little soft serve. You can stick it in the freezer for a while to make it firmer.

When you're ready, put some ice cream between two waffles and bask in your fun mom moment!

Flexing some serious ice cream muscle

Massaging the bag

Serious business

Enjoying the finished product

Reaping the benefits of Ruth and Max's labor