Shaken, Not Stirred!







Another rainy day in Paradise... There are currently 4 crazy boys at home. (I am so glad that Rebecca went off to her friend's house. She would have been miserable!) I am proud to say that my two are the more mellow of the four, and yet slightly appalled that this is the case. But the play date is almost over -- in 5 minutes, no 4 minutes!

I made spaghetti and meatballs for lunch. Only our two visitors picked up a few items at Wal*Mart (hatethatstore!) and I guess filled up on chips and candy and whatnot in the car on the way over. So glad I put a nice lunch together... next time PB&J... So, while at lunch the other two boys were rude and disruptive, up and down every five minutes and at one point they both got up to tickle Christopher while he was still eating! I told them to knock it off. Nicely. Christopher mentioned something as a joke about Diet Cherry Soda in the fridge. (Diet Hansen's) The older boy got up and started acting like a lunatic and actually proceeded to go to and open my fridge in search of this cherry soda. He couldn't find it and shut the door. Christopher told him it was on the top shelf and when he tried to open the door again he couldn't! (Heh-heh... gotta love Sub-Zero!) I shot Christopher a hairy eyeball which meant knock-it-off...

Ok, it's 3:31 and their Au-pair is late dammit!

Things were fine after that. For a while. Until the boys (not mine) started running through the house. I had to tell them to slow down as I worried someone was going to get hurt. Eventually I told them we don't run through the house. (OK, my boys are human and they do run... they know they are not supposed to.) I am sure those boys are thinking "Boy, what a Bitch that EntertainingMom is!" But I have rules and I will enforce them. The boys are allowed to play in their rooms or in the playroom. Toys are not to go back and forth (risk of putting more mysterious dents and scratches in the walls.) Playroom is ideal. It is on the other side of the house over the garage. It's huge and they can play any way they wish in there. Family room is off limits when friends are over, well, they have to walk through it to get to the kitchen! And no child is allowed to enter the Living or Dining Rooms. The older two eventually play wii and calm has resumed. I am a bit surprised because I know their mother and I know their mother would not tolerate this behavior.

It is now 3:36 and she is still not here!

I broke out the ice cream ball we got from LLBean. We love it. Not only does it make great ice cream but it's fun for the kids to do. All you have to do is toss in the required ingredients, then roll or shake the ice cream ball. It's a lot of fun!

It is now 3:47 and they are gone!!

Only after 10 minutes they were bored. Which meant I had to roll/shake it... for 30 minutes!
And so I did. I kept checking the clock hoping it was nearing 3:30. It was and it wasn't. I needed to feed the boys the ice cream and I knew it wouldn't be ready on time. It was ready to come out of the ball, but the ice cream was still very soft and needed to go in the freezer a bit.

So I did a terrible thing.
I cheated.
I lied.
I swapped out some cheap vanilla stuff we had lying around!
But I had to! They boys were expecting the ice cream that they, I mean I made!
So I put the home made ice cream in a Tupperware in the freezer and I gave them the other stuff. They went on and on about how good it was too!
(Top picture store brand. Bottom picture home made!)

So I had a taste* of both ours and theirs and I have to say that without a moment's hesitation ours was far superior!

I will give the boys their ice cream for dessert. I will have to fess up I guess. I might even make Mama Henley's Ice Cream Balls... they sound absolutely to die for! I'm thinking I will roll them in crushed Thin Mints? How does that sound? We can make little ice cream Bon Bons** together and we can talk about play dates from Hell! Do you have any you care to share with us?

* Just a small taste as I am still technically on the South Beach Diet

** Or we can use the Ice Cream Ball to freeze fresh fruit juice ... can you see where I am going with this? And perhaps instead of cream you could add some, oh I don't know, Grey Goose?!!!

(And Lord knows I could use a (n extra) Strong Something right about now!)

Cheers!



4:45 I have just fessed up... my boys are eating their home made ice cream and both declare that is is much better!