The kids have been clamoring to try out one of our Christmas gifts – the LL Bean Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker. When I hit the outlet for the 50%-off kids’ stuff sale, I bought the mega-size ball which makes a quart of ice cream. The marketing pitch is that it makes ice cream without electricity so you can take it camping, which I guess is true as long as you have plenty of space to stow it and an unlimited supply of ice.

I convinced Ben that our two measley ice cube trays wouldn’t be enough and sent him out for a bag of ice while I mixed the ingredients – cream or half-and-half, sugar, vanilla, and for our recipe – chopped Hershey kisses. I packed one end of the ball with ice and kosher salt (rock salt is recommended and we were fresh out) and poured the cream mixture into the other end.

The kids rolled it around for about 10 minutes and then I took over when they lost interest. I had to reload it with ice a couple of times so I’d recommend having 2 bags of ice on hand if you use the mega-size ball (there’s also a smaller ball that makes a pint of ice cream). It took quite a bit longer than the directions stated, but after about half an hour there was actually ice cream in there! It was a little soft but it hardened up when I stuck the leftovers in the freezer. There was plenty for the 6 of us and it was really good. And if nothing else it was a clumped Norah’s rainbow sprinkles together so she could shovel them into her mouth.

4 1/2 stars!! If I can teach Annie to roll it around I’ll give it 5!
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As some of you already know, I’m easily thwarted. I’ve had a hard time transferring videos from my camcorder to the computer, so I’ve procrastinated on this post even though I know that a 5-year-old friend of mine is anxiously waiting to see it.

Here you are Anna!

And here’s Aliya (the cute blond 3 kids to her left is *JAMES*):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7weAesHXflA&hl=en&fs=1]

If you’re thinking about buying socks for Adlani’s next birthday, he doesn’t want socks. Or underwear. Or pajamas. You may want to steer clear of clothing in general. And if you’re thinking that we haven’t taught our son any manners, A) He’s 4, and B) We’ve got to have SOME fun with this whole parenthood thing. By the time his college girlfriend takes him home to meet her parents, he’ll be trained to graciously accept any gift. Even underwear.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh8_m6fO-Vg&hl=en&fs=1]

I dragged myself over to my neighbor Gina’s house this morning so she could do my hair, and she asked me about something we talked about the last time I was there, which reminded me that I never posted it on the blog. It really freaked me out so it’s definitely blogworthy.

A couple of months ago I was working at home and there was a loud knock at the front door. I opened the door to find a government-issue Taurus in the driveway and two special agents from the Department of Homeland Security. I was struck dumb. I couldn’t think clearly. They started asking me questions about a family friend who came to visit months before. I couldn’t remember his name or what month he was here. When I found my voice again I asked the agents what time it was and said that the school bus was due at 3:30 and that they could come with me if they wanted to. I guess you don’t stop being a mom (or being hospitable) even when you’re struck dumb.

Once the blood started circulating to my brain again I answered all of their questions. The kid is a college student in Canada. Yes, that’s him in the photo. He is the son of my sister-in-law’s brother-in-law. He was here for a week or two during his school break and then he went back to school. When? I don’t know…it was cold out. Must have been winter. All he did when he was here was use his computer, watch TV, sleep, and eat. They asked some questions about Ben too. I’ve always thought that if you’re honest and law-abiding you’ll be fine, but I’ve lost some faith in our judicial system in the last couple of years. And you never know, Ben could be a secret agent.

The agents wrote everything down in their official notebooks, gave me their cards, and asked me to call them with the kid’s address and phone number. I immediately called Ben and tracked down the info, and then called the agent back. I asked him if I had done something wrong by inviting the kid to come for a visit and he said, “If I thought you did something wrong it would have gone down a lot different at your house.” That statement leaves a lot to the imagination.

We finally heard from the kid a couple of weeks ago and the issue was that when he returned to Canada he was supposed to turn in a white card at Immigration. Apparently he didn’t do that, so they came looking for him. He took it to the embassy and he’s all set, but I’m still amazed that the Department of Homeland Security has the resources to go looking for a college kid who didn’t turn in a card. Maybe it was just because he’s a young Muslim man. In the old days everyone used to come here on tourist visas, overstay their visa and then figure out how to get legal. Times have changed.
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I have pictures just like this of Aliya, but Adlani has never once set his action figures up classroom style and read them a story, or laid them out on dishcloths for nap. It must be a girl thing.

I had a chance to visit Adlani’s class for an hour last week and his teacher, Maria, made him Estrella del Dia (Star of the Day) since I was there. It was so cool to see how Maria uses games, songs, and repetition to teach Spanish. I told her that I think I could even learn Spanish from her class. I learned about 15 words while I was there and I still remember them! When we picked Adlani up before vacation Ben brought him out without his boots and snowpants, so Aliya and Ben went back into the school to look for them. Maria was still there and she and Aliya carried on a conversation in Spanish about the missing snowpants and boots. Ben was blown away. He hasn’t really heard Aliya converse in Spanish with a Spanish-speaker. I told him (AGAIN) that if he had been talking to her in Arabic she’d be fluent in that too. Oh well.

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