I’ve been busy the past 8 months with our newest family member so blogging has fell to the way side. So much to catch up on! This project is actually from last summer, but we are having a hot May long weekend here in Québec so I thought it would be a fitting post.

Last summer we stopped in at the LL Bean Flagship store in Freeport, Maine. In the camping section they had these ice cream makers which were balls that you filled with ice and ingredients & then you shake/roll until the ice cream set. We thought why not? Let’s try it out it could be fun.

So just like making ice cream in the old fashion ice cream makers you need cream, sugar, ice and rock salt (LL Beam sold the rock salt) and a flavor – we used organic vanilla extract.

In one end you add the ice and rock salt.

We pre-mixed the ice cream ingredients

Once poured in the other end and close tightly you shake. And shake. And pass it around. And shake. Then shake some more until your arms feel like they will fall off…

(baby bump vs. ice cream ball. :))

After shaking for what seemed like forever (probably more like 45min. in real time) – it’s time to taste test. And the verdict is – YUM!

As fun of an idea this is it grew old on my young ones pretty fast. Perhaps better to have teens work for their ice cream. Also, we found it quite difficult to scoop out of the ball – frozen pretty solid. Still, it was very tasty.

I think for now we will stick to making ice cream at home this way. We adore our Cuisinart ice cream maker.

Since last summer we have discovered the girls have a food sensitivity to dairy so it will be sorbet this summer! Better for us, anyway. I did try to make ice cream with raw milk but it just didn’t have the fat content to set properly. I look forward to experimenting with coconut and almond milk in a sorbet like concoction. Of course if I am successful I post all about it. :)

What did parents do before there was digital cameras? I know in my home growing up, photos were taken at special occasions and film otherwise conserved when photographing day to day things. One or two shots only – and you better be smiling! ;)

Many of the things I end up blogging about are because my kids say, “Mommy can you take a picture?” or “Mommy, take a picture!” often holding the object up for the camera.







My youngest is rather fond of these Animalz figures, which reside on our nature table. I found them on sale last year and thought they would make a good alternative to Ostheimer Wooden Animals – which I love but are quite pricey. My oldest could not care less about them, but my youngest tends to them everyday…



A clever handmade wooden car I bought on Etsy last year. I am sure I blogged about it them, but this tired mama is not inclined to look up that post at the moment… :)

On a recent trip to Vermont, we encountered the Camelbak water bottle. This bottle is well sought out by outdoor enthusiasts for its bite valve…I found this out after the fact. The BPA free plastic version seemed really durable & we decided to get the kids’ bottle for Sophie as an upgrade from a sippy cup. She was turning 3 & the bottle was for ages 3 & up.

What we weren’t expecting, was that there would be a battle over the bottle. You see, my 17 month old adored the water bottle as well. Seeing that the bottle was rated for ages three and up, and the bite valve looked rather thick to us, we didn’t think she would pay any attention. Maybe a case of I want what big sister has, but we learned our lesson that if we buy for one, we have to buy for the other. :)



So I researched Camelbak here in Canada to see who sells them but ultimately we went back to the US to purchase from the same place.



Happy as a clam. :)

The EC Group here in Montreal recently was discussing on-line the pros and cons of the Potette portable potty. It’s a foldable plastic potty you could easily throw into your bag and take with you anywhere. The only problem is, the liners are disposable (recently I saw SCENTED potette liners – YUCK!) which adds up to a lot of waste for just a little tinkling.



So I shared how we creatively use our potette. I have a wet bag that I put in place of the disposable liners. In it there is a pre-fold cloth diaper.



Once finished, you zip up the wet bag & take the cloth diaper home to launder.



We do have some disposition liners – they are handy if you are travelling and laundry cannot be done. Still, we try to stay in hotels with laundry so that the use of the liners is kept to a minimum. Also, we normally bring a baby bjorn potty for over night trips.

I should point out that my girls don’t poo on the go…that would probably be a different story with taking the wet bag home!! But I would probably in that instance find a toilet where I could flush down the waste. :)

The potette has been a wonderful product for us, we have been using it since Sophie was about 9 months old. It’s great for us ECing moms, and now that Sophie is 2 and a half, she is still quite afraid of public washrooms. So if she will not go to a regular toilet she can simply potty on the go in our van. :)