things i've learned since friday

• The current Target One Spot kicks ass.
  Friday afternoon, I headed out to Target to return the not-chosen Easter cardigans before picking up the girls. Since I was by myself, I was free to peruse at my leisure (i.e., without the usual strains of "Mommy, do you see that Dora [piece of crap]? Can I have it? Oooo! It's a Diego [something or other]! I want it!"). The One Spot was all over the spring rituals of planting and organizing, so I got a bunch of bins to organize my linen closet and some basil and chives to plant. And, I got a couple of cute Easter things for 75% off, which I will put in the basement and promptly forget about until after Easter next year!


• Happy Hour Play Dates are F-U-N.
  After picking up the girls early from school, we headed over to my friend Heidi's house, where E and A played with her girls, Madelyn and Ellie. The girls had a great time playing while Heidi and I sipped some wine and chatted. And...bonus...no bathrooms were flooded as a part of the playdate.


• Never underestimate the power of a good night's sleep.
  A slept wonderfully on Friday night. Went down without a protest and didn't stir until 8 am. I woke up well rested, got showered and dressed before either kid got up. I felt like a million bucks.


• There's no place like home.
  E, A and I headed to my parents for the day. We took a walk to a neighborhood playground, the girls played with my parents stash of toys like it was Christmas all over again, and I got to take a nap. For dinner we had breaded steak and mashed potatoes, which was divine. After dinner, the girls and I headed home.


• Maybe A should sleep in the Dora bed.
  A slept in her crib and was up for a bit (again) last night, and then was up for good at 7 am. E got to sleep in her Dora bed last night since she was whining disappointed that she didn't get to sleep in her one at Nonna's and Pop-pop's. E did not wake up until almost 9 am. Coincidence? I think not!


• Spring cleaning puts a spring in my step.
  Today I got a chance to clean out the refrigerator, freezer and pantry. I tossed a bunch of stuff past expiration and my shelves look pretty. When John and E went grocery shopping and A went down for a nap, I also got to clean and organize my bathroom linen closet and medicine cabinets. Getting some of my to-do list done makes me feel so much better!


• My girls like to party all the time.
  This afternoon we headed to a birthday party at a local kiddie gym for my friend's daughter, Julia. The girls had such a fun time running around and playing. They also wore themselves out...both of them almost fell asleep on the way home.


• All good things must come to an end.
  Lunches are packed, laundry is getting done, coffee's set and ready to go for tomorrow. Another weekend has slipped away. Only 5 more days until the next one...

their future's so bright...

...they gotta wear shades!

mama said there'd be days like this

Today is just one of *those* days. A and I are having some disagreements with regard to her sleeping. I insist that she do it alone in her crib; she would rather be in our bed, in my arms or, at the very least, in her crib with me standing there watching her. I don't need to sing or rub her back or even touch her but under no circumstances should I even think about going back to my warm comfy bed. So, I'm a little tired this morning.

And E...well, she has decided that I am also being unreasonable when it comes to my demands of her. My request for her to put on her shirt this morning were met with E throwing herself to the ground kicking and screaming and *then* I had the audacity to ask her to put her shoes on. I'm a mean, mean mommy, I tell ya.

And, starting today it's just the girls at Chez Slacker. John is headed for Charlotte for the NCAA Tournament. We have a fun weekend planned...but the fact that I'm going to be outnumbered until Sunday makes me slightly nervous.

If you don't hear from me, you'll know that they have won.

baby needs a new pair of shoes!

Last night the girls spent their NHT in A's room. Usually, they hang out in E's room since A's room lacks a bed to jump on...but they entertained themselves by pulling stuff out of A's closet instead.

First, E found last summer's stash of swim diapers with Pricess Ariel on them. She was devatated to find out that she would not be needing them this summer, seeing as she was potty-trained and all. (I stopped short of offering her a Princess bathing suit as a consolation prize...but I'm sure she could score one if she plays her cards right with John.) She then remembered that A would be wearing them and proceeded to try to put one on her.

E quickly realized what I've known for quite a while...changing A's diaper is a task within itself...especially when A is walking around and you are trying to put on a swim diaper, which is put on undies-style. So she quickly went back to closet-diving and pulled out a new pair of shoes.

About a month ago, we headed out en masse to the outlet mall near us. A needed shoes so we ended up buying her two pairs at the Stride Rite outlet, and then found a cute pair of mini-Nikes that we bought her as well. Being the cheapfiscally responsible mother that I am, I decided to take back one of the pairs of Stride Rites since a toddler did not need 3 pairs of shoes especially when I could spend that money on myself...or wine.

A, apparently, begs to differ. When E showed her the shoes, A demanded that they be put on her feet immediately. E was unsuccessful in her attempt so put them on...so she brought them over to John and me. She then proceeded to wear them for the rest of naked heiny time and threw a *major* fit when I removed them to put on her PJs. And E? She liked them so much that she said, "Maybe we can go back to the store and find a pair in my size, too."

:::sigh:::

Looks like I got some mini-Imelda Marcos on my hand.

dear sweet baby a

Happy Birthday! You are 18 months old today! I cannot believe it! It seems like just yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital, and now you are a walking and talking bundle of energy. Every day, you grow and change so much...and as much as I would love to remember every little detail, I know I won't. So here is what you are like right now.

At 18 months you:

• love to be picked up. You strech your arms over your head and repeat "UP!" until whoever you are asking picks you up. But, because you are polite, you will thank the person for picking you up by saying "Dant do."


• love to eat fruit. Your favorite fruit du jour is apple, which you call "Ah-pull" and give the sign for. Previous favorites included bananas and clementines. You also could eat a bag of Craisins in one sitting.
  
• love Dora and Diego, especially Diego. You call them "Doh-da" and "Dee-a-doh", and you always give a yelp of excitement when they are on. But, unlike your sister, your attention span is only good for a few minutes of show watching at a time.
  
• play with E's dollhouse a lot. You could spend all day playing with the babies -- putting them in the high chair or the car or the cradle. You also like Little People.
  
• also love to play outside. Just like E did when she was your age, you love to walk on the stone wall that the neighbors have around their tree. You also love our swingset and your tricycle.
  
• are quite the daredevil. You didn't seem to enjoy the swings all that much the other day...but I figured out that you wanted to be pushed higher and faster and then you were happy. You also don't want me to help you down the slide anymore and are trying to walk down the stairs holding my hand.
  
• love to read. Every night we read "The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear." You are starting to memorize it so when I say "Oh how that bear loves strawberries" you shout "Oh!" as loud as you can along with me.
  
• want to be like your big sister. You follow her around a lot. You also love to climb into her bed and pretend to go to sleep. She loves you, too, and I hope you will always be as good of friends as you are now.
  
• are a fantastic little girl and I'm so proud to be your mommy!
  

also considered as a menu option

Before E and I went to The Teets to pick up the food for our Easter Lunch, I was scrolling through the specials on The Teets' web site and discussing some options with John.

"How about ham?" I asked John. "There's a special on spiral sliced ham."
"Or..." E interrupted. "How about we do spiral sliced chicken nuggets? That would be even yummier."

easter 2008

Easter was a big hit in the Slacker house! The girls had a blast hunting for eggs...and eating the chocolate. They apparently have inherited my love of chocolate...whenever I turned around they were trying to get more.

In true Slacker style, Nonna and I planned our Easter lunch menu on Saturday...at 3:30 pm...while I was at The Teets with E. But it was delish...we had ham, biscuits, asparagus, fruit salad and baked mac and cheese. Luckily, everyone liked it because we will be eating the leftovers for the rest of the week. Here are some pictures from the day.

Checking out the Baskets

The Loot from the Hunt

A and E in their Easter Dresses



E and Daddy

By far, my *favorite* picture of the day...taken when John (big meanie that he is) tried to take away the basket that Nonna and Poppop brought A. Sure, she had already had 257 pieces of chocolate, but clearly, she needed more.

can photoshop remove snot?

I ended up being able to spring the girls early from school today. But both of them were either playing outside or on the way to playing outside, so I really didn't get the hero's welcome I was hoping for. Since it was a pretty day, we played out on the swingset for a while...and I shot a bunch of pictures in the hopes of getting a decent picture. Unfortunately, a round of Kleenex were kind of needed.






Of course, no evening would be complete without a little Noggin in the evening.

easter with the slacker girls

Just came back from Target and got most of the fixins for the Easter baskets. I also found two different sweaters that may potentially get worn on Easter. We haven't figured out what the girls are going to wear. They have matching Lilly dresses that are pretty cute, but E has a couple new dresses that are also really cute and A has some pretty hand-me-downs.

While I'm trapped on another, emergency conference call that is keeping me from springing the girls early from daycare, I thought you'd like to see what Easter has been like around these parts for the last three years.

2005

2006

2007

easter baskets a-go-go

I *loved loved loved* everyone's thoughts and comments on my Easter basket post! I got some great tips on fun stuff to do with the girls and also got a little insight on everyone else's family traditions! My mom even reminded me of a couple of our own I had forgotten about!

I'm not sure what we will incorporate into this year...with everyone being sick and work being crazy I'm not too on the ball. But I'll definitely keep things in mind as the years go by. So...thanks!

Oh yeah! Keep up the comments! I love comments and reading all of them just makes me so happy!

the easter bunny is a wuss

According to E, the Easter Bunny does not do well in less-than-ideal weather conditions. As we were headed out to school today, E looked down at the welcome mat on our front porch which was wet-ish from the recent rain.

"Oh no, Mama!" E yelled. "The Easter Bunny won't come if it's wet outside!"

As we walked to the car, the wind started blowing. The girls were in their fleece jackets, and it was in the mid-50s. Not the warmest morning to date this year, but not winter coat-worthy.

"Mommy! The Easter Bunny isn't going to come if it's this cold outside!"

Luckily, we saw an *actual* bunny hop by. I told her it was the Easter Bunny, mapping out his route for Sunday.

Seeing as I still have to get all the stuff for the baskets, as well as an actual basket for A...it's good to know that if time runs out I can always blame it on the Easter Bunny and his primadonna ways!

So, tell me...what's going in your kiddos Easter Baskets this year?

tgim

You know, there's not many times that I can say this...but I could not *wait* for this weekend to end. In a nutshell, this weekend sucked. It involved not one, but two, trips to the doctor for A. One on Saturday morning was for an ear infection diagnosis. The other was on Sunday to the Urgent Care center to glue a cut on her forehead together after she ran head first into a corner. John also caught the mystery illness plaguing Chez Slacker and spent a good bit of Sunday in bed.

Since A was sick, we couldn't go up to Philly to Sean and Autumn's annual St. Patrick's Day party, which was a huge bummer. This was their 6th annual, and now we've now missed two in a row. Here's a picture of E with her friends Isabel and Maura at the 2nd Annual party.
E, Maura, and Maggie were going to spend the night at Isabel and her sister Chloe's house for their first-ever slumber party. Since E missed it, John took her to "Horton Hears a Hoo" yesterday while A and I went to the Urgent Medical Care. (By the way, why not call a spade a spade...it's not Urgent Medical Care, it's Your-Regular-Doctor's-Office-is-Closed-So-Where-Else-You-Gonna-Go-Care.) She really liked it, and did much better than at "Enchanted", where she got antsy and bored toward the end.

So Monday is here! Yippee! The antibiotics are doing their job, there are no gaping head wounds and both girls are at school today. I've got a To-do list a mile long, mainly stuff that I should have done this weekend if I wasn't stuck in waiting rooms or caring for sick children/husbands. But it's St. Patrick's Day, so we've got Guinness in the fridge so it can't be that bad.

Here are some pics of the girls in their St. Patty's finest.

E in her Suri Cruise Kilt
A in her Shamrock Sweater (and her Super Glued forehead)
Together and smiling
The Today Show's more interesting than Mommy

e's first dental visit

This morning, E had her first visit to the dentist. She picked out a pretty dress and flower tights that totally clashed to wear, brought along Silky and Baby, brushed her teeth and off we went. She did really well -- let the hygenist count, clean and floss her teeth, and let the dentist check her teeth as well. She was psyched for the Ariel toothbrush and other goodies she got, too.

I was psyched because she has two chipped teeth that the dentist assured me was no problem. They also assured me that I was fine in waiting until 3 1/2 to send her to the dentist (I have a friend who just took her 1 year old). Overall a good trip. I have *my* appoinment on Monday...so in 6 months we'll be doing ours together. Should be interesting.

chatterbox

The good news is that A's fever broke last night! The bad news is that it was at midnight which meant that she ended up spending the night in our bed. I think we might have Pele on our hands because she kicked the bejesus out of *both* John and I last night.

This morning, you could tell that she was feeling much much better because she was up bright and early at 7 this morning, running around as John and I tried to get a precious few more minutes of sleep. She has learned how to open our bedroom door, which is bad because she kept trying to make a break for E's room to wake her up. She also had tons of fun with a bouncy rubber ball on our tiled bathroom floor.

I was lying there, waiting for John to get out of the shower when I felt someone watching me. I opened my eyes to see A standing within an inch of my face.

"BAH" she yelled and showed me her ball.
"That's right, A! Ball," I grumbled. "Go show Daddy what you have."
"Bah bah bah bah bah bah bah!" she shouted as she ran to tell him.

It's hard to believe that A will be 18 months old in less than 2 weeks. I read somewhere that 18 months is when kids generally have a language explosion. E certainly did, and it appears that A is ready to do the same. In addition to ball this morning, she loves to repeat anything and everything you ask her to. And she names a lot of objects...the trick is to figure out what the heck she is saying. Nah-ki at the dinner table? Napkin. Da-de-di while pointing at herself? Her name.

It's such an exciting and fun time. I'm *so* not a baby person...but give me an 18-month-old any day of the week! Even one that keeps you up at night by kicking you.

be careful what you wish for

So in my last post I said I'd like to work from home more. And, today I am. Because A has the fever that E had last week, so she's home sick. My mom is here watching her (thank goodness!), but here I am working from home.

the new cube SUCKS

So, I got moved to my new cube in the "satellite" office. On the bright side, it's a window cube. That's about it. I'm on a different floor and down the hall from everything else, including the microwave and water jug.

And the other employee down here who works down here near me? Just came into my cube with her hand covering her mouth and asked for a tissue. Then she went on to say, "I just sneezed and...WHOO BOY!" So my prediction that she was socially inept was about on target.

I'm *so* going to make the move to work more from home.

dance dance revolution!

Sweet Baby A has become a little dancer, just like her big sister. During our nightly bouts of Naked Heiny Time, if we start clapping or singing, she starts dancing around. On Sunday night, John was in the family room and yelled, "Hey, A! Let's dance!" She looked straight at him, walked over to the little docking station we have for our iPod Shuffle and pointed furiously. She wasn't happy to just dance, oh no! She needed the beats and rhythm of Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner and Justin Roberts in order to get her groove on. But once we turned on the music, dance she did.

If you read my posts regularly, you've probably noticed that my girls like to get naked on a nightly basis. We call this Naked Heiny Time, and it's generally after bath or for 15-20 minutes before bed on the nights they don't take baths. This actually started out of necessity, A had a recurring diaper rash so we would let her run around naked in order to air out. Of course, E then had to get naked, too. Thus, NHT was born.

The issue now is that it's no longer needed. We have identified the diaper rash culprit (pineapple...who knew?) and she's been rash free for about a month. But the girls still insist on NHT. On the one hand, it's nice to have the girls race upstairs on a nightly basis (and really...they run if you mention NHT). On the other hand, we've had suprisingly few accidents, but I feel like we are playing with fire every time we do this (especially since the girls love to play on E's bed).

But with the fun we have...I guess we'll take our chances.

if you paint them, spring will come

After putting A down for a nap today, I stole some time for myself and headed to the new nail place for a pedicure. I hadn't gotten one in a looooooooong time, so my hooves definitely needed a little TLC. This new place was nice, and the 1/2 hour I spent in their fantabulous massage chair was D-I-V-I-N-E. I got them painted a sassy shade of hot pink (totally did not catch the name, which is a bummer, because I puffy heart the color).

As happy as I was to get out and get it done, the girls were equally if not more excited. They were totally fascinated by the entire thing. E immediately demanded that we paint *her* toes pink. And A couldn't stop touching them. She had to touch every toe about 10 times each.

It's funny because both girls have become such girly girls. I certainly don't consider myself to be. And yet, E only wants to wear things that are pink or dresses or tutus (or all three). And A has begun demanding that we put bows in her hair. After getting her teeth brushed, she'll grunt and point at the bow holder hanging from the mirror. Then you are forced to point at each bow while she shakes her head or nods her approval. And then, because A is wearing one, E wants one, too.

So I imagine, before too long, I'll have some company on my occasional jaunt to the nail place. But until then, I'll relish my "me time" and hope that, now that my toes are flip-flop ready...I'll have a chance to wear them some time soon.

conversations with a sick girl...

...who isn't feeling all that sick.

Me: E, what are you doing?
E: I'm going upstairs, Mama. I *have* to get a tutu.

And of course, there's this:

Me: E, I have to get on the phone for a conference call.
E: Okay, mama. I'm good to go. I've got Diego on and if I need anything I'll just let you know.

stir crazy

Yesterday, I knew E was sick because she was pretty lethargic and running a temperature. But when I asked her what didn't feel good, she couldn't tell me. So I'd name a body part and she'd tell me that it didn't feel good. As far as I can tell, her tummy, ears and left foot were sick yesterday.

I must admit, I was a little concerned that E would really enjoy her day off yesterday and continue to say she was sick even when she felt better. At home with Mommy watching copious amounts of TV while I tried to work...what could be better? Apparently, school could be. Last night she laid out her clothes (and A's) for school today. And she just came down the stairs fully clothed, declared herself "all better," and asked when we were going to school.

Edited to Add: E's still running a little hot, so she's not going to school. But an episode of Pinky Dinky Doo has seemed to have softened the blow. We're picking A up at 11 or so, so maybe if she's feeling okay we can get some lunch.

free refills would be nice

Last night, E got her "usual" at Cold Stone (kids cup of strawberry with a gummy bear mixin), and A and I split a Like It cup of vanilla with Oreos. Well, A and I finished ours before E did, which A was not happy about. While E did give her some bites of hers, this was not good enough for A. She grabbed our (empty) bowl and spoon, hopped off her chair and walked to the counter. She then started pointing wildly at the ice cream while holding up her bowl. It was so cute, albeit unsuccessful.

paging nurse slacker!

E has a bit of a fever, so I'm working from home today. She's currently resting comfortably on the couch with Dora on. We did have our inaugural dose of Children's Motrin. You give it in a mini-shot glass as opposed to the syringe. 100 sips later, she finally got it down. I might have to find one of the 100s of Target syringes left over from anti-biotics for future dosing.

In other news, date night last night with the girls was fun. E was so excited to go "someplace special"...especially since she got to pick it. We went to Panera and then to Cold Stone. Then we came home and had an extra long bath session.

I mentioned that both girls have been clingy, so the story I read E last night was "In my Heart" by Molly Bang. Kiki gave this to us, and it's a *fantastic* book if you are a working parent.

And while this book has absolutely nothing to do with work...A's current favorite book is The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey and Don Wood. We love all of their books, but A has taken to carrying this one around the house. Much more fun to read than the cheesy Dora books she had been selecting of late.

monkey see, monkey do

A is really starting to mimic the things we say and do now...and it is so stinking cute. Of course, her favorite person to copy is E. The other night, when E was religiously checking the front window for Maura and Maggie's impending arrival, there was A right behind her...peering out the window with absolutely no idea of what she was doing/who she was looking for.

Last night at the dinner table, E asked John to "do the numbers." This is where he impersonates a football announcer at the stadium and shouts things like, "Scores of interest: E 21, Mommy 20." When John would announce E as the winner, she would raise her hands in the air in victory. John then shouted, "Scores of interest, Mommy 14, A 28" and A threw her hands up and yelled "Yay!"

But the cutest thing is when she tries to repeat what we say. The intonation is spot on, but it's just gibberish. "One, two, three" became "Uh, ooo, eeeee!" And to hear her sing it's like playing "Name that Tune." I'm sure she'll be talking up a storm before too long...

In other news, tonight John is headed down to the UVA vs. Duke basketball game...leaving me and the girls to fend for ourselves. I think we're going to do a mini-date night -- dinner at Panera and dessert at Cold Stone. Both girls have been really clingy with me of late, so I think a little girl bonding will do us well.

artsy craftsy

After dinner last night, E told me she wanted to color. Since A was still strapped in her booster, I broke out the plastic table cloth, crayons and construction paper and let the girls have at it. At first, they were all about the coloring.
But that quickly disintegrated into crayon wrapper removal for E....And a rousing game of peek-a-boo with the table cloth for A.

tell me you love it (even if you are lying)

This conversation was had approximately 104 times this weekend in the Slacker house.

Me: So do you like my hair?
John: Yes. I do.
Me: Are you just saying that or do you really like it?
John: I really like it.
Me: You hate it don't you. You think I look like a man!
John: AAAAAAAARGH!

I got some compliments when I picked up the girls from school. E said she wanted to get her hair cut "just like Mommy's" and tried to get me to cut it yesterday in the bathroom. But still...I'm not sure. I tried to style it all flippy on Satuday and it looked like I just had hair sticking out randomly. This picture is from today...still not loving it, but better.

What do you think?

e's first slumber party

So, it was a great weekend at the Slacker house. Friday night was just relaxing at home. Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast at Cracker Barrel before heading off to The Teets to pick up a few items. We spent the rest of the day puttering around the house...E and I made ice cream and we generally had a nice day. The evening was spent running around and E checking to see if Maggie and Maura were here yet. Literally, every two minutes she would peek out the front door. When they finally did arrive, the girls played for a bit, had some ice cream and then headed up to bed.

Since there are so many O'Reillys, it takes some finnagling to fit us all. The plan was to have Bridget stay in the Pack-n-Play in the guest room with Sean and Autumn; Maura and Maggie (who share a room at home) in E's room; A in her room; and E on her Dora bed in our room. But this was overruled by the girls, who all wanted to stay together in their inflatable beds (Mo and Mags have Princess ones). So, E, Mo and Mags went to bed in her room together. Mags did get banished to the Guest Room for getting out of bed, but E and Mo did really well together. But, it was so funny to check on them and have them hanging off their little beds onto the floor, with E's nice and comfy full-sized bed totally empty.

Sunday morning, the girls just ran around and played together. They get along fantastically. They are such great friends even though they don't see each other all that often. Poor A was two steps behind the entire time -- wanting so bad to be a big girl. Then the O'Reillys headed in to Arlington for their cousin's birthday party. When I explained to E where they were going and what a cousin was E declared "I want a cousin, too!" (Hint hint, Kiki!) We wrapped up the weekend with a little Target trip, some playing outside with the neighborhood kids and then hit the hay really early.

All in all a good weekend!

cooking...slacker style

While I'm no Iron Chef, I actually do enjoy cooking when I get the time to do it. However, being a working mom with two small children, I don't often get the time. That's why I love these two things, both of which I made this weekend. They are great, homemade recipes and they are easy peasy to make.

The carnitas are great to feed a crowd because it utilizes an inexpensive (and awesomely named) cut of meat. The Teets had Boston Butt on sale last week, so we were able to feed 6 adults and *still* have leftovers for under $7. It's also a great thing to have when you have people over since you aren't slaving over the stove. All I had to do to get this to the table was heat the tortillas, shred the meat and dump the guac, salsa, sour cream and cheese into my cute serving bowls. (Note: Thanks to Kiki for introducing this recipe to me! Also, Sweet Pea Chef has a version of this recipe on her site...it looks yummy, too!)

Carnitas
Take a Boston Butt (heh), trim the fat and salt and pepper it. Cut slits all over it and insert (about 4 cloves or so) garlic cut into quarters.

Slice an onion and put that and a whole jalapeno on the bottom of the crockpot. Throw in your garlic-studded Butt and a can of beer. Turn on LOW and cook for about 10 hours. Shred the pork and serve with corn tortillas and guacamole (and your other favorite fixins).

To make BBQ leftovers: threw the pork in a non-stick skillet with enough BBQ sauce to generally coat. Heated on medium until warmed through. Note: we used your basic BBQ sauce, and my BBQ-connoisseur husband thought it would have been better with a Carolina (vinegar-based) sauce.

The ice cream is great because...well, it's ice cream. I use the basic recipe that came with the ice cream maker because that whole tempered eggs things that the more involved recipes use kind of scares me. Also, this recipe is quick and super easy. E helped me make this while A was napping...and she loved telling Maura and Maggie that!

Thin Mint Ice Cream
2 cups heavy cream (well chilled)
1 cup whole milk (well chilled)
3/4 cup sugar
1 - 2 tsp vanilla (I use Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Paste)
1 sleeve of Thin Mint cookies, crushed (about 1 cup...minus a few for snacking!)

Mix the sugar and milk together until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cream and vanilla. Pour into the ice cream maker and turn on. Run for 20 - 25 minutes, adding the cookies in the last 5 minutes or so. Transfer to a separate container and freeze for a few hours to harden a bit. Enjoy!