An Interesting Taste

"Gemma-Rose, I brought home some bananas from the shop so you can cook a new recipe I found," Mum said, handing me a piece of paper with a recipe written on it.

I read the recipe, then read it again. But how ever much I read the recipe it still clearly stated that I was supposed to put peanut butter and bananas in the same batch of biscuits, which I thought was strange. Would it taste weird?

"Er, Mum," I said uncertainly, "are you sure that I am supposed to put peanut butter and bananas into the same biscuits?"

Mum nodded, undaunted by the fact.

 As Mum and the recipe had quite clearly decided that I was going to make this batch of biscuits with that strange combination, I plodded off to the kitchen to start cooking.

I grabbed the bunch of bananas, a packet of oats, the peanut butter and with much reluctance, put the chocolate on the kitchen bench without so much as taking a tiny nibble. Then I set to work chopping, measuring, mashing and stirring. A few minutes later a batch of unusual looking biscuits where thrown into the oven and I, feeling quite proud of  myself  and the biscuits despite the contents, started to clean up the kitchen.

 "Mum, have they cooked for long enough?" I asked, peering through Mum's bedroom door.

"Not yet," answered Mum who had her eyes stuck to the screen of her computer, so clearly she wasn't paying much attention to me.

A few minutes later I was back. "Mum, should I take the biscuits out yet?" I asked anxiously.

"You should leave them in for a couple more minutes yet."

I poked my head round the door again. "Mum, are you certain they aren't burning?"

"Yes, I am quite certain. Go sit down for a few minutes and stop worrying," Mum said determinedly.

I slunk out of Mum's bedroom and sat down at the table with a good book.

"Gemma-Rose, they can come out now," called Mum.

I jerked my head out of my book and sprinted for the kitchen, questions bubbling up in my head.

"What if they were burnt?"

"If they were, would I have to make more?"`

"Would I get in trouble for burning them?"

"No I wouldn't get in trouble because I had asked Mum to tell me when they were done, hadn't I?"

I opened the oven door, and  inside were some biscuits that weren't burnt at all. "What was I worrying about?" I asked myself.

"Mum, the biscuits still look squishy," I said, as I raced into Mum's bedroom.

"That is probably just the banana," Mum reassured.

The next day Mum asked, "Can I have one of your wonderful biscuits?"

I opened the lid of the container and placed one of the biscuits onto a plate. "Here you go, Mum," I said placing the plate on the table. Then I found myself a biscuit and sat down to eat.

"Interesting taste," Mum commented.

I bit into my own biscuit and had  to agree it was an interesting flavour.

"Sophie, what do you think of my biscuits?" I asked.

"Interesting," Sophie answered.

I thought about the peanut butter and bananas I had put in them, and decided that even with those odd ingredients, they had turned out well.

If you want to brave the peanut butter and banana combination......

3 ripe bananas
1 cup of quick oats
Half a cup of chopped up dark chocolate
1 heaped dessertspoon of peanut butter

Mash up the three bananas in a bowl and add the oats.

Chop up the dark chocolate and put it in the bowl.

Take a dessertspoon and heap it with peanut butter, then plop it into the bowl.

Mix all together and then make small balls and place them on a tray lined with baking paper.

Cook for 15 minutes at 180 degrees C

My Mermaid

"Mum, I think the parcel man is at the front door," Sophie cried.

"It is probably a parcel for Callum," Mum said, getting up and heading towards the door. In a few minutes she was back with a package in her hand.

I rushed over to Mum. "Who is it for?" I asked eagerly.

"It is the sewing book I ordered for you and the other girls," beamed Mum.

"Can I open it?" I asked impatiently.

"If you want to," Mum smiled.

I tore off the wrappings and inside was a sewing book called Fleecie Dolls. I started flicking through the book.

"That mermaid is so pretty," Imogen exclaimed.

"Look at her tail," sighed Mum. "It's covered in pretty sequins."

I found a needle, some thread and a piece of fleece and set to work making that pretty mermaid. I really enjoyed sewing the doll and soon the body and tail were finished.

"Mum, you marked the white fleece with a dark pen to show me where to sew the dart..." I started to say.

"Yes, what is wrong? Did the pen show through the fabric?" Mum asked. I nodded. "You had better give your doll a bath to get rid of the pen marks."

I grinned. I was about to give a mermaid a bath. Soon I was scrubbing the doll with a bar of soap. "Imogen, look! I am giving my doll a bath," I squealed.

A few days later I was ready to start putting sequins on my mermaid's tail. Mum showed me how to sew the sequins on and I was soon sewing them on all by myself. But then disaster! "Mum, I have lost the needle."

"What do you mean?" Mum asked getting up.

"When I was sewing my sequin on I lost the needle inside the mermaid," I spluttered, close to tears. Mum and Imogen searched the mermaid and the seat, and even Jenny the cat who a few minutes ago had been perched on my lap.

"I can't find it," announced Imogen.

"You can use my needle to finish sewing the sequins on," Charlotte offered.

"You will all have to watch your feet," Mum warned, "in case the missing needle is still on the floor."

"Mum, I am ready to sew my mermaid's hair on," I grinned. Mum handed me some wool and some orange fleece.

"Do you want me to help you with the hair?" Mum asked.

"Yes please," I thanked. Sewing the hair on was not as easy as I had anticipated and our fingers got frequently pricked.

On Sunday Charlotte drew the face on the doll with a fading pen so I knew where to sew it with a needle and some thread. After lunch I headed to the table all ready to sew the face on. "Mum, the face has faded and now I can't see it," I wailed.

"It has faded  all ready?" Mum asked in surprise.

Charlotte patiently drew the face back on and I started to sew the eyes. After one eye I was already having trouble seeing the face. After both eyes I could not see the mouth at all. The pen marks were fading again. "Charlotte, can you please draw the mouth on one last time?" I asked. Finally the mouth was done and the only thing left to do was the bikini top.

Mum carefully measured out some ribbon to make a top, and then tried to fit it round my mermaid's waist. "She is too fat," Mum declared. "We will need to cut a bigger piece of ribbon."

"Mum, I have finished sewing the top," I announced happily. "Could I please have a button to sew on the ribbon?"

Mum opened up her button box and found a button that looked like a pearl. "Will this do?" she asked.

"Oh yes," I breathed. I sewed the button on. I'd finished the doll.

For the rest of the evening I went around showing everybody my wonderful doll. I love my mermaid.

Next I am going to make this doll called Florence.

                                                          

Zumba Girls

Mum decided to learn Zumba so naturally all us girls decided to learn it too.

Charlotte and Imogen move the table to the side of the room. Mum puts the disk into the DVD player. "This is going to be fun," Mum encourages. I pull a big silly smile. A lady appears on the screen and starts shouting at us.

"Get your heart rate up there. The higher you get it, the more calories you burn. Come on, wiggle those hips. Walk like a crab," she shouts.

I take three steps to the right and then three steps to the left and end up on Charlotte's toes. I pant away. I never thought Zumba would be this hard.A few sore toes later we stop.

"I think that's plenty of Zumba for one day," smiles Mum.

"You have learnt Zumba, but before you start partying, I would like to introduce you to the creator of Zumba," shouts the lady.
 
"It is beyond me how the ladies get their hips all the way round like that," pants Charlotte.

I can move my hips but I keep stepping on Charlotte's toes.    

We keep going back and doing this strange sport. Why? I have no idea. We have no coordination.  
           
Finally it gets warm enough to run outside and we give up Zumba. Zumba is fun but we prefer running.

Yummy Cakes

We always celebrate a special day with a yummy cake.

                                           
                                             My eighth birthday cake    

                                                           Happy Anniversary cake

                                       
                                                              Epiphany Crown Cake                         

                             
                                                            My 9th Birthday cake

                      
                                                Charlotte's First Holy Communion cake  
                                                           

                                                   Easter Egg Nest Cake

 
                                                           Pentecost Cake

                                                        Imogen's 18th Birthday Cake

                                                             Fathers Day Cake

                                                       Sophie's Confirmation Cake  


Tomorrow we will be having another cake. It is Mummy's birthday!

Uninvited Fleas

"Imogen, could you please give those cats a bath? I got bitten last night by a flea," says Mum.

Imogen sighs and turns to look for the first terror (bathing cats is hard work) .

"She is probably in the settee," calls out Charlotte.  

Imogen grabs the first cat and hauls her out of the settee.

I try to clog up my ears and read my book at the same time but it is impossible with those cats yowling and hissing all the time.

Imogen throws Poppy out of the laundry after her bath.  (Poppy is the worst cat in the bath.)

"I bathed the cats, Mum," says a VERY wet Imogen.


"Poppy tried to climb the wall," says mostly dry Charlotte, who has been helping.

"Thank you. Do you think it would be possible to look through the cats' fur?" says Mum.

Charlotte marches into the family room armed with a comb and a cup of hot water.

One after the other the fleas got plucked  out of the cats' fur and into the hot water.

A few months later, Imogen makes a terrible discovery while hugging Sammy.

"Mum, I found a flea on Sammy."

Mum takes Sophie and me to the shops.

"We will see if we can find some flea shampoo and some flea collars."

We come home some time later with a yellow collar, a blue collar, a red collar and a bottle of flea shampoo.

Imogen starts putting the yellow flea collar on Jenny.

"That shade of yellow looks like the worming paste they get on their paws," I say.

"What if she chews through her collar like she did with the one Imogen got her for Christmas?" says Sophie.          

"I doubt it tastes that nice," says Charlotte.

A few days later Imogen is out.

"Charlotte could you please go through the cats with a comb and see if there are any fleas?" asks Mum

Charlotte nods and picks up Poppy who is lying sprawled out on the floor in the sun.

Again in the family room, with a comb and a cup of water, Charlotte, Sophie and I sit down on the settee.

Charlotte holds the struggling animal who doesn't like anybody that close to its tummy while Sophie combs through the fur.

I have a cup of water all ready for the fleas but no fleas come.

We trudge off to Mum's bedroom.

"We couldn't find any," says Charlotte.

"Not a single one," concludes Sophie.

But Mum keeps getting bitten. There are fleas hiding somewhere.

Mum suddenly has a great idea.

Mum jumps into the car and we go off to buy flea bombs.

We come back home with eight flea bombs.

"What are we going to do with the cats?" asks Charlotte. The instructions say the house must be empty when the bombs go off. The house has to be empty for two hours.

"I don't know," says Mum.

The next day we put the cat question to Callum.

"Why don't you put them in one of my cars?" suggests Callum, after a lot of thinking.

"They will boil in the car for two hours."

Finally Mum has another one of her fantastic and strange ideas. "Why don't we take them down to the park."

To the park? We all look doubtful.

"People take dogs down to the park so why don't we take our cats?" says Mum

 We all grin at the thought of us taking the cats for a walk.

Sophie, Charlotte and I hop into the van while Mum and Imogen get ready to set the flea bombs off. We have the cats in their carriers. Mum and Imogen come running out of the house.

"I set off all the flea bombs," says Imogen proudly.

Imogen and Charlotte are in the middle of the van with our cats Poppy and Jenny, while Sophie has to look after Sammy in the back.

Mum starts the van. I listen from the front of the van as the cats start meowing and yowling.

We finally reach the park. Sammy and Jenny stop yowling. They are fascinated by the ducks but Poppy doesn't like it at all. She starts trying to dig her way out of the pet carrier.

Lots of men with big dogs walk by and ladies with puppies. Two ladies stop to have a look at our cats.

"What have you here?" says two ladies.

"What an adorable cat you own," they say pointing to Poppy.

Mum reads part of a book to Sophie and me, while we are at the park. After a while Mum closes the book and I pick up my drawing.

"We can start heading home now," says Mum eventually.

We all get up and Imogen goes to find the cats' bowls which she fills with water, so she can give the cats a drink before their ride home.

Mum pulls in at the driveway. She goes into the house with Imogen and opens the door and all the windows. Imogen then returns to the van.

"Mum is airing the house. She told us to get ice-creams."

We walk up to the village shop and buy big ice-creams.

When we get home, Charlotte opens the front door and a terrible smell wafts up to our noses. Flea bombs smell awful.

I am glad it is all over. The fleas are gone and the house now smells okay.


  

Felicity's Wedding

I like weddings. My sister got married last week. It was a lot of work. We had to order the dresses, which was a great trouble. Imogen and Charlotte's dresses fitted, thought the seller asked, 'Are you sure that the ladies are that short?'

Then we were ordering Sophie and my dresses but we couldn't find the right size. Someone recommended a strappy dress, but we did not like it. We finally found the closest size we could. When the dresses arrived, they fitted, but my dress was a little loose around the top. It had a sash with a clip on bow. My dress was ivory with a pink sash. Sophie's dress was ivory with a purple sash.

We made little bundles of candle. We all had our own jobs. Charlotte cut out circles of tulle. Sophie put the candles in the tulle and tied them up with ribbon. Imogen cut the ribbon into pieces, and I was fetcher. It was hard. I had to find the right sized elastic bands.

While we were making the bundles, Mum brought out the sugared almonds and jelly beans. Imogen packaged the sugared almonds into little plastic bags and Sophie and me packaged the jelly beans.

We also made brownies. But I wasn't able to make them, because I had a cold. The other girls made four kinds of brownies. My favourite kinds was the double chocolate brownies.

Imogen made the wedding cakes. They were little cupcakes with white icing, white fondant flowers and little silver balls. they were absolutely lovely.

We tried to find some shoes for the wedding. We needed gold ballet flats. We looked right through all the shops, but couldn't find any. We had to drive up to a much bigger town, and still couldn't find any shoes. In the end we found some very sequiny shoes with bows. They were silver.

On the day of the wedding, the bridesmaids arrived early in the morning. They took ages just sitting there curling their hair. Mum had time to get Sophie and me dressed, put her make up on, and get the big girls dressed all while they were doing one head of hair.

We headed out the door while they were curling the last person's hair. None of them were dressed, though the groomsmen were. Then we reached the church. We waited and waited and waited but the bridesmaids and bride didn't come. They arrived fashionably late.

The wedding started. Sophie and me started walking up the aisle very slowly. Then we sat in the front pew for the whole mass. I could see everything. Imogen helped with the music as well as being a bridesmaid. She had to keep running up and down the aisle.

After the wedding everyone threw roses petals at the bride and groom. Then the photographers took lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of photos. Imogen carries the sugared almond and jelly beans round, handing them out.

We went down to the park for lunch before the reception. We brought a picnic. I played with my friend. Then the photographer had to take more photos.

After that, it was time for the reception. the photographer took more photos. Then we had a huge afternoon tea. There were lots of speeches. Dad's speak was the best. Then it was time for the cake. It was scrumptious.

Then we gave Felicity and Graham their presents. I gave them a spatula and a spoon that had pig faces. They were so cute.

I like weddings and I like being a flowergirl. But I don't like all the preparations.

Singing Trees

This week we have been going to a homeschooling camp. Everyone is sleeping in a tent, except us. We're sleeping at home, and driving to camp every day. All the children are acting in plays. we younger kids are performing 'The Princess and the Pea' musical. The older children are doing 'A Comedy of Errors' by William Shakespeare.

We were sent our scripts at the beginning of last week. Imogen and Charlotte highlighted their parts in their play so that they could find their speeches. Then Sophie came running to me with some paper in her hand and she said that we had parts in 'The Princess and the Pea' play. I was a singing tree, and Sophie was a page boy. We highlighted our parts too. I got my own script the night before the camp.

At camp in the afternoon, we were going to practice 'The Princess and the Pea'. We read out the parts, and everyone was too soft. Then we were divided up into groups to practice. The trees and the princesses went outside to work together.

It was very funny to see the princesses practising. They were trying to curtsy but some people got the wrong the leg, some didn't know where to put their legs at all, but no one fell over. We singing tree were very good.

Tomorrow night we're going to perform 'The Princess and the Pea'. I'm a little worried that I'll forget what to do, but I think it will be fun anyway!

Piano Lessons With Imogen

I wanted piano lessons. Charlotte used to give them to me, but then she stopped. So Mum asked Imogen to give me and Sophie piano lessons.

So Imogen started giving us piano lessons. She taught me new pieces from my book, taught me the different notes, and helped me with my exercises.

I enjoyed my lessons because they were fun. I got to play one of my favourite pieces.

On Monday I had another piano lesson. It was the last lesson of the term. Imogen brought out some notes on cards and we played games with them. She showed me a new piece she is going to teach me next term. It is called 'The Snake Charmer'. I can't wait to play it.

When lunchtime came Mum asked, "Did you enjoy your piano lesson?"

"No," I said.

"Why not?" Mum asked.

"Because it came to an end."

Everybody laughed.

I can't wait for next term so I can have more lessons. I love learning piano with Imogen because she makes lessons fun and thinks up interesting things to do.

Cooking On My Own

Mum had a new cookbook: The Aldi Cookbook. She said, "Girls, go and choose a few recipes to cook."

So we looked in the cookbook. Imogen read out the dinner names. We all chose two recipes. I chose "Cream of Chicken Drumstick" and "Spaghetti with Ham and Mushrooms."

Mum, Charlotte and I went to Aldi to get all the ingredients we needed for our new dinners.

The next day it was my turn to cook. I was going to cook "Spaghetti with Ham and Mushrooms."

Imogen supervised, and read out the instructions.

I cut the ham up with a sharp knife. Then I cut up the mushrooms. I mixed some things together. Then I cut up the onion. It made my eyes water a little bit. I cooked the ham and the mushrooms and the onion on the stove. Charlotte cooked the spaghetti of me.

When the spaghetti was cooked Charlotte drained it. Then we added cream, cheese, eggs, the ham, mushrooms, and onion. Imogen stirred it together for me.

Then we had dinner. Imogen put the food on plates and I carried it to the table. Everyone loved it. We decided we had to have it again.

I really enjoyed cooking by myself because I got to do everything myself. I want to cook more on my own.

My Dress

My dress is very old. 17 years old. My big sister Felicity had it first. It was a very special dress. When she grew out of it, it was put away for Imogen to grow into.

Imogen really liked the dress. It was one of her favourite dresses. She liked to wear it to mass in the summer. She only wore it for mass and very special days.

Then it was passed down to Charlotte. She liked it a lot too. Her favourite part of the dress was the big white lacy collar.

When Charlotte grew out the dress Sophie got it. She wore it for Christmas. It looked as good as the day it was bought.

Then Sophie grew out of it and I got it. It is my favourite dress because it is so pretty. It might have faded a little bit, but I love it. It is the only dress

to have been worn by all five of us sisters.