More Mimmerisms

Me: "Mim, go and sit down and eat your toast or you will get a smack!"
Mim: "Hohoho, we'll see about that!"



Mim: "I have a baby growing in my tummy!"
Me (thinking WTF!) "No you don't, you have to be 20 before that happens!"
Mim: "but I want a baby in my tummy!"
Me: "And what does your father say about that?"
Mim: "......................Daddy says NO"

School fete

The school fete has come and gone for another two years. I helped out by baking cakes and slices and even tried some caramels.

These are the items before Mim tried to "make snow angels Mummy" in the icing! Luckily not too much damage was done.

I got to spend two hours in charge of the Toilet Roll Chuck stall. For some reason, it was quite popular! Michael spent his two hours looking after the beer tent - yes, they had a beer tent at a primary school fete! The girls got unlimited access to all 5 rides, and Mim had her face painted.

Caitlin got her hair glitter sprayed - luckily she was wise enough to use a separate brush when she got home, although I would have just laughed if Michael had gotten glitter all through his hair!

Growing up - Mim style

I can't keep up with all the little things that Mim does that either make me howl with laughter, or despair.

A week ago, she went running down the hallway towards her bedroom. M was standing near the doorway and held out his hands for a cuddle. She stopped dead in front of him and sighed "I can't deal with this at the moment" and raced into her room. M just turned and looked at me with a "What the ...!" look!

This morning I was getting the girls ready for school. I told Mim to wait at her table whilst Caitlin was buttering her toast. " I can't wait forever!" was the response.

Monday evening 8.30pm, I'd been downstairs on the computer with Mim. She then headed upstairs. I proceeded to turn off the computer and followed her up 5 minutes later. There was no noise from upstairs, usually she sits in front of the TV. So I peered into her bedroom. There was a body under the doona, with the covers pulled all the way up. My Goodness, I thought, she's put herself to bed at only 8.30! I crept in and slowly peeled the covers back. This wicked grin looked back at me as she tried to hide the now opened packet of snakes, that until 5 minutes before had lived on the top shelf of the cupboard! Half of them were missing.

Mim loves the dog. The dog can be ambivalent about Mim, he sometimes even gets the shakes when she approaches him. After all, there's only so much being dragged around by your collar and being forced to sit on her lap that one can take. So, we were very surprised one morning to find this:
As soon as she started stirring, he was out of there - and she was none the wiser!

Welcome to the new addition to our family

Here's a big welcome to the new addition to our family, as yet unnamed.


On Tuesday, we picked up my (sorry, our) new (slightly used) Renault Scenic. We are now a two car, one bike family. This means I won't be stuck at home Thu/Fri, Margaret can have some time off from school runs and I can go away for a weekend, or visit Michelle in Sydney without the great hassle of leaving M without a car.

In the honoured tradition of this family, the car needs a name from the Addams family. Would appreciate any suggestions. We've already got Pugsley (Peugeot), Wednesday (Scooter), Gomez and Morticia (dog and cat).

Camping at Caloundra

This last weekend was exhausting - but fun. Caitlin had a Jobs Daughters camp up at Caloundra, so we all went along. There were about 40 of us, 22 girls aged between 3 (Mim) and 20, as well as 18 or so adults. We all crammed into the Bulcock Beach Life Saving Club - the girls all slept on mattresses in the "training room" and the adults bunked down wherever possible. And nobody got sunburnt!

The girls did activities like beach volleyball, learnt to paddle on the surf-skis, rode in the rescue boats, paddled over to Bribie Island and swam lots. Mim loved it because her beloved Keziah was there, and she got to slept with all the big kids.


(taking a break from paddling)

(Sam and Caitlin 'skiing')

Saturday was a beautiful day, up until late afternoon when the clouds blew over and it started raining. So the "beach BBQ" for dinner was shelved and everybody ate inside (it took two sittings to get everybody fed). There was a beautiful sunset though.



Sunday morning was windy - and very cold! There was no way I was going into the water, nor Mim. Mim was tired enough that she feel asleep on one of the beds (after a bit of back tickling by Tamika). I wandered up to the Bulcock St Markets for a quick look and then took Mim on to the beach to build sand castles.

(The proud owner of a sandfort, complete with moat)

(the windsurfers had a ball on Sunday)

All in all, it was a lovely weekend - and both girls fell asleep on the trip home. It was wonderful to go to sleep in my own bed though.

Friends forever?

One day, not long ago, I babysat Charli and Mackenzie for Carla for a few hours. Mim was over the moon at the thought, but then turned into bossy bertha the minute Charli arrived.
"Charli, be careful of my dolls"
"Charli, don't touch that, it might break"
"Charli, come into my room"
"Charli, you want someting to eat?"
"Charli, come wif me."

But they seemed to have enjoyed themselves.

How to Make a Caramel Banana Cake

We had some bananas to use up, and needed an activity to keep small people occupied, so we decided to make some cakes to freeze for the school fete in October.

First step was to wash our hands "Why we washing our hands mummy?" "Why is the soap way up there mummy?"

Next was to clear out the kitchen and make some bench space. Mim pulled up her chair on the outside of the kitchen as instructed.

Step 1. Ask child to remove skins off three bananas and place in bowl.

Step 2. Take 125g of butter and 3/4 cup brown sugar and 'cream them'.

Step 3. Turn back to child, get another banana from fridge to replace the half eaten one and peel all bananas by oneself.

Step 4. Get child to break two eggs into mixture, one at a time, ensuring that you beat well between eggs. Encourage child not to lick the raw egg white from her fingers.

Step 5. Spend 5 minutes removing eggshell from mixture. Give child beaters to lick to keep her amused. (Remember to remove beaters from machine before doing this!)

Step 6. Get child to sift 1 & 1/2 cups of self raising flour and 1 teaspoon of bicarb soda into a bowl.

Step 7. Mop up flour from bench and floor, remeasure approximately 1/2cup and sift it into bowl.

Step 8. Mix 3/4 cup sour cream with 1 tablespoon of milk.

Step 9. Put mashed banana in with egg mixture and ask child to stir through.


Step 10. Put half of flour mix and half of sour cream mix into egg mix and ask child to stir carefully.



Step 11. Lunge at bowl before it is 'stirred' off the bench.

Step 12. Take over the stirring. Mix in remaining ingredients.

Step 13. Spoon into loaf tins lined with baking paper. Remove spoon from child that is trying to flick the mixture into the tin, clean up mixture from opposite cupboards.


Step 14. Place in oven and let child lick every implement and bowl used.



After the cakes were cooked, I turned them on to a wire rack and told Mim not to touch, that they had to cool properly. She went off to watch something on "her" channel (Nick Jnr and Playhouse Disney).

An hour later I was downstairs when the mower man rang to organise a time to deforest our back yard. During the conversation, I heard Mim call out "they are cool now Mummy". Stupid Mummy did not immediately race upstairs to prevent the inevitable.

Mim had pulled the chair into the kitchen, grabbed a steak knife from the knife block and slashed herself a large chunk from the end and put it on a plate for her afternoon tea. So, that's one less cake for the school fete!