mummy & Mimi

We are moving.

2012-05-27T21:21:00.000+01:00

Having spent a huge amount of time planning it and considering my options I have finally decided to take the plunge. We are moving over to Word Press. Our new address is http://mummyandmimi.com/ I hope that you will continue to visit us over at our new site.

Cute cards with knitted finger puppets.

2012-05-25T18:11:00.002+01:00

I seem to have been really busy all week but I have been met with a mental block as to what to blog about! Does anyone else suffer from this?

Today the block appears to be lifting and I have decided to post about my latest project. The other day I was in Canterbury in Cath Kidson buying Mikes Aunty Maggies Birthday present when I saw they had some cute birthday cards with knitted finger puppets on the front. They looked really cool but I thought at £4.50 they were a bit on the pricey side so I popped round to my favourite shop of all time The Sewing Shop and picked up a great little finger puppet book which cost me less than two cards.

Amazon

Aunty Maggie is a knitting enthusiast and collects chickens (not real ones - the ornament version) so with chickens on my mind I set about my first card. A finger puppet chicken.

My finished chicken.

And here he is on the card.

I printed the card using Adobe Illustrator.

This book has some amazing patterns, is well set out with great images and the patterns are easy to follow. The best bit about making these cute finger puppets is you can use up all your old off cuts and you can make one from start to finish in an evening. I thought I might try and make some Christmas cards for the kids or maybe even put some on etsy.

Party Time

2012-05-20T11:45:00.002+01:00

Yesterday we had Mimi’s 3rd Birthday Party. I am not too sure what I was thinking when I invited everyone. All I can say is thank goodness the weather was good and they could all play outside, otherwise the house might have been trashed!!!

We ended up with about 12 coming. There were a few people who either just did not come or failed to even respond to our invites which is annoying. I am pleased I decided against putting together party bags. I thought about doing them but having priced them up at Tesco decided against it as how many people ever actually play with anything in them?!?

I spent most of Friday and Saturday morning baking and decorating cakes and biscuits. (none of this is good for my diet!!!) Mimi requested a Buzz Lightyear cake. So guess what my Mum and I were doing late Friday night!

We were quite pleased with the finished cake although a little person was so excited on Saturday morning she couldn't resist poking it!!

I have been dying to make some stained glass biscuits for ages. I doubled the mixture and made what seemed like thousands of the blinking things. and dented my rolling pin in the process – but they look impressive. I thought they would make good Christmas presents.

Then the usual fairy cakes. I have developed a new icing which is the best to date. (A blog post for another day)

She was one spoilt baby who is now fast asleep on the sofa – obviously it was all too much for her.

Colour your own ABC flash cards

2012-05-17T13:55:00.003+01:00

This is something I have been thinking about doing for a while. This week I finally got round to completing them. Colour your own ABC flash cards. Just click here for the PDF link then print them off on paper or card.

All pictures have been hand drawn and then scanned in using Photoshop and Illustrator.

Mimi's Birthday

2012-05-17T08:07:00.002+01:00

On Tuesday Mimi was 3. I can not believe how quickly the last 3 years have flown by.

She was totally spoilt and is one very lucky girl. She was wide awake at 5am and by 6am we were outside in our PJ's jumping on the trampoline!!!!

Having gone on and on and on about BUZZ Lightyear since Christmas it was lucky the Birthday fairies were listening. However Mimi informed me that the fairies must have been shopping at Tesco!! (I didn't realise that there were different Buzz Lightyear's depending on which Toy Story Film he is from)

She is such a lucky girl my brothers (who cant make her birthday party on Saturday) sent presents and cards. My brother who is currently out in the Caribbean on work rang on the sat phone.

Mimi's little friend M came to play for the day and in between the showers there was lots more jumping - I had to keep drying it off with towels for them.

Then to top off the day Mimi was even more spoilt by all of her grandparents who came in for tea and cake. No Birthday is complete without a Birthday Cake.

We had a lovely day. Between Mimi and M the house was a tip, I keep trying to tidy it but its two steps forwards and about four back! There is way too much cake in the house for someone on a Weight Watchers diet. Now onto phase two: planning and organising for her birthday party on Saturday!

Knitted Zebra

2012-05-14T17:16:00.001+01:00

About three weeks ago I brought knitted wild animals by Sarah Keen.

This is a great book with easy to follow instructions and excellent diagrams for beginners. Even better all the patterns have been designed using cheap wool – quite often these pattern books use wool which cost the earth.The book includes a wide selection of patterns – Elephant’s, Giraffe’s, Zebra’s, Lion’s, Panda’s, Tiger’s, Crocodile’s, Monkey’s, Snake’s, Hippo’s, Rhino’s, Warthog’s, Koala’s, Moose’s and Penguin’s.

After showing the book to Mimi and visiting the wool shop in town we settled on a red and white striped Zebra. To knit my Zebra I used roughly 100g which cost me about £2.00.

Last night I finally got round to finishing him.

I think she likes him! So far today he has gone to playschool and had a lovely afternoon nap.

Now I am contemplating my next project (I will just pretend I don’t have lots of outstanding projects). I might try the Crocodile – I think he looks great

However when I was out shopping today I picked up some Louisa Harding wool from The Sewing Shop so now I am thinking perhaps I will knit Mimi a cardigan as I have an idea for a pattern.

My lovely new wool.

Jubilee Cake-Off

2012-05-13T16:02:00.003+01:00

This is for all you cake fans out there. Yesterday the village ran a cake-off to raise funds for the jubilee street party. I had totally forgotten about it until I was reminded on Friday night so ours was a bit of a rush.

Here is our entry.

I was amazed at how many people entered. Each entry was £2.00 with categories for ladies, men and children. The judging was a little weird but it was fun and I am pleased we decided to enter. We didn’t win anything but hey its the taking part that counts.

Vtech Kidizoom Camera

2012-05-10T07:24:00.001+01:00

For Christmas we brought Mimi a Vtech Kidizoom Camera. I was fed up with her always trying to get hold of my camera! I thought it would be great for her to take out and about.

Vtech Kidizoom Camera | £49.99

Ergonomically designed it is easy for Mimi to hold and use. It has a big screen which is great for taking and viewing photos as well as two view finders. The lens has been cleverly designed so that it can swivel backwards or forwards allowing Mimi to take photos of herself.
Yesterday Mimi went to see Granny. Whilst they were out Granny brought her a little princess photo album.

She was very excited with her new photo album so we connected her little pink camera up to the computer and printed some of her photos. It was funny to look at all the photos from the height of a two year old. We had lots of photos of shoes and close ups of her face. Do you remember when we were little before digital cameras? - We would have a film of 12 photos which in invariably wouldn't come out either over or under focused and cost you a fortune to get developed.
This is a great camera for little ones. It appears to be pretty indestructible and bounces pretty well. It has a internal memory and lots of functions to jazz up your photos. Mimi is finally starting to get the hang of using it now and it has become another item we need to carry around with us.

Old MacDonald's Farm.

2012-05-09T21:03:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I took Mimi and her little friend M out to Badgers Hill Farm or as Mimi referred to it Old MacDonald's farm. It is great for little ones. A working farm and cidery it has a wide selection of animals for the children to look at and feed. You can buy bags of bird feed and carrots from their country shop. There are plenty of picnic tables dotted around allowing you to take in your surroundings whilst enjoying a coffee and slice of cake from their coffee shop. It is an eclectic mix of animals, wind chimes and garden ornaments with plenty to keep the children occupied. There is even a witches hut which is set up with a sofa and table should it be raining. Even better it is free - so for the cost of a cup of coffee it's a great outing for the children.

Cute minature houses.

Donkeys and goats which you can feed carrots.

Enjoying a drink at one of the picnic tables

Lots of chickens and ducks which you can feed.

Trip to a real ZOO!!

2012-05-08T21:31:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I took Mimi to Wingham Wildlife Park. We last visited when Mimi was about 6 months old and I thought it was a bit ropey but since then the park has changed hands and has improved hugely. They have peacocks and chickens which run wild around the park. A lot of the enclosures have been designed so that you can walk through them and touch the animals. They have got everything from penguins and flamingos to tigers, lions and snakes. I felt that for a one off it was a bit pricey; for me and Mimi it would have been£20.00 (children 2-12 are £9.00!) so I decided to shell out for a years pass which was £58.00 that way I can pop in and out as and when we feel like it. A few of our friends have passes and outside of school holidays its will make for a good coffee stop. However if it has been raining I have now learnt that wellie boots are a good bet as it was seriously muddy in places.

One crazy baby ready for the zoo -
Luckily she decided to leave her crash helmet and glasses in the car!

Penguins at feeding time.

Mimi pretending to be a penguin.

The very cute prairie dogs which kept popping up
from their tunnels.

Ever since going Mimi keeps telling everyone she went to a REAL Zoo! She was funny when she walked past the lions - she said they were too scary and covered her eyes with Mr Doggie and proceeded to ask where the snakes were!!

Red Onion and Asparagus Tart

2012-05-08T20:47:00.000+01:00

With the need to start tracking my weight again this weekend I made a delicious Red Onion and Asparagus Tart with ricotta. My photo really doesn't do it justice. It was probably the best tart I have ever made.

I took the recipe from a book a brought a few years back. I went through a phase of buying cheap cookery books from the works. We had it for lunch with a green salad. A portion is 6 pro points but it felt like a lot more.

Amazon.

H is for Holiday

2012-05-05T16:17:00.000+01:00

About a month ago we decided to book a midweek break at CenterParcs. This was our third break with CenterParcs. Last time we visited Elveden Forest, this time we returned to Sherwood Forest and despite the one day of rain we had a fab week, we opted for a New Style Woodland Lodge in the middle zone. Our lodge was a stones throw from the water and Mimi had a great time watching all the wildlife from the living area. We had a problem with our cooker on the first night so we rang guest services and within 5minutes someone had come round to fix it for us.

The main living area.

There was so much to look at. Mimi was so excited all week. My Mum leant her some Winnie the Pooh bed covers which made bed time much easier. I was a bit nervous about bed time. About 10 days ago Mimi decided she didn't want to wear a nappy to bed, I was just so fed up with the fight that I relented. Bearing in mind that she is still only two I fully expected to be up in the middle of the night changing bed covers. It didn't happen, she woke me up to tell me she needed the toilet then she went straight back to bed. Going away to CenterParcs made me a bit paranoid so we took the plastic sheet with us and some disposable mattress sheets. As it happens we didn't need them. Touch wood we have not had one night time accident since Mimi decided she didn't want to wear a nappy!

We had such a good week. CenterParcs is so well set up. We got a babysitter to come in one evening so that we could go swimming and have a drink. Then with all the other facilities on site we ate out at Strada one evening and drank coffee most mornings in Starbucks.

A night out at Strada

Coffee in Starbucks

We went out on our bikes and saw a Heron and marvelled at the amazing (but expensive) tree houses.

We ended our fab week with a visit to Mikes Aunty and Uncle, a traffic jam on the M25 and a Mcdonalds Happy Meal at the flithy Clacket Lane Services operated by Roadchef. If you need to stop don't stop here. It is disgustingly dirty, there were rats running around the car park, the toliets looked like they were in need of a deep clean and the chair I wiped in Mcdonalds after Mimi spilt her drink came up a different colour.

Needless to say none of this has helped my weight loss. Weight watchers weigh in earlier today saw a gain of a pound and half!!!

Weekend Snaps

2012-04-29T21:38:00.000+01:00

What to do when the weather is so awful?!? We took a trip over to the Turner Contemporary in Margate for the Craft Club afternoon. It was really good, there were lots of people there and Mimi had a go at finger knitting. She was really cute, she tried so hard and put so much effort into it but couldn't quite grasp it. She was better with the knitting needles but she wanted to stay with all the other children.

All this talk of knitting has reminded me about my latest project. A knitted zebra (although Mimi wanted red and white rather than the traditional black and white!)

I got the pattern from this really great book called Knitted Wild Animals . The patterns have been well written and are easy to follow.

Today we had a number of errands to run and then lunch at Mikes parents for Grampy's Birthday.

Mimi dressed up with the Angelina Bow toasting Grampy's Birthday.

One of my jobs today was to pick up a book I leant to my friend ages ago called A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown. This is an amazing book and was picked out of a hat on Friday for our new bookclubs first read!!! I would highly recommend this book to everyone. It is a true story about a young girl in America who ends up in the care system and her route through life, drugs, drink, gangs in LA and how she fought her way to become one of America's top women lawyers.

Printable animal masks.

2012-04-26T21:57:00.001+01:00

Mimi just loves colouring in and dressing up so I have put together some printable animal masks. Why not print them off and have a go.

Download PDF

Wicked Wednesday # Blackberry Tart

2012-04-25T20:06:00.000+01:00

Tonight for dessert with the help of Mimi we made blackberry tarts. When we were making them I was worried they might be a bit sweet but they were delicious.

I loosely used Jamie Oliver's recipe for torta di more from Jamie's Italy. We made our own pastry, mainly because I was running short on time, however we did follow the remainder of the recipe.

Pastry Recipe:

5oz/140g plain flour

1oz/28g icing sugar

1.5oz/43g butter

1.5oz/43g lard

5-6 tablespoons of milk.

Place all ingredients apart from the milk into a bowl. Using your fingers rub the ingredients together until the resemble fine breadcrumbs.

Gradually your milk a spoonful at a time gradually bringing your mixture together to form a ball.

I then placed it in the freezer whilst I made the filling.

From this stage onwards I then followed Jamie's recipe. You can get his recipe here.

Our day that was

2012-04-24T21:11:00.001+01:00

I'm not sure what it is about being at home all the time but I seem to get far less done that I did when I was working. Especially when the weather has been so grim.

However we shouldn't moan. We really need the rain and all this water has given my strawberry plants a growth spurt and in the brief moments of sunshine the garden is looking good.

Today I have

Removed countless socks which have become trapped in the washing machine door. In what must be the most annoying washing machine ever.

Refereed between Mimi and Maddie (my mums & dads dog) and removed countless items from being eaten.

We had Mimi's little friend M over to play for the morning. But Mimi was seriously grumpy and she took herself off to bed!

I did some baking with Mimi and made a chicken and mushroom pie for dinner.

Played paper aeroplanes in the garden with Daddy and Mimi

Lastly my strange baby has fallen in love with a stuffed door stop in the shape of a dog which has been named "Brother Doggy" (I think she is trying to tell us something!). Brother Doggy gets taken to bed and pushed around in her buggy and is quite loved. This afternoon disaster struck and his head fell off!!!!!!

Fab Finds for Kids

2012-04-24T15:19:00.003+01:00

At the weekend I was reading the Telegraph Magazine at my in-laws when I cam across this striped towel in a bag by Stella McCartney and I felt the need to share my find with you.

With a price tag of £62 it is currently out of stock on the Stella McCartney website howeveralexandalexa have it in stock at £59.00. If I was a little person I would want to take this to the beach with me.

ABC biscuits.

2012-04-23T21:25:00.001+01:00

When I was on Pinterest the other day I came across these really cool scrabble cookies courtesy of When Adobo Met Feijoada.

Image: When Adobo Met Feijoada

Ever since I saw them I have been itching to make some. Here is my attempt. I think I need to get a thicker pen. I made mine a bit bigger as Mimi is a bit too small for scrabble.

For my biscuits and icing I used a recipe from The Australian Women's Weekly Cookies and Biscuits book. If you would like to make these then When Adobo Met Feijoada have got an excellent tutorial with step by step instructions. I think I need to work on my icing skills!!!!! I think that these would make a great treat for Mimi's packed lunch.

Fix it with sugru.

2012-04-23T12:04:00.000+01:00

If you haven’t heard of sugru then you are missing out. I first heard of sugru about a year ago and thought it was a groovy looking product but didn’t think much more about it until Mike appeared with a packet he had brought to fix Mimi’s swing.

Last year my Mum brought Mimi a swing for the garden from ELC, however the seat was really slippery. She sat on it once fell off and flatly refused to go on it ever again so this is where Mike had the ingenious idea of using sugru.

A few spots of sugru and off we go! If only we had thought of using this sooner!

Sugru is an amazing product which will bond to most plastics. You can hand mould it to the shape you want, it comes in a variety of colours and will work in temperatures of -60 upto 180c. It is flexible and if you don’t like it you can remove it. The best bit is it is inexpensive at £10.00 for a pack of 8 colours.

Here are some examples of things other people have done with their sugru.

Go on give it a go. I am now eyeing up all the other things I could “hack with sugru”. I quite like the idea of adding hair to our Lego people.

Rhubarb Muffins

2012-04-20T19:53:00.000+01:00

Carrying on with the theme of Rhubarb I thought I would try and make some Rhubarb Muffins. I loosely used a recipe (from allrecipes.co.uk) I have previously used to make apple and cinnamon muffins.

Recipe

Pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees.

Muffin Base
200g Plain Flour
100g Caster Sugar
50g Soft Brown Sugar
110ml Crème Fraiche
80ml Vegetable Oil
1 large Egg
1-2 sticks of Rhubarb

Muffin Topping
40g Plain FLour
20g Butter
15g Caster Sugar

Method

Combine flour, caster sugar, brown sugar, crème fraiche, vegetable oil and egg in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly. Chop rhubarb in to 1cm pieces and then add to your muffin mixture. Carefully place mixture into your muffin cases.
Make your muffin topping by rubbing together the flour, butter and sugar until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Sprinkle the muffin topping over the muffin base and place in your pre-heated oven for about 25mins.

I was really pleased with the outcome. I was a bit worried that they would be a bit sour and not enough sugar but they were lovely and moist. These would make a perfect breakfast treat.

ABC Series - F is for Flowers

2012-04-19T20:52:00.000+01:00

Continuing with our ABC series this week we looked at flowers and the letter F. I originally came across the idea of trying to dye flowers different colours from an old book I had forgotten I had.

You can purchase a second-hand copy from Amazon.

You will need:

Some white flowers, we used carnations and chrysanthemums
Some jam jars or pots
Some food colouring or some water soluble ink.

This morning when we woke up some of out flowers had started to change colours. Unfortunately the Red and the Yellow ones haven't worked as well but the blue ones looked really pretty. I am hoping that they will go a bit darker.

An artist in the making?!?

2012-04-19T20:06:00.000+01:00

Last year I brought a couple of blank canvas’s for a project which I never got round using so I decided to let Mimi paint a picture for the wall.

We have since had lots of admiring comments about her painting so I thought it would be a nice memory to get her to make one each year.

Here is Mimi having fun making this years painting.

Here is this years painting. I think someone got a bit carried away with the glitter.

Shopping # The Range

2012-04-18T22:17:00.000+01:00

Today with the weather being so pants I decided we would take a trip over to our nearest Range. I have NEVER seen a shop which managed to cram such a large amount of unnecessary (but necessary at the same time) stuff into it. It reminded me of Walmart or Big W. As soon as I walked in my mind went totally blank and I could not for the life of me remember what I had gone in for. They had everything from soft furnishings to camping equipment. I did however pick up a new washing basket and peg bag both things that I have been meaning to replace for a while in the end I managed to spend £30 on "unnecessary" stuff!

Mimi had a lovely time checking out all the stuff. They had a craft bench where children could draw and colour in which I thought was great idea.

Taking it easy watching the world go by.

Ooooo WE SO wanted this peppa pig chair!!

What's for lunch?

2012-04-18T21:47:00.002+01:00

Sometimes it can be a struggle to think of things to eat and make for lunch. The other day at my weight watchers weigh in someone mentioned that Warburtons have started making square wraps which could be made into pizza breads. So I thought I would give them ago (even better they were on special offer in Tesco).

I just added pesto, cherry tomatoes, a sprinkling of cheese and some feta. They were so tasty I just felt the need to share them with you. I have converted my husband too!!! I thought I was being really good but when I sat down to write this post I worked out the pro points and I realised each pizza is roughly 9 pro points - which for lunch is a bit much but they are tasty.

Birthday Invitations

2012-04-18T21:03:00.000+01:00

In a couple of weeks it is Mimi’s Birthday and this year I decided to make my own invites.

Final outcome.

What do you think? I am quite pleased with them.